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.
His Senate district, the size of
the state of Maryland, is the
leading agricultural producing
Senate district in Oregon.
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