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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 2020)
A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM OPINION COLUMN Turning 60, one heartbeat at a time recently read a Discover maga- ately drops it, sniffs it and finally zine story that indicated a lifes- will eat it — and that’s how he ini- pan is a billion heartbeats. tially was with eggs. As I approach my 60th birthday However, it didn’t take long for this week, I wish I had known that the General to determine that he sooner. As a bit of an adrenaline really likes hard-boiled eggs. He’s junkie, a lover of scary movies and even a bit obsessive-compulsive a Pepsi addict, I probably about eating them — saving used up some extra heart- the yolk for last. beats along the way. A few weeks ago, John Whatever — the heart- left a note on the counter let- beats I might have saved ting me know that two eggs would have taken away were in the refrigerator for from my overall life experi- Lucifer and the General. ences. I would have missed Tammy When I tried to take the shell Malgesini the thrill of rappelling off off the first one, it pulled off INSIDE MY SHOES so much of the egg white that Morning Glory Arch near Moab, Utah. Also, I prefer part of the yolk was show- ing. I tried a different method on watching movie scenes like Jack the other, but with much the same Nicholson (“The Shining”) pok- ing his head through the hole in result. the bathroom door and exclaim- Other than likely feeling ing, “Here’s Johnny” than some cheated that nearly half the egg mild-mannered G-rated flick. And, was gone, Lucifer was fine, grab- bing it and snarfing it up. How- life without Pepsi — that’s crazy ever, the General had a look on talk, it’s hard enough getting to his face like, “What are you giv- work by 11 a.m. as it is. Getting older isn’t all that both- ing me?” ersome — other than side effects When I gave him the mutilated of the aging process. I’ve found egg, he hesitated and then immedi- ately dropped it. At that point, the arthritis exacerbates some already yolk went rolling across the floor. troublesome issues. For instance, I’ve always had Suddenly, he realized what it was difficulty with packaging. As I’ve and pounced on it before Luci- gotten older, I’ve lost strength and fer got it. I think the General lost a few heartbeats over that one. dexterity in my hands. My hus- band isn’t exaggerating when he Recently turning 82, my pops says sometimes it looks like a bear said these days he’s only celebrat- ing birthdays that end in a 5 or 0. has ripped into the bag of chips. Since this is my 60th, I’m going to In addition, I have trouble opening food in jars, Tupperware live it up. I’m flying to Disneyland containers and medication bottles. with my bestie and her daughter (a And I discovered my packaging trip we’ve talked about for nearly issue includes removing the shell 20 years). I’m going to get my fill from hard-boiled eggs. of adrenaline-pumping theme park The doggie doctor recently rec- rides, lots of Pepsi and probably ommended giving our canine kids utilizing many extra heartbeats. cooked eggs as a good source ——— of protein. My sweet and quirky Tammy Malgesini is the com- munity editor. Her column, Inside 7-year-old German shepherd is hesitant whenever anything new is my Shoes, includes general mus- introduced to him. With a treat the ings about life. Contact her at tmal- gesini@eastoregonian.com or General isn’t familiar with, he’s 541-564-4539. reluctant to take it, then immedi- I WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020 COLUMN A pig is a pig, regardless of how you dress it I t’s no secret that my Dem- I’m also worried about the ocratic colleagues in the impact cap and trade would state Senate want to pass have on propane prices. Many a cap-and-trade bill this year families in our community rely (SB 1530). They tried last year on propane to heat their homes with HB 2020, but were unsuc- and run their farms. cessful. They’ve been working The latest version of cap-and- since then to try and come up trade bill would have increased with a better version of the pro- propane rates by a minimum of posal. We got the first real look $0.16 per gallon in year one. at their new version this past While the bill includes some week, and while there are protections for natural some improvements, I’m gas and electricity cus- tomers, it includes no sorry to say it’s closer to protections for propane putting lipstick on a pig customers. And there’s — no disrespect to pigs no question families in — than anything that our community will see deserves the legislature’s their utility bills increase support. Sen. Bill steadily over time. Can One of the biggest Hansell you imagine forcing our issues with last year’s COLUMN friends and neighbors, cap-and-trade pro- posal was the signifi- particularly those who cant increase in gas prices that are struggling to make ends would come as a result of the meet, to pay higher heating bills program. Estimates provided by in the middle of winter? It’s the nonpartisan Legislative Rev- unconscionable. enue Office showed the program The latest bill also made would raise prices by 22 cents some changes to some key gov- per gallon in the first year of the ernance administration pro- visions of the program. More program alone. For rural com- munities like ours, such a signif- specifically, the new pro- icant increase would have had a posal would transfer authority negative impact. Rural residents over the program to unelected bureaucrats at the Department travel significantly more miles of Environmental Quality. These per year than urban residents, unelected representatives would and our farmers and ranchers need fuel to run their operations. be given tremendous regula- tory authority over huge sec- There’s no question these cost tors of our economy with almost increases would have been dev- astating for many in our area. no accountability for their deci- sions. What’s worse, the cap- Supporters of cap and trade, to their credit, have attempted to and-trade program would raise address this concern in the latest hundreds of millions of dollars on the backs of businesses and draft of the bill, but I’m afraid workers with no detailed plan they’ve come up short. Their for how those dollars would be solution amounts to an empty exemption for rural Oregon. It’s managed. As a member of the Legislature’s Ways & Means more likely to create a bureau- cratic headache for fuel compa- Budget Committee, this is trou- nies, and it’s not clear the fuels bling to me. I believe we have scheme in the cap-and-trade bill a responsibility to Oregonians would even work in the first to manage taxpayer dollars with place. We can’t afford to roll the extreme discretion. This lat- est proposal clearly fails in that dice with this. The stakes are regard. just too high. First-Class Team. World-Class Treatment You Deserve. Finally, short sessions like the one beginning in February were explicitly created so law- makers could make minor bud- get fixes and policy tweaks to laws passed in previous years. That’s it. There is not enough time in a short session for law- makers to adequately review complex legislation or ensure there are no critical mistakes. There is also no way someone from Pendleton can make it all the way to Salem on one hour’s notice to testify on the bill. That’s just plain wrong. While growing up, my fam- ily owned one of the largest hog ranches in the country. I raised and showed pigs in 4-H and FFA. I like pigs, and I am uncomfortable using a pig to illustrate the cap-and-trade bill, because it insults the pig. You can train, scrub, and spruce up a pig for the show ring. You can shave the tail, trim the ears and clean the hooves. But that beau- tifully clean pig is still a pig, and by nature it will wallow every chance it gets. You can’t change the nature of the pig. And you can’t change the nature of this piece of legislation. SB 1530 is flawed, and it is incredibly expensive for Ore- gonians. The changes from HB 2020 now in SB 1530 really is putting lipstick on a pig. SB 1530 is the same animal. This bill does not have my sup- port, and I will defend Orego- nians from it through any means necessary. ——— Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, represents Senate District 29. He grew up on a farm north of Athena. He and his wife Mar- garet chose to return to Eastern Oregon to raise their six chil- dren in rural Umatilla County. 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