Editorials from around Oregon

Selected editorials from Oregon newspapers:

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The Oregonian/OregonLive, Jan. 31, on Portland Marathon operators nearing finish line:

For yet another year, it seems likely that we’ll all share in the suspense that is now the Portland Marathon.

Not so much who will win, but whether the race will be held at all. And that’s a shame.

The Oregon Department of Justice continues to investigate the event’s operators, Les Smith and Mamie Wheeler, and how they managed the marathon’s nonprofit arm along with a few for-profit entities. But the scandals haven’t stopped there. Smith and Wheeler have struggled in recent years to handle basic race requirements, such as clearly identifying the course and announcing the correct winner.

The city also nearly shut down the race in 2016 when it became clear Smith hadn’t distributed a critical plan on how to handle an emergency along the route. It may not have been a simple oversight. City officials later told Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Lizzy Acker that Smith had been reluctant to stray from his long-standing emergency plan even after the deadly terrorist attack at the 2013 Boston Marathon highlighted the need for more security measures.

Smith, the event director, never publicly apologized for the confusion over the course that tacked on as much as a half-mile for many runners. He also claimed it was “no big deal” when race officials gave the third-place runner in the men’s race the first-place trophy.

It has been disheartening to watch such a decline in leadership and race quality. Sports marketing experts say that it appears the number of runners who registered for the event last year was likely down, along with sponsorships. The once-coveted Portland Marathon, they say, is no longer held in such high esteem nationally.

Yet this community would like to continue holding up the marathon as a point of pride. Many feel a deep connection to the sport with the University of Oregon as the birthplace of both the Nike running shoe and the long-distance legend, Steve Prefontaine. The October race offers a solid economic boost for businesses and neighbors along the route and provides Portland with the credibility to host other high-profile running events in the future.

As such, working to rebuild the marathon under new management should remain a priority for city leaders. State investigators also should be pushing hard on what’s now become a seven-month investigation. The community and potential participants need that information now - Portland Marathon organizers already have opened registration for this year’s race.

Michael Cox, a spokesman for Mayor Ted Wheeler, said last week that the city plans to move forward with the current operators for one more year. After that, he told Acker, “prudence dictates that we continue to explore alternatives.”

That’s good news. The city should move forward, opening a broad search for an event manager that will be chosen through a transparent process - hopefully by this summer.

Waiting for a winner is one thing. But waiting when you know you have a loser is quite another.

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Corvallis Gazette-Times, Jan. 31, on Senate cooling prospects for carbon plan:

Two top Democrats in the Oregon Senate this week said the Legislature’s 35-day session is too short to pass a proposed “cap and invest” carbon bill.

The statements, from Senate President Peter Courtney and Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, appear to throw a wrench into plans by House Democrats to pass the complicated legislation in the short session, which begins next week.

Courtney’s stance in particular comes as no surprise: Ever since Oregon voters approved annual legislative gatherings, he has been focused on keeping these short sessions, well, focused. For Courtney, that means taking care of budget issues, tying up loose ends from the previous session and then sending legislators home.

And that is, more or less, how Oregon voters were sold on annual sessions in the first place. When voters approved Ballot Measure 71 in 2010, the argument was that Oregon state government had become complicated enough to require annual sessions. But at least some voters were worried (and rightly so) about the prospect of legislators gathering every year for lengthy sessions.

So this compromise was struck: The longer sessions held in odd-numbered years would last 160 days. Those were the sessions to roll out complicated new bills and major shifts in policy. The longer sessions would allow those bills to get a full airing and, just as important, members of the public would have the chance to weigh in on those proposals in a meaningful way.

The shorter sessions held in even-numbered years like this one would last just 35 days. That’s not enough time to give big bills the full consideration they deserve. Just as important, the short sessions move at such an accelerated pace that it’s practically impossible for the public to keep track of items.

We should emphasize here that we are not yet prepared to take a position on the merits of the bill itself, which would create a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and require many of the state’s largest polluters to pay for those emissions by purchasing allowances at an auction. Proceeds from the auctions would be used to reduce the financial impacts to households and fund efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.

