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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2019)
A4 THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 13, 2019 OPINION editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager OUR VIEW Toothaches aren’t conducive to study Bravo to Providence for continuing Healthy Smiles I n the last 30 years, medical sci- ence and community leader- ship has slowly trended toward a theme that was long overdue. Wellness. A holistic approach to individ- ual health morphed physicians from mere pill-pushing for a spe- cific complaint, toward treating the entire person. There is a parallel trend in edu- cation that has been simmering beneath the surface and is now emerging as a high priority. Students don’t learn if they are not properly geared up to study. It should be the proverbial no-brainer, but for far too long we haven’t overly connected the dots between student achievement and the com- plications of health, hunger and housing. Part of that health component is dental. And that’s why is it pleasing to learn that on the North Coast some- thing has been done about it. The Oregon Community Foun- dation provided a five-year, $300,000 grant to Providence Sea- side Hospital for school-based out- reach to improve access. Under the Healthy Smiles pro- gram, hundreds of students each year receive dental screenings, as well as sealants through the Ore- gon Health Authority and informa- tion on how to navigate dental care. Incredibly, those administering the program report they have encoun- tered children who have never been to a dentist before. But after this next school year, Warrenton Grade School students floss teeth using models in 2017 as part of the Healthy Smiles program. the program’s grant funding runs out. The good news is that wise Providence leaders have decided to continue the program on their own. We join Tobi Boyd, Seaside School District’s health special- ist, in applauding Providence for its forward-looking and caring leadership. “Dental problems affect your whole body health and so it’s incredibly important,” Boyd said. “It’s probably one of the most important things to make sure our kids have healthy teeth.” All is not perfect. Once dental health issues are identified there are insurance issues for many to over- come, and it doesn’t help the over- all picture that there are no pediat- ric dental specialists in our county. Transportation challenges also must be overcome, too. But the program certainly is a positive step in the right direction. For some while, Healthy Smiles has partnered with the Oregon Health Authority, local dentists and others to provide a screening and services once a year at Lum’s Auto Center. It is one of many examples of the Warrenton dealer- ship’s positive contributions to the community. Coming up there is another opportunity for such help. North Coast chiropractor Dr. Robert James is joining forces with Prov- idence, Oregon Lions Club mem- bers and others to host a health fair and barbecue for students. It is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 24 at James Chiro- practic Spine and Joint Center, 139 S. Main St., Warrenton. Dental, vision and hearing screenings will be offered free, plus sports physi- cals, too. It’s another positive sign that people are stepping up with posi- tive, specific actions because they realize that to create the best cli- mate for learning, we must remove any and all obstacles to success. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Already too late? he politicians, including the fake Democrat who’s supposed to be representing us in Clatsop County, and the corporate money men and news- paper editors who helped defeat the recent cap and trade bill in the Oregon Legisla- ture, need to stop their backslapping about it. In spite of the Supreme Court opin- ion that they have all the rights of indi- viduals, corporations, especially manu- facturers, do not deserve our support on this one. Not all of them — but many of them — have proven themselves to be lousy neighbors and unpatriotic citizens, callously refusing to make the nominal investments necessary to clean up their dirty processes and reduce their output of toxic byproducts. And they’re here in Oregon not because they’re loyal to the people here, but because they’re making terrific profits off the status quo. The cap and trade con- cept is intended as an incentive for them to make changes. Of course it’s not the solution to climate change. Nobody ever claimed that it is. But it’s a start. Of course, it would be better if we had the “wholesale changes in the White House and Congress …” to lead that effort, as was said in an editorial on the subject (“Cap and trade bill would be disastrous,” The Astorian, June 8). But we do not have them. We have the opposite. So the changes have to be led from the bottom; from the grassroots; from here. California has done it, and their economy leads the nation. The people of Oregon deserve the same effort, and need to see it begin. It may already be too late. JOSEPH WEBB Astoria T Traffic problem would really like to see something done about the entrance and exit to the War- renton Highlands plaza and Home Depot I intersection. Maybe we could have an exit out onto U.S. Highway 101 south from the plaza. Since the area is booming with new businesses and high traffic, wouldn’t it be better to get ahold of the problem before it becomes worse? This is coming from an employee of the area, and I see this prob- lem daily. JENNIFER BOEHM Astoria God protect El Paso he first time El Paso, Texas, broke my heart, I was 10. I was deeply grieved by the incredible poverty across the Rio Grande. I was wounded to know that my nation could be so unjust. As a teenager in Las Cruces, New Mexico, I grew to detest El Paso, both its outward esthetic and its moral inward esthetic. The last time I was in the border region was during the outbreak of the Occupy Movement. In it, I was blessed to meet many passionate and compassionate people working for their ideal of what humanity should be. There was a great purity amongst people struggling to sur- vive, and those individuals and groups dedicated to their aid. So much of U.S. culture is mind- less consumption, ever the desire to have more, and clueless to the costs of such greed. We’ve a gilded president who has made a living exemplifying vacuous con- sumption; who exploited the innate rac- ism of the Birther Movement to step into politics; who, in repeated utterances, as well as his acts as a president, has demon- strated either his own severe innate racism or his willingness to exploit racism. Now a notorious public liar expects the public to believe he’s against racism and hate? My heart goes out to El Paso. And my God protect it from its enemies, both for- eign and domestic. MICHAEL ‘SASHA’ MILLER Astoria T Cormo-rants ename Astoria’s big bridge the Astoria Cormorant Rookery. It is a complete disgrace, and a failure of highway fund- ing and public policy to allow these birds access for perching, roosting and nesting on the bridge. Their numbers are staggering, and largely unseen from the shore. The bridge is a four-mile-long nesting site, with an occu- pancy rate to make local hoteliers envious. Placing a bounty on cormorants would fund a solution to the problem, or, if cormo- rants are to remain protected, then a bridge toll could fund structural deterrents making nesting and roosting impossible. I propose a $5 toll to enter Oregon, but visitors could leave any time for free. This, naturally, would raise a hue and cry from Costco, Fred Meyer, Home Depot, Walmart and all the lesser gods in the American consumer pantheon. Anything that can be done to reduce cor- morant numbers would certainly help out- going smolt survive their journey to the sea. We spend millions on hatcheries, yet somehow we seem helpless to nullify the explosion of fish predation by our feathered R friends. Another day, another catharsis, Mr. Edi- tor. If I may, thanks for your attention to my frustrations. It’s high summer, and my bun- ker mentality is in full flower. GARY DURHEIM Seaside Stop spending t can be really simple to combat climate change. Here it is: A dollar spent is a dollar that is respent many times by other people. Each time a dollar is spent and respent, it is eventually spent on something that pro- duces carbon dioxide and pollutants. The more you spend, the more carbon dioxide you cause. So, just stop spending or, more realisti- cally, spend as little money as possible. And remember, the purpose of life is not to grow the economy — that is just the brainwashing talking. If we all just quit spending so much money, we could solve the problem of global warming. RICK SOLLER Seaside I
