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About Columbia Gorge news. (The Dalles, OR) 2020-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2020)
HoodRiverNews.com • TheDallesChronicle.com • WhiteSalmonEnterprise.com a proven character including the empathetic understanding of the Continued from page 4 challenges involved in working with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Donald Trump would not make the first paper cut in the common than they realize. I intend to vote for Carina Miller, hiring process. I repeat, Donald Trump would never be considered a woman who I believe will work a viable candidate to be entrusted with people of rural Oregon to in responding to complex situations find solutions, by bringing people in our communities. Your local law together to tackle tough issues enforcement have gone through successfully. Kristine Harter this selection process and should be Mosier commended. Character and hones- ty do matter. Please remember this when you vote. Bill Lennox Would you hire Donald Trump to The Dalles be a Wasco or Hood River County Deputy Sheriff? Would he pass a background check for character, truth and finan- As if activists of police brutality and racism needed more motiva- cial responsibility? Would you hire him to respond to tion, more justification, and more your call for service with empathy, validation, yet another unarmed understanding and with a skill set to black man was fired upon by police de-escalate or resolve a community, officers while, himself, trying “to personal or mental health crisis? deescalate a domestic incident.” His Would you trust him to understand name is Jacob Blake, and though lethal force, carry a firearm and be he survived the seven bullets in his respectful of all people? back, he will now face the rest of his As a former law enforcement life as a paraplegic. administrator with 30 years of You can probably guess what experience including FBI Academy happened next: People took to the training, and International Police streets in protest, as is our God giv- Service in Kosovo, my responsibility en right as Americans. In response, was to find and support the best more police were dispatched to person(s) to do a difficult job with provide “law and order,” but whose LETTERS Truth Matters Rebuild police Columbia Gorge News very presence and appearance was itself escalating the already tense situation. Tempers flared, protest- ers clashed with police, and in the chaos, opportunists caused a great deal of property damage. But this story has a twist. On night three of the protests, a white, 17-year-old male, who idolizes the police, and the Bunker Inspector, drove to Kenosha, Wis., armed with a rifle, with the intention of “pro- tecting businesses.” This terrorist, and that is what he is, shot and killed two protesters, and injured one. What happened next is, shall we say, illustrative. The shooter walked toward police with his hands up, walked past them, and left. He wasn’t stopped, let alone arrested or shot. In fact, he wasn’t arrested until THE NEXT DAY. Then, wouldn’t you know it, vid- eo surfaced of police officers, earlier in the day, telling this person, “We appreciate you guys, we really do.” As if it weren’t clear from the entire history of policing in this country, we know whose side police departments are on, and it’s the side of white power, and white author- ity. It is for this reason that police departments countrywide must be severely defunded and or abolished altogether, so as to be rebuilt from the ground up on the principles of deescalation and public service, not Wednesday,September2,2020 as Trump’s personal army. Maybe that money should be re- invested in our phenomenal postal service. Benjamin Sheppard Hood River Benjamin Sheppard is employed as a social worker. No emergency powers We can all stay as safe from disease as we ourselves permit. The way people have always maintained health in any crisis is by boosting our immune systems, getting fresh air if healthy, exercise, eating well, and maintaining a positive attitude toward life through meaningful social interactions. Sick people usually are too sick to go out and so stay home without being ordered to do so. Government is not legally autho- rized to exert emergency powers thereby effectively eradicating civil rights and commerce. If you want government to keep you from getting sick, look for a fascist dictatorship to belong. If you want to keep yourself healthy without the force of illegal government takeovers, welcome to the Republic of the U.S.A. Freedom is maintained by a free people, not by cowering behind 5 masks and plexiglass barriers because of a virus. Fear kills more of us than a virus ever could. And because of the fear we have almost surrendered all of our civil rights and have become servants of our very own public servants. Peter Spiro Stevenson EDITORS NOTE:Thoseaffectedby thecoronaviruscanshedthevirusinto theairpriortoexperiencingsymptoms oftheillness.Thosewhoaresickdonot. Therefore,stayhome. An orderly society There are many laws and rules we follow in an orderly society. We pay property taxes to fund the city services we share. We drive on the right side of the road to avoid killing each other. Washington’s Gov. Inslee declared an emergency stay-at-home order to stop the coro- navirus from killing us. The incumbent representing Washington State Legislative District 14 is part of a lawsuit against Inslee to reverse his emer- gency order. That makes no sense to me. I will not be voting for the incumbent. I will be voting for Tracy Rushing, MD. Janet Holen White Salmon New Mid Valley teacher is familiar face in Gorge education ■ By Trisha Walker Columbia Gorge News Bernardita Ramos — or Ita, as she is also known — has dreamed of being a teacher since she was a Bernardita child — and Ramos this year, that dream has come true. Ramos was recently hired as the second-grade dual lan- guage teacher at Mid Valley Elementary for the 2020/21 school year. Ramos, 56, graduated on June 14 with a teaching degree from Portland State University. She was accepted into the Bilingual Teacher Pathway (BTP) and began the program in the fall of 2018, sponsored by Hood River County School District — the first Hood River teacher to graduate from the program. But her teaching history in the Gorge goes back much farther. Ramos immigrat- ed to the Hood River from Rancagua, Chile, in 2000 with her husband, Patricio Ramos, a chemical engineer, and daughter, Loreto Ramos (who has since earned a bachelor in biochemistry and natural science, and math). No one in the family spoke English, which she describes as their first and most significant obstacle. The language barrier was also her biggest challenge when she decided to go back to school for her teaching degree. “I always wanted to be a teacher, and I remember that, as a child, I wanted to be a P.E. teacher,” she said. “I don’t know what happened over time, because I ended up studying business in my country. I was working in that for several years until my family and I moved to the U.S.A. “In a way, my desire to be a teacher was again born here.” Initially, she worked jobs that did not require English. She picked cherries and