But we do think that it would be a mistake for legislators to try to push the plan through the short session. Oregon voters already are justifiably wary about major policy initiatives emerging from these short sessions: The 2016 short session, for example, featured two big pieces of legislation that should have been considered in the longer session: a bill requiring power companies to eliminate coal-fired resources from their power supply and another measure to increase the state’s minimum wage.

Proponents of the carbon plan argue that its key sponsors already have laid the groundwork for it in previous sessions and in working groups convened throughout the state. But that simply is not the same as subjecting a specific proposal to the fire and fury (if we may borrow that phrase) of a legislative session.

Courtney and Burdick were correct to cool expectations for the plan, but leaders in the House said they intend to try to push it through this session. It’s another sign of the strained relationship between the leaders of the Senate and the House, and it will be interesting to watch how that plays out this year.

In the meantime, it won’t be as if legislators won’t have business to conduct during the short session: For example, Courtney said the state faces a budget hole of $200 million to $300 million from changes in federal tax laws. That hole will need to be plugged. And other loose ends will need to be fixed. That’s important work, but it’s work that can be done in 35 days - maybe even sooner, if legislators keep in mind what’s a proper fit for the short session.

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East Oregonian, Jan. 29, on colleges joining drive to ag education:

A Ph.D. in economics is not required to figure out what makes Oregon go.

All it takes is a car.

A drive through the Willamette Valley will reveal vast acreages devoted to nurseries, sheep, cattle, berries, wine grapes, tree fruit, hazelnut trees, seed crops - the list grows as you travel. Turn in any direction and you’ll see timber. Cross the Cascades and head east and you see more livestock, pastures, hay, wheat, potatoes and onions. Head west and you’ll see dairies. Go toward the ocean and turn south and you’ll find cranberries. More than 220 crops are grown in the state.

The USDA tells us there are 35,439 farms encompassing 16.4 million acres of Oregon.

This same picture is seen in Washington, with 37,249 farms on 15 million acres, Idaho with 24,814 farms on 11.5 million acres and California with 77,864 farms on 25 million acres.

Together, the 175,366 farms and ranches in those four states produce crops and livestock with a market value of about $70 billion each year.

That’s big, and for young people across the West that level of economic activity also means big opportunities. By 2020, companies will need to fill a projected 57,000 agricultural jobs, most in management.

Community colleges and land-grant universities have long been the place to learn about agriculture, food processing and other associated fields. Researchers at Oregon State University, Washington State University, the University of Idaho and the University of California system and its many campuses have led the way to breakthroughs in agronomy, genetics and hundreds of other areas.

But there’s an exciting development taking place among the region’s private universities. They are taking notice of the opportunities agriculture presents and also offering their students ag-related courses and degrees.

Corban University, a small Christian college near Salem, recently announced it will offer classes in agribusiness next fall through its school of business. Ultimately, Corban plans to start a college of agricultural studies.

Other private universities and colleges also see the opportunities in agriculture.

Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, is listed among the best colleges for agricultural sciences in the nation. Students there do research at the university’s 190-acre farm. The agricultural program’s biggest problem is producing enough graduates to meet the needs of the industry, professors there say.

Researchers at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, also have agriculture on their minds. Using a USDA specialty crop block grant, they have been developing a drone that can scan a field in a few minutes and help farmers determine the condition of their crops.

These are exciting times for agriculture - and ag education. More students are learning the skills and gaining the backgrounds they’ll need for a career in agriculture. And more colleges and universities are joining the region’s community colleges and land-grant universities in helping their students find professions in agriculture.

They recognize the opportunities that await their students.

All they have to do is take a drive.

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The Bend Bulletin, Jan. 29, on state needing to take anonymous whistleblower complaints seriously:

Whistleblowers - employees who disclose what they believe to be wrongdoing in their agencies - are protected from retaliation under both federal and Oregon law. That protection may get stronger if state Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, has her way. She’s introduced Senate Bill 1599, which would require the state to allow whistleblowers to report anonymously.

