Page 4A
East Oregonian
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Students should
stand up, walk out
Students across the nation will walk
out of their classrooms Wednesday
morning, in memory of the 17 people
killed last month at a high school in
Florida.
And despite entreaties from some
school administrators not to take part,
we argue that local high school students
should join the movement.
The planned walkout is just 17
minutes, and students can learn plenty
from that short break in the school
day should they decide to own it and
use their time wisely. They will get a
different kind of education — a lesson
about their ability to disrupt the status
quo and the consequences for doing so,
about the power of demonstration and
what people can accomplish when they
work together.
We’re pleased that some school
districts — such as Pendleton — have
offered alternatives within the school
environment that keep students in
classrooms, while still grappling with
the problem of school safety and gun
violence. We also like Hermiston’s plan
that allows students to walk out and be
heard, but remain under supervision
while on school property.
A walkout is not without risk.
There are downsides to events
like this, and surely some students
will use this movement as a cover to
blow off class or blow off steam in an
unproductive way. That’s unfortunate,
but itself not without a learning
opportunity. Students are bound to learn
that protests are judged by many on the
foolish actions of a few.
But we hope the majority of students
use the time wisely, to consider their
safety and their fellow students across
the nation. We hope they return to class
invigorated and engaged, and to take the
responsibility to make up whatever they
missed.
Standing up for yourself and your
future is a rite of passage every teenager
must navigate. It’s never easy. Often, the
journey is filled with awkwardness — a
lack of self-confidence combined with a
deep need to buck authority and become
the singular person you want to be.
A walkout is one opportunity to take
non-violent action that helps define who
you are and your future
It doesn’t have to be partisan and
political. You don’t have to be in favor
of gun control, or in favor of armed
teachers. Students can walk out solely
in memory of the lives lost, and to give
themselves the ability to think for a few
minutes about their own safety and what
they want — and demand — in the way
of protection. Certainly everyone who
walks out will have a different solution
in mind.
Not everyone will feel that way, and
students may face reprisals. Perhaps
they will be suspended from school,
perhaps they will be saddled with
an additional essay to explain their
reasoning. We’d argue that’s all in a
day’s work of trying to accomplish
something outside the ordinary.
There is always a standby outrage
from those who disagree, and there is
always a heaping helping of additional
responsibility on those who try anything.
Still, the reprisals may all be
temporary, and the benefits may be
lasting. Many colleges — from Yale
to UCLA — have told prospective
students that unexcused absences or
other consequences resulting from the
walkout won’t affect admission. In fact,
one could imagine many scholarship-
winning essays penned about standing
up for their beliefs.
Pendleton, which has been an active
place for protesters over the last two
years, will host a separate march on
Saturday, March 24. That march also
dovetails with a national event, and you
can bet hundreds of people will take part
locally while millions march nationally.
Students should be at the front of that
march, learning how to lead and how to
inspire their community.
But those students must first be able
to find their voices. Wednesday offers
an opportunity for them to do so, to try
on the persona of being changers and
shapers of the world, instead of just
watchers and complainers and victims.
Who knows — they may find that they
like it.
OTHER VIEWS
Big sugar versus your body
T
OTHER VIEWS
Morrow County will engage
in the event of active shooter
By JOHN A. BOWLES
M
orrow County Sheriff Kenneth
Matlack has directed the sheriff’s
office to engage in continuous
training on many different law enforcement
scenarios, and this includes training with
other law enforcement agencies. The idea
is to be on the same page and be trained on
the same procedures — when one agency
responds to assist another, we are one
cohesive unit.
By working together as a team we are
able to provide better service to the public.
Our number one goal is to preserve life
and provide public safety and security.
It is important to have the personnel and
resources to properly and safely provide
the services required. Having deputies
patrolling the county 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, and having school resource
officers in our schools is required to
maintain public safety and security.
Our school resource officers are in the
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
East Oregonian editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page
express the opinions of the authors and
not necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
schools working with the students and
staff dally. We want the students, staff and
parents to be comfortable with contacting
law enforcement with issues or concerns,
and we accomplish this by building
relationships.
Active shooter incidents are a major
concern and can occur anywhere, from
large cities to small communities. During
an active shooter incident the key is to stop
the threat. We won’t wait for a SWAT team
or 10 deputies to respond before deciding
what to do. We will rely on our training and
respond appropriately.
If we hear shots, we react. We go to the
shots and neutralize the threat, period. There
is no excuse for not reacting. If we don’t
react, people are hurt or killed. That is not
acceptable. Our duty is to preserve life and
provide public safety and security. We plan
and train for the worst and hope for the best.
