MARCH 6, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
Opinion
Agenda order is a suggestion
Late last year, when it seemed all of Oregon was
waiting with bated breath to fi nd out when a certain
burger chain would open in Keizer, the city council did
an unusual thing - it moved a minor signage approval
item for the restaurant to the top of the agenda.
The reason? Two television stations were in town to
record the proceedings and they wanted to make the
late evening deadlines.
No one at the paper considers our city
councilors to be particularly vain individu-
als, and the television cameras are a rare pres-
ence at council meetings. However, consider
the same meeting room three weeks ago.
About two dozen residents turned out to
hear and participate in the council debate
regarding the future of Keizer Little League
Park. Those residents had to sit through: a
discussion of closed captioning on Keizer’s public access
television channel, a presentation by Marion County
Public Health representatives, a committee report, ap-
proval of a bidding exemption; a waiver of fees for use
of the Keizer Community Center; and approval of ad-
ditional dates for the Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre per-
formance season.
An hour and 10 minutes later, discussion of the park
matters fi nally commenced. By then, the crowd hoping
to hear the council debate the proposals had thinned to
about a dozen dedicated souls. At least one person who
had signed up to talk on the matter had already given
up and left.
cuffed
in Keizer
The scene that played out during discussions of the
park, in which Keizer residents turn out hoping to take
part in city conversations and bail when the council
retains a rigid adherence to numerical order on the
agenda, occurs much more frequently than Portland TV
crews deigning to grace us with their presence. It needs
to stop.
The same city councilors who made the
crowd wait for the biggest item of the night
are the same ones who decry a lack of in-
volvement in city issues. They ask all the
time what might be done to better capture
the pulse of the city. Then, when residents are
there to participate, they are subjected to a
seemingly endless wait.
Regular attendance at city council meet-
ings is meager at best, but councilors typical-
ly know well ahead of time which topics might attract
a crowd. There is no reason they can’t re-arrange the
schedule. All it takes is agreement of the sitting coun-
cilors to do so.
There is likely not any ill will at play, but the contin-
ual sidelining of the resident participation is not a good
look. It’s the kind of thing that feeds into stereotypical
views of government and causes people to throw up
their hands in frustration.
Councilors are willing to rearrange the agenda when
TV time is at stake, the people who actually live in the
city deserve no less when they want to be heard.
-KT
our
opinion
The lost art of
thankfulness
the R0 of the disease to as high as 2 or
3 and causing an exponential increase
in cases. If the R0 is less than one, the
epidemic will gradually decline and
stop on its own, with or without a
vaccine.
A vaccine, however, would be tre-
mendously helpful. At least 10 coro-
navirus vaccine development projects
are underway, according to American
health offi cials. But the one furthest
along at the National Institutes of
Health is still about six weeks away
from starting the process of a phase
1 trial in human volunteers that will
take three to four months to com-
plete and to show (hopefully) that the
vaccine is safe and produces specifi c
antibodies. A phase 2 trial will follow
and take at least six to eight months
to determine if the vaccine is effi ca-
cious in people at risk for infection.
Then production would need to be
scaled up by a willing pharmaceutical
company to deal with a global crisis.
All this in total will take at least a year
-- assuming there are no unpredicted
scientifi c obstacles in the way.
The United States is now faced
with two related but distinct prob-
lems: dealing with the virus and deal-
ing with the public panic the virus
may spark. The current administration
is well prepared to handle the virus,
and spectacularly ill-prepared to han-
dle the panic.
Upper-level health offi cials in the
administration deserve our confi -
dence. The Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention has the world’s
best public health professionals. The
experts and researchers at the NIH
are brilliant and tireless. The Food and
Drug Administration will do what is
required of it without cutting corners.
