Speech: Powell Butte Christian Church Dedication

Remarks delivered at the dedication of the Powell Butte Christian Church
By Crook County Judge Scott R. Cooper, May 22, 2005

The Most Magnificent Temple Lies Within

The old testament book of Ezekiel tells the story of the temple in Jerusalem. It gives detailed instructions for how the temple should be constructed and how the worshipers in the temple should conduct themselves. From the size of the altar to the layout of the gates to who may enter and what may be sacrificed, Ezekiel lays out a plan. The purpose of this plan, says the prophet, is to fill the house of the Lord with glory.

Ezekiel never saw his temple built. That task fell to Solomon, and his temple was destined to become one of the wonders of the ancient world.

But like Ezekiel, Solomon also failed to understand the true value of the temple. The temple‘s status did not derive from its architectural significance. Its status did not derive from its ability to gather all the faithful under one roof. Jesus made it clear when he drove the money changers and the sellers of cattle and pigeons that the temple only had value when it truly reflected the glory of God and when it did not stand as a monument to the glory of man.

The Powell Butte Christian Church embarks today on another chapter in its own glorious history--a history rich in service to its parishioners and its community. With the gift of this facility, church members will be more able than ever to reach out to the hungry, the needy, the helpless, the depressed, the downtrodden and anyone who is in need some small way of a touch of God’s grace.

That’s the real opportunity which this building offers.

We are at a point in our community where there is ever present need all around us. You may not know someone who is hungry, but you likely know someone who is hurting. You may not know someone who is gravely ill, but you likely know someone who is lonely.

The measure of the success of this building will not be how many faces crowd these pews every Sunday. The measure of the success will not be how long the asphalt holds up. The measure of the success of this building will be how many people walk in your doors seeking grace and love, and walk out of the building knowing they have found it.

The building itself is a gift to our county and to our community, and I congratulate you on a great achievement. But the greatest work is yet to come, and I and the community look forward to working with and watching fill this great space with the glory and grace of God who has given you this magnificent tool with which to work.

Speech: The Value of Volunteering

Remarks Delivered At A Volunteer Recognition Event
By Crook County Judge Scott R. Cooper At the
Crook County High School Auditorium, May 13, 2005

A wise man named Albert Einstein once said, "Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted, counts."

Think about that for a minute: how much time do we all spend every day counting things:

--counting monetary contributions, without counting the good those contributions have done;
--counting the contacts we have made, without counting the difference that resulted from those same contacts;
--counting on others, without realizing how many people are counting on each of us.

Einstein understood that some things simply don’t lend themselves to classification and a reduction to quantitative terms. Einstein would certainly have understood that volunteering is one of those things.

Why do people volunteer? It isn’t about the money;. it isn’t about prestige, and it certainly isn’t because there aren’t a thousand other things that a volunteer could be doing.

From time to time, governments and academic types try to reduce the value of volunteer time to economic terms. How many of you have ever filled out a grant application where you had to calculate the number of hours that would be donated and multiply by some arbitrary number—usually minimum wage—to calculate an “in kind contribution.” If you’re like me, you hate these forms, because there’s something wrong and something demeaning about attempting to reduce the contributions of ever precious volunteers to monetary terms.

To attempt to put a dollar figure on the value of volunteerism cheapens and undermines the basic concept. Volunteering adds richness and diversity to our lives. It helps us understand our neighbors better. It promotes civility in our interaction with others. It gives us a sense that the world is not such a hopeless place as long as people like us care enough to protect our corner of it.

Whether you serve on a church board, or you coach a youth sports team, or you help battered women or you simply stop to help a stranded motorist, your every spontaneous act of kindness helps bind your community together. Volunteering is helping, not hiring; giving, not taking; contributing, not counting.Each one of you is here today because you are doing something to make a difference, or because you have somehow been supportive of someone who is making a difference or because you know someone who has made a difference in your life. You understand that the difference a volunteer makes can’t be reduced to monetary terms. The volunteer counts, but his value defies counting.

It’s not rocket science, and you don’t have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. Add up the hours if you must but don’t put too much faith in them. Our friend Einstein once said of his favorite charity, The Red Cross, it is “a light in the darkness and it is the duty of all of us to see that it does not go out." That’s our challenge. That’s why each one of you is here, for each of you represents a tiny flickering candle, who collectively, in a way that defies computation or reduction to a cold formula, do your part each and every day to keep the darkness at bay. And for that, you truly deserve the thanks of a grateful community, a pat on the back and a good round of applause for yourselves. Won’t you join me in thanking yourselves for all YOU do.

