Rural Oregon Can’t be Ignored (Water Cooler Interview too)

On our travels to the far eastern corner of this beautiful state of Oregon I’m reminded how forgotten these people really are to most of us.

The population base of Oregon is in the Willamette Valley so we truly do control what goes on in this state. Our values, our dollars and our ideas all tend to center around what the valley dweller’s decide.

A few years ago I passed through the town of Lostine, in Wallowa County and did a story on the guy who owned the only store in town. His family has owned the place for more than a century.

Imagine the sadness I felt when I walked into the store and saw the “for sale” sign. This is a store that has a little bit of everything. When you service folks in the country you have to. The inside looks like it did a century ago and it’s a hub for conversation, gossip and the latest news for the folks out here.

The owner told me he was selling because it was time for someone with new idea’s to come in and take a stab at the business. I’m sure part of that is true but I hate that.

I didn’t get a picture, but lined up along the railroad tracks in Wallowa County were hundreds and hundreds of unused cars designed to haul lumber.

It was like a graveyard to an industry that built Oregon and is now on the verge of dying.

As we drive through the farmland around Heppner, Condon and Fossil I wonder how long these people can survive. I think these areas need more representation in Salem. I think it’s time we come up with a new way of designing districts so that those less populated areas have more of a say in what happens. Why do Portland, Eugene, Salem and so on decide what happens to people who live way out here? It shouldn’t be that way.

Some of you will read this and say that’s just the way it is. What that says to me is you are the problem. It drives me crazy when one group of people thinks it knows what’s best for another. It’s as if we are trying to create a state based on what we think is right when in fact we haven’t a clue.

I drive away from Rural Oregon, back to the world I’m more familiar with and I’m rather sad. We’ve lost something in Salem. We’ve created a machine that has little value for people and values mainly power.

This is not a move back to common sense because in case you haven’t figured it out there is no such thing as common sense. Sense is far from common and unless we are willing to put people first in Oregon, we’ll soon discover that the bottom is deeper than we think.

Last Summer, while following Gubernatorial Candidate Allen Alley through Rural Oregon, I did this interview with a woman in Mitchell, Oregon. It created quite a stir on the internet. Some in the valley tried to discredit what the woman is saying which only proves the point that we simply aren’t listening. I repost the interview for those who are interested because the feelings in Rural Oregon are still the same.