KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
TUeSDay, aUgUST 3, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Mandate
thrusts
schools into
spotlight
L
ast week, our school-age children
and youth were once again thrust into
center of the COVID-19 pandemic
when Gov. Kate Brown ordered new mask
mandates for K-12 students.
Our students shouldn’t be there. Nor
should our teachers and administrators.
Yet, they are and while it is disappoint-
ing and creates new questions about local
control, the governor’s decision was the right
one — for now.
Still, the new mandates potentially push
students and teachers and administrators into
the middle of what is essentially a cultural/
political debate regarding vaccinations and
the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is also the risk that many parents
— for various reasons — will keep their
students away from education centers
because they do not agree with the mask
mandate. If so, that doesn’t help in our
collective effort to provide our youth with the
best education possible.
Another piece that complicates this new
paradigm is that many children are still ineli-
gible to be vaccinated.
Last week, Intermountain Education
Service District Superintendent Mark Mulvi-
hill said the new mask mandate puts schools
“in the crosshairs” of an issue that has polar-
ized America. He rightly was concerned
about how much more pressure will be
placed on teachers and school administrators
to enforce a new mask requirement.
Hermiston School District Superintendent
Tricia Mooney’s suggestion that commu-
nities will need to work together to support
students was probably the best advice for a
situation that is unprecedented, complicated
and frustrating.
As a community, regardless of where we
stand on vaccinations and masks, we should
work to be as helpful as possible to our local
schools.
We need to remember that the teachers,
superintendents and other school officials are
not responsible for the mask mandate. They,
like all state agencies, must obey the orders
of the governor. They don’t have the option
to ignore her mandate.
That means trying to push them into the
center of a political/cultural debate about
COVID-19 and vaccinations is wrong and
won’t solve the basic problem.
Our students and their teachers should not
be in the middle of this debate. However, as
cases climb, and vaccination rates continue
to lag, we now face a new COVID-19 crisis.
No one wants to return to the draconian
restrictions instituted by the governor last
year. We must all work hard to ensure we do
not.
Meanwhile, we must give our local school
districts, teachers and administrators all the
help we can as they struggle to work through,
yet another COVID-19 challenge.
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.
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211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
Watching the signs, learning from the past
DANIEL
WATTENBURGER
HOMEGROWN
I
t used to be that darkness blotting
out the midday sun was considered
a bad omen. Now it’s called late
summer.
Smoke has been slowly but steadily
filtering into our skies over the past
few weeks, and on Sunday I caught
my first real whiff of the scorched odor
now synonymous with the season. It
brought back the unpleasant memories
of a year ago when the realities of the
pandemic, second-stage cabin fever,
and wildfire smoke were all settling in
at about the same time.
Everything was tinged apocalyp-
tic. The skies were filled with fine ash
from devastating wildfires, COVID-19
illnesses and deaths had reached their
first peak in Umatilla County, and our
sense of community was faltering.
That framework of “community,”
the events and gatherings and acciden-
tal meetings and impromptu conver-
sations that keep us connected to one
another, are crucial to appreciating one
another for both our uniqueness and
our commonalities. But we all spent
more time in smaller circles last year,
losing opportunities to grow a network
of understanding and support.
Middle-to-late 2020 isn’t the kind of
season anyone would want to repeat. It
fostered fear and anger and distrust. It
left scars that won’t fade quickly.
But in many ways, we’re still living
in it. It feels duller because we’ve
gotten used to a lot of things while
changing our expectations and routines
to fit new realities. We’ve adjusted to
the malaise.
I suppose I shouldn’t assume every-
one shares my restlessness. It could
be attributed to those smaller social
circles I mentioned earlier and my
inability to see a brighter picture.
Maybe there are many people who
are feeling optimistic about our path
forward. I would love to hear more
from them.
But from my viewpoint, we’ve
accepted that the sun will disappear
behind a veil of noxious burnt sienna
for weeks or even months at a time. For
some of our children, that’s the way it’s
always been. Most of us still remember
when the sky was blue on the first day
of school.
