OPINION
A4 HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2015
EDITORIAL • COMMENTARY • LETTERS
HermistonHerald
VOLUME 109 ɿ NUMBER 21
JE66ICA .E//ER
EDITOR
jNeller@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4533
MAEGAN MURRAY
6EAN HART
6AM %AR%EE
JEANNE JEWETT
REPORTER
mmurray@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4532
REPORTER
smhart@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4534
SPORTS REPORTER
sbarbee@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4542
MULTI-MEDIA CONSULTANT
jjewett@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4531
.IM /A 3/ANT
OFFICE COORDINATOR
Nlaplant@hermistonherald.com
541-564-4530
To contact the Hermiston Herald for news, advertising or subscription information:
• call 541-567-6457
• e-mail info@hermistonherald.com
• stop by our of¿ces at 333 E. Main 6t.
• visit us online at: www.hermistonherald.com
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES
'elivered by carrier and mail Wednesdays and 6aturdays
Inside Umatilla/Morrow counties ......................................................................................... $42.65
Outside Umatilla/Morrow counties ...................................................................................... $53.90
The Hermiston Herald U636 242220, I66N 750-472 is published twice weeNly at Hermiston
Herald, 333 E. Main 6t., Hermiston, OR 973, 541 567-6457, )A; 541 567-1764. 3eriodical
postage paid at Hermiston, OR. 3ostmaster, send address changes to Hermiston Herald, 333
3rinted on
E. Main 6t., Hermiston, OR 973.
recycled
A member of the EO Media Group Copyright ©2015
newsprint
The course
of events
S
o there I sat, several
weeks ago, minding
my own business,
when out of the blue came a
suggestion:
::I HAVE AN IDEA FOR
YOU::
Unfortunately, these ideas
often involve auto detailing
or pet grooming, but a
columnist needs to know
what people are thinking,
so — not without a bit of
trepidation — I asked what
it was.
::YOU SHOULD WRITE
SOMETHING ABOUT
EAST OREGON::
You mean “Eastern
Oregon.”
::NO. EAST OREGON.
THE STATE::
I drew on over 20 years
of legal experience to say,
“Huh???”
It turned out, on further
questioning, that the idea
was inspired by “Tri-City
legislators want Eastern
Washington to secede from
the state” (Tri-City Herald,
Jan. 28, 2015). “House
Bill 1818, co-sponsored by
¿ve Eastern Washington
Republicans, including Larry
Haler of Richland and Brad
Klippert of Kennewick,
would, if passed, create a task
force to look at the impact
of redrawing Washington’s
boundary lines with one
state east of the Cascade
Mountains and one to the
west.”
::REPLACE
“WASHINGTON” WITH
“OREGON.” DISCUSS::
Other than having to
elect Larry and Brad here,
that’s easy. Government
without the consent of
the governed is tyranny.
If the governed withdraw
their consent because their
leaders have become rulers,
it’s 1776 all over again,
though Czechoslovakia’s
“Velvet Divorce” is in¿nitely
preferable to the problems
and collateral consequences
of the Battle of The Dalles.
::EAST OREGON
WOULD NOT HAVE AN
ADEQUATE TAX BASE::
I don’t see any reading
of the Declaration of
Independence to say about
government, “…it is the
Right of the People to alter or
to abolish it, and to institute
new Government but only so
long as there is an adequate
tax base.” Good government
produces good economics,
not the other way around. It
doesn’t matter how adequate
your tax base is if the money
is frittered away on useless
projects or corrupt activities
that bene¿t only a politician’s
district or cronies. Detroit
used to have an awesome tax
base — until more and more
money went more to buying
THOMA6 CREA6ING
OFF THE BENCH
Herald columnist
votes, at which point the tax
base moved out.
::THINK OF THE
SCHOOLS! EAST
OREGON WOULD HAVE
SCHOOLS LIKE WEST
VIRGINIA!::
Well, presuming for
argument’s sake that more
money equals better schools
— a topic for a different day,
since that’s an easy 600-word
essay all on its ownsome — I
went looking for statistics.
In 2012, according to the
Kids Count Data Center
(which I selected because of
the nifty sounding name),
Oregon spent $10,415
per pupil. West Virginia?
