A4
PAGE LABEL HERE
East Oregonian
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2021
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
JEFF BUDLONG
Interim Hermiston Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
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OUR VIEW
Meeting
challenges
with
science
T
he Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners made the
right decision last week when
it approved nearly $25,000 to pay for
COVID-19-related billboards.
The elected board also approved a
request from the Umatilla County Health
Department to employ seven contract
tracers permanently.
Those two decisions — while seem-
ingly mundane — signal convincingly
the COVID-19 crisis isn’t over. Recent
health department statistics also show
the COVID-19 emergency locally may
becoming acute.
The health department recently
reported 135 new COVID-19 cases, the
highest weekly total since February.
Less than 40% of county residents have
been fully vaccinated against COVID-
19. The county’s vaccination rate ranks
sixth lowest in Oregon, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion.
What those statistics mean is funding
for such items as billboards to advertise
COVID-19 prevention remain crucial,
and the overall message that vaccinations
are critical to stopping the disease isn’t
getting through.
It could be people have simply stopped
listening, or they are reluctant to get a
shot because they don’t trust the vaccine
has been tested enough, or they subscribe
to conspiracy theories that filter around
the state and the nation.
No matter the reason, the bottom line
remains the same: People who are not
vaccinated are at risk from the delta vari-
ant of COVID-19 — now the predomi-
nant variety in Oregon — and some will
catch the bug, get very sick and some will
die.
It’s that simple.
Obviously everyone has a choice. In
America now, it is vitally important the
element of choice remains at the forefront
of everything we do. No one can, nor
should, be able to force a resident to get
vaccinated if they do not want to.
The problem is the amount of informa-
tion floating around about the vaccine is
usually tainted, one-sided and designed
to create mayhem and confusion. That
doesn’t help solve a crisis.
The debate over vaccines has come at
a crucial time, a period when the focus
should be on how we stop the COVID-19
virus. Should we emphasize the vaccine
more? Should we institute more restric-
tions? How do we convince those who do
not trust the vaccine?
These questions should be at the fore-
front of our task now, not promoting the
dissemination of bogus information or
encouraging a false narrative.
The virus isn’t going away. Now a
variant of the virus is rolling through the
nation — a variant that is far more easily
spread and presents a risk to all.
We must meet this challenge head on
with science, not rhetoric.
Keeping the power running
REGINA
BRAKER
ANOTHER MILE
Y
ears ago, I ran into a former of
student of mine hailing from
Texas with an uncle in North-
eastern Oregon who had encouraged her
to come out to our rural state university
in La Grande. I supported her resolve
to continue her adventure so far away
from home, confessing to her parents at
graduation that I, too, was to blame for
why she had not returned to them.
She wanted the small college experi-
ence as compared to the state university
where her high school boyfriend wanted
her to join him. A sense of new possi-
bility here compelled her to stay, as she
discovered that she loved the outdoors
and the new friends she had made.
After graduation she ended up fight-
ing fire in the summers, buying a local
home to make her life here. When you
work in an occupation where survival
can be on the line and the support of
your crew goes beyond the typical
eight-hour day, the connection grows
much deeper than the relationship
between colleagues in an office job. I
think that’s true of other outdoor work
too.
In our circle of friends and acquain-
tances, there are so many more who are
doing this kind of work, perhaps taken
on as a chosen vocation right out of high
school, or started as a summer job while
in college. Inspired by outdoor experi-
ences, in backpacking adventures and
hunting trips as they grew up, our chil-
dren and their friends see new possi-
bilities in work done to protect those
natural treasures.
Increasingly, it is dangerous work,
as they protect wildland landscapes,
small rural communities, the exurban
interface between population centers,
and the vast seemingly empty spaces
we value as retreats from the stresses of
modern life. But as wildfires cross that
interface, there is much more we must
think about, new protective measures
to act on, and there are those who can
help us in the effort to further protect
ourselves, even at home.
There are the arborists, who relish
showing off their workplace skills at
tree climbing competitions, which may
once again resume in the near future.
We enjoyed following the two-day
action when our oldest son participated
some years ago. These events offer an
important opportunity to learn from
more experienced arborists, demon-
strate required skills for certification
tests, and expand range of experience on
tree varieties to practice technique.
In this time of drought and extreme
weather events, arborists’ work to main-
tain the health of our urban tree cover
has become essential, so much more
than just cosmetic landscape work. Our
ability to fight the heat with passive
measures, such as strategic tree shade
coverage throughout our neighbor-
hoods, allows us to moderate our power
usage, and keep the power grid from
being overstressed.
