OPINION READER’S FORUM
Founded in 1906
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
A4
OUR VIEW
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Be on the lookout for suspicious
activity this holiday season
T
he holiday season is a
time for refl ection and
the gathering of rela-
tives, but it can also deliver
an unwelcome circumstance
— crime.
Every holiday season there
is no shortage of scams and
other criminal activity that
can impact families and ruin
what ordinarily would be a fun
Christmas.
While the local area isn’t
consumed with a crime wave,
area residents should be aware
that even the simplest actions
can lead to an unfortunate sit-
uation where valuables and
other items purchased for the
holidays disappear.
Social media is a great
resource for many things and
its power is unlimited. Yet
social media can also become a
fertile hunting ground for crim-
inals. Many of us like, when
we go on vacation, to post
photos of our time away. We
want our friends and relatives
to know where we are and the
fun we are having. The trou-
ble is that criminals also mine
social media for information
and posting photos and long
storylines of your vacation is a
clear signal to someone intent
on thievery you are not at home
— which means your home
could be unguarded.
Another favorite trick of
criminals is the so-called
“porch piracy.” This occurs
when packages are delivered
to an individual’s home and a
criminal is following the deliv-
ery truck at a discreet dis-
tance. As soon as the delivery
truck departs — leaving your
packages at the front door —
the criminal moves in to steal
the merchandise. Again, such
activity isn’t common locally,
but it is never a bad idea to be
aware such activity can occur.
The best defense, of course,
to criminal activity is to not
post photos of your vacation on
social media. As far as package
deliveries go, homeowners can
avoid a theft by scheduling the
deliveries to arrive when they
are home or have the items
brought to their workplace or a
neighbor.
Finally, we need to look
out for each other. That means
if you see something out of
place with your neighbor, call
the police. Suspicious activity
can be checked out quickly by
local police.
The holidays should be a
great time for everyone. Let’s
all take some basic, com-
mon-sense measures to ensure
it stays that way.
Let’s learn from our ancestors
Supply chain problems. Rising infl a-
tion. Agricultural concentration. Cli-
mate change.
My fellow citizens of Umatilla
County, we have a solution: regional
self-reliance, something our ances-
tors knew well. We need to develop our
regional and local economies. Our food
can travel, on average, 2,000 miles. Our
farmers and ranchers are at the mercy
of the national and global food system.
All that stuff moving around takes
a lot of energy, which contributes to
climate change. We need to produce,
manufacture and buy more local. Good
for the environment, good for our econ-
omy. Get some chickens this spring.
Plant a garden. Support your local cat-
tle rancher and get a side of beef. Shop
at the farmers market. Go solar. Buy
less stuff from China.
Our ancestors knew how to do it.
Maybe it’s time to relearn from the
past.
Don Hartley
Pendleton
COLUMN
Homegrown: Culture grows and changes with the population
hen I moved to Herm-
higher. I won’t hazard a specifi c
iston in the early
guess, but these newcomers cer-
1990s, the most recent
tainly outnumber us old-timers
census had the town’s popula-
by a fair margin. And if you’ll
tion as 10,366. Thirty years later
allow me to move the “old-timer”
in April 2020, the census counted status to people who have been
19,354 people in town,
here since, say, 1980, that
and 20 months later in
balance tips drastically in
July 2021, Portland State
favor of us newcomers.
University’s estimate put
This has a large impact
the city at 19,696. If we’re
on the culture of a com-
not at 20,000 by next sum-
munity. Of course every
mer, we’ll be darn close.
town adds and subtracts
So in my time as a
over the years, slowly
Daniel
Hermistonian, the city
altering its identity as
Wattenburger
has essentially doubled in
leadership and employ-
population. But that doesn’t mean ment opportunities and civic
there are just 10,000 new people
activities change. And some of
in town. That number includes
these new faces are the children
the regular infl ow and outfl ow of
and extended families of people
people who come and go, who
who have been here longer, carry-
move in and move away, who are ing on cultural identity from one
born and die here.
generation to the next. But the
The number of “new” peo-
constant infusion of new blood
ple — those who weren’t counted speeds up the evolution process
in the 1990 census but were here
as people bring with it pieces of
for the 2020 edition — is much
culture from elsewhere.
W
Think of how many of the
business owners, teachers, pas-
tors, elected offi cials and non-
profi t leaders who have an out-
sized impact on our community
aren’t “from here,” and have
moved here in the past 30 years.
Think about the huge impact they
are having every day on who we
are. And imagine what kind of
place we would be if we were
afraid of this kind of change.
Hermiston strives to be an
inclusive community, and this
includes “outsiders.” Having a
welcoming attitude prevents cul-
ture from stagnating. People who
move here get involved with the
churches, clubs, committees and
programs that set the direction of
a town. They feel empowered to
add their voice to the collective
conversation.
I’ve known a lot of people
who have moved on from Herm-
iston. My graduating class of
2001 held a virtual reunion on
Facebook this summer and shared
updates on what we’re doing and
where we’re living now. About
9 in 10 who posted moved after
graduation and haven’t come
back. I was one of the few whose
life took them away from Herm-
iston and then back again.
