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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2020)
CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner ANDREW CUTLER Editor WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor JADE McDOWELL Hermiston Editor SATURDAy, MARCH 21, 2020 A4 Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Tip of the hat, kick in the pants A tip of the hat this week to frontline workers who are putting themselves at risk by showing up to work every day to help the rest of us get food, medical care and other essentials. At the top of this list are medical professionals across the country, some of whom are continuing to report to work despite their hospitals running out of, or severely rationing, personal pro- tective gear, such as masks and gloves. It has gotten so bad in some parts of the country that the Providence network of hospitals is issuing a call for volunteers to sew masks at home, so that health care workers no longer have to resort to bandanas and other makeshift attempts to protect themselves. So far, Oregon has been lucky to have only (as of Friday afternoon) 114 cases, spread out throughout the state, but that number grows daily, and we will need our doctors and nurses more than ever as it does. We also salute pharmacists, gro- cery store workers, food delivery driv- ers, truck drivers, postal carriers, utility workers and more who form the life- blood of our day-to-day existence and continue to show up while other Amer- icans are able to retreat to the safety of their homes. Please, be extra nice to them in this time when frustrations and worries are running high. A kick in the pants to those who are taking wholly unnecessary risks with others’ health right now. A video circulating social media shows thousands of college students crowding together in Florida at clubs and on beaches, telling reporters that they don’t care if they catch coronavi- rus while partying. While much of the focus on the dan- gers of COVID-19 have been focused on who is dying of it, a Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention analysis this week showed that 38% of COVID- 19 patients in the United States sick enough to need hospitalization between Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The sun sets at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton earlier this week as health care staff con- tinue to care for patients. Feb. 12 to March 16 were younger than 55. France has stated that half of its patients in intensive care for the virus have been younger than 65, and other European countries have begun to report similar results. Those who “don’t care” if they catch the virus are not only putting them- selves in danger, but also risk spreading the virus friends, family, co-workers and casual contacts — some of which may be at higher risk of death and other serious complications. They’re also putting the health care workers who must treat those cases at risk. We had our own case of unwise risk-taking in Pendleton this week with the Rainbow Cafe defying the gover- nor’s orders for restaurants and bars to switch to takeout and delivery only. This outbreak is asking for difficult sacrifices from everyone right now, but if people are making the heartbreaking choice to cancel weddings, funerals and other long-awaited major life events for the sake of their loves ones’ safety, oth- ers should ask themselves what makes their wants more important. FROM HERE TO ANYWHERE Finding the stories we need to get us through crisis F YOUR VIEWS Those who reject medical science put us all at risk Sometimes, amid the confusion, moments of clarity arise. Regrettably, the coronavirus pandemic provides us with one such moment. Trump and his cult followers reject sci- ence and try to convince Americans that all is well. He maintains that what the medi- cal experts tell us is wrong. His method is “spin and sell” — never direct and honest. On March 15, he said, “Relax, we’re doing great. This all will pass.” We are confronted daily by the evidence that science denial is the path to disaster. Hopefully, citizens will now realize the danger of believing our gov- ernment’s inflated lies. When we look at the small but vocal minority who argue climate science con- sensus is a myth, we find the same array of individuals. These include birthers, Holo- caust deniers, Nazi apologists, chemtrail advocates, flat Earthers and all manner of conspiracy hoax lunatics who reject science but simultaneously cling to any cockama- mie nonsense that comes along and appeals to their weird contrarian world view. Those, like Trump, who reject medical science place our nation at immediate risk. Those rejecting climate science place our 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. planet at risk and compromise life for our children and grandchildren. Trisha Vigil Medford Pendleton’s taxi service needs competition For a town this size there needs to be more than one taxi company, especially Elite. They tell you 