A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Grant County
has a holiday
style all its own
L
ast Wednesday, on one
of the most frigid days
of this winter so far, a
big yellow school bus rolled
up to the Valley View Assisted
Living Center in John Day and
disgorged a passel of kinder-
gartners from Humbolt Ele-
mentary School. Fresh-faced
and adorable, the kids were
there to show off their Christ-
mas hats to the residents.
The Humbolt hat parade is
a holiday tradition that goes
back a number of years and,
by all accounts, is enjoyed by
young and old alike. Due to
the ongoing COVID-19 pan-
demic, which has been espe-
cially deadly for older people,
Valley View remains closed
to visitors except for family
members. But that didn’t stop
the hat parade.
Led by their teachers, the
kids marched around to a
small patio at the back of the
building, where they took
turns modeling their holiday
haberdashery for appreciative
residents and staff , who took
in the fashion show from the
facility’s dining room. (You’ll
fi nd a photo essay on the kin-
dergartners’ visit on Page A8
of this newspaper, and you can
see additional pictures on our
website.)
It was just one more exam-
ple, if any were needed, of
how the holidays seem to
bring out the best in Grant
County residents.
On Dec. 11, John Day’s
Main Street came alive with
the 28th annual Timber Truck-
ers Light Parade, a holiday
tradition created to honor
the contributions of the tim-
ber industry to Grant Coun-
ty’s economy and way of life.
Log trucks, pickups and at
least one ATV festooned in
multicolored Christmas lights
lent a festive glow to down-
town John Day. Well over 100
residents braved the cold to
take in the sight, clapping and
cheering as the convoy of 30
parade entries rumbled past.
One week earlier, several
hundred people fi lled the Elks
Lodge for the 29th annual Car-
rie Young Memorial Dinner
and Auction. The event broke
its own record, set a year ear-
lier, by raising just a scoche
under $50,000 to provide gro-
ceries, heating oil and Christ-
mas gifts to around 300 vul-
nerable seniors in Grant
County. The week before
that, the lodge was the scene
of a community Thanksgiv-
ing meal as the Elks dished
up more than 100 free turkey
dinners.
Happy holidays, Grant
County style!
Send us your events
As you may have noticed,
we’ve revived our commu-
nity events calendar, known
as “What’s Happening.”
We stopped running it for a
while after the pandemic put
the kibosh on most in-per-
son gatherings. But now, with
many of the state restrictions
lifted, group events are start-
ing to come back, and we
here at the Eagle want to help
spread the word. If you have a
community event you’d like to
publicize in “What’s Happen-
ing,” please email the details
to editor@bmeagle.com. Be
sure to get them to us no later
than 5 p.m. on Friday for the
following Wednesday’s paper,
and if you get us the informa-
tion soon enough, we may be
able to run the announcement
more than once. And be sure
to include a phone number
we can call in case we have
questions.
THE FARMER’S FATE
Eat what you can, can the rest
G
rab your Balls (and Kerrs) —
it’s canning season! OK, bad
joke, I know—I should just
shut my lid and can it. (Insert rimshot
here).
This is the point at which my fam-
ily would tell me to sit down, because
I’ll never make a standup comedian.
But this is what happens when one
stands over a hot pressure canner for
days on end. You become so steamed
that your humor gets dry.
It’s a season I both love and one
that I am not sad to see end. It’s a time
when my counters are covered in jars
fi lled with all manner of deliciousness;
the burners on the stove are covered
with large pots bubbling delightful
aromas and pressure canners; pitchers
are fi lled with sugar syrups or vine-
gar brines; and no amount of mopping
prevents the fl oor from being sticky.
Canning thyme is a scrumptiously
messy season.
The animals love this time of the
year, as they get the tasty scraps and
remnants of whatever is being pro-
cessed. Even the llama will come run-
ning when she sees that big, silver
bowl come towards the pasture. She
will be sad when the last of the gar-
den produce is fi nally tucked away in
pretty jars, and the silver bowl reverts
back to a popcorn container.
I’m not entirely sure the kids will
be as sad to see the end of canning
season as the animals. One of the
beautiful things about homeschooling
is the ability to tweak the curriculum
as life happens. And canning is like a
hands-on history/science lesson just
begging to be had.
While we prepared the produce,
we discussed the history of food pres-
though. The corn needed a place to go.
Armed with a chisel, a hammer and
insulated gloves, I headed out to deal
with my very own Antarctica.
After a few hours, my oldest son
comes out to check the progress. “Do
you feel like an archaeologist?” he
asks, watching me chisel around a
bag of what at one point in time might
have been spinach. “Well, I’m fi nd-
ing a lot of old, dead, buried stuff ,”
I winked. He rolled his eyes. Unfor-
tunately, though, he didn’t tell me to
sit down with my humor — because
looking into that frozen abyss, I would
have gladly!
Over the years, I’ve heard so many
people say how Disney movies have
set unrealistic ideas of love, romance
and marrying the prince in a glori-
ous castle. But honestly, as I stare into
that disastrous icebox, I am seeing our
ducks and chickens, sheep and goats,
horse and llama.
I’m not thinking about castles and
glass slippers — I’m just annoyed that
no matter how much I sing, my ani-
mals never come running to help me
clean like they do in Disney movies!
They’ve never once surprised me with
a new ball gown or helped to me to
tidy the kitchen after canning.
