ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
SATuRDAy, OCTObeR 16, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Federal
policy needs
to support
families
F
amily policies being decided at
the federal level now will have
a major effect on Americans for
years to come.
This should be a bipartisan effort.
There are plenty of Republicans and
Democrats alike who understand how
child tax credits, support for child care
centers and universal preschool could
have a huge positive effect on their
constituents — not just families with
young children, but also on business
owners who depend on a strong work-
force.
The lack of affordable child care and
the serious shortage of child care in
general are keeping parents out of the
workforce, discouraging couples from
having children and hurting the economy.
This is a long-standing problem exacer-
bated by the pandemic.
When parents can find and afford qual-
ity child care and preschool for their chil-
dren, they are free to work or continue
their education and job training.
Child tax credits for high-income
families are unnecessary and expensive,
but we believe child tax credits for low-
and middle-income working parents to
spend as they please on the best child care
they can find would drive the market to
create more quality child care options
(both home- and center-based), and raise
wages for child care providers.
The greatest challenge for most rural
communities is the demand for child
care far exceeds the supply. Building
child care centers is expensive because
of the specific needs of infants, toddlers
and preschoolers and often onerous state
regulations that govern child care facili-
ties.
Federal grants to communities to build
and maintain child care centers (which
then could be operated by nonprofit
organizations or cooperatives, with local
control) would go a long way to shrink
the child care shortage.
A recent analysis shows universal
preschool for 4-year-olds will save the
existing taxpayer-funded K-12 public
education system over $83 billion per
year. It’s clear that having young chil-
dren spend three or four hours a day
at a high-quality preschool — learn-
ing how to follow instructions, manage
their emotions and work and play with
others— means they will be ready to
learn in kindergarten. The K-12 savings
come from reduced need for special
education and grade repetition.
We want to see Republicans and
Democrats working together to allow
parents to have choices about child
care and preschool, to support low- and
middle-income families for whom child
care and preschool is currently a signifi-
cant economic burden, and to encourage
adults to work.
Family policies that support marriage,
children and the economy are within
reach.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Coercion does not make
people want the vaccine
Fellow peasants, don’t you just love
the “holier-than-thou” and the sneering
condescension of virtually every edito-
rial page comment made by those who
insist that everyone be vaccinated?
Doesn’t being reviled and called
everything but a decent human being
make you want to rush right out and get
the vaccine?
Try these statistics: as of Tuesday,
Oct. 12, 714,243 deaths; 44,401,209
cases; and current U.S. population, 333,
479,557. All this drama for a disease
with a seemingly very high survival
rate.
John Kaufman
Pendleton
‘Finding Dora’ story
highlights connections
In your Tuesday, Oct. 12, edition, you
ran a front-page story titled “Remem-
bering Dora” and the fact 10 people
from out-of-town had gathered at Olney
Cemetery to remember a woman who
died a century ago. They were there
for the purpose of celebrating her new
headstone.
I’m not sure what captured the inter-
est of Kathy Aney, but with the utmost
confidence that anything this distin-
guished reporter found worthy of her
attention would be worth the attention
of her devoted followers, I continued
reading.
It was certainly a remarkable story
about how her father even managed to
survive a tumultuous journey that even-
tually brought him to Pendleton and that
his daughter would marry at the age of
15 and produce a family of her own.
I kept reading.
When I spotted the names of Don
and Jack Rhodes, Dora’s grandsons,
something clicked. A little while later
came the name of her son, Chester.
Although more than half a century
has passed, I was reminded of the fact I
knew all three of these men despite the
remote connection to Pendleton.
I mostly knew Dora’s son, Ches-
ter, who was superintendent of schools
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
in Chehalis, Washington. He was a
colleague and friend of my father, a
fellow superintendent in nearby Toledo.
He and his wife Henrietta, and my
parents were good friends.
In 1966, when I was graduating
from Linfield College, Chester Rhodes
called me in McMinnville and invited
me to come to his office in Chehalis. At
the time, I was awaiting a call to officer
candidate school in the Navy, but they
said it would be a year or more before
much would happen. I didn’t really
know what I was going to do until then,
so I responded to his invitation.
He invited me to teach journalism at
the high school in Chehalis and spend
part of each day as the school district
public information and public affairs
officer for the district. Were it not for his
call, I would probably never have found
my way into the classroom or adminis-
tration where I remained for some four
decades since at the time I was in the
newspaper industry.
At the end of my year at the high
school, the war began winding down
and the Navy decided they had no need
to mint any new ensigns, so I kept
teaching.
In Kathy’s story, she talks about
remembering Dora and in the case of
the Rhodes brothers, honoring a grand-
mother they never met.
As so often happens when we illumi-
nate the lives of those who have passed
before us, it opens more chapters than
we could possibly imagine. After read-
ing Kathy’s story, I guess I have Dora to
thank for helping bring me to a commu-
nity where I intend to spend the rest of
my life.
George Murdock
Pendleton
My personal freedom
has not been violated
When I was a small child, I had an
immunization on my arm for small-
pox. I think I got it at school. There was
no vaccination at the time for measles,
mumps or whooping cough, and I had
all those diseases, missing school for
two weeks for each disease. Later,
polio vaccine and the Salk immuniza-
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.
tion came along and I got them. I do
not remember whether my parents had
to sign anything, but I know they did
not want me or my siblings to contract
polio, too. I have had tetanus shots,
diphtheria, shingles, influenzas and a
couple of others that I cannot recall. I
am happy to make it to age 85.
When I had an opportunity to
receive the COVID-19 vaccinations,
I was grateful, because I did not want
to experience the virus. I did not think
about possibly spreading the disease to
others. I had been wearing a mask to
save myself, but now I wear the mask
to save others. I know that I could be
a carrier even though I have had the
vaccine.
My personal freedom has not been
violated by getting vaccines or by
wearing a mask; as an adult, I made
the choice to protect myself from
disease. Now, my personal freedom
is not violated when I wear a mask,
because I do not want to be responsi-
ble for someone else being sick. This is
my choice. So, I cannot understand how
other people feel so upset about being
required to be vaccinated or wear masks
or be tested. I have heard of no one who
has been ticketed or put in prison for not
wearing a mask or getting a vaccine,
although it is possible it has happened. It
is possible that someone could be sued
for causing the death of another because
of COVID-19.
Regardless of any requirement or
mandate, I do not wish to cause harm
to anyone else. I do not wish to cause
health professionals to serve until
exhaustion due to my disinterest in their
plight. I do not want children to forfeit
their education because the pandemic
continues indefinitely. I do not wish to
cause hospitals to fill up with COVID-
19 patients making it impossible for
people with other health problems to
have the care they need.
Even though I am vaccinated for
COVID-19 and willing to wear a mask,
I want to be able to be admitted to a
hospital for treatment if I seriously need
treatment for illness or for another face-
plant injury in front of the post office.
Evelyn Swart
Joseph
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