KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Video
provides
message
of hope
L
ife lessons for many are hard to
come by, but for Pendleton’s William
Wehrli, dispelling misconceptions
about autism and helping others may be his
calling.
Recently, Wehrli, who has autism, made
a video for social media star, Laura Clery,
and put it on TikTok, the social networking
service.
Clery, whose son is autistic, is an actress
and comedian and Wehrli’s message was a
simple one. Wehrli’s theme is an autism diag-
nosis shouldn’t be the end of the world for
parents or loved ones. Doctors said Wehrli
predicted he would never be independent or
graduate. Yet, he has a master’s degree, owns
a home, pays rent, cook, cleans and works
many jobs.
The video went viral. And Clery
responded. Clery shot a video of her and her
husband reacting to Wehrli’s video where
they smiled and held their hands over their
hearts. Thousands of people commented as
well.
Wehrli was also inundated with messages.
Many of those messages expressed similar
views regarding how doctors said their child
would never succeed. Seeing Wehrli’s video
gave them hope.
He received so many messages he was
eventually overwhelmed.
It is fitting that Wehrli, who is an autism
advocate and helps parents navigate the chal-
lenges that come with the condition, was able
to get his message out and onto such a popu-
lar platform as TicTok.
That’s because his message is one that
needs to be heard by many and because
his overall theme — never give up hope —
should be disseminated as far as possible.
Living with a condition such as autism can
be and surely is a challenge. And it can be
especially discouraging when a subject-mat-
ter expert, such as a physician, outlines a
particularly onerous future for a loved one
living autism.
That’s why Wehrli’s message is so import-
ant. His life, his accomplishments stand in
stark contrast to the opinions of “experts”
and signify that the human will can never
be discounted. The doctors in Wehrli’s case
were certain his life would be one without
education or valid accomplishments. They
were wrong.
Wehril and his parent could have given up
hope but, instead, they found a way to win.
Wehril’s message should not be allowed to
fade away. We need such stories, such tales
of overcoming adversity, now more than
ever.
Wehrli’s actions and his life are a testa-
ment to never giving up and trying to always
be the best you can be.
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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to withhold letters that address concerns about
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Balanced maps, untouched by human hands
DANIEL
WATTENBURGER
HOMEGROWN
F
rom our bleacher seats in Eastern
Oregon, the redistricting process
can seem labored and, ultimately,
futile.
Sure, we have new proposed elec-
toral maps that reflect our state’s chang-
ing population. That means, among
other things, a sixth representative in
Congress.
The maps may still be challenged in
court and revised. Or they may go into
effect and set the parameters for Oregon
elections for the next decade. We’ll
know before November.
Either way, we in Eastern Oregon
are still squarely in the 2nd Congres-
sional District, which was and still is
the only predictably Republican district
in the state. Our representatives in the
Oregon legislature will continue to serve
roughly the same cities and counties.
So why get riled up? Watching the
floor speeches by many Democrats,
you’d think the maps were ordained
by the collective spirit of the Oregon
people. To hear the more outspoken
Republicans tell it, Democrats have
undermined every interest except their
own and have doomed the state to a
decade of inequal political representa-
tion.
Let’s be fair and agree the truth lies
somewhere in the middle. Of course
Democrats, who control both chambers
and all executive seats in Oregon, baked
their priorities in the new maps. And of
course Republicans were going to call
foul, no matter what the maps looked
like.
It’s worth remembering 2001, when
Republicans controlled both cham-
bers and presented a map that Demo-
crats deemed so unacceptable they
orchestrated a walkout to prevent its
passage. This put the process in the
hands of Secretary of State Bill Brad-
bury, a Democrat, who drew up a map
that Republicans opposed but failed to
overturn in court. It also set a walkout
precedent that still hangs over every
legislative session.
All this to say, when a map is drafted
by politicians, the politicians of the
opposing party will oppose it. And
they’ll get as much mileage out of it as
they can.
But where does this leave the voters,
the people who electoral districts are
meant to empower?
There are public hearings to give us
the opportunity to share our thoughts.
There are also rules requiring the
districts to follow existing boundaries,
protect communities of common inter-
est, and not to favor a party, politician,
or any individual. But whether the input
is heeded, and how fair the maps are, is
difficult to gauge.
With a decade to go before our next
predictable tussle, we have time to enlist
the help of a truly impartial observer:
artificial intelligence.
