Opinion
4A
Thursday, June 18, 2020
The Observer
OTHER VIEW
Outbreak has Union
County at strike one
s everyone paying attention now? The virus
has taken off in Union County and there
will be many more cases. No more magical
thinking, please. We aren’t special and nothing will
protect us from COVID-19 except our own efforts to
keep this thing in check. If we can’t do that, we will
all be sorry.
The failure
to follow state
NORM CIMON
guidelines by
COMMUNITY ACTIVIST
a local church
has caused
enormous damage to public health and to our
economy. As the number of victims rises, the will-
ingness of people to visit or even to stop in town
while passing through will be sorely tested.
A concern for local businesses and the jobs they
provide seems to have led our county commis-
sioners to consider insurrection rather than leading
by example. That was a mistake. Taking up arms
isn’t what this is about and violating open-meeting
rules is serious.
As for the church leaders, I’m trying hard to
find the Christian values in a strategy that seems to
have gone out of its way to ignore every one of the
Oregon Health Authority recommendations. Where
is the love and concern in that attitude? There were
no masks and lots of very close contact. There was
also singing, chanting, and face-to-face talk. Those
are all fine things except when they can lead to sick-
ness and even death. That’s exactly what’s happened
in other cities. We will not beat this by pretending
we are immune to the pandemic and by disregarding
the threat to our fellow community members. It isn’t
about judging the state either. That’s not the way it
works.
Here’s the science so far. The disease is quite con-
tagious and many can get infected. The virus zom-
bies if you like, and 80% can show little to no symp-
toms. The remaining 20% will be affected to one
degree or another, 15% may need hospitalization,
while 5% will be severely impacted and need inten-
sive care. Between 1% and 2% will die.
That’s a small percentage, but if hundreds of
people get the virus that could mean dozens of
deaths. Those who recover can show serious effects
that last for months and perhaps years. Not enough
time has passed to understand all the implications.
Everyone should be wearing masks and prac-
ticing social distancing so that the 8 out of 10
who are zombies don’t infect others. That’s the
right thing to do if we really care about our fellow
citizens.
Recovery for our local economy is now an even
bigger issue. There is an answer to this and it’s in
Washington. The Federal Reserve has started up the
printing press. Before the pandemic collapsed the
economy, corporations had built mountains of debt
because interest rates were so low and banks were
only too happy to let them dig those holes.
Now those businesses and their lenders are in big
trouble, so the Fed has promised the borrowers and
bankers that it will cover all the bad gambling debts.
That’s why the stock market keeps chugging along.
There’s more free money on the way.
Congress must do the same for the people who
actually keep this country moving: the small busi-
nesses, the workers, local and state governments
and the nonprofit organizations that provide support.
That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this.
The sooner we all buy in, the sooner it will happen.
We have senators and representatives and those con-
gressional members will be the difference makers as
we move further into this thing.
There is no other way now that the virus has
found us. Our county government should be in
touch with those people. Have they done that? If not,
the sooner the better.
One researcher used a baseball analogy to try to
catch people’s attention. He said we’re only in the
second inning of this thing. Union County now has
a strike against it. It’s time to prepare for the next
pitch and to make sure the umpires are watching.
I
About the Author
Norm Cimon of La Grande is a member of Oregon
Rural Action, a nonprofit, but his column only represents
his opinion.
Your views
One must weigh
consequences of trying to
enforce social distancing
rules
Regarding the article in the June 13
edition of The Observer concerning
Eastern Oregon county commis-
sioners challenges to the reopening
rules, the biggest issue appeared to
be that thousands of protesters were
allowed to gather regarding George
Floyd, violating distancing measures
and large-group gatherings. By con-
trast, communities were not allowed
to gather for indoor church services
or for sports events and graduation
ceremonies.
While I understand the commis-
sioners’ ire over this apparent incon-
sistency, one must weigh the con-
sequences of trying to enforce such
rules when thousands are violating
them at one time. Police would be
hard-pressed to enforce such rules
on such huge numbers of people.
The threat of the COVID-19 infec-
tion must be weighed against the dan-
gers of a paucity of law enforcement
trying to disperse so many protesters.
Look at the backlash from the public
when law enforcement violently dis-
persed peaceful protesters at Lafay-
ette Square for President Donald
Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Epis-
copal Church.
I’m curious as to how strictly the
COVID-19 rules would be enforced at
church gatherings, sports events and
graduation ceremonies. I believe in
those circumstances, it is not Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown but the commu-
nity leaders (pastors, coaches, school
boards, etc.) who see the value of
such rules in preventing a pandemic
in their particular area. I find it hard
to believe that heavily armed police
would come barging into such events
to enforce the governor’s mandate.
