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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2000)
A u g u s t 3 0 ,2 0 0 0 Page A 4 (Tlje lUortlanb ©hßeruer Opinion tiu rtla n ò (Obsemer Articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of (Tip sportiani» (O bseruer ■■■■■■■■■■■■I Lack of courage behind failure to do the right thing to save (Epe ^JJnrtlanò © bserüer the Snake River salm on Established 1970 STAFF d it o r P C in h ie f , u b l is h e r Charles H. Washington E d i t o r Larry J. Jackson, Sr. B u s in e s s M anager Gary Ann Taylor » C opy E d it o r Joy Ramos C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r Shawn Strahan 4 7 4 7 NE M a r tin L u th er K ing, Hidden deep in the news stories on the federal government’s decision to put in p la c e e n v iro n m e n t and technological fixes, in an effort to save the wild Snake River salmon instead o f removing four dams on the lower Snake River was a quote that should be lost. W hen asked about those risky and uncertain fixes, George Frampton, the White House expert, said that the dam removal was in fact “the single most beneficial thing we could do “ to save fish. The draft biological statement that a c c o m p a n ied the fe d e ra l governm ent’s decision supported Frampton’s statement. In it was a passage that said that under this schem e o f so -c a lle d tech- and environmental fixes, the dams would continue to be allowed to kill up to 88 percent o f juvenile fall Chinook that attempt to navigate these manmade masses o f concrete and earth. If the four lower Snake dams do kill nearly 90 percent o f the young fall Chinook salmon and if the federal g o v ern m en t’s expert on saving salm on truly believes that dam removal is the surest way to save the fish, then why are these dams being allowed to stand? In these same news stories Frampton was quick to also point out that the dam removal was an impossibility at this time because o f a lack o f support among the region’s members o f congress. That lack o f support, combined with the Clinton Administration’s lack of courage in overriding the opposition to dam removal by regional political leaders like Washington state Sentor Slade Gorton does not bode well for the salmon or the citizens o f the Pacific P o rtla n d , OR 9 7 2 1 1 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 F ax 5 0 3 - 2 8 8 - 0 0 1 5 e-m ail n ew s@ p o rtlan d o b serve r.co m sutecrlpfan@poitlandobserver.com a d s @ p o rtlan d o b se rv er.co m P ostmaster : Send address changes to Portland Observer PO Box 3 1 3 7 Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 Periodical Postage paid in Portland, OR Subscriptions are $60.00 per year D E A D L IN E S FOR ALL SUBMITTED MATERIALS: ARTICLES: Monday by 5 p . m . ADS: Friday by noon The Portland ( Ib s e n e r welcomes freelance submissions. M anuscripts and photographs should be c le a rly labeled and w ill be returned ifaccom paniedbyaselfaddressedenvelope A ll created design disp lay ads becom e tlie sole property o f the new spaper and cannot be used in other pub I ications o r personal usage without the w ritten consent o f the general m anager, unless the c I lent has purchased the com posit Kin O SERVER ALL 19 9 6 T H E P O R T L A N D O B R IG H T S RESERVED, R E P R O D U C T I O N I N W H O L E O R IN P A R T W I T H O U T P E R M IS S I O N IS P R O - 111 B I T E D . The Portland < tbservcr -O rego n's Oldest M u lticu ltu ral Publication- is a m em ber o f the N ational New spaper A s aociabon-Fou nded in 1885 , and T h e N ational Advertising Represen tative Am algam ated Publishers, Inc, N e w York, N Y , and The W est Coast Black Publishers Association* Serving Portlandand Vancouver Northwest. The cruel irony o f this decision is that when these politicians and federal policy makers finally come to the realizationthat, in order to save the salmon the dams must be removed, it will lickely be too late. A trout Unlimited-sponsored completed by a well- respected biologist last year found that if conditions don’t change, wild Snake River spring and summer Chinook could be functionally extinct by 2017.Simple math skills tell us that five to ten y e a rs the federal government has said they will keep the techo- fixes in place, coupled with 7 to 9 years it will take to dismantle the lower Snake dams, brings the salmon right on edge o f extinction or, in worst case scenario, actual extinction. But it is not just the salmon that will suffer from this cruel play o f politics, it also the citizens and taxpayers o f the Pacific Northwest. We have been forced to deal with the decades-long controversy surrounding efforts to save the salmon and now will continue