Winters told the Salem Statesman-Journal she got interested in the problem last fall after reading an article there about Gerritt Law, an Oregon Department of Transportation employee who was fired after repeated complaints about practices in his department.

Law sued ODOT, and the case was settled in May 2017. The state did not acknowledge that Law was retaliated against in that settlement, though it did pay him $95,000.

ODOT hired Law in May 2013, and he apparently began complaining about workplace problems shortly thereafter. For example, in 2014 he complained that work on a reader-sign pole being installed in Seaside was being done with the wrong-sized bolts. Seven months later, wind knocked the pole off its footing.

Two years later, he filed a formal complaint with the agency, saying his boss ignored problems and treated him and others unprofessionally. His complaint triggered several investigations and prompted others in the department to begin complaining as well. The investigations largely confirmed what Law and others had said.

Law was placed on administrative leave in 2015 and fired in April 2016. He filed the lawsuit in June of that year.

State workers should be able to complain about unsafe or unsavory practices without fear of retaliation. Anonymity would allow them to do just that.

Winters’ bill, in addition to allowing for anonymous complaints, would require the state Department of Justice to create a manual and a mandatory training program for all department supervisors and employees on employee rights and prohibited employer conduct in the state.

Everything in Winters’ bill may not be necessary. But state agencies should take anonymous complaints seriously and have a procedure.

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The Eugene Register-Guard, Jan. 29, on graduation rates:

Oregon is a long way from being able to feel proud of its high-school graduation rates, which in 2017 once more tied for third-worst in the nation, according to the state Department of Education. But last year’s 77 percent graduation rate is 2 percentage points better than the year before, and the rate has been climbing steadily throughout the decade. Oregon is moving in the right direction - and more than that, it’s starting to see examples of what it will take to make the state’s graduation rate match, and then exceed, the national average of 84 percent.

Pushing the graduation rate upward is a matter of urgency. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a high school dropout can expect average annual earnings of $20,241, while graduates earn $10,386 more. Those figures are five years old, so the gap has probably widened. The unemployment rate among dropouts is 4 percentage points higher than it is for graduates. Dropouts aren’t the only ones who pay: on average, each dropout requires social services costing $260,000 over a lifetime. Much of that figure stems from the cost of incarceration - a risk factor for people who don’t finish high school.

While slightly more than three in four Oregon students earns a diploma within four years, graduation rates vary widely from one school to the next. Last Friday, The Register-Guard’s Alisha Roemeling reported on a couple of Lane County’s success stories: Lowell Junior/Senior High School, which had a four-year graduation rate of 85.5 percent in 2017, and Cottage Grove High School, where 167 of 174 seniors received diplomas last year - a 96 percent graduation rate.

Lowell’s graduation rate is only slightly above the national average, but it’s impressive all the same: It’s 30 percentage points higher than it was four years ago. Lowell has proven that it’s possible to achieve dramatic improvements over a short period, offering a hopeful example for the entire state. Cottage Grove’s graduation rate is better than the rate in Iowa, which has the nation’s highest rate - 91 percent. If Cottage Grove can play in Iowa’s league, other Oregon schools can as well.

Roemeling’s article made it clear that both high schools encourage student success in a couple of important ways. One is by focusing on attendance. It’s no coincidence that Oregon’s low graduation rate is matched by a high rate of absenteeism. High school students in Lowell and Cottage Grove can expect consequences for an unexcused absence. The dean of students at Cottage Grove meets with each student who misses a class. The parents of a Lowell student who is absent can expect a call from the school - not a robocall, but an actual conversation with someone who wants to know whether there’s a problem.

Another common thread is career and technical education - courses that teach students real-world skills that can be applied in the workforce. Students in Lowell can study robotics, culinary arts, engineering and half a dozen other fields, showing that even a small high school can offer an array of career and technical education courses. Students who take one or more such courses graduate at higher rates than those who don’t. Oregon voters approved a ballot measure in 2016 that will make career and technical education courses more widely available in all high schools but some schools aren’t waiting.

It’s good to see graduation rates inching upward. Oregon may be getting a handle on this problem - and some schools have a handle on it already.