Moscow Needs A Bigger, Clearer Vision

["Douglas Stambler" <stamblerdouglas@hotmail.com>]

This is a freelance article I wrote about Pendleton, Oregon.  What is going 
to be the BIG, CLEAR vision for Moscow, Idaho?  In Christ, Douglas
************************************************************************

Pendleton, Oregon: After the Oregon Trail Into The 21st Century
By Douglas Stambler
>
>Pendleton, Oregon is one of many picturesque little towns along
>the historical Oregon Trail.  About four hours northwest of
>Boise, Idaho, Pendleton is poised to become a new center of
>commerce and an example of a twenty-first century,
>self-sustaining community.  Known in the West for the Pendleton
>Round-Up, the town features old frontier skills like
>“horsemanship, cattle lassoing, Indian dances” and much fanfare
>and pageantry.  But what is truly remarkable about Pendleton,
>is that it sits on the crossroads of a modern day gold mine.

After all, many 19th century pioneers traveled
>through Pendleton to “gold rush” in Alaska.  Pendleton was
>known for its hospitality to travelers, who were on their way
>to Seattle to board ships to Anchorage, hoping to strike it
>rich.  Even today, a traveler will find the local residents
>affable, generous and a little shy: The Gold Rush days are
>over, but the charms of Pendleton remain.  The town sits in a
>small valley, surrounded by working class homes and churches on
>the surrounding hillsides.  Many churches in the downtown have
>ministries for the poor and the many ethnic restaurants are
>reasonably priced.  Of course, Pendleton has its rowdy youth
>and a fierce unemployment rate of about 12%, but the very fact
>that original residents tend to stay here and raise families
>here, says much for the efficiency of local government, that
>prides itself on the town’s historical importance to Oregon
>State history.  The variety of bakeshops and knick-knack stores
>near Main Street, also suggest a local tendency towards small, family-run 
>businesses.
>                                           ***
>
>As in many places throughout the United States,
>companies are slowly adjusting to the reality that large
>amounts of energy consumption are harmful to both the
>environment, and eventually, to business itself.  In the case
>of Pendleton, Oregon, the town is ideally suited to capitalize
>on the profitability of selling wind-powered electrical
>current.  In other words, about 60 large windmill-generating
>towers in and outside of Pendleton would generate an annual
>income for the town of nearly $7 million.  The profit would
>come from a combination of lowered costs for kilowatt-hours,
>and the very lucrative opportunity to sell electricity to towns
>in western Idaho, where the wind is far less suitable for
>generating electrical current.  The question is not whether or
>not Pendleton will eventually generate its own electricity, but
>who will provide the financial backing to once again return
>Pendleton to prosperity and regional importance.
>
Another advantage Pendleton has over less windy
>towns in eastern Oregon, is its proximity to the borders of
>both Washington and Oregon states.  In the southwestern United
>States, the borders of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico
>converge into an economic entity referred to as The Four
>Corners: Durango, Colorado benefits the most from the name
>given to the border lands, and has a downtown filled with
>outdoor shops, an art gallery and several excellent places to
>sample regional cuisine.  With Pendleton’s ideal location near
>Lewiston, Idaho and Walla Walla, Washington, a “Tri-Corners”
>approach to the economic conditions of an approximately
>120-mile radius, would enable this most economically depleted
>part of Oregon, to once again make its claim based on history,
>industry and tourism.  The combination emphasis on The Oregon
>Trail, wind power and the still-popular Pendleton Round-Up,
>could turn Pendleton into the new “Silicon Valley” of eastern
>Oregon, where wind power would be tested, marketed and
>perfected.  Pendleton is ripe for a convention center with an
>emphasis on alternative energy sources, and could stand to
>benefit from mid-sized corporate investment from California
>firms, who are now starting to be pushed out of California by
>large corporations, seeking to effortlessly cash in on the promise of wind 
>and solar power.
>
Historically, Pendleton has focused on agriculture,
>with commerce taking a backseat since the early 1900s.  But
>now, as agribusiness begins to phase out small farming outfits,
>there are new opportunities for this ideally situated town in
>eastern Oregon: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES.  Pendleton has the
>incredible advantage of having a low municipal debt-equity
>ratio, which makes it a safe credit risk for banks like Zions
>Bank and any number of banks in California which financed the
>“dot-coms,” and are looking to recoup lost investments.  The
>money is out there, if only a few courageous entrepreneurs put
>the project in motion, Pendleton might just find out that the
new “RUSH FOR GOLD” is simply to harness the AIR.



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