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TH E BULLETIN• WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
The Bulletin
EDITORIALS
AN LNDEPENDENTNEWBPAPER
Meetings law keeps pu lic in the loop
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regon law allows the directors of public bodies like the Crook County Board of Commissioners
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to meet in private under certain conditions. Such •n
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things as lawsuits and real estate transactions can occur behind closed doors. Even then, however, state law sets limits on secrecy. No final decisioncan be made in an executive session, for one thing. And, before each such meeting, someone must announce publicly the general subject matter. It was that requirement for prior public notice that tripped up the Crook County Commission early last year and resulted in an ethics complaint against it. Though the Oregon Government Ethics Commission agreed that the law was violated, it levied no fines — perhaps its way of saying the violation was relatively inconsequential. The two members of the county commission present had, after all, voted in public to settle the "Siegert matter," a zoning dispute,
when they left executive session. Still, the requirement for prior notice is an important one, no matter how tired officials become of a rote recitation at the beginning of each executive session. Judge Mike M cCabe recently called the recitation "the stupidest thing on the planet." No it's not. It's one of the smart things about Oregon's law. Members of the public may not legally attend executive sessions. If the announcement of purpose is not made ahead of the meeting, the public has no way of knowing what is going on. It also serves as a formalized reminder to the governing body that it may only do limited things in an executive session.
paulcombs7C agmaibcom
M Nickel's Worth Don't give the president
a pass R obert M i tchell r e cently b e smirched Greg Walden for his subversion and violation of the Constitution by voting for NSA funding and continued phone record collections. His letter beautifully illustrates, at worst, the utter ignorance of the electorate, or at best, the utter lack of intellectual honesty in today's political discourse — here in Bend and in D.C. as well. There is nothing wrong with a c onstituent holding W a lden a ccountable for hi s v ote. There is s omething seriously wrong w i t h giving the president a pass. Mind you, the NSA operates under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense and reports to the Director of N ational Intelligence. Said director is subject to the authority, direction and control of the president. Unwittingly, Mitchell has p r esented evidence forthe impeachment of the president, who was conspicuously missing in the letter — or for that matter most recent articles from the lame stream media on the controversial NSA program. To lay the NSA surveillance of American citizens at the feet of one of 435 second-tier federal legislators and not the head of the executive branch — who has the authority to control said surveillance — lacks any sense of proportion or for that matter simple common sense. If you want to get involved, and make a difference, hold Walden and the president responsible, or support both of them on this controversial issue, regardless of your political
Forest Service needed to do better budgeting
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he U.S. Forest Service, still apparently struggling to balance its books in the face of sequestration, has come back to Oregon witha new demand. Send us $400,000, it told the state, in addition to the $3.6 million you already owe us. This time, take the money from funds that had been set aside for use on forest restoration. It's the second time since the mandatory budget cuts enacted by Congress went into effect March I that the Forest Service has told Oregon counties it wanted some of its money back.The cuts,in Oregon $4 million in all, come from money sent in the 2012 fiscal year under the Secure Rural Schools Act, the creation of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The $400,000 is a drop in the $100 million bucket of cash Oregon counties received in fiscal 2012, to be sure. But it and the remaining $3.6 million come from a section of the law that aims to finance badly needed restoration projects and, Wyden believes, Oregon is being asked to pay more than its fair share. We're of two minds about the
whole issue. On one hand, it's difficult to believe that Forest Service officials understand their own budgets so poorly that six months after sequestration began, they're still unsure of what they believe the states owe them. Sequestration was no surprise — it hadbeen discussed formonths, and the prudent course would have been toplan ahead and give the states and the counties within them time to plan for any shortfall. At the same time, while we believe a healthy dose of restoration projects is part of the prescription to reduce devastating wildfires in the West, this is one time that we believe cuts here are better than the alternative. Cash-strapped counties like Curry and Klamath will not beforced to return Secure Rural Schools funds dedicated to local fire prevention efforts, and that is a small blessing. In this case, what is good for the counties today may hurt the forests in the long run, unfortunately. It is an unhappy trade that better planning should have been able to
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jobs to sustain amenities and services, and saved tax dollars for other Robertsheasby critical needs. Bend Bob Dempster Bend
Follow state's roadmap on urban growth
I live in Bend and am retired. During my career, I served as a city councilor and city attorney in California. Like many of my fellow retirees living in Bend, I moved here for the quality of life. I appreciate the natural scenery around Bend, and I also appreciate the restaurants and other amenities. As a taxpayer, I appreciate good city decision-making that saves tax dollars. The city of Bend and the community have been talking for years about expanding our urban growth boundary. Just four years ago, the city completed a multimillion dollar, yearslong, public process and submitted its UGB expansion plan to the state of Oregon. The state rejected that plan but gave Bend aroad map togaining approval via the remand process. Now, though, some at the city want to abandon the road map provided by the state and start an entirely new process, which would take even longer and cost more. This would be a terrible waste of money, and a snub to the countless members of the Bend community who have taken part in developing the plan so far. The better approach is to follow the road map provided by the state, save tax dollars, and, finally, get the UGB job done. If the city does this, our quality of life will benefit from more housing price stability, more
Obama administration lacks leadership The word "annoying" is too gentle to describe my view of the Obama administration with its lack of morality, ethics and leadership. The current scandals clearly indicate a willingness to avoid the truth, to deny responsibility for its actions, and failure to address the major issues of our nation's dismal economy. The move to raise taxes and increase spending does not inspire the economy. In a way, I blame the overall educational systems. The focus must not be on justthe Three 'R's,i.e.Reading, Writing, Arithmetic. We must expand to Six 'R's, with Responsibility, Reliability and Resourcefulness. Each one of us must be a responsible leader in our own personal and financial affairs. Each one of us must be reliable in truthful communications and performance. When a device or a program does not work or needs changes, a resourceful person investigates and develops the positive changes required. The bigger our government becomes, with agencies, bureaus, offices, services and commissions, then it becomes more intrusive in our lives and seems to be less considerate of the need for responsibility, reliability and resourcefulness. I think our entirecountry could use a refresher course to include the six R's. Norm Lamb Sunriver
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Diana Nyad: Words to live by ow. S omeone f i n ally swam from Cuba to Florida without the protection of a shark cage last weekend. Moreover,that someone, Diana Nyad, is a 64-year-old woman who had failed in four previous attempts, the first made when she was in her 20s.
