I took this in Burns, Harney County, Oregon, on Friday, 10/25.
These folks keep coming up with the most revolutionary and politically incorrect ideas.
I know the fellow on the billboard. He’s a USDA rangeland scientist at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center. He’s a very bright and personable guy. Got a PhD and everything!
For your readers: Harney County, Oregon, is 10,226 sq. mi. (roughly the size of Massachusetts), and has a population of about 7,400, of which about 3/4 live in and around Burns. The remaining 1,850 (or so) souls are spread around the remaining 10,150 sq. mi. It’s cattle ranching country, and one of the most sparsely populated places in the lower 48.
Blue State Oregon is four hours to the west, on the other side of the Cascades. It’s another world away.
Kind Regards,
“Oregon Mike”
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Dat sheit be raycist!!
Not diverse enough!
There’s no asian, hispanic or black children in that family. That billboard is not representative of our communities. They need to take it down right now!
I’ll tell al sharpton. He’ll take care of it.
One person made the entirely believable comment (as satire) of “dat be racist”.
Here’s the rub: When whites put up a white family, that’s racist because it’s not diverse. If whites put up a black family, on a billboard that is clearly PRO-black family, THAT is racist because it’s talking down our nose. Same for Hispanics.
What that narrative is really about is silencing criticism – of PC policies, of whites speaking in general, and allowing only one political view.
White – black – Hispanic – frankly I don’t care: a pro-family message should be applauded for anyone / everyone.
The disintegration of the family is at the root of many of our societal ills and not allowing a discussion about that, without first having to jump through hoops to satisfy a political agenda first, and family disintegration as an after thought.
Al sharpton did not like my sarcasm.
That billboard is missing a black, a hispanic, two lesbians-a-munching, and two gays holding hands. It needs to be made PC.
I can tell you it takes a LONG time to ride across Oregon, especially the eastern-desert half, especially in July, with temps >100F. I emptied a 3l Camelbak repeatedly at the rate of roughly 1 liter per hour and it still wasn’t enough hydration.
Then one crosses the mountains, reaches the coast, and it’s almost shockingly cold–more than 20F differential in just the last few miles.
Two different worlds, indeed, environmentally as well as politically.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Well duh! You chose the wrong vehicle. You sure are smart with the law, but in other matters sometimes I wonder.
try a crown vic with climate control.
its easier to drink 🙂
Drove through that corner of Oregon middle of last November on a Seattle to Chicago run. Love that stretch between Pendleton and Baker City and hope to explore that area again in our retirement travels.
But one thought kept recurring from about Baker City through southern Idaho en route to SLC, vast stretches of that country smells like cow shit! Rural IL where I live now differs only in that it’s pigs here.
It’s that gonna drive me back to the west side of the Cascades. How I miss the smell of PINE, rhodys, huckleberries and the like.
If you ever get a chance, run the Columbia Gorge (I-84 from Portland to Baker City) at sunrise. Bee-you-tee-ful!!!
For fresh-smelling air, try central Oregon, especially the more rural areas near (but not in) Redmond, Bend, Sunriver, and La Pine. Smells like fresh juniper bushes year-round.
I love Oregon, but the solid blue in the “left” part of the state – especially the “upper left” where Portland is – keeps the politics … “interesting.” With all the agriculture, livestock, and timber industries, you’d think we’d be a much redder state (purple, at least), but Portland carries the state.
Them be the predominant Douglas Fir trees you’re smelling on the west side of the Cascades. You’ll find the pine trees on the east side.
I was born and raised in south east King county and remember it well from the late 50’s through mid 70’s when I graduated. Fishing on the White, Green and Puyallup rivers, hiking in the Mt. Rainier park, Carbon River entrance. Put in 40 years there before moving to IL where my wife, whom I met on AOL, has a large family. It’s a different kind of beautiful here, but the smell takes some getting used to. It was on a road trip to Seattle a couple years ago over I-90 in northern Idaho the pine smell was SO incredibly strong. I so miss that here. The gorge run is beautiful too. Could have forgotten I was in Oregon until the gas station attendant about assaulted me for trying to pump my own gas. Thought “Oh, that’s right – I’m in the land of wackos”.
Love that stretch between Pendleton and Baker City
Having lived in LaGrande for a year – without knowing the first thing about the place before I moved – I agree.
I had no idea that Oregon had terrain like this…my impression was rain and rhododendrons. I’ve got one conservative cousin in the Eugene area…professional, family man, married to the same woman for close to 40 years; kids are conservatives too. The other cousins are typical lefties. No matter where it is, I think it takes courage to put yourself out there on a billboard with a RTL message.
Most of the roads go up the wet side, it’s a lot more comfortable to watch the wipers take drizzle off the windshield than to have to get out and wash dust off.
West of the Cascades (i.e. the Willamette Valley) has a lot of rain. West of the Coast Range (i.e. along the coast) has a metric crapton of rain. East of the Cascades is high-desert climate: drier, dustier, with sagebrush (yes, the bouncy bushes from old Western films; we have that) and gorgeous scenery.
Most Oregonians live in the Portland-metro area, in the valley, or along the coast, so it’s easy to write-off or overlook the “right half” of the state.
The Family is the Basic Economic Unit. Together there is prosperity. Broken up there is poverty.
I’d actually like to give this comment 1,000 Thumbs Up.
Thanks!
3 children.
Doesn’t that make him a breeder? And a mouth-breather?