Opinion
A4
Thursday, January 13, 2022
OUR VIEW
State is the
irresponsible
party in
timber lawsuit
he courts are full of cases in which one
party agrees to do something in return for
money or other assets and, for one reason
or the other, welches on the deal.
That, in short, is the case the state of Oregon
recently lost. It took possession of 700,000 acres
of timber land from 14 counties in the 1930s
and 1940s. In return, the state said it would gen-
erate income from that timber and split it with the
counties.
When the state reneged on the deal and
decided it would manage most of the land as
wildlife habitat and for recreation instead of
timber production, the counties were out their
land and the income the state promised to gen-
erate from it.
It’s really a fairly straightforward case of one
party, the state, unilaterally changing the condi-
tions of a contract. In turn, the other party, the
counties, want their money.
At least that was the assessment of a Linn
County jury when it agreed with the counties and
several tax districts that the state had massively
shortchanged them. The jury set the amount at
$1 billion. This has the lawyers at the state
Department of Justice scrambling in a quest for
loopholes to get the state out of its jam. They have
appealed to the state Court of Appeals, which
will take up the dispute on Feb. 22.
This makes us wonder what the state is trying
to do, and why. It is arguing that one part of the
state government, counties, cannot sue another
part.
We’re not lawyers, but the fact that the state
has taken the position of trying to wiggle out of a
mess it created is unsettling.
The basics of the case are that the state short-
changed the counties. We have seen no evidence
otherwise. When the state says it will manage
land to generate income and then doesn’t do that,
there is no other way to interpret it.
So the state will go to the appeals court. Ulti-
mately, the case could end up in the Oregon
Supreme Court. How it will turn out, we cannot
say. But we can say the state is the irresponsible
party and owes the counties their money, their
timber land, or both.
These are not rich counties. They have been
victimized by the state and by federal environ-
mental laws, which have reduced the timber
industry upon which they depended to a shadow
of its former self. The result: The counties are on
fi nancial life support. Congress provides some
money to help keep the lights on, but the state, at
least in this case, has taken a hard line.
The sad irony is Oregon’s taxpayers will pay
for the state’s poor judgment no matter the out-
come of the legal case.
If the state loses, taxpayers will be on the hook
for $1 billion.
If the state wins, it will have stuck it to the 14
counties and tax districts that it shortchanged.
Either way, the state will have done real
damage to Oregonians.
We urge the attorney general and governor
to sit down with the counties and negotiate an
equitable resolution to this dispute. That’s the
only reasonable way to settle the mess the state
created.
T
A pandemic of misinformation
RON
POLK
OTHER VIEWS
om Herrmann’s Other views
column (The Observer, Dec.
18, 2021) deserves another
view. There is much I agree with,
including that the SARS-CoV 2
virus is here to stay and that true
learning requires an open mind.
There is much I disagree with.
He states that “the FLCCC Alli-
ance (fl ccc.net) is composed of
world-class critical care physicians
who have developed protocols for
both outpatient and hospital care,
refi ned by treating thousands of
COVID patients. However, these
doctors are routinely slurred in the
legacy press and censored on social
media sites.”
The FLCCC Alliance website
highlights ivermectin for prophy-
laxis and treatment of COVID-19
infections. The reason this alli-
ance is not supported is simple;
the science supporting ivermectin
is lacking, both in quality and
quantity.
The Infectious Diseases Society
of America (www.idsociety.org) is
“a community of over 12,000 phy-
sicians, scientists and public health
experts who specialize in infec-
tious diseases.” IDSA recommenda-
tions for COVID-19 therapies were
updated Dec. 24, 2021. With respect
to ivermectin use for hospitalized
patients, “evidence from (random-
ized clinical trials) failed to show a
reduction or increase in mortality
among persons with COVID-19.”
Regarding outpatient use, “treat-
ment with ivermectin failed to
demonstrate a benefi cial or detri-
mental eff ect on mortality, avoid-
ance of progression to severe dis-
ease, or viral clearance.”
T
Other reputable professional soci-
eties, including the National Insti-
tutes of Health reported: “There
is insuffi cient evidence for the
COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines
Panel to recommend either for or
against the use of ivermectin for
the treatment of COVID-19. (Better
clinical trials) are needed to provide
more specifi c, evidence-based guid-
ance on the role of ivermectin in the
treatment of COVID-19.”
Herrmann also states, “Some
hospitals have actually banned some
of the therapies (FLCCC Alliance
doctors) recommend.” However,
the therapies available at individual
hospitals are managed by the Phar-
macy and Therapeutics Committee;
there is no requirement to approve
ineff ective drugs and other treat-
ments. A joint statement between
IDSA, the Society for Healthcare
Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
and the HIV Medicine Association
(HIVMA) has recently concluded:
“To provide optimal outcomes for
infected patients, treatment deci-
sions should be made using evi-
dence-based data and not anec-
dotal opinions. Eff orts to infl uence
clinical practice through lawsuits,
including recent cases ordering hos-
pitals to treat COVID-19 patients
with ivermectin, could expose
patients to serious harm and under-
mine the evaluation of COVID-19
treatments.”
Herrmann also states, “It is now
established that an infected, vacci-
nated person transmits COVID as
well as an unvaccinated individual.
(The CDC’s Walensky admitted
this in August 2021).” He fails to
note the far more important com-
ments from Dr. Walensky: “If you
are unvaccinated, you are 10 times
more likely to be a case and 20
times more likely to be a fatality;
compared to people who are (vacci-
nated), you are 17 times more likely
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to be in the hospital.”
An important downside of med-
ical misinformation regarding
COVID-19 is the negative impact
by misinformed family members
on health care professionals who
are treating infected patients. A
recent post by a frustrated physician
announced, “My career of treating
patients has ended” (www.reddit.
com/r/QAnonCasualties/comments/
rakxun/). Here are selected excerpts.
“I dealt with a particularly hor-
rible case. This was a husband and
father, 38 years old. A wife, two
daughters, one son … none vac-
cinated. When he was awake, the
look of terror in his eyes, the crying,
the pain. But the begging, over and
over, ‘Don’t let me die.’ And ‘Give
me the vaccine.’ … I told him,
repeatedly, it was too late for the
vaccine. The wife … ordered me
to cure him with ivermectin and
vitamin C & D. I explained to her,
those do not work, they have been
extensively studied and the amount
of ivermectin needed to treat even
mild COVID would kill a human
being. Once again, I was told I was
ignorant. ‘You murderer! You could
have saved him if you listened.’
I vaguely heard the words being
screamed about ivermectin and
hydroxychloroquine and god knows
what else. I started looking for a new
job the next day.”
I agree that the SARS-CoV 2
virus is here to stay, but I hope that
the medical misinformation that has
accompanied this virus will eventu-
ally be gone.
———
Ron Polk lives near Lostine, is
emeritus professor of pharmacy
and affi liate professor of medicine
at Virginia Commonwealth Univer-
sity, and a fellow in the Infectious
Diseases Society of America and
the Society for Healthcare Epidemi-
ology of America.
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