The old axiom goes that voters should
choose their representatives and not the
other way around. Inserting a neutral
entity with no ties to any party or agenda
is the best way to make that happen.
A.I. would be more than capable of
taking in relevant data — demographic,
geographic, historical — and creating
maps that are evenly balanced with no
concessions to individual interests. It
could even pump out a hundred iter-
ations, or a thousand, and randomly
select one to serve as a base map for
the public to review and comment on.
If there is sufficient reason to alter the
map, it would have to be done transpar-
ently.
This would account for the count-
less ways the state could be divided,
show no preference to any of them, and
give the public the first say on what the
maps should look like. At the very least,
it would take power away from parti-
san leaders and allow them to focus on
legislation that we need actual humans
to make.
The North Carolina Senate already
took a step down this road in 2019.
When ordered to redistrict badly gerry-
mandered maps by the state court, the
legislature turned the process over to
a computer algorithm that drew up
1,000 versions. Staffers selected five,
which were put into a lottery drawing to
randomly select the final one.
It wasn’t perfect. The final map
was still contested by Democrats, and
they’ve gone back to the old style of
committee-drawn maps.
Oregon is a state that has shown a
willingness to lead. Just look at mail-in
voting. This is our opportunity to
improve the system we have now, take
advantage of technological efficiency,
and show we’re serious about empower-
ing voters.
———
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.
beyond suffering but you were focused
on fear. I inspired doctors to help
you stay safe but you were filled with
disdain. I even sent a new vaccine but
you turned away, demanding personal
freedom. So yes, you are here of your
own free will, which is also a gift … but
faith in my plan could have saved you.
We are sheep. We mask up to protect
the lambs.
Janet Graham
Enterprise
Opposition to including these
reaches is not unlike treating a cardio-
vascular problem by solely focusing on
the arteries; a bad practice with a likely
sorry outcome.
I invite readers to consider a case
study I observed in the mid-2000s while
working on salmon recovery with the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation in Pendleton.
Studies of the Umatilla River demon-
strated railroads and highways blocked
the flow of surface and groundwater
into the main channel. This discon-
nection prevented the mixing of cooler
waters with the warming waters of the
main stream and degraded the habitat
for cold water fish species.
The tribe’s salmon restoration strat-
egy aimed to reconnect these flows by
protecting headwaters and breaching
barriers across the flood plain.
Thermal pollution is a leading factor
impairing the quality of our surface
waters. This is a problem for humans
and nonhumans alike. If we genuinely
care about protecting the values of our
waterways, it would be irresponsible to
exclude tributaries, intermittent streams
and wetlands from the protections of the
River Democracy Act. I applaud Wyden
and his river nominators for their vision.
Michael Beaty
Halfway
YOUR VIEWS
Letter: Masking up
protects our children
Last September, when there were
28,000 daily infections, schools closed
to stop the spread and classes were
moved online. Today there are 150,000
daily cases and children are back in the
classroom.
Unfortunately, children account for
26% of new infections, totaling 250,000
in the past week; 2,500 are in the hospi-
tal and tens of thousands are being
sent home to quarantine — with fewer
online options for learning.
And still, there are anti-mask protests
across the nation. Recently, Wallowa
County protesters were pictured front
page in the Wallowa County Chieftain
encouraging parents to send their kids
to school unmasked in violation of the
governor’s mandate. “Don’t be sheep!”
one speaker said.
Delta has created another danger-
ous surge in the pandemic and 100,000
more people may die before this terrible
year ends. I am reminded of the parable
shared by pastors and priests about the
dying man who wonders why God has
abandoned him. When he reaches the
pearly gates he asks why his faith did
not save him.
God replies (and I paraphrase): I
created science to help you evolve
River Democracy Act
authors have vision
I am writing to give voice to those
who have none, our nonhuman rela-
tives, and many other members of our
community who support protections
that would be provided by Sen. Ron
Wyden’s River Democracy Act.
As a resident of Halfway — Nimii-
puu Lands — I am happy to be joined in
that support by many friends, neighbors
and, importantly, the Nez Perce Tribe.
Clean, cold waters sustain rich
aquatic habitats that produce fish and
wildlife in diversity and abundance.
That so many rural voices have nomi-
nated not just big iconic rivers, but
also smaller tributaries for protection
bespeaks a collective wisdom in seeing
our water cycle in a holistic manner.