$13,227. Presuming you set
store in that sort of thing,
East Oregon would have a
25 percent increase in per-
student spending.
And let’s look at some
other bene¿ts, going back to
the 2014 elections. The state
judges of East Oregon would
continue concentrating on
judging, not teaching, as
Measure 87 took a thumping
out here. Not to mention that
East Oregon would continue
to be a cannabis-free zone,
Measure 91 having been
passed by the Wet Side and
the State of Jefferson.
The Declaration of
Independence stands for
the belief that people
have a right to decide for
themselves how — or how
much — others can tell
them what they have to
do. Right now, the people
of “East Oregon” are “…
more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable,
than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to
which they are accustomed.”
The day may come when “
…a long train of abuses and
usurpations” becomes too
much to bear. If — when —
that day comes, let’s hope
“West Oregon” has the sense
to make it “Czechoslovakia”
and not “1861.”
::ALL RIGHT, FINE.
THE MATTER IS
DISCUSSED. BY THE
WAY — THE HAMSTERS
ARE LOOKING A LITTLE
SCRUFFY, SO...::
I knew it.
But that’s just the
independent opinion of
an opinionated non-pet
grooming guy. Let’s
hear your opinions on
the topic in letters to
the editor or by email
to hermistonherald
offthebench@gmail.com.
— Thomas Creasing is a
Hermiston Herald columnist
and municipal court judge
Who better to listen to?
I
f state legislators are
not inclined to listen
to lobbyists in the
quest for more education
funding for the next
biennium, maybe they
will be more impressed
with the need after
hearing from a student.
Umatilla student
Alfonso Bernal, a
fifth-grader at McNary
Heights Elementary
School, went to
Salem this week with
Superintendent Heidi
Sipe and spoke to
legislators Tuesday
about attending school
and the challenges in the
classroom. He related
how classes have to
rely on donations from
businesses for classroom
material because schools
can’t buy the suppplies
themselves and how
classes are overcrowded
because there are not
enough teachers and
schools can’t afford to
hire more. He compared
his experience with
those of his older
sisters, stating that the
education they received
is better than what he is
receiving.
First, area residents
should be proud they
have a fifth-grader
who is well spoken and
confident enough to
speak to members of
the State Legislature
in their house, even
JE66ICA .E//ER
HERMISTON HERALD
Editor
with a little coaching
from a superintendent.
Addressing a large
group of strangers in
an unfamiliar setting
is enough to intimidate
most adults, let alone
a child, even with a
trusted adult at his side.
Secondly, Bernal’s
message is an important
one for everyone to hear.
After all, who better
than a student to let
people know what
children encounter in
the classroom on a daily
basis?
Even though Bernal
didn’t specifically
mention education
funding, the bottom
line can’t be lost on
legislators, with the
2015-17 budget under
consideration. Educators
and superintendents
across the state have
been very vocal in their
dismay with the $7.235
billion proposed budget
for K-12 education
funding.
Even though it is
an increase from this
biennium’s education
budget, much of the
additional funding
— if school districts
are to receive any —
will be dedicated to
implementing full-
day kindergarten. As
a result, the proposed
$7.235 billion is not
much help to school
districts struggling to
rebuild reserves and
programs cut in the past
10 years. Many districts,
like the Hermiston
School District, are just
trying to maintain the
status quo — building
programs and reserve
funds to pre-recession
levels have been
impossible so far, and
the fear of what another
recession would do to
school services, funding,
staffing, etc., continues
to loom in the minds
of administrators and
teachers.
In the mean time,
students like Bernal
are the ones at the
receiving end, and
hearing from them
every once in awhile
is a good reminder to
legislators as a whole as
they settle on funding
allocations for the next
biennium. The need
for more money is no
doubt a common refrain
to which legislators
are accustomed. What
public service agency,
or person, for that
matter, is going to say
it does not need any
more money or turn
down additional funding
when it is available?
Allocating resources
when the pot only holds
so much money is an
unenviable task to be
sure, and with different
organizations regularly
lobbying legislators for
additional funding, it
would be so easy for the
requests to blend in with
each other and get lost
in the din.
