A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Wednesday, July 15, 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.
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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
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Heritage
Council
Recent disruptions raise the
need for this vital organization
to actively listen
T
he main thing the Hood River Heritage Council
needs to think of this summer and fall is not his-
tory but what is happening now, and indeed the
future.
Regarding the recent firing of Megan Shue-
mate, the director it hired four months ago, it should be
stressed that there is a distinct separation over that per-
sonnel change and the resignation by the previous direc-
tor, Connie Nice, in 2014.
While this organization has endured plenty of tur-
moil in 2013-14 over record-keeping, it moved into 2015
with new energy — thanks both to volunteers as well as
Shuemate. That energy is visible in the current exhibit
on the history of wind sports in the Gorge — definitely
worth seeing — and the ongoing list of events and activ-
ities happening this summer.
However, this is a time for clarity and communica-
tion by the Heritage Council, what with two director de-
partures, for different reasons, in subsequent years, and
the operational concerns hovering in the recent past.
Who are we? What do we do? How are we organized?
What is our mission? How can we improve our service
to the community?
These are questions that could be covered in a listen-
ing session or two; perhaps one at the museum paired
with tours of the facility, and another in the upper val-
ley. In turn, the community can learn how to get in-
volved in this vital organization.
Setting aside any question of blame for past prob-
lems and recent staff changes, with all the positives
going on the museum this is the perfect time for the
Heritage Council to tell its own story, and be willing to
listen to ideas and even criticism.
The museum moved to a regular pattern of outreach
in the past few years, between events such as game days
at the museum and the highly successful Cemetery
Tales program heading in September to its sixth year. A
couple of listening sessions, designed to inform as well
as accept feedback, will not only continue that mission
but provide a needed avenue to both healing and im-
provement.
Protect meadow Great local
at High Prairie arts
There is a proposed extension to
the Cooks Meadow Trail 639 that has
the last few hundred feet running
through a meadow just below where
a spring feeds it. This has just be-
come known due to the project hav-
ing the wrong categorization and the
lack of any detailed information
about it.
Where the trail will be is soft
ground and will easily be damaged
by mountain bikes, especially in wet
times. Even now in this drought, the
spring was still wet.
This proposal is about to get
passed and there’s only a few days
left (Sunday, July 19) to comment on
it. Due to the lack of information, I
am asking others to contact the For-
est Service to have the comment pe-
riod extended for at least a couple of
weeks. Contact information can be
found in the scoping letter for this
project
found
at
http://tinyurl.com/CMT639Scoping
.
Brian Schultz
Mt. Hood
Once again, such inspiring cul-
tural events lately ... among them,
the “Independence Eve” live radio
broadcast last weekend, the most
bicultural entertainment I’ve seen
staged in my 30-plus years in Hood
River. Thanks to Radio Tierra, the
Bingen Theatre, all the organizers,
performers and sponsors for such a
great evening.
Then last night I went to “Next
to Normal,” along with seeing the
“Best of the Gorge” exhibit, both at
the Columbia Center for the Arts
— beautiful art work to enjoy dur-
ing the intermission of a really
fantastic show.
“Next to Normal,” an adult mu-
sical about a family living with a
mental illness and its many im-
pacts, plays for two more week-
ends. It’s intense, heartbreaking,
serious and funny all at once. Hats
off to director Mark Steighner and
cast, crew and band for carrying
off this ambitious work with such
talent.
Tina Castañares
Hood River
Highline safety ‘More normal
kudos
than not’
We are aware that the Hood
River County budget has been ex-
tremely tight in recent years
which makes any improvement all
the sweeter. Mikel Diwan, director,
and the staff of the Hood River
County Public Works Department
and Bill Wheat, road crew fore-
man, were very responsive to re-
quests to repaint the rusting metal
guard rails on a curve beside a
dangerous drop-off on Highline
Road.
This road is frequented daily by
school buses, cyclists, motorcycles
and trucks as well as ordinary traf-
fic and the newly painted rails pro-
vide a necessary safety alert, espe-
cially at dawn, dusk and at night.
The road crew of Hood River
County who carried out this work
deserves kudos for their efforts on
this project.
Rebecca and John Kirkland
Hood River
In 2013, the American Psychi-
atric Association published the
DSM-5, a classification of psy-
chopathology with over 500 diag-
noses. Allen Frances, a prominent
modern psychiatrist, criticized the
DSM-5 in his book “Saving Nor-
mal.” Frances argued that the
DSM-5 over-pathologizes the nor-
mal behavior of modern Ameri-
cans.
This year, CAST started its sea-
son with “Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Wolfe?” and ended with “Next to
Nor mal” (now in production).
Both plays are about similar
themes – dysfunctional relation-
ships held together by the ghosts of
the sons of the relationships.
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe”
was a serious, unrelenting play
with four actors. “Next to Normal”
is a musical ensemble with six ac-
tors, containing comedy and satire,
but with the same unrelenting seri-
ous theme.