she enters into this world,
their most notable natural
characteristic is to be total-
ly self-centered, absorbed in
themselves and demanding
to be served. In fact, within
those fi rst few moments of
life, they have the uncanny ability to
teach you how to become their 24/7
servant, because nothing and no one is
more important than they are and their
needs are many times more important
than anyone else’s, arid if you don’t re-
spond immediately to them, you will
letters
To the editor:
I call thankfulness an art
because it certainly is not a natural
characteristic of a human being. No
one is born into this world thankful
- no one, not even that precious little
bundle of joy you carry home from the
hospital. As a matter of fact, the op-
posite is true. From the moment he/
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Arrested Feb. 24 for:
Hit-and-run
Arrested Feb. 27 for:
Assault, strangulation,
menacing
Previous convictions:
More than a decade old
Previous convictions:
DUII
Bradley John Mack
Arrested Feb. 24 for:
Coercion
Pending charges:
Criminal mischief, DUII
(twice)
Rogelio Esquivel
Arrested Feb. 28 for:
Assault
Previous convictions:
More than a decade old
James Anthony
Spier
Arrested Feb. 24 for:
Assault
Pending charges:
More than a decade old
Public health offi cials can beat
COVID-19 - if the WH lets them
By MICHAEL GERSON
WASHINGTON -- America is
entering a disturbing new stage in the
coronavirus outbreak. There has been
community-spread in at least one and
likely two locations in Washington
state. And it appears the virus was be-
ing transmitted for several weeks be-
fore current cases were recognized. So
we can expect dozens or hundreds of
cases in those locations, unless contact
tracing is especially effi cient.
The disease is loose and easily
transmitted.
The crucial issue now is the real
mortality rate, which remains uncer-
tain. The stated mortality is 2%. U.S.
experts are hoping the rate turns out
to be considerably lower. But the
math remains troubling in any case.
If only 5% of the U.S. population is
eventually infected (which is on the
low side of some estimates) and the
mortality rate is 1%, there still would
be more than 100,000 deaths.
At this stage, the main tool that
public health experts have is social
distancing -- the attempt to keep as
many people as possible in affected ar-
eas out of sneezing distance from one
another. This means measures such as
closing schools, canceling events in
theaters and stadiums, and encourag-
ing employees to telework. States and
localities ultimately make these deci-
sions rather than the federal govern-
ment. But according to some health
experts I consulted, Washington state
should be taking such measures right
now.
The goal of these policies is to
keep the reproductive ratio as low as
possible. When people are in proxim-
ity, a single infected person can spread
the disease to several others, boosting
Derek Allen Wells
David Paul Box
Justin Scott Kraupa
Angela Marie Gwyn
Arrested Feb. 25 for:
Theft
And Health and Human Services Sec-
retary Alex Azar is a mature adult who
knows how to manage under stress.
Below the level of the White House,
the U.S. government is well suited to
the diffi cult task before it.
But our country may be poorly
prepared for the panic that is coming.
“We are living at a nadir of trust in
experts and public authorities,” Yuval
Levin of the American Enterprise In-
stitute told me, “and we are awash in
channels for conspiracy and misinfor-
mation.” President Trump -- given his
own conspiratorial approach to facts
-- is perfectly unsuited to lead in a
moment such as this. He has shown
a strong tendency to trust outside
information over inside information,
and to interpret any difference be-
tween the two as evidence the insid-
ers are lying to him. He might believe
whatever he hears on Fox News and
deny what he hears from public health
professionals. And all this would hap-
pen in public view, creating dangerous
confusion.
There is every reason to be con-
cerned about how Trump will behave
if and when the schools start closing,
travel is restricted, big events such as
the Olympics have to be canceled and
the economy falls into recession. It is a
test he is uniquely prepared to fail. His
immediate tendency in such a crisis is
to assume there is a plot against him
and to search for scapegoats. And his
fl ailing failure would only worsen the
country’s general distrust of authority.
America is better prepared for the
virus than for the panic, and the big-
gest obstacle to containing any panic
may prove to be the president himself.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Previous convictions:
Failure to report as a sex
offender
Arrested Feb. 28 for:
Attempting to elude
police
Pending charges:
Reckless driving,
burglary, drug possession
Christha Horne
Arrested Feb. 25 for:
Unauthorized use of a
vehicle
Previous convictions:
None
Jeanah Lin Miller
Arrested Feb. 28 for:
Burglary
Pending charges:
Burglary, criminal
mischief
Manuel Campos Jr.
Arrested Feb. 26 for:
Criminal mischief
Pending charges:
Assault, DUII, reckless
endangering
Justin John Caughell
Aaron Edward
Tangeman
Arrested Feb. 26 for:
Assault
Arrested Feb. 28 for:
Identity theft
Previous convictions:
Theft, unauthorized use
of a vehicle
Previous convictions:
Aggravated identity
theft, identity theft (11
counts)
Angelica Raquel
Castillo-Romero
Arrested Feb. 27 for:
Theft
hear about it loud and clear!
