A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
The kicker
may get
kicked
I
n almost the same breath
that state offi cials an-
nounced that an average
Oregon taxpayer may get a
$850 kicker tax rebate, they
were hinting at changing the
kicker.
Oregonians are in for a
record kicker rebate because
nobody could very well pre-
dict the pandemic’s eco-
nomic impact. The kicker law
requires very good guesses
about revenues by state gov-
ernment or it kicks.
The kicker kicks “if actual
state revenues exceed fore-
casted revenues by 2% or
more over the two-year bud-
get cycle. The excess, includ-
ing the 2% trigger amount, is
returned to taxpayers through
a credit on their following
year’s tax return.”
Oregon is the only state
with this kind of law. It is one
way, not the most artful way,
of keeping a lid on govern-
ment spending. And voters
approved it.
It gets criticized because
people who are wealthier tend
to benefi t more.
You get money kicked
back to you based on the
taxes you paid. Lower-income
people may need a big kicker
rebate more, but they get less.
That is an interesting
argument because Oregon’s
income tax system is pro-
gressive. So people who earn
more pay more in taxes.
So if Oregon were to
change the kicker so lower-in-
come people would benefi t
more from the kicker, would
that be a doubly progressive
tax system? That may make
sense to some.
There also have been pro-
posals to channel kicker
money instead to import-
ant matters Oregonians need,
such as providing more child
care or helping to create more
aff ordable housing.
Those are great causes.
We’d rather see the money go
directly into people’s hands
and let them decide how it is
spent, instead of having the
government decide for them.
Treasure your kicker, if
you are fortunate enough to
get one for the 2021 tax year.
It may be the last of its kind.
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S.
Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820.
Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-
0515. Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825.
Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187.
Email: dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-575-
1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek
97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-
3075. Email: info@cityofl ongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon
97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-
4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City
97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566.
Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873.
Phone and fax: 541-542-2161. Email:
senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol,
Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax:
503-378-6827. Website: governor.state.or.us/
governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.
state.or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and
Oregon Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313,
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale — 900 Court St.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1730. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: sen.lynnfi ndley@oregonlegislature.
gov.
• Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane — 900 Court St.
NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1460. District address: 258 S. Oregon St.,
Ontario OR 97914. District phone: 541-889-
8866. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: rep.markowens@oregonlegislature.
gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-
comments: 202-456-1111; Switchboard:
202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate
Offi ce Building, Washington D.C. 20510.
Phone: 202-224-5244. Email: wayne_kinney@
wyden.senate.gov. Website: http://wyden.
senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Offi ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email: senator@
merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-228-3997.
Oregon offi ces include One World Trade
Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1250,
Portland, OR 97204; and 310 S.E. Second St.,
Suite 105, Pendleton, OR 97801. Phone: 503-
326-3386; 541-278-1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
• U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R — (Second District)
1239 Longworth Building, Washington D.C.
20515. Phone: 202-225-6730. No direct email
because of spam. Website: walden.house.
gov Fax: 202-225-5774. Ontario offi ce: 2430
SW Fourth Ave., Suite 2, Ontario, OR 97914.
Phone: 541-709-2040. Medford offi ce: 14 N.
Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501.
Phone: 541-776-4646. Fax: 541-779-0204.
• Pending Bills: For information on bills in
Congress. Phone: 202-225-1772.
Farmer’s Fate: How full is your glass?
I
s the glass half full, or half
empty? Henry David Thoreau
once wrote, “It’s not what you
look at that matters, it’s what you
see.” And this last week provided
many opportunities to look and see.
It’s been unusually hot for this time
of year, which means that every-
one has been putting in even longer
hours than usual to keep things irri-
gated and alive. The crops are dry-
ing up, the animals are heating up
and we are trying our best to keep
our chins up as we go through the
long, hot days.
We were a few weeks later than
usual shearing our sheep — which
normally wouldn’t have mattered —
but this year, the poor animals were
so hot. We kept sprinklers on in their
pasture trying to keep the tempera-
ture down as best as possible, but
they looked miserable in their wool
coats in triple-digit weather. Elvis,
our buck, was getting up there in
age, but has been doing well — at
least until the mercury topped the
thermometer. While waiting in line
to be sheared, the poor old guy laid
down and died. Elvis has offi cially
left the barn — may he rest happy in
those heavenly pastures where the
sun never heats over 80 degrees.
Elvis had set the tone for the
next few weeks. One of our trac-
tors ended up at the John Deere
dealership for some major repairs,
while another blew a front tire driv-
ing down the road. Even our camp
trailer had gone in for work on its
slide-outs. And just as quickly as
one problem was fi xed, another
popped up. While swathing one
afternoon, I see a plume of smoke
rise above the skyline. As it was in
the direction of several of our wheat
fi elds, my husband went to investi-
gate. It wasn’t our wheat — but it
was our straw. My husband, along
with many other farmers and neigh-
bors, spent the rest of the day help-
ing to keep the fi re from destroying
the surrounding wheat fi elds.
A few days later, our son called
with knotter trouble one afternoon.
He’d done everything he knew, but
it still wouldn’t work. My husband
headed out to help. A few hours
later, my husband was still dig-
ging grass out of the baler. When
I fi nished swathing and got home,
I threw together some food for the
hungry boys. They’d rolled out
of bed at 3:30 that morning, and
were very hungry. Lunch in hand,
I walked outside to fi nd nothing to
drive but my motorcycle. I had to do
a little consolidating to get the lunch
in the saddlebag. Less than a mile
down the road, I shift up, and the
bike sputtered and died. I coasted off
the road and checked my gas tank
— bone dry. By the time I fi nally
reached the fi eld, the gummy bears
were more like gummy forests, and
the cold drinks were tepid at best.