In watching “Next to Normal,” I
was fascinated with the audience
reaction. The members of the audi-
ence stayed focused, often with se-
r i o u s e x p r e s s i o n s. B u t t h e y
laughed at the jokes, clapped after
the songs, and gave the actors a
standing ovation at the end. The
mother, played by Emily Vawter,
and the Freudian ghost, played by
Duncan Krummel, were superb.
In both of these plays, as much
as we try to avoid doing so, we all
see ourselves, our families, and our
relationships. Superficially, “Next
to Normal” appears to be a satire
on modern psychiatry laced with a
psychodynamic view of the causes
of bipolar affective disorder. But
like Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the play “Next
to Normal” is more about us than
about the limitations of psychiatry.
To slightly alter a quotation by
Harry Stack Sullivan, the first
major American-born psychoana-
lyst, “We are all more normal than
not.”
Roger Blashfield
Hood River
ABOUT LETTERS
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to the point of letters becoming
repetitive.
Also rejected are letters that are
libelous, in bad taste or personal at-
tacks on individuals or private
businesses. Writers must include
addresses and telephone numbers.
These are for identification purpos-
es only and will not be published.
W HERE TO WRITE
President — Barack Obama, White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave., Washington D.C., 20500
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
U.S. Senators — Jeff Merkley, SDB-40B, Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753; E-mail:
oregon@merkley.senate.gov; Ron Wyden, 717 Hart Office Build-
ing, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244.
Web address: www.senate.gov/member/or/wyden/general/
2nd Congressional District Representative — Greg
Walden, 14 N. Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97504.
Phone: 541-776-4646;
E-mail: www.walden.house.gov/contactgreg
Governor — Kate Brown, 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310. Phone: 503-378-3111;
E-mail: www.governor.state.or.us/email.htm
District 26 State Senator — Chuck Thomsen, 900 Court St.
N.E., S-307, State Capitol, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1726; E-mail sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us
District 52 State Representative — Mark Johnson, 900
Court St. N.E., Bldg. H-385, State Capitol, Salem, OR 97301.
Phone: 503-986-1452; E-mail: rep.markjohnson@state.or.us
Hood River County Board of Commissioners — Chair
Ron Rivers, Vice Chair Maui Meyer, members Les Perkins, Bob Ben-
ton and Karen Joplin, Hood River County Courthouse, Hood River,
OR, 97031. Phone: 541-386-3970.
Education: Oregon Promise bill holds just that
tain a 2.5 GPA and stay continu-
ously enrolled in courses to re-
t 6:05 p.m. on July 7 the
ceive an associate’s degree or ca-
2015 Oregon Legislative
reer technical certificate you can
Session came to an end.
The final days and hours access up to 90 credits. Tennessee
passed similar legislation last
of a session are filled
year and has seen millions of dol-
with the consideration of a huge
lars of new federal Pell
amount of policy and bud-
Grants flow into their
get bills that must be
state to support students.
passed before the final
Their community colleges
gavel falls. This year I had
have seen enrollments in-
particular interest in one
crease dramatically for
bill that passed out late —
next fall.
SB 81.
The Oregon Promise is
Also known as the Ore-
designed to address a cou-
gon Promise, SB 81 is a
ple of key concerns in
bill I sponsored along
Mark Johnson Oregon. One is the cost of
with Sen. Mark Hass and
college and the debt that
Rep. Tobias Read that is
students accumulate. The Oregon
designed to make community col-
Promise will say to those high
lege affordable for all Oregon stu-
school students who might not
dents. The bill works like this: If
have considered college as a possi-
you attend an Oregon high school
bility due to the costs, if you study
and graduate with at least a 2.5
GPA, enroll in an Oregon Commu- hard and play by the rules, the
state will make it possible for you
nity College within six months of
to attend and obtain a degree or
graduating, and apply for and ac-
career certificate.
cept all federal and state grants
The second is workforce devel-
that you are eligible for, the state
opment. Gone are the days when a
will pick up the tab for the bal-
student could graduate from high
ance owed for the cost of tuition.
school and find a good paying job
In other words, the state pays the
at a lumber mill or manufacturing
last dollar. As long as you main-
By REP. MARK JOHNSON
A
plant. More than two-thirds of all
jobs now require some level of
post-secondary education. The
Oregon Promise will help more of
our youth obtain the important ca-
reer training needed in order to be
financially self-sufficient and not
have to rely on costly public assis-
tance. It will also help provide the
skilled workforce our private sec-
tor needs in order to grow.
SB 81 allocates $10 million to
provide tuition support for stu-
dents beginning in fall 2016. A
companion bill I worked on con-
tains an additional $7 million to
build the support services neces-
sary for students to successfully
transition from high school to col-
lege and to ensure they are mak-
ing progress towards completion.
Recent figures estimate that
there are 70,000 people between
the ages of 18-24 in Oregon who
don’t have a job or any post-sec-
ondary education. I believe the
Oregon Promise can begin to
change this troubling statistic by
investing in education leading to a
more prosperous society.
■
State Rep. Mark Johnson, Dist.
52, lives in Hood River.