After a stint working with his arbor-
ist brother, our youngest son took the
next logical step in his search for work
he loves and a crew that supports one
another, attending lineman college
in Idaho. Throughout his years as an
apprentice level lineman, he worked in
many settings, both in power grid main-
tenance and updating construction, as
well as grid recovery in the aftermath of
natural disasters. Upon achieving jour-
neyman status, he returned to projects in
our region, which also included power
restoration for communities during last
summer’s incredible fire season.
These occupations can become
skilled alternatives for those not inter-
ested in continuing academic studies
beyond high school. For my former
student there was a meaningful connec-
tion between the seasonal work of wild-
land fire fighting and the enjoyment of
those spaces in the off seasons. For my
sons, the ability to work out of doors,
and at times in beautiful locations,
has intangible benefits. As their work
becomes more dangerous, our efforts to
follow guidelines toward reducing that
risk become increasingly important too.
To my sons and their peers, men and
women who are working the wildfires,
the trees, the power grid, we are grateful
for your choice of occupation, to go out
there year after year, committed to this
hard work. You are in our thoughts daily
as we follow the news, knowing how
important your work is.
———
Regina Braker, a retired educator with
journeys through many places and expe-
riences, enjoys getting to know people
along the way.
is normally asked of them. Wouldn’t be
nice if the state actually treated their
employees better than a Walmart?
Jeff Coffman
Pendleton
There were many articles and editori-
als casting doubt and scorn in the direc-
tion of Gov. Kate Brown. I doubt there is
anyone in this county who has the abil-
ity, expertise or will to take on the task
that landed in her lap. I appreciate that
her efforts were along the science guide-
lines and were in keeping with trying to
keep people alive. I certainly don’t have
the skills or the will to try and manage
such a crisis.
A little support from the pages of
local news sources could have created
a better response, but I realize the polit-
ical will of the county bends one way
and few have spoken for the rights of the
public to a healthy and safe community.
There are many people with compro-
mised immune systems that are still
isolating because of the poor response to
getting vaccinated in this county. Now,
in the midst of the delta variant causing
more angst, we celebrate large public
gatherings and publish editorials that
say Gov. Brown should not be the voice
for vaccinations. What?
If she doesn’t speak, she will be
believed? The idea that she should sit
down and be a nice little women is so
damn demeaning. Once you get her to
take a back seat and be quiet, then you
will complain about how she didn’t
lead at all. You can’t have it both ways.
I personally celebrate that she is smart
enough to not encourage us to drink
bleach or other fake QAnon lies that
seem to buoy the good old boys and big
thinkers of this area.
Colleen Blackwood
Pendleton
YOUR VIEWS
State needs to support
essential workers
As the COVID-19 pandemic took
hold, many businesses started paying
their essential workers more to help
retain them and compensate them for
putting their health and that of their
family at risk. Some restaurants and
most stores, even Walmart, added an
essential worker bonus or pandemic
pay, knowing that these employees were
putting themselves at risk.
In the public sector, firefighters,
police officers and health service work-
ers all had to keep coming to work and
face potential infections from COVID-
19. The state capitol locked down
and meetings were done virtually so
lawmakers could avoid exposure.
The state said it would provide
pandemic pay if the budget had any
money. The state promised its employ-
ees that if the federal government bailed
it out, it would have the money to pay
them.
On March 11 the federal govern-
ment passed the American Rescue Plan
Act, which gave Oregon $4.127 billion.
Approximately $500 million was set
aside to pay essential workers from
these funds, yet legislators hurriedly
adjourned the session without passing
this relief, saying they’ll review this
during the next session.
The state is in the middle of bargain-
ing with employees represented by SEIU
503 and AFSCME Council 75, and still
doesn’t want to make any concessions
to those that went far and beyond what
COVID-19 coverage
shouldn’t be slanted
A recent editorial mentioned the
lack of a local newspaper as an infor-
mation desert. The explanation was
acceptable, if not a little one-sided. A
local newspaper needs to serve all of its
readers if it is to be considered perti-
nent and to the point. Once journalism
reflects one viewpoint over another, it
becomes a slanted piece of informa-
tion that excludes some readers from
actively seeking news and facts about
the community.
The arrival of a virus that has killed
over 600,000 Americans was presented
with doubtful articles that always
included the questions about whether
we should believe the scientists who
were trying to convince people that
politicians are not viral experts. Every
statement about COVID-19 was accom-
panied by the expression of doubt that
was present with our former admin-
istration. For the East Oregonian, this
took on the color of always question-
ing decisions made by the leader of our
state. Was this productive? Was there an
outreach to let people know that masks,
then vaccinations were the only way
to keep our community safe? Not at
the beginning.