But to a hungry stomach, none of
that matters. While the kids were
wolfi ng down their lunch, my hus-
band tried starting the baler again.
When the PTO turned on with a
loud clunk, his face clouded. Climb-
ing underneath the baler, his shoul-
ders slumped — all six needles just
broke. Yet another fi ve-digit repair
bill. So, is the glass half empty? Or
half full?
As we pulled handful after hand-
ful of grass hay out of the chamber, I
kept thinking about that glass.
The optimist says: The glass is
half full.
The pessimist says: The glass is
half empty.
The Eskimo says: Let’s talk
about the benefi ts of ice.
The artist uses it to rinse out his
brushes.
The engineer says: The glass is
twice as big as it needs to be.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
‘Many more
Liberty comes with ing many vulnerable patients or
unvaccinated young children.
hospitalizations
responsibilities
Rather than making public health
To the Editor:
safety the top priority, county com-
among children and
Grant County commissioners
missioners are enabling individuals
young adults’
just submitted to the governor a
who, based on politics, emotions or
To the Editor:
In studying the COVID-19 data
from the Oregon Health Authority, I
found that one statistic stands out.
Grant County has by far the high-
est rate of infections among residents
below the age of 18, around 13%.
Only Jeff erson County comes close, at
around 9%.
Of the 131 child infections
recorded through August 21, only 24
were from last spring’s school out-
breaks. How are kids getting infected?
This problem goes beyond our
by-now familiar controversies over
masks and vaccines (although I feel
these are necessary). Lake, Malheur
and Harney counties have lower rates
of vaccination than Grant County, but
all three have less than half our rate
of child infections.
I hope that the Grant County
Court and the school districts will
consult with public health authorities
and seek ways to keep children safe
from the virus, which in its current
delta variant form is causing many
more hospitalizations among chil-
dren and young adults.
Matt Goodwin
Prairie City
very fl awed letter on our behalf.
In making their case to take back
local control of COVID-19 man-
dates, they made misleading and
unreasoned claims. They stated
that with only seven cases of
COVID this summer, state man-
dates did not fi t our widely dis-
persed rural population. However,
they seriously failed to update the
county infection rate surging since
early August (highest in the state,
Aug. 26), most occurring since the
fair where people gathered from all
over the county.
Focus needs to be back on pre-
vention of virus spread. But in giv-
ing favor to misinformed advo-
cates for individual liberties over
community health, commission-
ers are asking that school employ-
ees and health care workers be
given a choice to get the vaccine
or get tested once a week. How
might their policy play out in real-
ity? The delta variant appears to
be contagious as early as two days
before it’s even detectable. If a
staff member is tested only once a
week, they could spread the virus
for up to fi ve days before being
diagnosed with COVID-19, expos-
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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misinformation, choose not to trust
scientifi cally proven eff ectiveness of
masks and vaccines.
The legal argument for the
well-being of the public over indi-
vidual liberty has been determined
for generations. Recently, con-
servative Supreme Court Justice
Amy Coney Barrett rejected an
appeal by non-vaccinators (who
fought Indiana University’s vac-
cine mandate), citing that an indi-
vidual’s constitutional rights do
not take precedence over the safety
of others. Supreme Court decisions
conclude: Personal liberty is not
assured without regard for injury
you may cause to others; your lib-
erties are limited if the lives of oth-
ers are threatened by your choices.
People who understand this do not
see mask or vaccine mandates as
an end to liberties or liberties being
taken away. They see liberty com-
ing with responsibilities to others.
If the county commissioners had
the wisdom to understand this, they
would have written a reasoned (not
an ignorant) letter to the governor.
They didn’t.
Kay Scheurer Steele
Ritter
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MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
The feminist says: A man would
probably get a full glass.
The salesman says: Will the glass
sell better marketed as half full or
half empty?
The accountant says: The glass is
50% in the red.
The sommelier says: It’s a stan-
dard 5-ounce pour. It leaves room in
the glass for the wine to oxygenate.
The mom says: It doesn’t matter.
Without a coaster, it will still leave
a ring.
The great-grandpa says: Some
just see my teeth in it and get
freaked out.
The farmer says: You’re miss-
ing the point. Finish the line of pipe,
turn the pump on and then the glass
can be refi lled!
When you look ahead in your
life, do you expect things to work
out for the best, or do you assume
the worst? When we envision the
future, our rostral anterior cingu-
late cortex determines whether we
see clear, blue skies or dark storm
clouds. But optimism and pessimism
are not hardwired. We can over-
come our natural tendency toward
doom and gloom. We can dwell on
the miseries of the past and pick at
the scabs of every wound — or can
we make a fresh start. Be grateful
for what we have. Gummy forests
taste just the same as gummy bears.
Cherish our relationships. How
amazing is it that I can spend every
day working with my husband and
boys? Our lives are richer when we
choose optimism.
As my husband climbs out from
under the baler, covered in hay and
grease, he smiles and says, “The
baler’s out of commission. Let’s
take that glass and refi ll it from the
boat.”
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
Copyright © 2021
Blue Mountain Eagle
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hereon may be reproduced or copied
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