to have to do so as this debate shifts to the courtrooms. We, like other Americans, will see our tax bills increase to pay for risky and uncertain salmon saving efforts like fish barging and continued modifications to the four dams It has been said that in this day and age political courage is in short supply. Nowhere is that more evident in the decision o f the federal government and the members o f congress not to support the decision o f the one fix they know will save the salmon - removal o f the four lower Snake River dams. Unfortunately, once again it will be the salmon and the public - not the politicians -w ho will be forced to bear the costs o f this lack o f political courage. P ortland O bserv er Dr. Edward Cornell III is an accomplished surgeon and the Trauma Chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He sees many o f the most devastating injuries that come through the hospital’s emergency room door. Far too often, this means treating young people who are victims o f gun violence. In 1999 Johns Hopkins Hospital treated 390 gunshot wounds, more than one a day, and almost two-thirds o f them were patients between 15 and 20 years old. Much o f the city’s gun violence is linked to the widespread drug trade. A federal study released this summer found Baltimore leads the nation in heroin use and also has one o f the worst crack cocaine epidemics in the county. Dr Cornell uses experience as a trauma surgeon to go into classrooms and youth centers and teach workshops in violence prevention. At a workshop he presented at the Samuel Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy ministry at Haley farm, CDF’s c e n te r fo r sp iritu a l renew al and lead ersh ip development, he began by apologizing to the audience because his stories about his work need to be rated “R ’ for excessive violence, but he explained, “That my world. For as a trauma surgeon, when it comes to seeing the results o f children without love, without positive role models, without activities and without instruction, I’m at the end o f the food chain. The only one behind me in line is the medical examiner that does the autopsies.” He shared the story o f typical patients he had treated just three weeks earlier: a sixteen year-old boy brought to the emergency room at 2:00 on a Saturday morning with a gunshot wound. The wound itself was just a tiny hole less than an inch wide on his buttocks. But the internal damage was devastating, and Dr, Cornwell described the long procedure over twenty doctors, nurses, and paramedics had to go through to try to save him: pumping on his chest, cutting it open to reach in and massage his heart, inserting a breathing tube, emptying his stomach to administer anesthesia, giving him drugs to try to increase his blood pressure, inserting an IV to give him extra blood. He than described the scene after the boy finally died and he was left to break the awful news to tlie boy’s mother, girlfriend and young child, brother, and the other family members anxiously gathered in the hospital’s waiting room. Dr. Cornwell says those moments with families are the one part o f his job he hates - and no mater what the circumstances, the horror, shock, and pain are the same every time. He also says he hears over and over again that the young victims o f gun violence he threats were “good kids who fell in with the wrong crowd’s outthere somewhere, but they never get to my hospital. Everyone is someone’s good kid.” Why is this true? It may be because so many o f theses young victims really were just “good kids,” and some adults simply cannot understand what happened when a child they love goes in just a few short years for being a “good” 8-or 9-Year-old to a teenagers who is a victim o f drug abuse or violence. This is what Dr. Cornwell sees hispositioninthe trauma ward as the end o f a very long chain o f events in these young people’s lives. It is also what in addition to being a surgeon he makes a point o f finding ways to see that fewer children ever reach his link in the chain. Before coming to Baltimore, Dr. Cornwell was part o f a team o f Los Angeles trauma surgeons who participated in the Youth Impact Program, a violence offenders ages 12-17. The surgeons show the youths operating room photographs o f gun violence injuries and them to intensive care units to meet young people who survived shootings but were paralyzed or otherwise injured. In Baltimore, on top o f his 80-hour workweeks as Trauma Chief, Dr. Cornwell is a board member o f Baltimore’s Police Athletic League. He continues the same kind o f violence prevention outreach he did in the Youth Impact Program, and also holds a monthly all-male “Rap With Doc” session