Speech: Veterans Day Commemoration

Remarks Prepared For Veteran’s Day Commemoration
By Crook County Judge Scott R. Cooper
Nov. 11, 2005, Crook County High School Auditorium
(This speech was ultimately not delivered)

Lincoln's Letter To Mrs. Bixby Rings Relevant Still

On Nov. 21, 1864, the Civil War raged. Amidst the battle, President Abraham Lincoln was moved to write a letter. He wrote to one Lydia Bixby, a mother of sons, all fighting for the Union Cause:

The letter reads:

Dear Madam,--

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

On this Veterans Day, 2005, Lincoln’s words are strangely contemporary.

How “weak and fruitless” are any efforts on our part to convey the regret we feel for the loss of young life fighting on foreign soil for causes and ideals that transcend the understanding of many of us.

How grateful is the nation to those men and women for their commitment to defend freedom for people they have never met.

How we cherish the memory of loved ones lost which is all that remain to us.

How we hope that God will touch the grieving heart of loved ones left behind, for we know that none but God can ever hope to set things right again.

And how solemn is our pride in our nation, and in the men and women who serve it, that we stand still today as we have for 229 years as the world’s bastion for Freedom.

That love of Freedom sets our country apart from other regions of the world, those dominated by terrorists, by fanatics and by brutal dictators. That Freedom is itself a precious thing, and like all precious things, it provokes in others envy. And as with anything which is envied, there are those who would take away from us that which we most love.

As Lincoln so elegantly put it to Mrs. Bixby, to keep our freedom we are called upon to make sacrifices, which by definition, means giving up that which we are least willing to lose. The Bixby family of Massachusetts in 1864 was called upon to make such a sacrifice. The Lucas family of Oregon, and many others, received a similar summons in 2005.

I don’t know if it is possible to convey adequately the sorrow and regret we feel for these families for their sacrifice on Freedom’s Altar even while we also extend to them our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation. The pain and pride of expressed by Lincoln yesterday, we feel anew today.

Lincoln’s war engulfed a nation and caused a nation to re-examine its commitment to its founding principals The war we are fighting today is provoking similar soul-searching and passionate debate. History ultimately deemed Lincoln’s war as one which was worth the price of fighting. History has yet to render a final judgment on the present war. But there is a theme and a desire common to both wars:

God Bless the men and women who donned uniforms and fought for this country and what it stands for in times past. God Bless the men and women who wear the uniform of this nation today. God Bless this great nation with continued Freedom, and let me conclude as Lincoln so eloquently expressed in his second inaugural address: “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this (the) mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.”

A Steady Trek In The Right Direction

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge
This column was originally published in the Central Oregonian, November 2005

Little Numbers Suggest Big Things Are Underway

What if you lived in a community where unemployment was sitting at the lowest level seen in 15 years?

What if you lived in a community where the value of your property experienced an increase of 50 percent in just three years?

What if you lived in a community where deposits into local banks jumped 25 percent in just 12 months?

What if you lived in Crook County, Oregon?

The economic news of the last few weeks has seldom been more positive. And don’t take my word for it.

Unemployment for the month of September was calculated at 5.8 percent, compared to an Oregon-wide average of 6.1 percent. The Oregon Employment Department, which publishes unemployment statistics on its website dating back to 1990, identifies that as an all-time low for the month of September. (The high was 9.5 percent in 1996 and the previous low was 5.9 percent in 1990.)

Property values? The Multiple Listing Service reporting in The Bulletin, compared median home prices between January and September of each year from 2001 through 2005. (The median is the point where half the sales were more and half the sales were less.) At the end of September 2005, the median price settled at $147,000—up 29.5 percent over the prior-year level. As recently as September 2002, the median was only $98,000, a change of 50 percent in just 36 months. No other community of Central Oregon experienced such a rapid run up of prices, yet the median price of a Crook County home is still well below that of other Central Oregon communities, which ought to give some comfort to those who fear that housing is at risk of becoming unaffordable.

As for bank deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation tracks those. By looking at deposits on June 30 of each year, the FDIC is able to evaluate the health of the financial institutions on which the country and individual states and communities depend. In doing so, it also provides an annual snapshot of the economic health of our community, since most people and businesses presumably keep their money in banks and not the sock drawer! The FDIC data show that deposits into Crook County financial institutions as of June 30, 2005, were $210 million. That’s up from $167 million one year prior in 2004, and it represents a whopping 25.7 percent in a single year. By comparison, deposits statewide grew only 8.0 percent. Deposits in Deschutes County were up 17.6 percent, and deposits in Jefferson County were up 7. 8 percent.

Even poverty seems to have taken somewhat of a break in our community in the past year. The Oregon Department of Human Services annually issues a report on food stamp utilization at the county level. The current report, for the year 2004, reveals that an estimated 686 people eligible for food stamps did not receive assistance. That number is actually down from 2003, when an estimated 922 people did not receive assistance. The participation rate—the percentage of households eligible who actually participated—rose in 2004 to 80 percent from 73 percent just one year earlier. Combined, those numbers are a clear indication that the community is doing a better job of helping those who need help most.

I think statistics such as these are an indication that something is going our way—finally—in Crook County. Despite increasing numbers of people who require jobs, unemployment is falling. Despite the persistence of economic malaise at the national and state levels, property values and personal wealth are on the upswing locally. Notwithstanding government policies which allegedly leave the rich, richer and the poor, poorer, Crook County’s underprivileged population appears to be shrinking and is being better served today than in the past.

With the approach of Thanksgiving, I can’t help but think that we have much for which to be grateful in this county.

In celebrating success, I don’t mean to suggest we don’t have problems as well. Despite gains in the number of locally available employment options, we are still dangerously dependent on a handful of large employers, the departure of any one of which would be disastrous. Despite the relative prosperity of our community, our economic health is not divorced from that of the region, state and nation. A calamity that befalls one befalls all. While our numbers are going in the right direction, many of our neighbors still need help securing adequate shelter, adequate food and adequate employment.

I doubt there will ever come a day when these problems won’t exist. After all, they have been with societies and communities since the beginning of time. Perfection isn’t the goal, because it can’t be achieved. What is important is to make steady progress.

This year’s numbers suggest the residents of Crook County are doing just that.