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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2020)
ANDREW CUTLER Publisher/Editor KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor JADE McDOWELL Hermiston Editor ThuRSDAy, OCTOBeR 29, 2020 A4 Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW State meeting shuts out public G ov. Kate Brown’s Healthy Schools Reopening Coun- cil recently met to debate the metrics that schools should use to make reopening decisions. And it’s doing so behind closed doors. Brown’s office says “the council is an advisory body to the governor, so they are not public meetings.” That would be true under Ore- gon law. But actually there’s nothing stopping Brown from allowing the public to listen as the council con- siders options and information. She could make the council’s meetings public. Our governor just isn’t. There was a press release about the council’s Wednesday, Oct. 21, meet- ing. The substance of what was said and the information that was shared, though, was kept secret. The release pointed out: “As of this week, only two counties currently meet Ore- gon’s metrics for in-person instruc- tion for all grades, however, Oregon as a whole is exceeding the statewide 5% positivity rate maximum allowed for schools to move forward with reopening.” Have kids in school? Worried that under the present metrics many chil- dren will not be able to return to classroom instruction until the next school year? Or want to ensure stu- dents and school staff are adequately protected? Why can’t the public lis- ten in on this important debate? EO Media Group made a pub- lic records request for any shared presentations that were made at the Oct. 21 meeting. The Oregonian made a more comprehensive request. Will the debate be over and Gov. Brown have made a decision by the time the public sees what the coun- cil is talking about? That would be a shame. EDITORIALS 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. LETTERS 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: editor@eastoregonian.com, or via mail to Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 Steering into the storm ALEX HOBBS PASTURES OF PLENT Y I t is not lost on me that this is my last column before the presidential elec- tion. An English major at heart, but equipped with a degree in political sci- ence, I feel innately drawn to summa- rize the past few months, while looking at larger institutions at work. But how can anyone summarize anything when the current motto seems to be “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt?” Or in other words, “Men generally believe what they want to.” We are living in a moment when the president of the United States seems to be simply redefining COVID-19 out of exis- tence — a hyper-normalization campaign where, rather than responding with any sort of state intervention, such as a com- mand economy, rent or mortgage freezes, or even just another stimulus (looking at you too Democrats), President Trump just changes the apparatus by which we define COVID-19. Much like when the auto industry invented jaywalking in the early 20th century to normalize the num- ber of traffic deaths, it seems quite pre- dictable that we too will absorb the virus and the fallout into our daily lives. The total disruption of our education system, mass unemployment, and the further con- solidation of wealth by the billionaire class has, at breakneck speed, been ratio- nalized into business as usual. All of this is because we seem to be completely wedded to a system that we can envision failing, but cannot envi- sion actually changing. Take, for exam- ple, the claim that new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett made during her Senate hearings that she is “an orig- inalist.” In constitutional law, original- ism is a method of interpretation that pos- its the Constitution is dead and it should be interpreted by what it meant during its drafting. Does this include the Recon- struction amendments, which were drafted by men who many believed to be radicals seeking not only civil equal- ity but social equality for the newly freed slave population? An entire period of American history was devoted to undoing and interpreting these amendments in the name of “orig- inalism,” which disenfranchised Black men and implemented a system of racial stratification in the South that we are still fighting to this day. Why then do we still delude ourselves into thinking that Bar- rett’s originalism is anything more than a political ploy to keep us attached to the prow of a sinking ship? Because those in power (the corporations, the billionaire political donors) understand the policy outcomes constitutional originalism leads to. Because we can envision the system failing, but not changing. I often hear President Trump speak of the Democrat-run cities that are appar- ently in worse shape than London after The Blitz. What baffles me, however, is the myopic nature in which this critique is levied. Rural communities are faring no better than urban centers insofar as material conditions, the opioid epidemic and infrastructure are concerned. Abject poverty, addiction and economic anxi- ety know no party lines, and yet Red and Blue Americans continue to squabble over who “has it better.” We are witnessing lines in which over- whelmingly minority voters wait 11 hours to cast a ballot, the threat of armed poll watchers, vast homelessness or hous- ing insecurity, hundreds of thousands of COVID deaths, social media data min- ing, systemic police brutality, government beholden to its big donors, and a biparti- san dedication to the American empire. This list is by no means exhaustive, but attempts to highlight the pathology of continually making excuses for a system teetering at the edge of a precipice. We can see it sliding into the abyss, yet the majority of Americans are purposefully being drawn into the spectacle of online political entertainment and conspiracy, or are being told to simply cast a vote and be done with it. So where do we go from here? I am not the first person to ask this, nor will I be the last. Regardless of who wins in November, there is much work to be done. We have the choice to pick between originalism and rapid normalization as we careen into a future that is neither environmentally nor politically sustain- able, or we can acknowledge our shared struggle and question the validity of our institutions. The choice is wholly ours. ——— Alex Hobbs lives in Irrigon and is a former educator turned full-time home- schooling mom. She has a degree in political science from Oregon State University. YOUR VIEWS Trump is clearly the best choice This is a very important election, which may affect the well-being of our country tor many years. With Trump we achieved an econ- omy with employment and prosperity at greater heights than previously in our history. Even during the pandemic we are on track toward possibly an even greater economy. Trump lowered our taxes. Biden said he would do away with the tax cuts if he were elected. Trump brought back manufactur- ing jobs that were lost during the pol- icies of previous years. He rebuilt our military forces and restored America’s dominance in trade and foreign affairs. He has been a champion of law and order when Democratic governors were allowing our cities to burn, mobs to tyr- annize their inhabitants, and the power of the police to be curtailed; Portland in our own state has been one of the worst examples of this situation. Trump removed many regulations that were detrimental to business and restrictive of progress. If the Democrats were elected and enacted the so-called “Green New Deal,” we would possibly LETTERS DEADLINE The East Oregonian does not run endorsements 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. The deadline for endorsement letters was noon Friday, Oct. 23. We will publish our last letters on Saturday, Oct. 31. Any letters received after the deadline will not run. Election Day is Nov. 3. encounter the worst living conditions the United States had experienced since the Great Depression. For these and numerous other rea- sons, in my opinion, Trump is clearly the best choice for our country. Ron Ingle Hermiston Close call should not have happened On Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, I was driv- ing east on State Highway 204 when a large tree fell straight across the high- way and shattered as I watched. It was 2 feet in diameter and com- pletely blocked the highway. I was able to stop safely. I got out of my car and started clearing a path. Other motor- ists came on the scene and were also stopped. As a group, we were able to get the road open, but not clear. The tree was an old snag, completely dead and rotten. Whose property it stood on I do not know, but it long ago should have been removed. I called 911 and made a report to Oregon State Police dispatcher, so (the Oregon Department of Transportation) people would go to the site and clean up the road. I also stopped at (ODOT) offices in La Grande and gave them more details. I am lucky to be able to write this let- ter. If you remember, a few years ago, another driver was not so lucky on that same highway, and he died. Rodney Thompson Pendleton