worked in a restaurant. She began to study English two days a week in the Hood River County School District’s English language learner program (ELL). “To learn a second language in all its forms — writing, speaking and reading — when you are an adult is not easy to achieve,” she said. “At least, it wasn’t for me, be- cause I am still learning and studying every day in order to improve my English.” After she felt she had a grasp of the language, she began studying at Portland Community College, earning her Associates degree in applied science, paraeduca- tor. That degree led to a job as an instructional assistant with the Hood River County School District, and then at The Dalles School District at Dry Hollow Elementary, where she worked for five years. During this same period, she also worked in the ELL program for adults at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles and Hood River. “Working at the ELL adults’ program, I began to see the need to help peo- ple who come to this country, just as I arrived a long time ago without speaking the English language,” she said. In the mornings, she worked as an instructional assistant at Dry Hollow; in the evenings, at CGCC, helping adults learn English. Often, her students came with their children. “The children waited for their parents in a classroom and they did their homework while they were waiting for them,” Ramos said. “Most of these children were my stu- dents in the morning school’s ELL program (in The Dalles); therefore, it was like going to class also because they brought their homework and did it there. Whenever they had doubts or did not under- stand the subject, they would come to me to understand better, or I would help them with their homework.” She remembers this time as “beautiful and comforting as a person and a profession- al” because it led her to go back to school herself and earn her second Associates degree in applied science, this time in early education and family studies at CGCC’s Hood River campus. Her teaching continued even through the summer months, working at Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC) as a preschool teacher. She moved back to the Hood River County School District and decided to go back to school once again — this time to earn a teaching degree. Being ac- cepted into the BTP program meant she was required to work full time for HRCSD and speak at least two languages. “In this case, through Catherine Dalbey (HRCSD director of human resourc- es), the Hood River County School District gave me all the facilities required to enter the program and be able to graduate,” she said. She quit working at CGCC to devote herself entirely to her studies, but every day, she would go to work for HRCSD until 3 p.m. and then travel to Portland State University for classes, Monday through Thursday from 4:30-9:30 p.m. “I traveled to Portland for two years for the duration of the program,” she said. “I usually got home every night around 11 p.m., depending on traffic and weather. In the summer, I had classes in Portland ev- eryday form 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.” It wasn’t easy. She credits her husband and daughter for helping her get through the long says. “I had to work full time, I was making a round trip every day to Portland, and I needed to have time to study as well as take time with the family,” Ramos said. “I was busy on weekends for two years because I had to finish my homework for the week and study to be prepared for the next one. "In this part, my husband and daughter took a very important role because with- out their support and help, I think maybe I wouldn’t have made it,” she said. “I’m very proud of myself because going back to the university as an adult isn’t easy, and studying in a language that is not your native language is a big challenge,” she said. “But, if you follow your dreams and love what you are doing, no matter how old you are, you can fulfill your dreams.” This will be her sec- ond year at Mid Valley Elementary, having begun teaching in the classroom in 2019 with students. She had almost seven months of classes before the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. “Adapting to a new teach- ing method has not been easy for anyone, whether they are parents, students, teachers, directors or anyone involved in the educational system,” she said. “The COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close their doors, impacting students around the world. That is why it is essential to take into account that we are experiencing a global health crisis, which affects us in all aspects of our lives.” While she doesn’t know what this new school year will bring, she is ready to meet the challenge. “I think the important thing about this pandemic is that teaching must be flexible and adapted to what the student needs,” she said. OR officials: ‘Please rethink your Labor Day plans’ ■ By Courtney Vaughn Pamplin Media Group Oregon’s COVID-19 case rate seems to be in decline, but state health officials are nervous about a potential uptick in cases, following the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend. Noting separate outbreaks tied to a 10-person family get-together earlier this summer, and a weekend at the beach where 20 people gathered, the state’s top health officials cautioned that outbreaks happened when people were infectious, but asymptomatic. “As we head into the up- coming Labor Day holiday, I want to caution people to strongly rethink your celebrations,” Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said Thursday. “Limit your social gatherings outside your household. The governor has made indoor social gatherings of more than 10 people off limits. “Wear a face covering outside or indoors when you can’t maintain 6 feet of physical distance. If you have a small gathering, consider hosting it outdoors, rather than indoors and, of course, wash your hands frequently.” Allen and Oregon Public Health Director Dr. Dean Sidelinger said last week was the third consecutive week the state saw a decline in cases, but Oregon isn’t out of the woods yet. Allen said Oregon’s positive test rate fell from 5.4 percent to 5.1 percent last week. “Hospitalizations offer fur- ther encouragement,” Allen noted. “Since Aug. 14, we’ve seen a 41 percent decrease in currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients, from 167 to 118.” Allen cautioned that OHA still needs to confirm the trend. TRASH TALK Q. Where do I dispose of sharps Call your locally owned independent mortgage broker today. Ron Kurahara Mike Ellsworth Lorena Salgado James Nygren 541-490-4077 541-490-2832 541-806-0107 541-892-8808 nmls 38028 QA containers? Riane, Hood River A. Riane, used sharps pose a potential health danger. So we really appreciate that folks properly dispose of them. There are several free drop sites for sharps in our area. Sharps must be in an approved red sharps container. The three drop sites are: Hood River Transfer Station, The Dalles Disposal, and the Moro Medical Clinic. questions to: nmls 114033 nmls 1216376 nmls 1691008 11 3rd Street, Suite 101, Hood River 541-436-4706 Company Nmls #1851593 hoodrivermortgage.com (541)-506-2636 www.tricountyrecycle.com