We’ve sweated out a historic heat
wave that killed more than 100 here
in Oregon, and none of us will be
surprised to see the temperature or
body count records fall again before
the decade is over.
We’ve tossed aside the social
contract, the idea that by each giving
a little we can add to the greater good.
There is no argument stronger than
“you can’t make me” in our discourse,
and it’s usually the final word.
We’ve diluted potential solutions
because they require consensus. Our
current COVID-19 situation shows this
in stark detail.
The vaccine, a marvel of modern
science and medicine, had the potential
to protect the entire country in a matter
of months and virtually remove the
danger of serious illness and death for
most Americans. Instead, we’re plow-
ing through another wave of illness
and turmoil while the readily available
solution sits on the shelf.
You can apply that to any number
of issues. We have the knowledge and
resources to make things better, if only
incrementally, but lack the collective
will.
I don’t know what the future holds,
but it can’t be a good sign that the
billionaires are all trying to find a way
out of here.
It won’t get easier if the rest of us
fight each other every step of the way
or continue to break into increasingly
isolated factions. We are going to have
more big challenges to contend with,
and we’ll have to agree that we can
only survive them by working together.
We should be paying more attention
to the omens and signs around us.
———
Daniel Wattenburger is the former
managing editor of the East Oregonian.
He lives in Hermiston with his wife and
children and is an account manager for
Pac/West Lobby Group. Contact him at
danielwattenburger@gmail.com.
Restaurants are open. People gather to
enjoy music on Wednesday evenings
at Roy Raley Park. “Let’s Get Wild in
Pendleton” brings people downtown on
Saturday evenings for fun and connec-
tion. Houses of worship see more and
more people returning to in-person
services.
The community calendar is filled
with events that were sorely missed in
2020. The Pendleton Whisky Music
Fest brought people together from near
and far. Everyone looked forward to the
HotRod-A-Rama. The renowned Pend-
leton Round-Up promises to be a high-
light of the year.
However, the COVID-19 delta vari-
ant, increasing infection rates and low
vaccination numbers, puts all of these
beloved community events at risk.
Closer to home, many of our neighbors
are unable to be vaccinated due to their
age or medical condition. No one in the
community wants to bear the responsi-
bility for passing the virus to a child or
a vulnerable neighbor. The clearest way
to avoid this scenario is to get vacci-
nated if you are able to do so.
The scientific data shows that the
COVID-19 vaccine is the best way
to keep one another safe. The shot is
highly effective. It has few side effects.
Of course, every American has the
freedom and the right to refuse to be
vaccinated, but doesn’t our responsi-
bility to care for one another and our
community call each of us to a higher
mandate for the greater good? We are
urging everyone to set aside political
agendas and to reject misinformation
and unfounded fears. Please get the shot
if you are able — for your own sake, for
the sake of your friends and neighbors,
and for the health our entire community.
Pendleton, we can beat COVID-19
together! Take care of yourself. Take
care of your neighbors. If you are able
to get the shot, please do so as soon as
possible.
Rev. Karyn Dix, Rev. Ann Marie
Hardin, Rev. Travis Larsen, Rev. Scott
Little, Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, Pastor
Patty Nance, Rev. Charlotte Wells
Pendleton
YOUR VIEWS
To our unvaccinated
neighbors
To all our neighbors and friends
who have decided not to get vaccinated:
Thank you for occupying, or getting
ready to occupy, our local hospitals.
According to the East Oregonian, half the
current cases at St. Anthony Hospital are
non-vaccinated persons. St. Anthony has
been turning away critically ill persons
or have tried to find other facilities to
accommodate them. I hope your loved
one doesn’t need their services because
the chances are they may not get it.
So again, thank you for your selfish-
ness in not getting vaccinated. This is
not political. It is science and vaccinating
saves lives.
Dave Frye
Pendleton
Pendleton, get the jab!
The community is celebrating a
return to the new normal this summer.