I have not heard of such incidents
anywhere.
Emelie Montgomery-Jones
La Grande
2) wearing masks in public; and 3)
avoiding gatherings of more than 50
people (in Phase 2).
Parts of the community clearly did
not follow those rules, and we now
have the highest per capita infection
rate in the state.
Patricia Kennedy
Union
Why not follow the
governor’s rules?
Shame on the Lighthouse
Church, and on The
Observer
Thank you so much for your excel-
lent coverage of the COVID-19 out-
break in Union County. I rely on your
in-depth reporting to have a realistic
picture of the rapidly evolving situ-
ation. My questions now are for the
Lighthouse Pentecostal Church and
the Union County commissioners.
I would like the church leader(s)
to address the community in The
Observer and explain why they con-
tinued to gather in large numbers with
no social distancing and no masks,
which was in direct violation of Gov.
Kate Brown’s executive order. Also,
I would like to know how the church
plans to compensate the community
for the costs of this outbreak.
The Union County commissioners
also need to explain to the county
why they met illegally in Prairie
City to disagree with the governor’s
reopening plan. Finally, I would like
to know if the commissioners have
reflected on their criticism of her
well-reasoned and science-based plan
that kept our infection rates at very
low levels when we followed three
simple rules: 1) social distancing;
The galling, unconscionable
audacity of members of the Light-
house Pentecostal Church in Island
City to congregate during lockdown
is appalling.
Did you really think you are
somehow immune to the virus? Did
you give one single thought to anyone
other than yourselves? To the mem-
bers of our community who are older,
or sick, or otherwise unwell? Your
not-very-Christ-like selfishness has
made a lot of people very ill. I’m
going to pray for you, and hope that
you don’t get any members of our
community killed. Shame on you.
And for you, The Observer, to run
a front-page photo of the Black Lives
Matter protest in an article about the
outbreak — while the article itself
had no evidence that the protest con-
tributed in any way to the spread
of the virus — is journalistic mal-
practice. You are smart people. You
knew exactly what you were doing by
linking the image of the protest to an
article about the virus.
Christopher Rosevear
Union
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Donald Trump: The White
House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washing-
ton, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-
456-2461; to send comments, go to www.
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U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. office:
313 Hart Senate Office Building, U.S.
Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-
3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland office:
One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon
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326-3386; fax 503-326-2900. Pendleton
office: 310 S.E. Second St. Suite 105,
Pendleton 97801; 541-278-1129; merkley.
senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-
228-2717. La Grande office: 105 Fir St., No.
210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-7691;
fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District):
D.C. office: 2182 Rayburn Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730;
fax 202-225-5774. La Grande office: 1211
Washington Ave., La Grande, OR 97850;
541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.
house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State
Capitol, Salem, OR 97310; 503-378-3111;
www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias
Read: oregon.treasurer@ost.state.or.us;
350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR
97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F.
Rosenblum: Justice Building, Salem, OR
97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
State Sen. William S. Hansell (29th
District/Pendleton): Salem office: 900
Court St. NE., S-423, Salem, OR 97301;
503-986-1729. Website: www.oregonlegis-
lature.gov/ hansell. Email: sen.billhansell@
oregonlegislature. gov.
State Rep. Greg Barreto (58th
District/ Cove): Salem office: 900 Court
St. NE., H-384, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1458. Website: www.oregonlegislature.gov/
barreto. Email: rep.gregbarreto@oregonleg-
islature.gov.
State Rep. Greg Smith (57th Dis-
trict): Salem office: 900 Court St. NE.,
H-482, Salem, OR, 97301; 503-986-1457.
Heppner office: P.O. Box 219, Heppner,
OR 97836; 541-676-5154; Website: www.
oregonlegislature.gov/smithg. Email: rep.
gregsmith@oregonlegislature.gov.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative docu-
ments and information are available online
at www.leg.state.or.us.
City of La Grande: Mayor Steve Clem-
ents, City Manager Robert Strope; P.O. Box
670, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-1309;
fax 541-963-3333.
Union County Commissioners: Don-
na Beverage, Matt Scarfo and Paul Anderes;
1106 K Ave., La Grande, OR 97850; 541-963-
1001; fax 541-963-1079.
Wallowa County Commissioners:
John Hillock,Todd Nash and Susan Roberts;
101 S. River St., Room 202, Enterprise, OR
97828; 541-426-4543, ext. 11.