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
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is good, but longer letters should be kept to 250 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. The Hermiston Herald
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of residence will be published. Send letters to editor@hermistonherald.com, or Hermiston Herald, 333 E. Main St., Hermiston, OR 97838.
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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