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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2020)
14 Wednesday, May 13, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon In the PINES By T. Lee Brown Shooting fish in a barrel is not an Olympic sport Some friends of mine are pissed off at the government, especially our state. One friend 4 let9s call her Lucy 4 complains that the State of Oregon is <incompetent.= It9s a reasonable accusa- tion. I spent a couple hours on the State of Oregon9s web- page for pandemic unem- ployment assistance. Haven9t seen a dime yet. But I also spent hours on a simple matter with a local, private company. I wasn9t asking them to make millions of dollars appear, figure out which of the over 362,000 citizens who applied deserves a share of it, then deliver each their portion using vari- ous feats of computer-aided logistics. Nope: that9s the enormous request I9ve made of the State of Oregon. From the private entity, I simply needed to log onto my accounts. One of their third-party providers of digital something-or-other got hacked, and then they upgraded a thingamajig, and then none of my accounts worked, on phone or com- puter. All this happened to coincide with COVID hit- ting the fan; walking into their office to sort things out wasn9t an option. Digital upgrades are a big deal; I get that. In fact, I worked so hard on an upgrade for an online com- pany back in the Internet Stone Age (a.k.a. the early 1990s) that I managed to per- manently injure my hands and arms. So, I was willing to cut a local business some slack as they waded through the mire of their technology. Even though the service they provide is essential to me and my family, and we 4 like most of you, dear readers 4 were having a pretty weird, rough time already. The nice people at the company sent apologetic emails. A customer service representative eventually took my call and alleged to solve my problem. Three days later I once again couldn9t log in. It was 8:30 on a weekday morning. Tried to call customer sup- port. They weren9t open yet. Huh. Even the State of Oregon9s unemployment office answers calls that time of day. Speaking of governments everyone loves to bitch and moan about: check out what the federal gubmint has been up to. They9ve managed to put operators on the horn over the weekends, so the Small Business Administration can administer emergency pan- demic loans seven days a week. A loved one got through fast on a Sunday call to SBA. Now his loan is sittin9 pretty in his company9s bank account and his employees are getting paid. But here I was at 8:30 on a business day, unable to get through to my essential services provider&which also happens to be my friend Lucy9s employer. I9m not mad at Lucy9s employer. (Nor am I mad at Lucy, a very smart and awesome person who sews beautiful COVID masks for the community whilst I tap uselessly away at my com- puter, spewing words into the ether.) I9m also not mad at the State of Oregon. Whenever you get a bunch of people, procedures, and computers together, there will be failures. There will be stupidity. There will be aggravation, grumpiness, and lots of waiting. That9s just reality. Would I like to see a bet- ter, shinier reality? Sure, I9m always up for Utopia. In the meantime, I9m going to give both my sweet local com- pany and my beloved State a break. I9m gonna say: People are doing their best. Hell, I9ll even go out on a limb and thank the federal government for not implod- ing 4 at least not completely, Make us your natural & organic foods destination! Located in the Cascade Village Shopping Center, Bend Open every day, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Isolated shopping hour: 6 to 7 a.m. • Large organic produce selection • Huge organic & natural selection storewide • Meat cut & ground fresh daily • Huge bulk-foods department • All your favorite local brands & items • Only 20 minutes from Sisters • Proud to be 100% locally owned not yet. Government9s an easy tar- get. It9s big! It takes money from us! Its largest budget item is devoted to killing other people, including civil- ians, often in gruesome and torturous ways! It9s got a plethora of easy-to-loathe public faces! In DC: snarky Tweet-bots, grumpy old people, cli- chéd Millennial Instagram Influencers, narcissistic buffoons. Over the pass in Salem: career paper-pushers who can9t see past the confines of the Willamette Valley, PERS mismanagers, luna- tics who believe their fellow Americans are actively try- ing to wrangle a Communist Chinese takeover. Manning the bridge, a rather nerdy and unspectacular bureaucrat. Fish in a barrel, my friends. Fish&in&a&barrel. There9s a reason shooting such fish is not an Olympic sport. It ain9t sporting. In a more sportsmanlike spirit, I propose a different narrative. What if the State of Oregon has done a pretty good job in the pandemic? Washington exploded with COVID-19 cases. California was next. Here we are, sand- wiched between them, with respectably low death rates and plenty of hospital beds. Should someone in Oregon have a heart attack from getting worked up about government overreach, the ER can zap 8em back to life. Kate Brown and her cushy-government-job underlings can9t magically find all the money and dis- tribute it to 362,000 people with a snap of their greasy, sausage-like, Democrat- electing fingers? So it frickin9 goes! Waiting is frustrating, but no more so than dealing with the average non-govern- mental entity. Is there a solution to the ills we face as a nation, a state, and a society? I dunno. I do know we9re not gonna find it in a barrel full of spent lead and rotting fish. Here9s hoping we move on to some- thing tougher, more produc- tive, and less stinky. HOMESCHOOL: Relax and go lightly; have fun for best learning Continued from page 6 media, and turn off the TV. Limit news to the eve- ning news or newspaper to keep stress down. Focus on <adult= skills, doing chores together. " Focus on feelings, family and fun first. Then, encourage reading quietly or aloud and daily writing. Model reading. Teach math, vocabulary and science through baking, measuring, board games and writing stories. " Lighten up and take care of yourselves and your family. " Teach through play and fun, encouraging academics in light un-academic ways. " Relax. Be sure your kids feel safe, seen, heard, and loved. Do a little schoolwork, then leave it. Play a game, go outside, bake a treat, snuggle up together and read a book. Talk to your kids to get a sense of how they9re man- aging and feeling. Who and what do they miss? Remind them this won9t last forever, we9re all in it together, and we9ll all get through it. " Facilitate learning about your child9s interests. Look things up together. Find YouTube videos that dem- onstrate. Encourage freedom for learning what your child wants to learn. Explore their interests. " Don9t limit knowledge to a prescribed curriculum. " Spark an interest, like cooking. You9ll be using math, English, science, and possibly culture, religion and geography. " The best learning hap- pens when you are having fun. (afineparent.com) " The same website car- ried information about How to Plant Your Own Food in a Kid-Friendly Garden. Check it out. Think about all your kids will learn by getting their hands dirty. Food establishments encouraged to use masks Central Oregon Public Health Department are strongly encouraging all local food establishments to use cloth face coverings. Local health authorities note that, while masks are not required, there is strong evi- dence that face coverings can prevent the spread of COVD- 19 from workers who do not show illness symptoms, yet still can spread the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rec- ommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distanc- ing measures are difficult to maintain, such as restaurant kitchens, drive-through win- dows and food trucks. According to the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Agriculture, there is no evi- dence that food or food pack- aging is associated with the transmission of COVID-19. Food products do not need to be withdrawn or recalled from the market if someone on the farm or in the process- ing plant tests positive. The virus is thought to spread mainly from person to person, such as between peo- ple who are in close contact with one another, or through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. To further reduce the risk of contract- ing the virus, Oregon Health Authority recommends peo- ple wash their hands often, including before and after preparing meals, before eat- ing and after coming home after being out. VOTE CLIFF BENTZ FOR CONGRESS 7 A Voice for Rural Oregon Proven Dedication — Oregon State Senator Endorsed by 32 County Commissioners within Congressional District #2 Lifetime Resident of 2nd Congressional District Endorsed by Former Congressman Bob Smith An Advocate for Natural Resources Supports Fiscal Responsibility — Paid for by Laurie Kimmel —