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OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, July 7, 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
OUR VIEW
Tip of the hat;
kick in the pants
A tip of the hat to the Beach Bill, which turned 50 Thursday.
The bill was passed on July 6, 1967, and it guaranteed free unrestricted
access to Oregon’s public beaches. It has helped shape the modern Oregon
character and kept the state’s beaches in a relatively natural state, without
undue development.
In this era of hyper-partisanship and negativity
towards each and every piece of legislation, it’s
good to remember a time when political parties and
politicians came together to put the people’s interest
first. Republican Governor Tom McCall worked
with Oregon’s burgeoning environmental movement
to get it done, and the bill has found support in the
court system in the decades since. Those involved
in the bill’s passage were celebrated for it by Oregonians of every political
persuasion, and Americans and foreigners have all enjoyed the benefits
thereof.
There have been some economic drawbacks to the law — the plethora of
state parks up and down the coast could instead be upscale resorts bringing
in property tax dollars and bed taxes. Mansions and “no trespassing” signs
could be dotting the coast.
But imagine Cannon Beach being off-limits to everyone but the wealthy
— only those who can afford it enjoying Hug Point and Seal Rock and Cape
Lookout and Beverly Beach. It would be just a shame, and it wouldn’t be
Oregon. We might as well be living in California or (shudder) New Jersey.
Thankfully we have Oregon legislation like Beach Bill that shows we’re
our own animal, and all are welcome to enjoy Oregon’s best places.
A kick in the pants to the intoxicated drivers that have been nabbed
recently in Umatilla and Morrow counties.
There has been quite an uptick recently, spurred likely by the long Fourth
of July holiday weekend that often entails the drinking of alcohol or worse.
Perhaps some of it is due to the Rainbow
Gathering, which can be fairly open-minded
when it comes to ingestion of substances. But
many of those who appeared in our public
safety log over the last days and weeks have
had local addresses — so it’s not just visitors
running afoul of the rules.
Long summer nights with lots of events
and outdoor activities can get people traveling
and celebrating. Sometimes that celebrating involves drink and newly-legal
drugs. And the summer will only get hotter with big events named after and
sponsored by alcoholic beverages.
It’s worth a reminder to make sure that does not including driving after. If
it does, expect to get arrested or worse — cause harm to yourself or others.
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
Public remains in the
dark on Medicaid cuts
The (Brookhaven, Miss.) Daily Leader
s with a lot of legislation coming
out of Washington, the general
public appears to be in the dark
about the details of the health care
overhaul plans being considered.
According to a
poll administered by
Kaiser Health News,
while almost three-
fourths of Americans
have a favorable view
of Medicaid, only 38
percent were aware
that legislation being
considered in the
House and Senate
would make major
funding changes to the
program.
About 25 percent
of respondents said
the legislation made
minor changes and
13 percent didn’t
realize there were any
changes at all.
The Senate’s plan to replace
Obamacare would leave an additional 22
million people without health coverage
over the next decade, according to the
Congressional Budget Office. Federal
spending on Medicaid would drop
by 26 percent over current spending
projections in the Senate plan, or $772
billion, over the next decade, according
to the analysis.
Depending on your view of
government and its role in people’s
A
lives, that’s either a good thing or a bad
thing. We happen to think it’s a bad
thing.
The drop in spending would occur
mainly because the Senate plan phases
out federal funds for states to expand
Medicaid and it puts annual caps on
federal Medicaid
dollars to states,
according to Kaiser
Health News.
In Mississippi,
more than 400,000
children are on
Medicaid. Another
175,000 on Medicaid
are disabled or
blind. A total of 25
percent of the state’s
population is covered
by Medicaid.
If the state loses
some of its federal
Medicaid funding,
fewer Mississippians
will have access to
health care through
Medicaid. That includes many
Mississippians who are no doubt
Republicans and support the legislation
currently being crafted by a Republican-
controlled Senate.
That’s the funny thing about
Mississippi. We are a state full of small
government conservatives, but we also
can’t wean ourselves off the federal
government’s money. We like the idea
of smaller government and deficit
reductions, but in reality, we really like
Uncle Sam’s handouts.
Only 38 percent
of respondents
were aware
legislation in
the House and
Senate would
make major
changes to
Medicaid.
LETTERS POLICY
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 website.
The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns
about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of
private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not
be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing
editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
In a remote village,
witnessing miracles
UCHANAN, Liberia —
But I’m a strong advocate of more
Miracles are rare these days, but
aid because sometimes aid is
I’ve seen them.
transformative. When properly done,
In a village in rural Liberia, a long
clubfoot treatment is straightforward,
and muddy road from anywhere, I
succeeds 95 percent of the time and
came across a grandma, a mom and a
inexpensively changes a life like that
baby daughter all afflicted by clubfoot.
of this 11-month-old girl.
This is a common birth defect in which
“Now she’ll go to school,” said
one or both feet are grotesquely turned Nicholas Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, executive
inward.
Kristof director of MiracleFeet. “She’s going
We don’t see it in the U.S. or
to stand on her own two feet for the
Comment
Europe because doctors correct it soon
rest of her life.”
after birth, and clubfoot alumni include
Yet most children in poor countries
athletic superstars like Mia Hamm and Kristi
still don’t get clubfoot repaired. The Global
Yamaguchi. My mother (a tireless walker
Clubfoot Initiative estimates that only 15
with perfectly normal feet) was born with a
percent of children in low- and middle-income
clubfoot.
countries get good treatment, and it aims to
Yet here, as in most of the world, kids
raise that to 70 percent by 2030. Aid groups
with clubfoot weren’t treated and grew up as
like MiracleFeet train local health care
outcasts. About one child in 800 worldwide is
workers to treat clubfoot, so that over time
born with clubfoot, and in poor countries they each country’s own health system can take
are left to hobble on the sides of their feet;
over diagnosis and treatment. But for now,
unable to work, they may become beggars.
thousands of children slip through the cracks.
