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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