ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
SATURDAy, MAy 29, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Tip of
the hat,
kick in
the pants
A
tip of the hat to those who
provide a stable, loving home for
children in need.
May is National Foster Care Month,
and foster care coordinator Marvin
Hamilton says there is a great need in
Umatilla and Morrow counties for foster
parents, now known as resource parents.
Parents who are willing to take in sets of
multiple siblings and parents who speak
Spanish are particularly hard to find.
Being willing to take in a child or
multiple children at a moment’s notice,
knowing those children are likely coming
from a traumatizing situation, is not an
easy thing, but is is an admirable and
important one. Thank you to those who
provide such an invaluable service to the
community.
A kick in the pants to the surge
in wasted vaccine doses disclosed by
Oregon Health Authority this week.
On Tuesday, May 25, the Oregon
Health Authority reported 9,090 vaccine
doses have now been wasted, spoiled or
expired since December.
It is understandable that when it comes
to vaccines that have a very short life
once a vial is opened, some waste will
occur. But as billions of people all over
the world are desperate for this life-sav-
ing commodity but don’t have any access
to it — in part because the United States
is hogging so much of the supply —
every dose wasted is shameful.
A tip of the hat to this year’s graduat-
ing seniors, who will be leaving schools
throughout Eastern Oregon over the next
couple of weeks.
This year’s graduating class saw their
junior year end abruptly, then had to
finish out their final year through a gamut
of distance learning, hybrid learning and
socially distanced in-person learning
under a shifting cloud of uncertainty. It
can’t have been easy to do all of that and
then try to apply for colleges, apprentice-
ships, internships, scholarships, trade
schools or jobs in the same environment.
Congratulations on making it through.
The next step of your journey likely will
come with additional challenges as the
world adjusts to a post-pandemic future.
But the good news is you are poised to
help shape what that future looks like.
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
YOUR VIEWS
Don’t rewrite
history based on
current standards
Is it 1984? Winston Smith, the
protagonist of George Orwell’s fictional
book, “1984,” about living in a socialist
society, works at the Ministry of Truth.
Ironically, he spends each day rewrit-
ing history so that it agrees with the
current political ideas and propaganda.
Recently I read that some major
newspapers are rewriting or removing
previous articles if they reflect nega-
tively on persons who are members of
minority groups. Since the electronic
files are changed, anyone conducting
research would find a different version
of a story, or no story, compared to what
was published at the time of the event.
The stated purpose of this effort is
to protect minority persons from an
image of them participating in criminal
or negative activities. The motivation
for this change effort is the belief that
minority persons were unfairly targeted
— i.e., that news articles were written
about them when a white person would
have escaped the notoriety.
I’m not a journalist. I don’t know how
they decide if a particular event is news-
worthy, or not, or how minority status
might come into play in that decision.
Certainly, everyone should be treated
fairly. But if history is being rewritten
to comply with current political ideas, it
appears we might be living in an Orwel-
lian world. I’m very concerned.
Jim Carnahan
Baker City
A different course of
action for vaccines
It seems lately that our government
is indecisive as to how to best adminis-
ter the oversupply of COVID-19 vaccine
resource nationwide due to individuals
refusing the procedure. Distribution to
populations in India, where the pandemic
is out of control, is a good plan.
My solution, accompanied by lifting
economic embargoes of food, fuel and
medicines to our adversaries, specifi-
cally Iran, North Korea and Cuba, is to
provide this surplus of COVID vaccine
to these nations, using U.S. military
medical personnel, amongst others, to
administer them, and without precondi-
tions.
My Christian faith demands this
course of action: “Do not take revenge,
my friends, but leave room for God’s
wrath for it is written, ‘It is mine to
avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On
the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry,
feed him; if he is thirsty, give him water
to drink. ...’ Do not overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good” (Romans
12:19-21).
Perhaps our politicians could learn
a thing or two: kindly words of advice
spoken by the ancient Hebrews and
Christians (and Muslims likewise) before
continuing hellbent on a reckless arms
race, where our military spending as a
percentage of our national treasure is
now the highest “in the history of the
universe” (Mario Cuomo). They might
be pleasantly surprised by the results.
John Walker
Enterprise
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
REPRESENTATIVES
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us