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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager Oregon and the opioid epidemic OUR VIEW The opioid epidemic has hit both the medical community and the community at large. Oregon. Consider attending one of the More residents die from prescription opioids than from discussions, where you can ask any other drug questions and get — roughly three reliable information Local forums overdoses per week, about the cost of a number that has addiction and are scheduled opioid tripled since 2000. alternative methods in Pendleton Oregon ranks highest for pain relief. If in non-medical in the health and Hermiston you’re use of prescription care field, make it painkillers in the to learn and talk a priority. Getting country. information about opioid this out of the shadows It’s not just an and into the light of inner-city issue, addiction. the public square is either. It’s a real and needed. outsized concern in Local forums for medical Eastern Oregon, where trips between providers are 5-9 p.m. on Friday doctors can be longer than in bigger at Good Shepherd Hospital in cities and prescriptions for pain Hermiston, and Feb. 24 at St. killers can be, too. Anthony in Pendleton. Topics Well-intentioned efforts to ease include talking to patients about pain, both chronic and acute, have led to much worse problems as some addiction, the neuroanatomy and patients become addicted. There are neurochemistry of addiction, pain schools, nondrug treatment options biological and genetic reasons why and the role of buprenorphine in some are more prone to addiction, treatment. according to Baker City doctor Other forums, open to the public, Chuck Hofmann. will explore acute versus chronic And people are dying because pain, non-drug options for chronic of it. Lives are being ruined, too. pain and the role of psychosocial Parents are losing their jobs and their children. Users are committing support in chronic pain management. crimes and getting locked up behind These forums are 6:30-9:30 p.m. on bars. Productive members of society Thursday in Hermiston and Feb. 23 in Pendleton. have become those who are now Register online at www.eocco. tearing it apart at the seams. com or call Briona at 503-952-5010 Fixing the problem is not easy. or email her at briona.campbell@ It’s time-consuming, emotionally modahealth.com. exhausting and expensive. Wrangling opioid addiction But there are ways to help. will not be easy, but we must do it Hofmann is helping organize a head-on or it will wrangle us. number of forums in our area for Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS Don’t reduce expectations — make up instructional time lost to snow The Oregonian/OregonLive A fter snow storms and poor road conditions forced school districts to cancel school day after school day this winter, it’s understandable that districts haven’t yet calculated how to make up the time to students. It’s disappointing, however, that the state is jumping in so quickly to make the math easier. The Oregon Board of Education will consider next week a proposal that lets districts count as much as 14 hours of lost school time toward the total number of instructional hours that they owe students by state law, as The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Betsy Hammond reported. Districts simply need to secure support from their school boards and submit a written request to state schools chief Salam Noor for his approval. If districts still can’t find ways to make up enough missed hours to meet state minimums for instructional time, they may seek a waiver. To be sure, the state must be flexible with school districts, some of which faced unprecedented weather conditions or inadequate plowing by transportation crews that kept them closed for nine or more days this winter. Making up lost time is more complicated than simply declaring a new ending date. It requires not only resources but agreement by teachers and administrators. But the state’s default message should be that districts are expected to meet the minimum. That’s inherently what the word “minimum” is supposed to convey. Rather than automatically provide a relief valve, the state should put the burden on districts to show why they can’t meet it. Oregon already has one of the shortest school years in the country. It mandates 900 hours of instruction for students from full-day kindergarten through 8th grade; 990 hours for 9th grade through 11th grade; and 966 hours for high school seniors. According to the Education Commission of the States, most states range from 900 hours on the low end to 1,080 on the high end. Losing any time puts students even farther behind. The 14-hour proposal also backpedals on the message that the state issued just two years ago. In 2015, the state board of education said it would phase out its practice of allowing districts to count some of the hours lost to school closures toward the instructional time minimum. That makes sense, obviously, as schools aren’t providing instruction when they’re closed. But the current proposal sends a new message that the state is still wishy washy on what “instructional time” actually means. No doubt there are legitimate arguments that districts can and should make for seeking a waiver. But they need to first do the work of trying to meet these very bare minimums and then make their case to the state for why they cannot. Consider that both Portland Public Schools and Beaverton School District are mapping out strategies to avoid seeking a waiver from the district, spokespeople for both districts said. They have flexibility in part because they originally scheduled students for well over the minimums. While the winter isn’t over yet, it’s a promising sign of their commitment. It’s also proof that the state shouldn’t automatically look to lower the bar. Too many times, it seems that when districts are faced with tough situations, they negotiate compromises that place the needs of administrators, teachers and staff above those of students. The state shouldn’t feed into that by allowing a definition of instructional time that is instructional only in showing the frailty of the state’s expectations. The state must be flexible with school districts. The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our web- site. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. OTHER VIEWS For many, Trump’s inauguration means the return of optimism “It was a Trump speech,” said Beth political establishment arrayed behind Lesser, a Donald Trump supporter him on the West Front of the U.S. from Greenville, South Carolina, after Capitol. That was just fine with the listening to the president’s inaugural people standing in front of him. address on the Mall. “For too long, a small group in “He hasn’t changed at all — and I our nation’s capital has reaped the don’t want him to.” rewards of government while the Lesser was one of the thousands people have borne the cost,” Trump who traveled a long way to come to said. “Washington flourished — but Byron the inauguration, and who loved what the people did not share in its wealth. York they heard. They didn’t come to hear Politicians prospered — but the jobs Comment soaring rhetoric from Donald Trump. left, and the factories closed.” “The establishment protected itself, They didn’t come to hear Trump try but not the citizens of our country,” Trump to sound like Marco Rubio or, God forbid, continued. “Their victories have not been your Barack Obama. They came to hear Trump victories; their triumphs have not been your sound like himself. triumphs; and while they celebrated in our That’s what they got. And to them, nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate Inauguration Day was a day of hope. for struggling families all across our land.” “It brings some hope that we’re going The people who come to inaugurations to have a new direction for the country, are a new president’s biggest supporters. Out that we’re going to create a real economic where I was standing — the podium was recovery,” said Rick Fischer, who organized far, far away — there were for Trump in Fairfax County, no bigwigs, no people who Virginia. would have reservations “I think this really restores Friday night at Washington’s our country to its place in priciest restaurants. Some the world as far as a leader had traveled a long way, but is concerned,” said Patrick a lot were from neighboring O’Neal, of Atlanta. Eastern Seaboard states. And “To me, it means the future many said they believed in of America,” said Emily — Beth Lesser, Donald Trump from nearly Ovecka, who volunteered for Trump in Philadelphia. Supporter from the first day. Patrick O’Neal, a Trump “It means the return of South Carolina supporter from the get-go, optimism,” said Phil Bell, of said he booked tickets on Vienna, Virginia. “We’ve had years and years where I personally, and I think Amtrak and made hotel reservations for a lot of people, have felt simply like we didn’t January 20, 2017 in Washington back in January 2016. He felt that strongly that Trump have an opportunity.” would win. Talking to people on the Mall was like From the moment Trump finished entering a universe entirely apart from that speaking, many analysts compared the of the political commentariat. In the pundits’ inaugural address to Trump’s Republican world, Trump delivered a pessimistic and convention acceptance speech last summer. foreboding address, one sure to further divide And indeed, much of the punditocracy’s the nation. The adjective of choice was reaction to that speech was the same as its “dark.” reaction to this one: it was “dark.” “Unusually dark,” wrote The Atlantic. Immediately after the convention speech, “Short, dark, and defiant,” wrote USA I asked 20 people in Cleveland’s Quicken Today. Loans Arena, in quick succession, what they “A dark vision,” wrote the Los Angeles thought of it. Times. There were many, many more. They all thought it was great. Of course, Where journalists and pundits saw those were the type of Republican loyalists darkness, the people who came to the who actually attended a GOP convention. inauguration saw promise. For example — On the Mall Friday, there were the type of and this should shock no one who has spent Republican loyalists who attend a Republican even a minute paying attention to politics — presidential nomination. they really liked it when Trump talked about The bigger question last summer — and jobs. Indeed, the biggest applause line in the area now — was how the vastly larger TV audience would see the speech. As it turned where I was standing was when Trump said, out, Trump actually got a bounce from the “We will get our people off of welfare and convention. (It was short-lived, given that back to work — rebuilding our country with Trump created enormous problems for American hands and American labor.” himself the very next week with the Khizr Where the pundits heard a “dark, weird” speech (New York magazine) or a “dark, raw” Khan affair.) At the very least, it’s fair to say that Trump’s convention speech did not keep speech (Vanity Fair), or a “dark, hard-line” him from winning the general election. speech (the New York Times), the audience Now, Trump has given another speech with heard the possibility that jobs — not just worlds-apart reactions from the commentators low-paying service jobs, but better, higher- and the people who came to see him. Dark? paying jobs — would come back to their On the Mall, people saw Trump’s speech as a communities. ray of sunshine. “It’s the first time we’ve been excited and “It means we have a chance,” said Liz looking forward to a government,” said Jay Rawlings, of Annapolis, Maryland. “We have Leone, of Long Island, New York. “I think it a chance to move our country forward.” marks the beginning of a new era, hopefully, ■ for prosperity and jobs and security.” Byron York is chief political correspondent Trump’s speech was remarkable in that he spent a significant amount of time bashing the for The Washington Examiner. “(Trump) hasn’t changed at all — and I don’t want him to.” YOUR VIEWS Protests were beneficial, can help influence decision makers I was absolutely amazed with the turnout of peaceful protesters in the United States and around the world on Jan. 21. Regardless of your political views, the magnitude and the intensity of this movement had to catch your eye. People in the United States and around the world are very concerned about foreign policies and relations, health care, women’s rights, immigration, global warming, and extreme policies of any kind. I doubt if Mr. Trump will be moved by any of this, but congressmen are. I bet some are thinking “Damn, do I want thousands of angry women on my doorsteps?” Pushback on these folks can work. We can start by emailing our representative Greg Walden and demand to hear his intentions on issues like Social Security, women’s health, Medicare, immigration and health care. When you visit his web site you see a statement saying “working for health care for Oregonians.” This rings a bit hollow when in fact he voted to immediately throw out ACA before any other health plan was in place. Mr. Walden’s vote is much more important now that Mr. Trump is in office. We need to give him a chance to show he can represent all Oregonians, but if he can’t come up with some clear explanations on his plans then we need to push a little harder. Hopefully he can rise to the occasion and become a true statesman for all of us. This movement is not going to go away anytime soon, so thank you ladies — you started an amazing thing! David Lange Pendleton