This is why a new
voice, like Bernal’s, is
so invaluable, especially
because it belongs to
a child who is being
impacted, not from a
representative speaking
on behalf of a special
interest as a whole.
While Bernal’s
testimony may not
have much bearing
on education funding
when it comes time for
legislators to approve
the budget, they would
do well to remember
Bernal when making
their decisions —
$7.235 billion, after all,
is not just a number.
It represents teachers
hired, classroom sizes,
supplies purchased,
programs offered and,
ultimately, children. This
is one situation where it’s
important to see the trees
as much as it is the forest.
— Jessica Keller is
the editor of the Herm-
iston Herald. She can
be reached at jkeller@
hermistonherald.com
City, port handled conÀict admirably
BY JOE FRANELL
SPECIAL TO THE HERMISTON HERALD
Y
ou might be aware that
I was involved as a
facilitator/mediator during
the negotiations between the
City of Umatilla and the Port of
Umatilla in regard to the zoning
issue that surfaced about a year
ago and subsequently was sent to
the Oregon Land Use Board of
Appeals.
What you might not know
is how those negotiations got
started, who was involved
and how things ultimately
got resolved. Now that the
disagreement has been resolved,
I thought I should take a few
minutes to share with you my
experience.
Let me start by admitting that
I have a preconceived opinion
about politicians in general, and
I expect that most people share
it. In fact, my opinion was shared
by Abraham Lincoln, who said,
“Politicians are a set of men who
have interests aside from the
interests of the people and who,
to say the most of them, are,
taken as a mass, at least one long
step removed from honest men.”
That said, I personally know
several of the parties who were
involved in the dispute between
the city and the port and had
already come to believe that they
did not fit Lincoln’s description
of a politician. So, when I got a
call early last October from one
of those men, Roak TenEyck, one
of the Umatilla city councilors
and the then president of the
Umatilla Chamber of Commerce,
asking me to consider helping
facilitate negotiations between
the city, the port, and the involved
land owners, I couldn’t say no.
You see, Roak and Kim Puzey,
the port manager, had been
talking about the situation and
had both become convinced that
letting LUBA decide the outcome
would damage everyone involved.
They needed to find another way.
To be clear, they rightly believed
that letting LUBA pick a winner
and a loser would ultimately
result in all parties losing.
Once they agreed to negotiate,
they involved Lyle Smith, who
was also on the City Council;
Bob Ward, the Umatilla city
manager; and John Turner and
Tim Mabry, who are on the port
commission. These six and I met
for the first time on October 20,
2014. After that first two-hour
meeting was over, I was told by
both the city and the port that
they expected it to last for only
about 10 minutes because the
dispute was so pronounced and
the disagreement so strong. They
were pleasantly surprised and
cautiously optimistic leaving that
meeting. I also noticed a palpable
resolve from the participants.
That first meeting gave them
hope that appeared to result in
determination to find a solution.
We met three times to explore
and ultimately work through the
details of the solution that you
are aware of. Each meeting lasted
about two hours.
I would be remiss if I didn’t
point out the very real temptation
to fight because of the high
emotion, pent-up frustration and
perceived loss of reputation that
both sides faced because of the
press coverage to date of this
situation. I point this out because
understanding that temptation
makes their focus on finding
a win-win solution even more
remarkable. They had to set aside
their own feelings and personal
agendas for the good of the
citizens they serve.
George Washington once said,
“I have no other view than to
promote the public good, and
am unambitious of honors not
founded in the approbation of my
Country.”
James Freeman Clarke said,
“The difference between a
politician and a statesman is that
a politician thinks about the next
election while the statesman
thinks about the next generation.”
I think it is clear that the
participants in the negotiations
and the full memberships of
the port commission and the
Umatilla City Council behaved
as statesmen in the full spirit
of Washington’s view of public
service.
While conflict is unfortunately
unavoidable in life, I’ve always
believed that the true measure
of a person is how they handle
conflict when it appears. If that
is true, our area is lucky to have
public servants like those I had
the privilege of working with
through this process.
— Joseph Franell is the CEO
and general manager of Eastern
Oregon Telecom