This goes on for quite some
time. The sad fact is that some peo-
ple never grow out of it and will al-
ways be demanding their own way,
some even becoming an abusive
parent or spouse years later because
of this natural inclination toward
selfi shness.
Each child has to be taught to say
“please” and “thank you” over and
over again until they remember and
hopefully learn as a matter of good
manners. At a young age, of course,
this is not a heart issue, but simply
a necessary obedient act to receive
praise and acceptance from others
and hopefully develop the charac-
teristic of politeness.
However, as we mature, hopeful-
ly we begin to see more and more
that we have so much to be thank-
ful for. Life and breath for a start,
families, friends, creation itself. The.
list goes on and on if you just take
a moment to think about it. If you
just open your mind, heart and eyes
and begin to give thanks for it all, an
amazing thing happens. The more
you practice thankfulness, the more
you become aware of all we have to
become thankful for.
The other option is to continue
in ungratefulness and be a misera-
ble, self-absorbed person. Just look
around and see the hateful, resent-
ful, divisive, unhappy people walk-
ing around. You can see it on their
faces and they can see it on yours.
Why don’t you give thankfulness
a try? What do you have to lose?
Judy Chappell
Libertytown, Md.
Other pending charges:
Theft (fi rst, second and
third degrees)
Michael Zank
Arrested March 2 for:
Unlawful use of a vehicle
Previous convictions:
Drug possession, fl eeing
police, unlawful use of a
vehicle
traffi c court
NO LICENSE
Jose Obregon Andres, $642; Amber D
Mayhew, $100; Michael Benton Perry,
$265; Damien Raymond, $317; Colten
Sean Webber, $265.
NO INSURANCE
Mary Elizabeth Hart Johnson, $600; Jen-
nifer Nichole Herriges, $600; Alan Curtis
Jones, $600; Michael Benton Perry, $265;
Chris Robert Weaver, $235.
NO PROOF OF INSURANCE
Carlos Alberto Marquez Cervantes, $600;
Colten Sean Webber, $100; Laura Par-
sons, $265.
DRIVING WHILE SUSPENDED
Ines Ambrosio Luis, $235; Mary Eliz-
abeth Hart Johnson, $1,258; Jennifer
Nichole Herriges, $1,258; Alan Curtis
Jones, $1,258; Carlos Alberto Marquez
Cervantes, $1,258; Megan Rachelle
Roback, $1,258; Kristina Jean Burnett
Vosgien, $1,258; Brittany Ruth Patton,
1,258; Candace Dawn Doner, $235; Am-
ber Jane Parker, $235.
USE OF MOBILE DEVICE
Misty Sweigart, $642; Teresa Renee Hays,
$235; Tracy Lynn Louthan, $235; Anita
Michelle Lowe, $235; Catherine Eliza-
beth Andreas, $235; Kurtis Warren Barker,
$235; Jonathan Jossue Castro Luna, $235;
Candace Dawn Doner, $235; Isvi Are-
li Fuentes Barragan, $235; Jessica Marie
Lang, $235; Micah Ayami Wallace, $235;
Robin Denise Wilson, $235; Melissa Gail
Zager, $235.
OTHER
Jose Obregon Andres, $150, failure to
signal; Danielle Renee Debusk, $642,
misuse of special left turn; Mary Eliza-
beth Hart Johnson, $150, failure to use
safety belt; Kristina Jean Burnett Vosgien,
$150, failure to use safety belt; Aaron
John Lee Hull, $642, dangerous left turn;
Aaron John Lee Hull, $600, improper left
change; Loren Marcus Slama, $192, fail-
ure to renew vehicle registration; Miguel
Solorio Diaz, $342, no fenders; Athena
Marie Torres, $192, failure to register
vehicle; Steven William Barnett, $115,
failure to register vehicle; Victoria Marie
Meeker, $115, failure to use safety belts;
Michael Benton Perry, $167, failure to
use safety belt; Jennifer Suzanne Ander-
son, $115, failure to use safety belt; Junior
W Stallings, $115, failure to use safety
belt.