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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2018)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 OPINION Getting paid to ask questions? Sign me up. I might have created a future journalist at a right now, but we want to let people know who recent career day at Stanfield Secondary your cousin was beyond just how he died, and School. I wanted to give the family a chance to share As a rotating cast of students cycled some memories, if you’re willing.” through the classroom where I So why would anyone want to be a was presenting, one batch of mid- journalist? dle schoolers included an inquisi- I do ask myself that on some days. tive boy with spiky hair whose hand But mostly I know. continuously shot up when I asked When students ask me what made if anyone had another question. He me decide to be a reporter, I tell them had asked what my favorite part of about how much I loved writing as a the job was, and I answered that one teen, and how journalism allows me thing I enjoyed was that if I was to make a steady paycheck doing that. curious about something like den- I tell them about the fun events Jade McDowell tistry or garbage collecting all I had I get to go to for free while I cover to do was call a dentist or a sanita- them, like getting to spend a week tion worker and I got to ask every- hanging out at the Umatilla County thing I ever wanted to know. Fair every August while I interview FFA stu- dents and food vendors. I also tell them that The kid’s eyes grew huge. the political junkie in me appreciates the “You mean you get paid to ask questions?” he asked. chance to spend time getting to know all of If only all teenagers at Career Day were so my elected officials and the candidates run- ning against them, from the city council all easy to impress. It’s always a balancing act, figuring out the way up to Congress. what to tell students during career day pre- The variety and unpredictability can be fun, sentations. There are parts of being a journal- too. It’s always nice to get out from behind a ist that I love, but I also feel honor-bound to be desk on a regular basis to see new things and candid about the downsides. meet new people. And I have some great sto- For one, there’s the money. While top cable ries, particularly from my internship with the news anchors may be making millions of dol- New York Daily News, which included a visit lars, Payscale.com lists the average journal- to Spike Lee’s house, witnessing a surprise ist’s salary (including editors and broadcast FBI raid on an Armenian gang and covering journalists) as $39,235. If you want to give a the aftermath of a failed terror attack on Times recent college graduate at a newspaper making Square. $27,000 a year a good laugh, accuse them of Most importantly, I enjoy having a job being an “elite.” where I feel like I’m making a difference in Then there are the erratic hours, the high- the world, fighting for truth and justice and stress decision-making on deadline, mean-spir- accountability alongside co-workers who are ited criticism from readers (or non-readers equally passionate about those things. who assumed/heard we wrote something we So what do I tell your kids when they see didn’t), attacks on the press by politicians and me at career day? the constant layoffs adding to our workload. If you’re just looking for an easy way to The worst days, though, are the days we pay the bills, journalism isn’t for you. But if lose someone in our community to violence or you’re willing to put your dreams of driving a suicide or a car crash and my job takes me to Ferrari on hold, it’s a heck of a gig. the scene, or requires me to contact a family ——— member to say, “I’m so sorry for your loss. I Jade McDowell is a reporter for the know you are going through a really hard time Hermiston Herald. Letters to the editor Letters to the Editor is a forum for the Hermiston Herald readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters should be kept to 250 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. The Hermiston Herald reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and signed by the writer or writers. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. Only the letter writer’s name and city of residence will be published. Send letters to editor@hermistonherald.com, or Hermiston Herald, 333 E. Main St., Hermiston, OR 97838. GoodHealth LIVE WITH CHRISTOPHER J. KEELER, D.O., BOARD CERTIFIED GENERAL SURGEON General Surgery & You Join Dr. Christopher J. Keeler as he shares common surgical conditions that he cares for right here in Hermiston. Wednesday, April 65 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Good Shepherd Health Care System Conference Center 1 and 6 610 NW 11th Street | Hermiston, OR 97838 A Healthy dessert with light refreshments will be provided Space is Limited. Register today! 6all 541.667.3509 or Register Online at Eventbrite Can’t Make it to the Event? Watch Live at www.facebook.com/gshcsnews LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Potholes need fixed I am writing to say the new street lamps on Main Street look VERY nice. And the downtown renovations will be another boost, once complete, for the revitalization efforts. I wholeheart- edly agree with upgrading and mak- ing things look nice but what I do not understand is while these are cosmeti- cally pleasing changes, why don’t we spend money where it is NEEDED? I wonder how many people who voted on these changes have driven on E.Newport Avenue between 5th & 6th Street? Or on S. 6th Street between E. Newport & E. Hurlburt? I drive them daily and have to play “dodge the pot- holes” each and every time. If a police officer were behind me I am sure I would be pulled over for the swerving. You should pay for a NEED before you pay for a WANT. CINDY STORIE HERMISTON Agricultural census too complicated The 2017 “cen-cuss” of agriculture form required by law — asking for lots of personal income info not available before your 2017 taxes are filed, but supposed to be sent by Feb. 5, 2018? A reply is required for anyone who gets a form who was involved in agri- cultural activity. Who was not? Reporting online is fast, secure, using your unique 17-digit survey code — sure, the results will be in aggregate form only because federal law ensures no individual operation or person can be identified. Sure, results will be avail- ably promptly by Feb. 2019. Sure, in timely useful form while all that per- sonal info is floating on the cloud snatchable by anyone, anywhere. If you tossed out the first form, guesstimated on the second form and have tried to fill out the third dupli- cate form you are asked to mail back all three of the 24 page forms in one enve- lope carefully marking the duplicate two so they can correct their records. This “cen-cuss” of agriculture claims to be the only source of uniform, com- prehensive info about agriculture for every state and county in the nation. Sure. My special favorite is page 22 of production expenses. Sample: “include expenses paid by you and your land- lords.” Then question #14: prop- erty taxes paid in 2017 include farm machinery, livestock, etc. but exclude taxes paid by this operation’s landlords. Sure. For anyone involved in agriculture “or not” this is supposed to be “your voice, your future opportunities.” Right. That’s what I’m afraid of. JACKIE KALBERER UMATILLA Vote Walden out Greg Walden, vote him out, why, you ask, he led the way to cut out HEALTHCARE for 8 million peo- ple. Let’s not allow this congressman to choose party over people one more election cycle! He supported supposed “tax reform” legislation, that as we know has and will continue to give extreme tax breaks to the rich forever. 670,000 Oregonians that use state and local deductions will no longer have that option, they will be paying up to $2,800 more per household. House- holds with incomes of $75,000 will pay $1,200 more this year, 2018. Any tax breaks stop for middle class fami- lies after ten years and some have none at all. The press asked for an explana- tion of allowing these deductions to go away without any challenge, Greg Walden did not answer them even when the governor wrote to him. Let’s not let outside money win this election, let’s drain the swamp. 19 years of this kind of treatment is enough. Let’s vote in new folks that really will represent “we the people’s” best interest. JAN BEITEL HERMISTON Thanks from Agape House On behalf of the clients of the Agape House, I want to extend our great thanks to the Hermiston Leadership class and the people of Western Umatilla County for the “Stuff the Bus” supply drive on Saturday. Through their effort, we can continue to help those in need with the many food items collected. Much of the food items will be used in our elemen- tary school weekend food program. If you would like to see the value of Lead- ership Hermiston’s effort, I invite you to visit the Agape House and see the happy faces of those being served. DAVE HUGHES HERMISTON