I guess maybe they didn’t feel
they had enough thyme. Or perhaps I
should change the labels on my herb
jars in the kitchen. Then I can at least
tell myself the animals haven’t helped
yet — but soon they’ll fi nd their
thyme is cumin. Or maybe I should
just focus on my frozen task in front
of me and “let it go.”
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for the
Blue Mountain Eagle.
ervation and told
family canning sto-
ries. We also dis-
cussed the heat,
pressure, weights,
types of produce,
the brine or syrup
Brianna
and
all manner of
Walker
“whys?”
When their eyes started to glaze
over, we would turn on an audiobook
or listen to Christmas music (yes, I’m
one of “those” people).
The kids eat a lot of pickles at my
house, so canning our own is a really
“big dill.” This year the kids picked
out spices to make their own jars of
pickles. My oldest loves hot things, so
he fi lled his with black pepper, Thai
dragon pepper, red chilis, jalapenos
and garlic — my stomach was beg-
ging for antacid pills just breathing
the aroma wafting from the jars. My
youngest doesn’t like anything hotter
than ketchup, so his were mostly gar-
lic and dill.
They also got to make, fl avor, and
can their own pizza sauce.
We can what we can… but some
things we prefer frozen. Which
brought me to a job I’d been dreading
all year — defrosting the freezer. Lon-
ger ago than I care to admit, we were
on vacation and somehow the freezer
door came open in our absence.
Climate change happened right
there in my garage. First the polar
caps melted, then an ice storm ensued
— and “Ice Age 3” met us when we
got home. We fi nally created enough
of a shift in the polar ice caps to shut
the door, but I never did a proper
defrost cycle.
I couldn’t avoid it any longer,
COMMENTARY
Cap and trade will hurt farmers
L
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.
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.
ike many of you, I wrote my
legislators, testifi ed, and
fought against the cap and
trade proposals in front of the Oregon
Legislature in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
As a custom farmer in Tillamook
and chair of the Oregon Farm Bureau
Ag Production Committee, I knew
that my operation and many farms
and ranches around the state could
not aff ord the fuel cost increases that
were inevitable under the program.
It would be one more in a long line
of poor policy decisions coming out
of Salem that make it harder to stay
farming in Oregon.
After it was defeated in Salem
three times, I was fl oored when I
learned last year that the governor
had issued an executive order direct-
ing the Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality to move for-
ward with the program via rule. I
watched over the last several months
as the agency ignored data about
the impacts of the program, created
sweetheart deals for investment in
non-governmental organizations, and
failed to analyze the impact of cost
increases in fuel, natural gas, and
propane on Oregonians under the
program.
The agency adopted the fi nal rules
for what it is now calling the “Cli-
mate Protection Program” on Thurs-
day, Dec. 16, with the program com-
ing into eff ect after the fi rst of the
year.
While DEQ opted to ignore the
cost impacts of this rule on working
families and the agricultural sector, it
is clear that the program will increase
the price of natural
gas, propane, and
transportation fuels.
For a governor who
has built her admin-
istration on prom-
ises of transparency,
Karl
concealing the
Zweifel
impacts of such a
signifi cant program
to Oregonians is unacceptable.
Because DEQ failed to consider
how the fuel sector would come into
compliance with the program, it’s
highly likely that we will see fuels
rationed in the state after the credits
run out. I never thought I would see
fuel rationed again in my lifetime,
especially due to a regulatory burden
created by our state.
For propane and natural gas, the
goal is to eliminate those fuels com-
pletely. That approach totally ignores
the needs of rural Oregon and is
yet another impractical and out-of-
touch policy pushed on us by a Port-
land-based governor who doesn’t
understand our needs.
In drafting the rules, DEQ totally
ignored the impact the rules will have
on the Oregon economy, particularly
those industries that are trade-depen-
dent, like agriculture. Eighty percent
of the goods produced by farmers
and ranchers are exported out of the
state, and the new rules will render
many farm families uncompetitive in
the global marketplace because we
will be priced out.
On the investment side, DEQ
decided to only allow investments
that would result in direct carbon
Blue Mountain
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reductions, ignoring the potential
for working lands sequestration pro-
grams. The only reason I can think
DEQ would do this is to penalize
rural Oregon for our strong oppo-
sition to cap and trade as it worked
through the Legislature.
Further, those community groups
and NGOs who get funding do not
have to demonstrate actual carbon
reduction, just give a rough estimate
of what they expect to accomplish.
This is unacceptable and just cre-
ates a slush fund for environmental
groups with no accountability.
The worst part about the program
is that it will increase the cost of fuels
for farm families and rural Orego-
nians who can least aff ord it — but it
will have no impact on global climate
change. It’s simply a “feel good”
piece for progressive Democrats,
once again put largely on the backs
of rural Oregonians.
Rural Oregon is tired of bear-
ing the brunt of policies that do not
accomplish what they set out to do,
but instead have real costs for our
communities.
The Oregon Farm Bureau and other
business groups are planning to revive
their prior challenge to the executive
order. Oregonian families cannot aff ord
a new program that would increase fuel
prices and home heating costs — at a
time of staggering infl ation — just to
make progressive Democrats feel good
about taking action.
Karl Zweifel is a custom farmer
growing corn and chop grass silage
in Tillamook. He is vice president of
the Tillamook County Farm Bureau.
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Blue Mountain Eagle
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