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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2015)
A4 V IEWPOINT Hood River News, Wednesday, April 29, 2015 O ur readers write 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 Printed on OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION 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 Choosing Tools Hunger, and now housing T housands of our neighbors will get a major help next month with nutrition challenges they may face, via the opening of the FISH headquarters on Tucker Road. May 4 will be the first day of operation at the site, and the existing food bank site in Concordia Lutheran Church on the Heights will be retired this week. The rise of the FISH headquarters is a welcome devel- opment for the community, though not just for those whose lack of income or other circumstance put them in the posi- tion of needing assistance with putting food on the table. It’s a healthy development for us all, because it creates one more gathering place, and one more resource for inter- action and outreach. In addition to serving the needs of food bank clients, the new FISH site provides a commer- cial-scale kitchen and meeting area for groups to learn about nutrition and safe and healthy food preparation and preservation. Adiverse range of people will be able to learn about nu- trition and other tools they can use to improve their lives. The new headquarters was designed with clients and volunteers in mind. It has easy access for clients and visi- tors, ample room for delivery and unloading, and the stor- age and distribution areas are built for growth. The four-year project is all but complete. Now comes an- other community effort that has to be considered related: affordable housing. The City of Hood River is studying the growing prob- lem of housing availability to low- and moderate-income people, and with assessing how much land could be avail- able to construct housing to meet these income needs. The city is making an earnest attempt to tackle the issue, and is coordinating with the other agencies with the highest potential impact, the county and the ports. Currently the issue is at the Technical Advisory Committee level, which will continue this spring to devise policy changes that could lead to higher availability of affordable housing. Changes to codes or regulations is another step that likely won’t happen before this fall. The citizen-based TAC and city staff are looking at a va- riety of potential tools the city could use, but some are not feasible or legal, for one reason or another. While the process has been open (city planning director Cindy Wal- bridge has given regular updates to city council in the past three months) it’s by nature somewhat circuitous. Where the issue really comes into a straightaway will be the June 22 TAC meeting, where the group will begin to look at specific recommendations to Planning Commis- sion. The commission will have its first look on July 6. Individuals, businesses, property owners, developers, and agencies public and non-profit will have an opportuni- ty to learn more and have a say in which tools to pick up, and which to set aside, for the work of creating a wider range of choices for diverse community members. For Reitz I’d like to tell you why I think Chris Reitz is the right candidate Hood River County School Board Position 1. As an active member of this community for the past sever- al years, I have had the opportuni- ty to meet some amazing hard working volunteers. These people want to know what’s happening, but more than anything they want to make things better! Chris Reitz is one of those peo- ple! She has played a strong role in our community, not just for her own school, but for all elementary schools. As the co-founder of the Gorge Kids Triathlon, she saw the need for PE support at the elementary levels. For the last four years, with her team of community volun- teers, she led one of the most suc- cessful kid-only events in the gorge, raising just over $31,000 for enhanced PE programs. People just don’t do this because they have nothing better to do with their time. They do it because they want things to be better! As a team leader, Chris is objec- tive, honest and not afraid to ask the hard questions. She is a “do- er!” She is willing to roll up her sleeves and dig in. From my per- spective, school board volunteers need to be dedicated and commit- ted to the results. Chris Reitz is that kind of person. I encourage you to vote for Chris Reitz. Megan Spears Hood River For Wilhelm I suppor t Kris Wilhelm for School Board Position 1. Kris is well infor med and passionate about the current issues facing our schools. She listens well and is not afraid to speak up on important matters. Honest and forthright, she will do her best for our students. Mary Bokovoy Hood River Better way I’m glad that economic sanctions are sometimes used as an alterna- tive to war, but I think there is a better way of using sanctions than the way we are using them now. As far as I know, the current method we use is to impose general sanctions and then leave them in place until the targeted govern- ment changes policy due to the hardships created by the sanctions. But in reality, I see very little positive effect from the use of sanc- tions. Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, for example, have been subjected to sanctions for decades, but they still have not crumbled under the weight of their economic difficul- ties. Perhaps at least one of the rea- sons for their ability to withstand prolonged periods of sanctioning is that humans are very good at adapting, both physically and psy- chologically, to whatever condi- tions they find themselves in, espe- cially over time. I think a more effective method of using sanctions would be to im- pose randomly timed periodic sanctioning cycles that are mea- sured in terms of many months, or even years. This strategy would need to ad- dress and deal with the defense of stockpiling goods and resources. Some commodities would need to have sustained sanctions or strict- ly limited and timed periods of availability, while others could be cycled at various intervals without quantity limits. An entire field of psychology and methodology could be devel- oped around this concept. The idea is to prevent people from adapting to the sanctions. People will tire much more quickly of repeated, unpredictable cycles of having, and then not having, than they will of simply not hav- ing. The ultimate goal is to create conditions that will provoke the general population into rising up and forcing their government to change, and to achieve this effect as quickly as possible. In a world of rapidly evolving technology and sociology, the sci- ence of sanctions seems to remain lost in the Stone Age. David Conner The Dalles No to Nestlé The below letter I wrote in 2012 is ever more relevant now, but shows that as Nestlé continues its persistent push on this issue, we too need to keep our persistent presence and voice on this issue as well: I am deeply saddened and con- cerned to see the momentum that is happening in regards to Nestlé’s proposed water bottling plant in Cascade Locks. If you think this might be OK and a good thing for the local Cas- cade Locks economy — or whatev- er reason you think it might be OK or not a big deal — I would strong- ly urge you to pull up your Netflix queue and put as number one the movie “Tapped.” It is a horrifyingly informative documentary film on the history of bottled water and its effects on the planet, and if not stopped, the pos- sible effects on the future of our sa- cred rights in regards to water on this planet. Please educate yourselves on this matter. I’m certain many of you who think it’s no big deal would come to change your minds. Inform yourself sooner than later because they are in their less-than- upfront, sneaky and powerful bull- dozing, corporate-greed way push- ing big-time to do their thing right here in our neighborhood, and if you wait too long it could be too late and you might be sorry! I know I will! Pamela Dussault Hood River ‘Under attack’ Just an alert to let you know that parental rights are under attack by the Oregon Legislature. HB 2758 will require that health carriers adopt procedures for enrollees (your child) who receive sensitive services (the bill does not define sensitive services so it could be anything ... Urinary tract infec- tion? Syphilis? HIV? Abortion?) to request to have personal health in- formation protected from disclo- sure to the policyholder (parent) if the enrollee (child) fears that dis- closure will result in harassment or abuse of enrollee or will under- mine enrollee’s ability to access health care. On its face, this bill seems to be directed toward keep- ing minors safe from abusive par- ents. However, it can also keep good parents from knowing things they need to know regarding their child’s health and welfare. After all, what kid won’t say, “Don’t tell Dad, he might get mad!” If your child undergoes a procedure, and complications develop, you, as a parent, can be prohibited from knowing, but you will be held re- sponsible for paying for it. Keep an eye on this, folks. This might be a bill you really don’t want to be- come law. Carolyn Hattrup Mt. Hood/Parkdale Vote Watson Please vote for Stu Watson on your Spring election ballot for the board of Columbia Gorge Commu- nity College. Stu has been the ONLY board member to question the leadership at the college and the ONLY board member attempting to extract in- formation from the president. In essence, Stu is the ONLY board member fulfilling is respon- sibilities as an elected official. Rob Kovacich Hood River ANOTHER VOICE The undetectable, un-majestic, caustic tick BY MARY JANE HEPPE “Check, check, check …” I’m re- calling my halcyon microphone days, examining the sound system to determine its accuracy. Only this time it’s not sound checking … it’s tick checking. Warmer weather is beginning to beckon us to stay outside, and this land abounds with ticks. There are numerous species of ticks, and some could be infected with a bac- terium called Borrelia burgdor- feri, a long name that means Lyme disease. These teeny critters — the size of a poppy seed — love blood meals mostly from mammals and birds, and the moment they smell carbon dioxide, they pounce on you. The tick wanders and then it cuts