Homecoming For A Former Governor

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge

As Ex-Gov, Kitzhaber Gets It On Forest Management

I never agreed much with John Kitzhaber when he was governor of Oregon. I never thought the ex-governor “got it” between 1993 and 2000 as Prineville and other rural communities staggered beneath the implosion of our timber-based economy. I always thought the governor had a remarkable affinity for fish and trees to the exclusion of a concern for the people who relied on the fish and trees to make a living.

These days, John Kitzhaber is a distant memory. At the end of his term, he pronounced Oregon “ungovernable” and fled to a Colorado where he pursues his abiding passion for promoting a healthcare agenda.

So I reacted with quite a bit of surprise recently when someone sent me a copy of an address the former governor gave in April to the Society of American Foresters. The surprise wasn’t that he was giving speeches. It was that I actually agreed with a portion of his speech.

Here’s an excerpt of what John Kitzhaber is saying these days:

“The ongoing conflict surrounding natural resource management should concern us for a number of reasons. First, because of the values which are at stake: on the one hand, the majestic beauty and spirituality of our natural lands and the powerful landscapes which help define us as Westerners – and on the other hand, the jobs and important economic activity which depend on these same natural resources.

“We should also be concerned at a deeper and more fundamental level as well because this conflict and the acrimony which surrounds it are disrupting the important relationships which underlie strong, vital communities. People are labeled in this debate --labeled as environmentalists or ranchers or timber operators – labels which define only our differences and none of our common goals and aspirations.

“I believe that thriving, prospering communities depend on the ability and the willingness of the members of the community to recognize the fundamental interdependence between their economic, environmental and community needs; to see these needs as integrated parts of a larger whole, rather than as separate, competing entities.”

Kitzhaber goes on to talk about how current management policies have led to forests overstocked with stands of pine and fir, increased risk of catastrophic wildfire and unhealthy watersheds. He deplores the loss of rural economies and rural jobs in our state. Most of all, he expresses dismay over the ever-more acrimonious tone which polarizes different factions in the natural resources debate. Increasingly, the various parties involved have stopped taking time to listen to one another and resorted to the Courts to sort out their differences. That decision has led to a standoff that Kitzhaber says has resulted in “a management paradigm in which forest practices are shaped more by stakeholder politics than by sound science and balanced public policy.”

I would say that a few years away from Oregon have done our former governor some good. He appears to have regained the perspective which Oregonians on our side of the Cascades have been advocating since the debate first began over how best to manage our resources.

I have always been offended at the suggestion that residents of the eastern two-thirds of Oregon somehow lack an environmental ethic and simply want to be left alone to do what they want to the land. That doesn’t square with the values with which I was raised nor does it square with the attitudes that I’ve heard espoused by long-time residents and newcomers alike.

What I have always understood Oregonians on the dry side to want is a national and state policy on resource management that honors the need to balance resource capacity with the ability to make a living off the land. The key word in that sentence is “balance.” I don’t think any of us who are native to this region don’t travel through the forests with a sense of awe and privilege at the beautiful landscape that surrounds us. I don’t think any of us want to see that landscape destroyed. But all of us recognize that land isn’t static: to be productive, it must be managed. Good management includes the removal of smaller trees to make room for larger one. Good management can include a sensible grazing plan which enhances, not hurts, forage condition. Good management requires the ability to access the interior of the forest by building (gasp!) some roads! Good management even means the conservation of species by managing wildlife numbers so that the entire population doesn’t risk dying of disease and starvation.

I’m thrilled that Governor Kitzhaber is starting to see it our way. I hope that his newly enlighted views represent a “chink” in the armor of opposition to common sense and a chance to re-engage long time foes in a new dialogue about common sense approaches to resource health.

Apparently, you can take Oregonians out of Oregon, but you’ll never take the Oregon out of a true Oregonian. Welcome back to the ranks of the rest of us, John Kitzhaber.

How Much Do You Know About Your County?

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
Published in the Powell Butte View, May 2005

Grab a pencil and test your knowledge of where our community fits in the world of statistical data. (Answer key with notes appears at the end of the article.)