20 minutes every time you call, no matter what, and it usually takes at least 45 minutes. There is one par- ticular driver/dispatcher that is the worst. I would like to know why there can’t be a little competition, which would seriously help those of us that depend on taxis to get around town. I would like the mayor to know how bad their service is. They know they are the only game in town and maybe need some competition. One of the drivers is so rude to talk to on the phone and even worse in person. If you call back to make sure they haven’t missed you, he gets mad at you. Seriously, this taxi business in town needs better cus- tomer service since we are at their mercy. I don’t think they care. Tina Hunsinger Pendleton rom here to anywhere, I named this me. I have three books on order through column. Because stories can do that the Sage Library System just now — Eliz- abeth Strout’s “Olive, Again”; Louise — take us from wherever we are to Erdrich’s latest novel “The Night Watch- anywhere else. Of course, we have to be careful, because the places they take us can man”; and Beth Piatote’s “The Beadwork- ers: Stories.” They are all books I know be harmful, even deadly. will fill me — teach as well as entertain. I Just now we’re all trying to make sense of a story that’s been imposed on our lives. can hardly wait. But there are times when we just want We didn’t have time for this story. We something fun to read. My brother, John were too busy living. But here it is. So we wash our hands and practice social distanc- — the one who’s always three good books ing and try not to succumb to panic — or ahead of the rest of us — called to say he hoarding toilet paper — as we sort was having trouble with Cormac through the changing versions of McCarthy. He had read the first this story and wonder what it all book of “The Border Trilogy” means. but was bogged down in the sec- ond. It’s a famous series, he said. Meanwhile, we live without What did I think? school and church services and McCarthy is a wonderful sports and concerts, art exhibi- tions, powwows. Pendleton Cen- writer, I told him, but I finished ter for the Arts had to postpone only the first book. “I just got B ette this month’s First Draft reading so depressed.” He’s my brother, H usted with Don Colbert, a poet I prom- so I could confess such liter- COMMENT ise you will love when he returns, ary heresy. I recommended Ann we hope, in October. In fact, we Cleeves’s “Shetland” mysteries have some incredible storytellers lined up. — the Jimmy Perez stories we all love to watch on TV — and he told me about Peter (Aloha Rodeo, scheduled for May, will Bowen’s “Montana Mysteries,” featuring blow your mind.) the Metis brand inspector Gabriel Du Pre. But, just now, it’s up to each of us to A week later the first two books in this seek out the stories we need. series arrived in my mailbox with John’s J.D. Smith’s recent East Oregonian col- umn titled “Shimming the Ching” sent me return address on the package. to my copy of Ursula K. Le Guin’s trans- I hope Jimmy Perez is helping him as lation of Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching.” I can’t much as Gabriel Du Pre is helping me. say I understood it (“the way that can be Sometimes what I need is poetry. It’s spoken is not the way,” right?) but it did when I’m trying to understand but can’t, quite. Or needing to reach toward meaning distract me. that can’t quite be reached. Because that’s I’m reading Les AuCoin’s memoir what poetry does. “Catch and Release,” too. The stories of Here’s the last stanza of Danusha Lam- AuCoin’s life take us from a fatherless eris’s poem “Insha’Allah” (translation: childhood lived in poverty to the United “that soft word meaning, ‘if God wills it’”) States House of Representatives in 1974, that is helping me today. when he was only 32. He would fight for “How lightly we learn to hold hope, / as many things — affordable housing, “trick- le-up” economics, wilderness protection, if it were an animal that could turn around abortion rights, and nuclear arms control / and bite your hand. And still we carry it / — before his return to Oregon for trout the way a mother would, carefully, / from fishing, catch and release a metaphor for one day to the next.” both succeeding and letting go. You can find her poem on the Poetry It’s a good book for me just now, Foundation website, and I hope you will. because in nearly every chapter AuCoin But mainly I hope you find the stories you inspires us to hope and encourages us to need. Now, and always. keep trying. Or as he told a captivated First ——— Bette Husted is a writer and a student of Draft audience in February, “It’s not them. T’ai Chi and the natural world. She lives in It’s us. It’s our democracy.” Pendleton Public Library is a lifeline for Pendleton. 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. 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 the editor to editor@eastoregonian.com, or via mail to Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