In this village, clubfoot used to be a life
Cooper told us that there was another child
sentence: The grandma, Yahin-yee Korwee,
in the village with clubfoot, and soon he was
never went to school, nor did her daughter,
brought to us. His name was Henroy, and at
Hannah Cooper, 26. The grandfather
age 9 he had never attended school because he
abandoned the family when Hannah was
has trouble even hobbling. MiracleFeet is now
born, ashamed that neighbors mocked her as
arranging to fix his feet, too.
a cripple.
In another town, Ganta, we saw the toll on
Then Cooper had her own daughter 11
families of clubfoot. A small boy, Aria, was
months ago, also with clubfoot (it’s partly
being looked after by his grandmother, Nora
hereditary), and her boyfriend left her as
Glay, because his mother fled rather than
well. “You’ve got a crippled child,” she
raise a child she expected to be permanently
remembered him saying. “I don’t want it.”
disabled. “She was embarrassed,” Glay said
Yet this baby had her feet fixed. This is
of the mother, “and that’s why she abandoned
possible with a simple nonsurgical treatment
the child.”
involving a series of plaster casts to guide the
But Glay heard on the radio that clubfoot
foot into the proper position.
could be repaired. So she borrowed money
This approach, called the Ponseti method,
from friends and took Aria on a weeklong
is routine in Western countries and is
odyssey to get to the Ganta hospital, where
increasingly available in poor countries as
Aria’s feet will be corrected over the coming
well, through aid groups like MiracleFeet,
months so that he will be able to walk and run.
based in North Carolina, and Cure, based in
A few feet away in the hospital waiting
Pennsylvania.
area, Saye Willie acknowledged that he was
I wish that skeptics of humanitarian aid
initially devastated when his son, Bigboy,
could have seen the baby get care from
was born with clubfoot. “I thought it was
MiracleFeet and emerge with feet as good
witchcraft,” the father said. “I accused my
as anyone else’s. Now she’ll be able to walk
wife of taking a bath at night, and I thought
and run, go to school and hold a job, support
somebody put drugs in the water.”
herself and her country.
Bigboy, 7, seems a bit overcome at the
And the total cost? Less than $500 for
prospect that his feet will soon be normal,
transforming a life.
allowing him to walk, run, play soccer. “I
I’m on my annual win-a-trip journey
want to go to school,” he told me. “I want my
with a university student, Aneri Pattani (who
feet to be good so I can run, too.”
has been busily blogging at nytimes.com/
My friend Michael Elliott, who ran the One
ontheground — check out her posts!). I
Campaign’s fight against global poverty until
wanted us to report on clubfoot because it’s an shortly before his death last year, used to say
antidote to skepticism about humanitarian aid. that we live in an “age of miracles.” I thought
The dirty little secret of foreign aid is that
of that while in the village with the family
it’s hard. You can build a school, but it’s hard
suffering from three generations of clubfoot,
to ensure that teachers will show up. You can
where the baby now has normal feet.
build a well, but what happens when the hand
Oh, and the baby’s name?
pump breaks? You can provide safe birthing
Her mom named her Miracle.
kits, but what if a nurse sells them on the black
■
market?
Nicholas Kristof won the Pulitzer Prize two
Look, helping people is complicated.
times, in 1990 and 2006.
B
YOUR VIEWS
Dangerous to toss candy
during parades
I love a good parade, because since 1949 I
have ridden horseback in over a 100 of them.
An obvious fact first: Pendleton knows
how to produce a grand parade with great
crowds of families. This year’s Fourth of July
parade was no exception. However, it’s time
to pull the plug on the Fourth of July parade’s
policy of allowing candy tossing, before it
does itself lasting damage.
Why is that? Because we’re watching our
young children not watching the parade — not
caring or learning anything about the parades
participants — while they cadge, hustle free
candy by dashing into harm’s way.
In fact, children across the country are
injured every year. And over the years, several
children have been killed.
This year once again saw hundreds of kids
— a few with little or no parental supervision
— were swarming like honeybees. Indeed,
one young child was seen rushing under a bus.
Her mom pulled her out just before it was too
late.
During the parade I talked with six parents
about my concerns. And all but one parent
agreed with me or, at least, was interested
in what I had to say. The Westward Ho! and
Main Street Cowboy’s Dress-Up parades both
have very tough no-candy rules in their parade
applications. The Westward Ho! states: “Any
groups not following this rule will be asked to
leave immediately and will not be invited to
participate in future parades.”
This year’s Fourth of July parade
application included “due to safety issues
involving the throwing of candy, no entry
will be allowed to throw any items to the
spectators,” but it also included this very
problematic rule: “groups may provide people
to walk along the parade route and pass out
items to the crowd.”
Passing out anything, anywhere to children
in any parade undercuts what parades are all
about.
Particularly concise are the Hermiston’s
Umatilla County Fair’s rules and regulations:
“Throwing candy puts children in danger.
They are focused on catching or gathering
candy and not safety. Do the right thing!”
The key to doing “the right thing” is
not to simply print out a parade’s rules and
regulations and secure a signature, but to
enforce them with official parade watchers.
In a year or two, after parents explain to their
children what the ban is all about, Pendleton’s
three terrific parades will return to what
parades are all about.
Tom Hebert
Pendleton