A4 Weekend of February 29 - March 1, 2020
The Dalles Chronicle
TheDallesChronicle.com
OPINION
New regulations impact school nutrition
New USDA regulations recent-
ly implemented by secretary of
Agriculture Sonny Perdue nega-
tively affect nutrition guidelines for
school lunches.
Since 2010, the USDA regula-
tions maintained that carbs served
in school meals must be at least
50% whole grain, flavored milks
that are high in sugar and fats
would be replaced with nonfat
milk, and that the amount of sodi-
um in meals would be limited.
The new guidelines essentially
roll back the 2010 nutritional stan-
dards by decreasing restrictions
around the amount of sodium,
fat, and sugars that go into school
meals. The argument is that the
former guidelines were costing
nutrition services at schools more
Guest
Commentary
Carys
Fritz
money, and that children were not
interested in the healthier food
items, leading to more food waste.
Money shouldn’t be a reason
to decrease the options of vege-
tables, fruits, whole grains and
sodium regulations. While kids
may be inclined to choose options
with more sugar, sodium, and fat,
it does not mean we shouldn’t
continue to offer a variety of fruits
and vegetables, and encourage
healthier options through stan-
dards. Developing good eating
habits takes time. Luckily, the
rise of Farm to School and locally
grown food procurement grants
aim to increase locally-sourced
foods in schools.
Laura Reiley, a journalist from
the Washington Post, explains how
these new nutrition guidelines
disproportionately affect children
who qualify for free and reduced
meals.
“Kids can get more than half of
their daily calories from school
meals. About two-thirds of the 30
million children who eat school
meals every day qualify as low-in-
come and are getting meals free or
for a reduced price. Low-income
kids are disproportionately
affected by obesity and are less
likely to be fed healthy meals at
home, so the nutritional makeup of
school meals is impactful.”
Although nutrition standards
may change, we still have the
power as community members,
educators, farmers, parents, and
health professionals to make sure
that children are being offered
locally-sourced, healthy foods.
With over one third of Wasco and
Hood River County elementary
school children being above a
healthy weight, it is important that
we think about the immediate and
long term health outcomes for chil-
dren. We encourage you to reach
out to your local nutrition services
director to see how these new
guidelines will affect school meals,
and voice your support for keeping
healthy and locally-sourced food
available in schools.
We want individuals who are
passionate about school nutrition
to come together for a community
task force that aims to support
healthy foods in schools. If you
are interested in participating or
want more resources for local food
providers, please reach out to us at
Jump! In the Gorge via our website
https://www.jumpinthegorge.org/.
demanded ethics hearings on
Packwood’s boorish behavior.
Packwood’s voluminous diary
provided abundant evidence of
his escapades as well as vigorous
actions to obstruct justice.
As ethics chairman at the time,
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)
described the evidence as “…habit-
ual pattern of aggressive, blatantly
sexual advances … connected in
some way to his power and authori-
ty as a Senator.”
Like Packwood, Trump’s own
confessions, plus victim testi-
mony, show crimes greater than
Packwood’s.
General Soleimani is a war
criminal (Iranian military leader
killed by the U.S. in Iraq.) We could
have eliminated him at any time;
however, Trump chose to (distract
from) the impeachment trial. If two
drunks are having a knife fight in a
bar, and an innocent bystander dies
attempting to escape the melee, are
not both drunks guilty of murder? Is
Trump not partially responsible for
the Ukrainian and Canadians in the
doomed commercial flight escaping
Iran? More than 100 U. S. Soldiers
have Traumatic Brain Injury result-
ing from Trump’s manipulation of
the news cycle.
The evidence is overwhelming
and complete of Trump’s impeach-
ment articles are far greater than
Packwood’s transgressions. Trump’s
betrayal exceeds that of Benedict
Arnold, who tried to subvert the
defense at West Point. The betray-
al exceeds that of Aron Burr, who
tried to sell out to Spain. Trump has
accelerated his criminal behavior,
adding witness intimidation, ob-
struction of justice, and vendettas
against witnesses.
Russia has clearly begun disrupt-
ing the 2020 election by favoring
Trump and his weak competitor.
Trump fired Depertment of
National Inteligence chief Admiral
Joseph McGuire, just as Arnold
tried to subvert the West Point
defenses.
The recent flurry of pardons
shows clear and continued betrayal.
For those with the delusion Trump
is good for their 401K, remember
Michael Milken (who was par-
doned) swindled more than a $1
billion from investors.
Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine)
has learned no lesson. Moscow
Mitch—the grim reaper—leads the
majority of Senate cowards.
We need the courage the
embattled farmers showed on
Concord Bridge in April 1775.
Replace Trump, Jordan, Nunes,
McConnell, Collins, Graham, and
the Republican remainder with
people of integrity and courage.
Terry Armentrout
The Dalles
Carys Fritz is an AmeriCorps
VISTA volunteer serving with North
Central Public Health District, orig-
inally from Springfield, Illinois. She
is passionate about public service,
supporting the arts and being in the
outdoors.
YOUR VOICE
OR legislators,
stay put and work
To the editor,
I am angry with our Oregon
legislators who think walking out on
their job, wasting taxpayer money
and neglecting the many issues
of importance to Oregonians is
somehow Okay. It is not Okay. Last
week all but one House Republican
walked out, and there is talk
about another walkout starting on
Monday.
We Oregonians elected these
people to do their jobs—to be
in Salem every day during ses-
sion, bringing their constituents’
thoughts to the table, voting on
bills, showing up and working every
day.
Last year when Senate
Republicans walked out to deny
quorum on the Clean Energy Jobs
bill, each one of them continued to
collect his/her salary even though
they didn’t come to work for weeks,
and in the process wasted tens of
thousands of taxpayer dollars.
This has not been a single-issue
approach. This week the walkers
refused to vote on a bill relating
to child welfare standards. Last
year it was refusing to vote on the
Student Success Act and climate
action. Using this tactic once, let
alone repeatedly, is a dereliction
of duty and an insult and injury to
Oregonians.
Civics 101: The legislature is
supposed to work like this—if law-
makers don’t like legislation, they’re
supposed to show up and try to
make it better for their constituents.
If they lose the vote, they can show
up and try again next session.
Oregon senators and representa-
tives, Republicans and Democrts,
stay put and do your jobs. Walking
out is wrong and costly and not
what you are elected for. You are
only aggravating the growing polar-
ization of public opinion.
We elected you to solve prob-
lems, not make them worse!
Debby Chenoweth
Hood River
Problems with
Cap and Trade
To the editor,
Rep. Daniel Bonham (R-The
Dalles) released the following list of
“problems” with the Cap and Trade
bill:
1. This plan allows unelected bu-
reaucrats to raise taxes and costs on
consumers and businesses without
a vote of the legislature.
2. The cost of this legislation
lands on Oregonians to the
tune of $600-$1000 per year per
household.
3. The current proposed legisla-
tion creates an unfair advantage for
politically-connected corporations
to avoid the tax.
4. Cap & Trade will raise hun-
dreds of millions in new revenue for
the state without accountability or
full disclosure—sections 4 through
31 of the bill are exempt from public
records disclosure.
5. This program will allow
massive outside influence from
California speculators and corpora-
tions to come in and drive up costs.
Rep. Daniel Bonham
The Dalles
Filling the swamp
To the editor,
The sewage from Trump and
the Republican party continues to
raise the swamp. New and greater
revelations eclipse a letter before
the Chronicle can even print it.
In 1994 the Washington Post
revealed 19 women accused then-
Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Oregon)
of sexual assault and harassment.
Packwood denied it. However, then-
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California)
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