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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2020)
CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner ANDREW CUTLER Editor WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor JADE McDOWELL Hermiston Editor TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020 A4 Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Program an important stopgap measure I t looked like the White House and Democrats in Congress were closing in on a deal Sunday to restock the popular program to help small business. That’s good news, because the nation cannot afford to waste any time to replenish the Paycheck Protecting Pro- gram. The more than $300 billion pro- gram ran out of money last week, a stark reminder of just how serious the eco- nomic impact from the COVID-19 virus outbreak is. Lawmakers must move quickly to solidify a deal and get the program back up and running. That impact from the virus isn’t going to evaporate any time soon, either. The new relief package will earmark $300 billion for the Paycheck Protec- tion Program along with $50 billion for the Small Businesses Administration’s disaster relief fund. Money will also be allocated for hospitals and testing. The money is crucial for small busi- ness across the nation, but it is espe- cially critical for merchants in rural areas of the state, such as Umatilla and Morrow counties. While not a perma- nent solution, the money will keep peo- ple on payrolls and, hopefully, cut down AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Small Business Administration, speaks earlier this month about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump listen. Dem- ocratic leaders and the Trump administration were close to a deal Sunday to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program to help small businesses weather coronavirus shutdowns, the latest step in sweeping government efforts to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. on the number of workers in the unem- ployment lines. The Paycheck Protection Program is — for obvious reason — hugely pop- ular. Within 10 days of the start of the program more than 4,600 lenders made more than a million loans to the tune of $247.5 billion. At any other time in our history such a huge outlay of debt would seem to be foolhardy. Now, the nation clearly faces an unprecedented set of circumstances. Such a huge outlay of money will also clearly create new challenges down the road in terms of who pays and when. Those are good questions, questions that deserve ready answers from lawmakers. Yet for right now, the focus must be on the small businesses of this nation, our state and our county. Small busi- nesses are, in a real way, the heart of the American success story. Their existence underpins our democracy and without them the nation will face myriad new, and yet, unforeseen problems. The corner shop in a small rural town is more than just a place to buy goods but is part of our collective culture. Each deserves the chance to survive, and that is what the Paycheck Protection Pro- gram is all about. Is the program a cure- all? Of course not. It is a stopgap mea- sure, but it is one that can provide an important part of our economy a decent interval while the COVID-19 virus out- break rages. SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE Between blindness and frenzy W YOUR VIEWS Provide PPE to businesses so they can open again Closing and segregating businesses, often based on misinformation or opinion, is not beneficial for helping the local economy. The advancing and improving of workplace safety and health for all workers in Ore- gon is the objective of Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration, yet it has become ignored as a tool to get businesses back online. How many companies are required to follow extreme safe protocols of cleanli- ness and personal protective equipment as part of the allowance to operate under state safety regulations? I believe we are missing the opportunity to open many businesses by employing use of PPE, by not only the employees but also the customers, as a requirement to enter any business. Rather than employ a negative way to address solu- tions, should we be more solution-oriented and use scientific methods proven by many companies already? Perhaps Gov. Brown might consider assisting the businesses by providing the PPE rather than giving it away? Richard Weaver Milton-Freewater Hats off to local educators The current health crisis has turned our world upside down, wreaking havoc on our daily way of life in ways we never could have envisioned. Yet, it has also created opportu- nities, and demonstrated how our neighbors and communities can rise to a challenge. In particular, I would like to extend a sin- cere thank you to the employees of our pub- lic schools — this crisis has highlighted how crucial our public schools are to our com- munities and sense of well-being. The role of public education is vast — classroom instruc- tion, meals, band concerts, transportation, athletics, mental health, as well as the social component — and the recent events have made me appreciate and applaud how quickly our school staff have responded to ensure our kids get the support they need. A sincere “tip of the hat” and thank you to all of our public education employees. Scott Rogers Athena e are all dealing with a threat that bioweapons. I suppose even a scapegoat as few of us have the knowledge or large as a cellular network or a nation could skills to combat directly. Helpless feel less overwhelming than a random, invis- ible, mutable virus; the chain of cause and dread is an unbearable feeling. What do we effect seems simpler. We all like to strike a do? blow at feeling helpless. But that’s not where Fear is meant to affect our systems. We are to freeze or energetically deal with palpa- these blows ultimately landed. People have ble physical threats that are the focus of fear. been hurt. A reaction gone way too far. Why have we not been taught more about Our bodies feel some degree of fear now — how our fear works — and how we might of the virus, the illness, the uncertainty or make it work for us? Fear, like all of our the socio-economic upheaval. Yet, no phys- ical flight, fight or freezing can help us here. emotions, is information about our situation and should be heeded as such. And fear, like We are to keep calm and carry on. Still the all information, needs to be fact-checked and fear acts on our system. And it can show in put in context. our thinking patterns. As much as we would like to Denial is a sort of a mental take direct action and make this freeze. We conserve our energy by threat go away, we don’t yet have stating that the problem is not that the tools to effectively fight this big or perhaps doesn’t even exist. novel coronavirus. In the current Conserving our energy, not stress- ing excessively, can serve a pur- context, our success will be just pose, keep us cool. Sadly, it hasn’t making as little happen as possi- ble. The reactive part of our brains remained that simple. We’re seeing V ikiirna — ask your kids about “Sur- fellow citizens become so attached W enzel vival State” — can’t understand to their denial that they’re expend- COMMENT ing energy to prove how much they this lack of action; but our prob- lem-solving Executive State can. deny. People have congregated together, carelessly or carefully, to show their We can fortify our executive state with good exercise, good music, deep breathing, prayer, disregard for caution. Some have sickened meditation, dance, family hugs, all those arts or even died as a result. Their illness endan- gered, burdened and grieved their loved and crafts you excel at and other techniques ones. A natural reaction gone too far. you already have. Keep calm and carry on. There’s yet one more active inactivity that Sometimes people are rather energized by fear. Good effects of this energy has been the may help. Foldingathome.org is a distrib- uted computing project for simulating pro- community support organizations springing up, the creation of new ways to be neighborly tein dynamics. Volunteers let software run simulations on their personal computers that and the flood of lovingly sewn cloth masks. can help medical researchers find the weak It seems to me that most people have chan- neled their energy within this measure. Sadly points of the coronavirus. It’s running in the we’ve also seen some frenetic extremes: food background of my computer with no harm hoarding; bleach gargling; fistfights for toilet done. We can even form local teams, letting paper. In a panicky desire to feel control over the Pendleton-Hermiston rivalry ride again uncontrollable circumstances, some ener- — for a good cause. Check it out at https:// gized minds have latched onto conspiracy foldingathome.org/covid19. theories. Some have acted on them. ——— Vikiirna Wenzel is a learner and a People have attacked individuals of Asian teacher, somewhere in the middle of East heritage, burned cellphone towers and pub- licly accused everyone else of manufacturing Umatilla County. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES GOVERNOR LETTERS DEADLINE The East Oregonian will not run candidate endorsement letters of more than 400 words. The East Oregonian will institute a deadline for letters to the editor, so we can be fair with all the letters we receive and allow for responses before Election Day, if necessary. We run the letters on a first-come, first-served basis. Please submit your endorsement letters to the editor by noon Wednesday, April 22. You can email them to editor@eastoregonian.com, or mail them to East Oregonian, c/o Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, 97801. We will publish our last letters on Saturday, April 25. Any letters received after the deadline will not run. Election Day is May 19. 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. Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 REPRESENTATIVES Greg Barreto, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-38 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us 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. Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us SENATOR Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-423 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us Send letters to the editor to editor@eastoregonian.com, or via mail to Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
