A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Saturday, April 18, 2015
JOE PETSHOW
Publisher/President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
CHELSEA MARR
General Manager
JODY THOMPSON
Advertising Manager
DICK NAFSINGER
Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011)
TOM LANCTOT
Past President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
Editor
TONY METHVIN
Columbia Gorge Press Manager
DAVID MARVIN
Production Manager
Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
OREGON NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Printed on
recycled paper.
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News,
P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796
Member of the Associated Press
O ur readers write
CGCC is a
‘sinking ship’
These are dreary, dismal times at
Columbia Gorge Community Col-
lege. With a $2.4 million budget short-
fall created by the college’s current
leadership, there is a pervasive sense
of mistrust and low morale among
much of the faculty/staff of CGCC.
This has led to the voluntary depar-
ture of numerous staff over recent
months which, along with rolling lay-
offs and a hiring freeze, has resulted
in a critical staff shortage, with cru-
cial tasks now falling by the wayside.
Remaining staff members are
being stretched to fill voids for which
they may have little training or ex-
pertise. Sadly, it is the students them-
selves who stand to suffer most from
this tragedy, with reduced course of-
ferings and diminished services
available to them.
It’s frustrating that CGCC’s Board
of Education has repeatedly chosen
to ignore the many complaints
lodged by students, staff and faculty
over recent years, despite continued
mismanagement attributed to cur-
rent college leadership. I have attend-
ed several board meetings, and with
the exception of Stu Watson, it often
seems that the other members are to-
tally disengaged, indifferent —
SOME EVEN SLEEPING — as they
just blithely rubber-stamp leadership
proposals. It is just such passivity to
CGCC’s reality that has led to the col-
lege’s current abysmal financial situ-
ation. This ineptness on the part of
the Board is devastating to CGCC’s
future and is an egregious injustice
to CGCC’s students.
After 11 years working at the front
counter of the Hood River Campus, I
am one of five CGCC employees this
month choosing to voluntarily leave
this sinking ship, because the col-
lege’s future appears murky, the lead-
ership’s intentions are questionable,
and the board itself remains dispas-
sionate about employee concerns.
Mine wasn’t a decision made lightly,
as CGCC’s faculty are top-notch, my
co-workers are like family, and
CGCC’s students repeatedly inspired
me with their tenacity, perseverance
and friendship. It is for the students
especially that I submit this letter, in
hopes that CGCC might be navigated
upon a more cogent course, with
fresh leadership, a tenable vision,
and bolder, more vibrant board mem-
bers.
Lynne Davidson
Hood River
Testimony
flawed
This letter addresses a story from
staff writer Patrick Mulvihill
(March 18) regarding Dr. Bonnie
New’s proposed firearms control and
a commentary from Kevin Herman
(March 25). Kudos to Herman for his
clarification of the facts.
New’s solution for violent crime
does not address the fact that many of
the homicides in Oregon were gang-
related. Would gun registration solve
that situation? Of course not! And
how many of those were committed
under the influence of drugs? While
that does not legitimize the mortality,
it puts a good part of the blame
where it belongs. Those who try to
advance gun control by presenting
lies and twisted impressions must as-
sume people are dumb enough to be-
lieve their misconceptions.
It’s sad that some journalists per-
petuate this garbage.
Dr. New, as a physician, ought to
know that compared to guns many
more deaths occur each year in the
U.S. as a direct result of preventable
medical mistakes. As published by
respected medical reports, nearly
400,000 medical mistake deaths occur
each year. In addition, there are
10,000 serious complication cases re-
sulting from medical errors each day!
The medical mistake deaths is the
third highest mortality rate after
heart disease and cancer, far greater
than traffic accidents and homicides
(including suicides) combined. Dr.
New ought to consider putting the
medical house in order before at-
tempting to put in place unrealistic
restrictions that do nothing to reduce
violent crime.
I have stated publicly before that a
gun is an inanimate object complete-
ly incapable of any action until the
human element is introduced. It’s
like blaming vehicles for highway
mortality.