■
John A. Bowles is Morrow County
undersheriff.
he sugar industry and its
eat. You’ll make yourself miserable
various offshoots, like the
and you will probably give up
soda industry, have spent
before too long. Instead, decide on
years trying to trick you.
two or three systemic changes, and
Big Sugar has paid researchers to
stick to them. You can add changes
conduct misleading — if not false
later.
— studies about the health effects
Your rules should revolve around
of added sweeteners. It has come up
added sweeteners, rather than the
with a dizzying array of euphemistic
natural ones in fruits, vegetables and
David
names for those sweeteners. And
Leonhardt dairy. It’s not that the added ones are
it has managed to get sugars into
so much worse (despite what you
Comment
a remarkable three-quarters of
may have heard about high-fructose
all packaged foods in American
corn syrup). Many researchers
supermarkets.
believe that sugar is sugar. But people don’t
Most of us, as a result, eat a lot of sugar.
generally overeat natural sugars. Have you
We are surrounded by it, and it’s delicious.
ever inhaled five apples in one sitting?
Unfortunately, sugar also encourages
The online guide has many more details,
overeating and causes health problems. As
but here are a few rules to consider:
confusing as the research on diet can often
Fix your breakfast. It’s the most sugar-
seem, it consistently points to the harms of
packed meal, and it doesn’t need to be.
sugar, including obesity, diabetes and other
Eggs, fruit, nuts, plain yogurt, plain oatmeal
diseases.
and traditional pita bread are delicious —
Virtually the only way to eat a healthy
and free of added sugars. If you’re pressed
amount of sugar is to make a conscious
for time, boil a dozen eggs, refrigerate them
effort. You can think of it as a political act:
and grab one or two in the morning. A sign
resisting the sugar industry’s attempts to
of a good breakfast plate: It has an array of
profit off your body. Or you can simply
natural colors.
think of it as taking care of yourself.
Redo your pantry. Steer clear of staples
I’m one of those people with a raging
— like sauces, crackers and breads — with
sweet tooth. I consider ice cream to be a gift unnecessary sugars. There are plenty of
from the gods, and I stash small chocolates
unsweetened alternatives, like Victoria’s
in too many drawers. A couple years ago, I
pasta sauces, French’s Yellow Mustard,
realized that I needed to cut back. If the ice
Maille Dijon mustard, Saltines, Triscuits
cream and chocolates were going to stay,
and some Trader Joe’s tortillas. Once you
other sweeteners had to go.
spend a little time reading ingredient lists,
So my wife and I went cold turkey for
the unsweetened staples can become your
one month: no added sweeteners. No sugar, defaults. Trader Joe’s is an especially good
no honey, no corn syrup, no stevia. It wasn’t place to shop, but supermarkets work, too.
easy, but it worked.
Eliminate soda. Just get rid of it. Soda
We discovered which sugars we missed
and sports drinks are essentially liquid
and would go back to eating — and which
sugar, and are the largest source of added
had needlessly snuck into our diets. Along
sweeteners in the American diet. Switch to
the way, we also ate fewer processed foods
flavored seltzer or, if you must, diet soda.
and more vegetables, fruit, eggs, nuts, meat The health effects of diet soda still are not
and fish.
clear, but it seems considerably less bad.
In a column last year, I described this
Whip portion inflation. Restaurant
“month without sugar,” and I’m still hearing desserts are often family-size servings
from readers who have done it themselves
marketed as individual portions. The
or are considering it. I highly recommend
marble-loaf cake at Starbucks, for example,
it. But I have also heard from readers who
has more sugar than most adults should eat
want to consume less sugar without first
in an entire day. Your grandparents didn’t
going cold turkey.
eat desserts like this. When you eat out,
Fair enough. The sugarless month is
think of every dessert as a serving for two.
just a means to an end, and there are other
It’s better to put some in the garbage than
means.
on your waistline.
Working with experts and colleagues,
The best news about sugar is that
I’ve now put together an online guide to
Americans are finally catching on. Sales
cutting back on sugar without spending
of regular soda are plunging. Some food
more money or losing the pleasure of
brands are starting to brag about not adding
eating. That last part is important. Done
sweeteners. For a long time, we didn’t even
right, a less sweet diet can be more
realize what Big Sugar was trying to do us.
enjoyable than a sugar-packed one.
Now we do — and we can fight back.
Our overarching suggestion is to choose
■
a couple of simple rules. Don’t agonize over
David Leonhardt is an op-ed columnist
the sugar content of every single thing you
for The New York Times.
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the
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