A4
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
OUR VIEW
Oregon
audits a
good idea if
done right
O
regon’s latest “Annual Report of Statewide Internal
Audit Activities” might be a perfect sleep aid. But that
annual report is a really good idea.
That is, it’s a really good idea if it’s done right.
Big state agencies in Oregon are basically required by law to
take a hard, objective look at themselves every year and ﬁ gure
out what they might need to do better. It could lead to improve-
ment in government. And the audits improve transparency. They
give Oregonians a window into how government agencies are
doing.
This year, the executive summary of the report is packed with
good news. Agencies completed 56 audits. Three agencies got
top marks from “external quality reviews.” Fully 21 of the state
internal auditors hold advanced degrees. And the highlight reel
goes on with more.
Read just that executive summary and it seems like it’s going
great. Dig deeper, though, and the state actually met only one of
its goals for internal audits. Some agencies didn’t even do them.
There are, of course, excuses for not doing them. There always
are.
One goal is that 100% of state agencies comply with ORS
184.360. That’s the state law that requires internal audits. The
state didn’t hit it.
Just 79% of the required agencies produced a risk assessment
of the agency that conforms to national standards.
Just 72% completed at least one audit per year based on their
annual report.
Just 69% completed a governance or risk management audit
in the last ﬁ ve years.
The state also aims for a goal that 75% of state agencies com-
plete an annual audit plan each year. Just 55% of agencies did.
The state’s ﬁ nal two goals for internal audits have to do with
using audits to improve government. One is that agencies do
surveys after an audit to ﬁ gure out ways to improve how they do
audits. Just 83% did.
We had to chuckle when we saw the one goal that the state
achieved. It’s related to that last goal of conducting surveys after
an audit. The state hopes that at least 90% of survey responses
aﬃ rmatively state that the audit provided value to the organi-
zation. Fully 100% percent believed the audit work had value
— now if only more agencies would actually do the audits as
required.
If this report is to be truly useful, shouldn’t the executive
summary highlight that actually, year after year, many state
agencies don’t get these audits done? Shouldn’t there be a brief
summary about what each internal audit did ﬁ nd?
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
A hygge celebration
O
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.
utside the wind howled, the
evening blustery and dark
— perfect for a hygge (pro-
nounced hoo-ga) celebration.
I ﬁ rst learned about hygge when
researching why the Danes are rated
as being “happy people.” Some of
our ancestors emigrated from Den-
mark. All happily never returned to
live there after they settled in Amer-
ica. Still, family enjoyed customs
and foods from the Old Country.
Hygge suggests a cozy together-
ness, enjoying simple pleasures. On
a stormy night, one might feel hygge
at home gathered with a friend or
family, wearing warm fuzzy socks
and a knit sweater, sipping cocoa
served with fresh bread or pastry in
front of a ﬁ re.
While attending a couple of
Scandinavian festivals in Oregon,
we discovered Danish aebleskiv-
ers. They are round like a small golf
ball and taste similar to a gourmet
pancake.
The aebleskiver pan has round
holes like a half-shell egg holder.
The cook dribbles a few drops of
cooking oil in the bottom of each,
then pours in the batter. As the bot-
tom browns, the cook uses a wooden
skewer to slightly turn the aeble-
skivers so the uncooked dough falls
against the hot pan.
The cook keeps turning each
aebleskiver until a round shape is
achieved and the dough is done
throughout. Serve with a dusting of
powdered sugar, jam or applesauce.
In other ancestral countries, we
found memorable cultural trea-
sures. In Finland,
the composer Jean
Sibelius stirs patri-
otism with his com-
position titled “Fin-
landia.” And the
Finnish word sisu
inspires citizens.
Jean Ann
Approximate mean-
Moultrie
ing: “to have great
courage” or “have a lot of guts.”
Along with researching our
ancestral sites, we enjoyed learning
about others’ native lands.
An area student in the medical
ﬁ eld from Ethiopia agreed that if we
purchased the ingredients for “spicy
chicken,” she’d cook us up a pot.
We located an Ethiopian gro-
cery store where we could purchase
the ﬂ at bread known as injera, made
from teﬀ ﬂ our. The bread looked
smooth on one side and had a bub-
bled look like yeast bubbles on the
other side — perfect for tearing oﬀ
a piece and scooping up the spicy
chicken.
The student wore her native
dress and taught us a few words of
Amharic, their native language.
We happened onto a First Nation
celebration during a daylong trip
when our vehicle broke down.
While getting our car repaired,
we were invited by locals to join
them at a nearby reservation to
honor foreign war veterans. Each
honoree was presented with a com-
memorative wool blanket.
We snacked on fry bread while
watching native dances, the danc-
ers accompanied by drums and sing-
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ing. An enriching and enlightening
experience.
The shocking news from my
DNA test results showed a greater
percentage of Norwegian than Dan-
ish ancestors. Previously, I had
never known about any ancestors
from Norway.
I travel on the VLB (very low
budget) travel plan. When I’ve vis-
ited Scandinavia, I’ve concentrated
on visiting ancestral sites, and with
my limited travel time, I’ve never
visited Norway.
Can I still claim Danish hygge
and aebleskivers?
Norway — another northern
country, mountainous, with long,
cold winters. Why not something
out in the balmy, palm tree-ﬁ lled
South Paciﬁ c?
Research showed Denmark and
Norway were ruled as one coun-
try years ago. In fact, the concept
of hygge originated in Norway! I
ﬁ nd Oluf and Mette, the Norwe-
gian ancestors, six generations back,
born in Norway, married and died in
Denmark.
At home this winter, we’ll enjoy
Norwegian-style hygge and a Nor-
wegian-style hygge picnic next
summer.
Jean Ann Moultrie is a Grant
County writer. This winter she
hopes to enjoy Norwegian-style
salmon, Swedish meatballs, Finn-
ish rye bread, enchiladas, Moroc-
can tangine with chicken, coconut
cream pie, fry bread, aebleskivers
and Oregon sourdough biscuits at
the kitchen table.
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