Society’s concern should be with
the people committing the atrocities.
We need to address the revolving
door judicial system that puts the
mentally disturbed and criminally
insane right back out on to the
streets.
It’s not about gun control but peo-
ple control.
Where would America, the freest
nation on earth, be today if the peo-
ple had no means of defense and of-
fense?
Come on, America, wake up and
smell the poison!
Lance Beckman
White Salmon
Climate
thoughts
Shifting views on climate change
have a majority of Republicans want-
ing action to reduce greenhouse
gases. Politicians, businesses and
even conservative advocacy groups
are slowly moving from climate de-
nial to reluctant acceptance. As cli-
mate related costs mount, voter de-
mands for action will increase until
they reach a tipping point. The ques-
tion is whether that tipping point
comes before we see irreparable
harm.
Republican administrations were
instrumental in creating the EPA,
passing the Clean Air Act and imple-
menting emission trading to reduce
acid rain. Conservatives have an im-
portant voice in forwarding market-
based solutions that minimizes eco-
nomic disruption while making pol-
luters responsible for their actions.
They offer a needed counterpoint to
climate activists.
Continuing opposition to climate
action has less to do with a lack of
facts than a lack of imagination and
courage in proposing solutions re-
flecting conservative values. Instead
of operating at the behest of the fos-
sil fuel industry, Republicans should
offer a climate agenda based on their
own ideas, e.g. eliminating market
distorting subsidies, a revenue-neu-
tral carbon tax and rebate system,
carbon cap and trade legislation, sup-
port for nuclear power and funding
for carbon sequestration and clean
coal technology.
Without Republican support there
is little hope for timely action. The
sooner conservatives become a part
of the solution the better we all will
be.
Richard Davis
The Dalles
‘Strikes again’
Nestlé strikes again with the same
tactics they’ve always used. You can’t
con me into thinking Governor
Brown’s office, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife, and the
short sighted government of Cascade
Locks haven’t been bought. Among
other things they’ve been offered the
time honored bait of jobs and in-
creased tax revenues and they’ve
jumped on it like a fish on a fly. Nestlé
is just reeling them in. The hell with
the public good, our children’s fu-
ture, our water supply and the envi-
ronmental health and quality of life
in the Gorge. And on top of this,
parts of the state are under a drought
and the rest of us are looking at pos-
sible drought and water shortages
this summer.
Follow the money!
Jerry Giarrapuo
Hood River
ANOTHER VOICE
Protecting children from abuse and neglect – an Oregon perspective
By SEN. RON WYDEN
P
rotecting our children
from all of life’s ills, and
especially from abuse and
neglect, is perhaps our
single most important re-
sponsibility as adults. There
should be no controversy in that
statement, no partisanship or dis-
agreement.
And yet, the sad truth remains
that too many children in Oregon
and across the country are dying
from abuse and neglect despite
hard work to prevent those
tragedies and efforts to under-
stand why they happen.
That reality will be in the fore-
front in Portland this week when a
federal Commission to Eliminate
Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities
meets to hear ideas from local,
state and federal officials for bet-
ter protecting our kids.
The Commission was created
after Congress passed the Protect
Our Kids Act of 2012 to bring new
perspective, insight and tools for
preventing abuse and neglect. That
work will form the basis for a re-
port to be submitted to the Presi-
dent and Congress detailing specif-
ic recommendations for strategies
to better protecting children from
abuse and neglect.
To achieve those goals we must
identify which children are most at
risk. In 2013, 10 children died in Ore-
gon from abuse or neglect. Seven of
these children were 5 years old or
younger; five were younger than
one year old. No child was in child
protective services (CPS) custody at
the time of death, and there were no
children who had a referral to CPS
within the last year. Several com-
mon risk factors were identified in
these fatalities, including drug use
by adults.
So how do we ensure the safety
and well-being of our
most vulnerable chil-
dren and what is the
appropriate role of
the child welfare
“system”?
