KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSDAy, JULy 14, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Why we
should be
worried
about
fentanyl
D
rug overdose death in Oregon
more than doubled from 2019
to 2021. The number of over-
dose deaths from opioids alone doubled
— from 280 to at least 656. It was mostly
due to the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
How can you read that announcement
from the Oregon Health Authority and
think what we are doing is working?
Some of the increase in overdoses
is believed to be due to the social isola-
tion and economic dislocation from
the pandemic. But there is also an
increasing availability of fentanyl.
The Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area Program said in April
40% of all counterfeit pills in circula-
tion contain fatal amounts of fentanyl.
The Oregon Health Authority seems to
be doing good things. It’s letting everyone
know about the problem. It’s doing its best
to ensure people have access to naloxone
(Narcan). That is what is called a rescue drug.
Give somebody a shot of naloxone when they
have an opioid overdose and it’s likely to save
them. The state is also working to implement
a mapping program that provides real time
overdose updates to local communities.
Some people will try drugs and get
addicted. If you have known some-
one struggling with addiction, it’s not as
simple as asking them to stop. So there
are efforts to educate drug users.
They are told to assume pills they get
have fentanyl unless the person who handed
it to them was a pharmacist. They are told
not to use drugs alone and keep naxolone
around and visible if they do use drugs.
Fentanyl test strips are made available.
But here are two ideas. Naxolone may or
may not be covered by health insurance.
Coupons can be found online to help
lower the cost. Should Oregon require
health insurance to cover naxolone?
And second, we may sound like
a broken record on this but we can’t
help but think Measure 110 may not
have been constructed quite right.
That was the ballot measure that decrim-
inalized possession of small amounts of
drugs, such as heroin and methamphetamine.
The measure also took marijuana tax revenue
and funneled it into more drug treatment.
More treatment works best if people
have something getting them into treat-
ment. Measure 110 makes it easier than
before for people who are caught in
possession of drugs to avoid treatment.
That’s a problem.
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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SEND LETTERS TO:
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or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801
An Irish holiday
BRIGIT
FARLEY
PAST AND PROLOGUE
L
ast month, I broke my two-year
COVID-19-imposed travel ban
and took myself off to Ireland,
with the intrepid Read/Bullington
clan. I was on vacation, primed for the
breathtaking views, visits with friends
and good craic. I was not looking for
history, really, but I certainly found it.
Upon arrival in Dublin, I walked
out of the airport and boarded a bus for
County Wexford. My friends Raymond
and Barbara, who had just moved back
to Ireland after retiring from jobs in
London, had invited me to come visit.
One thing I noticed right away, besides
the immaculately kept Wexford town
center, was the many Ukrainian flags
flying there. My friends explained that
several thousand Ukrainian refugees
had settled in the county. On a walk
around the nearby port of Rosslare, we
saw a medium-sized hotel converted into
apartments for Ukrainian families, and
we heard Ukrainian mixed with English
as kids played on the nearby football
pitch. I asked my friends why the Irish
government had taken in so many Ukrai-
nians. They reminded me that nations
around the world, the U.S. included,
had given shelter over the centuries to
desperate Irish people fleeing uprisings,
famine or persecution. The Irish author-
ities now welcomed Ukrainians in turn.
As if on cue, a young man approached
us and asked, “are you Irish?” Barbara
said yes. The man cleared his throat
and addressed her in halting, heav-
ily accented English: “Thank you for
my clothes. Thank you for my family.
Thank you for my life.” Irish migra-
tion history was at work there in the
service of a new generation of refugees.
In Northern Ireland, where Read/
Bullingtons and I spent most of our
time, history is ever-present. The
30-year civil war that raged there
between Catholics and Protes-
tants is visible to anyone visiting
Derry or Belfast, the north’s two
biggest cities. Murals memorializing
Irish Republican Army or Protestant
paramilitary martyrs adorn the walls of
neighborhoods. But our group found that
while both cities acknowledge their trou-
bled past, they have been writing new,
promising chapters in their narratives.