at an East Baltimore center, plays basketball with the youths who attend his sessions, and otherwise serves as a mentors. I am so proud all ofD r. Cornwell ’ s important work. I am grateful for the extraordinary gift he has been given as a surgeon, and for the way his work has led him to a commitment to prevention and to sharing his experiences with the young people he does not want to see grow up to be his future patients. Advancingthecauseoftolerance Jr. B lvd. o f such ad. by M arian W riutll E m l m a n rob T he USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0 E A surgeon’s story about the gun war and children hir T he P ortland O bserver I thought w e-that is, A m erican Society-had settled the issue o f a presidential candidate’sreligion forty years ago in the 1960 Presidential Election that put John F. Kennedy in the W hite House. I thought American society had d e c id e d th at a p re sid e n tia l candidate’s faith is not an issue. That ’ s what has been so comfortably- and perhaps, smugly-said since the Kennedy years. But now we know that the issue o f a presidential, or vice-presidential, candidate’s religion had not been as settled as we thought. We know by the reaction-both the positive reaction and the negative reaction-that has welled up to Vice P re sid e n t G o re ’s se le c tio n o f C o n n e c tic u t S enator Jo sep h I. Lieberman as his running mate for the Democratic Party ticket. Yes! It's your time! You couldn't have dreamed it better if youd tried. You've learned tha t hard w ork and long hours definitely pay o ff and tha t ge tting ahead is easier w h e n there's family behind you. That's the w ay it is w ith American Family Mutual Insurance Like you, w e understand it's consistent performance th a t builds strong reputations. That's ju s t one o f m any reasons w h y year after year wete awarded an A+ (Superior, rating from the respected insurance r a tin g a u th o rity , A. M. Best. The pundits have declared that Gore’s move in drafting a Jewish American to run with him at the top o f the national ticket-a first-is a bold stroke politically. Well, I say it’s an inspired choice socially. By that I mean, it’s a great decision for the so c ia l w ell b ein g o f the Americanpeople by taking on who votes for whom. By tak in g on the u n spoken conventional wisdom that a Jew shouldn’t be tapped for the top electoral spots o f the major parties- fo r the u ltim a te p o sitio n s o f leadership. In doing so, the action has advanced the cause o f to le ra n c e for all Americans; for progress can never be made on that front unless the intolerance is directly confronted. That was one o f the lessons o f JFK ’s choosing to directly answ er the have family behind you. Before you make y o u r move, m ake o n e call a n d a h e lp fu l, friendly agent w ill be delighted to tell you more. Then go o u t there and conquer th e w orld... we'll be right behind you. ( Please see 'Tolerance' page 6) Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, There is currently a lot o f talk in the US media regarding the candidature of Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate. They make it sound as if its a big deal to have a non-Christian at this high post, rhey also talk about Lieberman being the only non-Protestant senior-level candidate after Kennedy. They talk about whether Americans will accept a Jew as the VP. Such talk comes after 2 centuries o f democracy! In this light, it is interesting to look at India. Just like USA, it is a secular democracy with no State religion. Independent and democratic for about 53 years. 3% Christians, 18% Muslims, the rest Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists etc. Still, India has had 2 Muslim Presidents and numerous Muslim and Christian Ministers and ChiefMinisters. Current President and Naval Chief are Christians. Heck, even the true original Roman Catholic Sonia Gandhi - a European bom to boot - is the Leader o f the Opposition in the Parliament! This is not to say that India is better than USA, or that USA needs to learn from India. It is simply a presentation of reality. Those whoclaim that minorities are systematically discriminated against in India should take a look at this picture. Automatic vilification o f Hindus for attacks against Christians is all the more deplorable because o f the recent findings that the Church blasts were caused by a Pakistan-inspired Islamic cult. Let us pick up good from everywhere while refraining from unjust, false accusations. ? All Your Protection Under One Roof. !™Î»«ÎήÏS- m S i American Family Mutual Insurance Company and its Subsidiarlos, Madison, Wl 53783-0001 www.amtam.com Sincerely, Mac Kher i