The answer lies in
identifying at-risk
children earlier, en-
gaging families, and
using a multidisciplinary ap-
proach. Increasingly, experts un-
derstand there is a much larger
community of agencies, beyond
CPS, that know about a child’s risk
for abuse and neglect. Law en-
forcement, domestic violence ser-
vices, mental health professionals,
primary care and emergency room
physicians, the judiciary, teachers
and school counselors — each can
potentially signal early warnings
of children at risk. Effectively pre-
venting fatalities requires a broad-
er, more coordinated response
across the social service system.
We need to build bridges across
systems and create a comprehen-
Chelsea Marr
General Manager
CMarr@hoodrivernews.com
Founded in 1905
419 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
P.O. Box 390
Phone: (541) 386-1234
Operations:
Joe Petshow
Publisher
President, Eagle Newspapers
JPetshow@hoodrivernews.com
Chris Stenberg
Bookkeeper
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Front Office/
Classified Advertising:
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sive child welfare system that is
more than just CPS. The goal is to
have a fully collaborative approach
that provides the earliest possible
warning and most effective re-
sponse.
That’s what we’re doing in Ore-
gon — working hard to bring a mul-
tidisciplinary approach to how we
collect data on fatalities and improv-
ing our process in understanding it
existing federal child fatality elec-
tronic data system that improves
child fatalities data collection with
the goal of improving prevention
and intervention.
As part of Medicaid, the
state/federal health care program
for low-income people, Oregon has
established a system of Coordinated
Care Organizations (CCOs), which
integrate physical, mental and be-
havioral health. Oregon’s
CCOs are working to align
services across systems in
order to address the long-
term health of children
and families.
Another important ad-
vance is the Oregon Safety
Model (OSM) used by CPS.
This model requires a
more than an investigation of an in-
cident; it requires a comprehensive
assessment in every case to ensure
child safety at all stages of a fami-
ly’s involvement with CPS. The pro-
gram is driven by a belief that we
all embrace — safety is a fundamen-
tal right of every child in Oregon.
That belief was the catalyst in
2008 for Karly’s Law, named after a
3-year-old girl who died from abuse
despite multiple investigations of
abuse allegations conducted by state
child welfare staff and law enforce-
ment, and despite significant physi-
cal evidence. The law mandates that
children with suspicious injuries re-
ceive medical attention from a des-
‘The answer lies in identifying at-risk
children earlier, engaging families, and
using a multidisciplinary approach …’
so decisions are made faster and re-
action is more focused and effective.
Oregon’s State Child Fatality Re-
view Team includes a wide variety
of partners, including CPS, public
health, law enforcement, physicians,
district attorneys, medical examin-
ers, paramedics, and community
health nurses, to name a few.
In addition to co-chairing the
State Child Fatality Review Team
twice per year, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Human Services and the
Oregon Health Authority also work
together to implement prevention
strategies throughout the year. In
2014, this heightened partnership
fostered the implementation of an
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ignated child abuse medical profes-
sional within 48 hours. Since 2008,
Karly’s Law has helped thousands of
Oregon children receive medical
evaluations and care related to sus-
pected abuse.
Parents are part of the effort too.
Programs that offer advice on best
practices in parenting are promoted
statewide with community partners
such as Circle of Security, Healthy
Start-Healthy Families, Nurse-Fami-
ly Partnership of Oregon and oth-
ers. All of them provide curriculum
and home visitation programs, re-
lief nurseries and other services
that help parents develop the skills
and supports they need to adequate-
ly care for their children. These pro-
grams are showing particular
promise and just last week, Oregon
received $10.8 million in federal
grant funding to expand evidence-
based home visiting services to
women during pregnancy and to
parents with young children, a pro-
gram made possible by the Afford-
able Care Act.
All of these steps, including im-
proved data tracking, identification
of at-risk children, development of
prevention strategies, implementa-
tion of trauma-informed care, repli-
cation of best practices, coordina-
tion across multiple agencies and
targeted investments, can help us
fulfill our most important responsi-
bility — protecting vulnerable chil-
dren from abuse and neglect.
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Phone: (541) 386-1234
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