Among the 36 counties of Oregon, where does Crook County rank for growth?
1st
2nd
15h

Among 3,140 counties in the nation, where did Crook County rank for growth in the period 2000-2004
91st
186th
749th

Where did Crook County rank in unemployment within Oregon counties, based on latest figures?
Highest
16th (of 36 counties)
Lowest

Which Central Oregon county consistently has the highest per capita income in the region?
Deschutes
Crook
Jefferson

Which unincorporated community (defined as a census tract) in Crook County outside Prineville has the largest population?
Powell Butte
Prineville Reservoir area
Mill Creek area

At $14.21 per thousand dollars of assessed value, the average property tax assessed in Crook County in 2003-04 was:
Higher than Deschutes and Jefferson Counties
Lower than Deschutes and Jefferson Counties
The same as Deschutes and Jefferson Counties

With 8.6 percent growth in 2003-04 (based on assessed real market value), real estate values in Crook County:
Outpaced all counties in Oregon
Outpaced all but five counties in Oregon
Was the lowest in Oregon

The largest employment segment in Crook County is:
Manufacturing
Trade, Transportation and Utilities
Government (federal state, local and schools)

The 2000 census of religion found that 27.4 percent of citizens in Crook County are affiliated with a church. Compared to Multnomah County that percentage is:
Slightly larger
Quite a bit smaller
About the same

Comparing land ownership patterns in Crook County Deschutes Counties, the percentage of land owned by the government in Crook County is
Quite a bit more
Quite a bit less
About the same

Anglo and Hispanic residents of Crook County represent the largest and second-largest ethnic communities. What identifiable ethic group is third?
African American
Native American
Asian

Commuters to another county make up what portion of the work force residing in Crook County?
Less than 10 percent
10-20 percent
More than 20 percent

What county in Oregon has the highest percentage of women-owned businesses?:
Multnomah
Crook
Deschutes

What percentage of Crook County residents live in a mobile home?
10.3
24.3
28.5

When asked their ancestry by the 2000 census, Crook County residents reported 23 distinct nationalities (not including those who reported “American” or “other”). What was the most commonly reported ancestry?
English
German
Irish

Answer key: In each case, the answer is “b”
Notes:

1 and 2) A Census press release in April identified Deschutes County as the fastest growing county in the nation and the 91st fastest growing county in the state. Although the numbers for Crook County (2nd fastest in the state and 186th fasted in the nation were available through the Census’ web site, media attention given did not follow.)
3) Baker, Columbia, Coos, Grant, Harney, Klamath, Lake, Linn, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Wallowa, Wasco and Wheeler all had higher unemployment rates in March 2005.
4) Based on latest available data (2003), average hourly wage in the three counties was: $29,354 per year ($14.11 per hour) in Crook County; $29,118 ($14.00) in Deschutes County and $26,954 ($12.96 per hour) in Jefferson County.
5) source: Census 2000
6) Based on county assessor reports to the Dept. of Revenue, the average property tax paid in Oregon counties based on assessed valuation ranged from a high of $17.05 per thousand in Morrow County to a low of $8.89 per thousand in Curry County. Crook County residents paid $14.21 per thousand, while the average Deschutes County resident paid $14.24 and the average Jefferson County resident paid $16.69.
7) Based on county assessor reports to the Dept. of Revenue. Counties reporting faster increase in value were Deschutes, Douglas, Josephine, Sherman and Washington.
11) 91.4 percent of Crook County residents self-identified to the census as being “white” but not of Hispanic or Latino origin. Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin accounted for 5.6 percent of the population. Native Americans made up 1.3 percent of the population, Asians, 0.4 percent, “other” categories, 5.2 percent. Less than half of one tenth of the population reported ethnicity as being African-American or Pacific Islander.
8) Trade, transportation and utilities, employing 1680 people, mostly with the Les Schwab corporation, is the most significant source of employment in Crook County. Manufacturing (mostly wood products) and Government are tied with 1220 employees each.
9) Hood River County leads the pack in Oregon in church affiliation, with 47.8 percent of its residents claiming some religious affiliation. It is followed closely by Multnomah County (45.7 percent) and Umatilla County (43.3). Crook County ranks 16th of 36 counties.
10) Just under 50 percent of the land in Crook County is publicly owned, while over 80 percent of the land in Deschutes County is publicly owned.
12) One in 5 Crook County residents commutes to another county to work, but Crook County does not have the highest commuting pattern in the region. That distinction belongs to Jefferson County where 1 in 4 residents commutes.
13) Statewide, the percentage of women-owned business is an average 27.6 percent. The only county other than Crook in which more than 30 percent of the businesses located there are women-owned was Douglas, 30.8 percent.
14) Statewide, 10.3 percent of residents live in mobile homes. In Deschutes County, the number is 13.8 percent and in Jefferson County it is 28.5 percent
15) The most commonly reported ancestry was German at 16.6 percent, followed by Irish, 11.3 percent and English, 11.2 percent