with a mouth that looks like twin saws. Between the twin saws is what’s called a “hypostome,” a long, jagged sword just like a Fred- die Krueger chain saw, that bores into your skin making it nearly impossible to extract the tick — a real-life horror movie. The greater horror is the possi- bility of contracting Lyme disease, a debilitating illness. Lyme disease is serious business because symp- toms are wide-ranging and can mimic multiple sclerosis (MS), fi- bromyalgia, chronic fatigue syn- drome (CFS), rheumatoid arthri- tis, Parkinson’s disease, bipolar disorder, autism, and others. The impact on our children is particularly severe, affecting en- exposed to ticks, clinicians should tire childhood, educational consider a Lyme disease diagnosis, process, and future adulthood. even with a negative test result Children miss their formative (danielcameronmd.com/daniel- years; some die. For cameron-md-lyme- example, in 2013, a blog). 17-year-old honor stu- Most patients who dent in New York get bitten by a tick died from cardiac ar- never saw the tick rest, which the autop- and never see a rash. sy demonstrated was By the time they get due to Lyme carditis. to a doctor, it may be He had just returned too late to prevent home from a two- chronic Lyme dis- week stay at a camp ease. in Rhode Island, a Even if a patient state that is endemic TEENY, TEENY ticks from visits a doctor in Ore- for Lyme. His parents larvae to adult gon, the likely re- said he had a mild sponse will be, “You cough, fevers, fa- don’t have Lyme; tigue, headaches and body aches, there is no Lyme in Oregon.” Doc- but his blood test for Lyme disease tors are dictated by Oregon Lyme was negative. guidelines that require them to see The Centers for Disease Control a bull’s-eye rash (less than 50 per- (CDC) point out that patients test- cent get a rash). ed during the first few weeks of ill- Two primary antibody tests are ness often test negative because used to diagnose Lyme disease, the there are not enough antibodies in ELISA and Western blot. Doctors the bloodstream to be detected. commonly order an ELISA first to The two tests used in the U.S., the screen for the disease and then ELISA and Western blot, can miss confirm it with a Western blot. up to 60 percent of well-defined However, current ELISA tests are Lyme disease cases (Molins CR, et not sensitive enough for screening al. Development of a Metabolic and may miss over half the true Biosignature for Detection of cases. Because of this, the best an- Early Lyme Disease. Clin Infect tibody test to use for diagnosis is Dis. 2015 Mar 11). the Western blot Bottom line: When an individual (www.lymedisease.org/lyme101/ly manifests symptoms consistent me_disease/lyme_diagnosis). with Lyme disease and has been The CDC acknowledges more than 300,000 cases per year nation- wide (roughly 100 per 100,000). Ore- gon reported 43 cases of Lyme dis- ease in 2013 (roughly 1 per 100,000; or 1 percent of national rate per CDC). Multiple flaws in reporting criteria include no testing in “non- endemic” areas and over emphasis on physician-observed rash and two-tiered blood testing. Let’s look at dogs! Veterinarian data tells a different story (www.capcvet.org/parasite-preva- lence-maps). Nationwide, over last five years, roughly 1 in 16 dogs tested were positive for Lyme. In Oregon, over last 5 years, roughly 1 in 80 dogs tested were positive for Lyme. Difference is 5:1, not 100:1 as implied by Oregon’s offi- cially reported cases. The actual rate of human infec- tion in Oregon is likely on the order of 20 per 100,000. Given Ore- gon’s population of approximately 4 million, this means roughly 800 cases per year, far greater than the “official” 43 reported cases in Ore- gon. We are also aware of 800 current patients in various support groups around Oregon (Portland, Bend, Hood River, Corvallis, Medford, Eugene to name a few). This is in- consistent with a rate of infection of only 43 per year. For 2014, one CDC proficient CLIA lab reported to Oregon Lyme Disease Network (OLDN). They had 161 positive CDC tests for Lyme disease, but Oregon health departments only reported 31 cases to the CDC that same year. Only 12 were confirmed cases. That means only 7 percent of the CDC positive patients were given a diagnosis using the Oregon guide- lines for Lyme disease. Patients and their caregivers are searching for answers, but they can’t always receive proper care from medical doctors in Oregon. Some go out of state. Many pa- tients rely on naturopathic physi- cians who are not bound by the re- strictive guidelines of the medical mainstream. Medical boards in Oregon enforce a single de facto standard; patients cannot get care. The impact on families, adults, and children is severe. We patient advocates remain passionate about changing things in Oregon. For more information on ticks and tick prevention, please go to: ■ lymedisease.org/lyme- 101/ticks/about_ticks ■ www.ilads.org ■ www.igenex.com (click “tick test request forms”) For Oregon information on Lyme, got to: n oregonlyme.com/about.html ■ Mary Jane Heppe is a Certified Cancer Coach and Lyme Coach, Na- tional Patient Advocate, and Co- leader of the Mid-Columbia Lyme Group in Hood River.