But I’ve also met a lot of peo-
ple who are new to town. In the
past month I’ve met new Herm-
istonians from Molalla, John
Day and Bakersfi eld, California.
They’ve come for a job opportu-
nity or to be closer to family but
were also drawn by the culture.
We are now in a state of rapid
change as hundreds of new
homes are built each year, neigh-
borhoods are expanding in every
part of town and new jobs come
on the market seemingly every
week.
People are coming from all
over and for all kinds of rea-
sons. They are often looking for
a place to settle down and Herm-
iston checks the boxes. They
bring a refreshing outsider’s per-
spective, able to see the bene-
fi ts of a town that’s small but not
too small, a community that has
some traditions but is more than
willing to make new ones. They
want good schools for their kids,
safe neighborhoods and access to
health care, but no rush hour traf-
fi c jams.
They’re a constant reminder
for those of us who have been
here a few years to keep intro-
ducing ourselves and our commu-
nity to new faces. Because, ulti-
mately, they are us, and we are
Hermiston.
———
Daniel Wattenburger is
the former managing editor
of the East Oregonian. He
lives in Hermiston with his
wife and children and is an
account manager for Pac/West
Lobby Group. Contact him at
danielwattenburger@gmail.com.
COLUMN
A slice of life: The broad jump world record
A
re you familiar with
a dik-dik? It is a very
small antelope, being
about the same as a big jackrab-
bit. After roasting over an open
campfi re, a dik-dik makes a per-
fect entree for a two- or
three-person meal.
Last month, we dis-
cussed setting a world
record 100-meter dash
running away from a hip-
popotamus. That evening
also involved an African Andrew
buff alo, so both of the Clark
most dangerous wild ani-
mals in Africa were involved.
Today, we’ll deal with a
dik-dik-associated world record
broad jump.
Ticks carry several very bad
cattle diseases in tropical Africa,
and controlling these killer dis-
eases is both very diffi cult and
very important. The primary
control method is having cattle
jump into and swim through a
dipping vat with a chemical that
kills the ticks on the cow.
We were building dipvat
in the western Loliondo area
of North Masailand, right up
against the border of the Seren-
geti National Park. It was
only about 30 kilometers
from home, so my wife,
Barbara, and my nephew,
Mark, who was living with
us at the time, had come
along for a few days of liv-
ing in the bush and living
off the land.
In early evening, Mark
and I set off along the bush-
track in my Land Rover pickup
to get a dik-dik for dinner. Mark
drove and I stood in the back
with my bow-and-arrow, and
soon there one was standing
in an open piece of woods that
sloped downward toward us.
I took a shot and missed (stan-
dard operating procedure), so I
went up to retrieve the arrow. As
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I walked back and forth I looked
up and there he was again — a
nice, clear shot — and I missed
again. So I went up to fi nd that
arrow, Mark came looking for
the fi rst arrow, and here’s where
the action begins.
I was walking around with
my head down, looking at the
ground to fi nd the arrow, when
suddenly that was a loud snort
about 20-30 yards away and a
huge bull buff alo jumped up. A
singleton old bull is a deposed
king. He has been the leader of
the herd, the boss of the harem
of women buff alos, the winner
of the fi ghts for control, and now
he had been run out of the herd
by the younger guys and he has
nothing at all. He is angry, frus-
trated, and as I mentioned last
month, African buff alos nor-
mally are “smart, mean, crafty,
agile, fast — and the quintes-
sence of distilled malevolence.”
I had awakened the worst
animal in Africa from his after-
noon nap. We studied each other
for about 3/1,000 of a second,
then I turned and began running
down the hill through the sparse
trees. Under circumstances like
this, cerebral function speeds up
by geometric multiples and the
question “what am I going to
do?” was resolved in micro-mil-
liseconds — “jump into the bed
of the Land Rover so that he hits
the vehicle and I’m protected.”
So I jumped. The problem,
however, was that I was run-
ning so fast and jumping so hard
that I fl ew over the Land Rover
and landed on the far side of the
road — completely missing the
pickup bed. I have no memory of
how Mark did it, but he reached
safety in the cab. I got up and the
buff alo was nowhere to be seen.
Thinking about his mental pro-
cess it might be something like,
”I thought that thing was one of
those stupid humans but it was
the wrong color — it was like a
pallid termite queen that’s never
seen the light of day and it ran
like a wildebeest and jumped
like an impala and could even
soar like a vulture. Hey, this
thing might be dangerous and
I’m outta here.”
So I never saw him again.
That is how I made track and
fi eld event history — this had to
be a world record broad jump for
sure. The length, the height and
the velocity all put together how
could it not be the record? What
a great video it could have been.
The dik-dik was never seen
again, either, and the two arrows
still are in their resting places in
my beloved western Loliondo
bush country.
———
Dr. Andrew Clark is a
livestock veterinarian with both
domestic and international
work experience who lives in
Pendleton.
CORRECTIONS
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soon as they are discovered. Incorrect information will be
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errors.
OBITUARY POLICY
SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Hermiston Herald publishes paid obituaries; death
notices and information about services are published at no
charge. Obituaries can include small photos and, for veter-
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Letters Policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for the
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letters should be kept to 250 words.
No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person.
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