affiliations — and ignore partisans like Mitchell.
When she emerged from the water after 53 hours, she had this to say: "I have three messages. One is, we should never, ever give up. Two is, you're never too old to chase your dream. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it is a team." Think about it.
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How a demon iPad ruined my summer vacation By Doyle McManus Los Angeles Times
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plan toremember thisyear'svacation season with just two words: Never again. Never again, that is, will I take all my technology along. The Internet has ruined summer vacations. When I first visited my in-laws' cabin in Ontario's north woods 35 years ago, there was no such thing as broadband Internet. The nearest telephone was aone-mile canoe paddle down the lake, and we were beyond the reach of television. Our media diet consisted of a battery-powered radio. I know I risk sounding like an aging crank, but it was paradise. N ow we're cursed with al l t h e riches of modern civilization. The cabin is just close enough to civilization to get a strong cellphone signal, and that goes for data too, via a mobile Wi-Fi hot spot. Our little bit of isolation is no more.
Instead of b r owsing dog-eared summer-house mystery novels and bodicerippers,this year we browsed the Internet. Instead of long evenings of Scrabble or Monopoly or poker, we checked our Twitter feeds and updated our Facebook pages. And that, of course, is the problem with the Internet: It's so easy that, unless you're equipped with massive self-control, you use it if it's there. What did we lose? For a news junkie like me, being cut off for a few weeks used to be a good thing. It forced me to stop following what politicians were saying and allowed me to read novels, histories, even old magazine articles carefully set aside all year in a vacation reading box. When anyone got bored with reading, we had other pre-modern forms o f entertainment: h i k ing, s w i mming, canoeing, competitive bak-
ing, stargazing and card games. My
daughters would never have learned the rules of Texas Hold 'Em if not for their father's tutelage on summer vacations. The path to paradise lost has been gradual. For several years, I kept my Internet addiction under control by using inconvenient technology: a creaky laptop and a slow dial-up connection. But this year, the combination of a new iPad and that nifty WiFi turned out to be fatal. The demon iPad beckoned silently from the picnic table: What harm could it be to give the email a quick check? But once that alluring touchscreen lights up, who can resist
was reducing our attention spans and making us stupid. The Web, he said, encourages us to lapse into our "natural state of distractedness." Now, I'm not bemoaning the loss of total isolation or advocating unplugging from the Internet entirely. Access to the Web is unquestionably a wonderful thing. I love having a bottomless library at my fingertips; I love having the world's newspapers on my electronic doorstep. I love being able to pay bills and make airplane reservations online. And, thanks to those ugly cellphone towers in the woods, we now have a way to call for help ifwe need an ambulance or a lingering? fire truck. I'm not the first to stumble across It's also nice to have an app that this problem, of course. I'm a late identifies the constellations when you adopter, even when it comes to vices. hold the iPad up to the night sky. But As early as 2008, Nicholas Carr, then, you have to remember to put the author of "The Shallows: What the screen down and simply drink in the Internet is Doing to Our Brains," was stars — the original, uncut version. warning that b r oadband Internet And that's the point: It's impor-
tant not to let the convenience of the Internet get in the way of simpler beauties. That's not the Internet's fault. It's ours, for failing to curb the urge to browse. The first step toward recovery is admitting you have a problem. My problem isn't the Internet, it's learning how to limit the time I spend on it. So now I have one more thing to look forward to next summer: more time reading old novels; more time playing Scrabble and chasing frogs. Next year, I promise to unplug. Except, of course, when we need to find a new bike trail, or Google a recipe for wild blueberry pie or check whether "qi" is an acceptable word in Scrabble. And, while I'm online, could it hurt to take one little peek at the email'? — Doyle McManus is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times.