In Belfast, the city fathers decided to
parlay the city’s status as the birthplace
of the Titanic into a first-rate historical
attraction. We inspected the shipyard
where Titanic was built and launched,
then toured a state-of-the-art museum
covering every aspect of Titanic’s
history, from its construction to its disas-
trous sinking through its discovery on
the ocean floor. Afterward, we enjoyed
some smooth adult beverages in the room
where architects wrote the plans for the
“unsinkable” Titanic, now a posh bar.
In Derry, home of the biggest atroc-
ity of the Troubles — Bloody Sunday
— both Catholics and Protestants have
built museums that tell their respec-
tive stories. The Museum of Free Derry
chronicles the Catholic struggle for civil
rights, while the Derry Siege Museum
celebrates Protestants whose motto was,
“No Surrender” to Catholics. Both now
must compete with a new draw to the
city: the Derry Girls, stars of the smash
Netflix hit series about Derry school
girls and their zany adventures in 1990s
Derry. The girls and their tart-tongued
principal, Sister Michael, regale pass-
ersby from an oversized mural in the
city center and attract dozens of tourists
daily for themed walking tours. It was
gratifying to see that Derry and Belfast
have turned the page in the 21st century.
Before returning home, I had an
unplanned rendezvous with recent
British history. 100 years ago, after a
long struggle between Irish revolution-
aries and the British government, the
six northernmost counties of Ireland
remained in the United Kingdom,
while the other 26 became the indepen-
dent Republic of Ireland. Thus today’s
Northern Ireland is part of the UK.
Accordingly, its citizens benefit from
the National Health Service, which the
British government established in 1947
to improve the health of postwar Brit-
ain. Citizens and government jointly
finance the NHS in taxes and subsidies,
so that no one pays for services up front.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortu-
nately, COVID-19 felled me on the
last day of the trip and I landed in the
Derry NHS hospital. I received seven
hours of competent and compassion-
ate care there, the staff inquiring about
my Irish heritage as they pumped me
full of IV fluids. The attending doctor
examined me and sent me on my way
with medicine and advice about quar-
antine and recovery. When I left the
hospital, I worried about the cost —
surely an ER visit would not be free for
a non-citizen — but they charged me
nothing. As sick as I was, I took care
to say a silent prayer of thanks for the
1947 British government and the NHS.
I can’t seem to come up with a stir-
ring ending, so I’ll reach back into 19th
century literary history and conclude,
simply, that this trip was the best of
times and the worst of times — pretty
much like history, or life, itself.
———
Brigit Farley is a Washington State
University professor, student of history,
adventurer and Irish heritage girl living
in Pendleton.
YOUR VIEWS
Prove citizenship to
vote in this country
Voting is central to a
healthy democracy. I believe
voting is not only a right,
but the duty of every citi-
zen. Common sense tells me
we must require all citizens
to show proof of citizenship
before they are allowed to
cast their ballot. Further-
more, they must show proof
that they live where they are
voting. Common sense also
tells me this must not be an
onerous or restrictive process.
Voter and election fraud are
already serious criminal
offenses. Making it onerous
for citizens to provide the
necessary proof required for
voting must also be prose-
cuted as serious offenses.
We can get next-day deliv-
ery of almost anything we
want to buy. We can put men
on the moon. Surely we can
make a simple, quick and
efficient way for any citizen
to provide the proof neces-
sary for voting. This is the
challenge, but we can solve
it. This is where our focus
needs to be. Avoiding the
problem is not the solution.
Some would argue that
if people pay taxes then
they should be allowed to
vote. I disagree. People
who live in this country
already get the services
(police, fire, roads, schools,
etc.) that they paid for with
their taxes. Citizenship and
voting are separate issues.
Citizenship is about
defining the country that we
belong to, not simply living
in that country. That’s why
we let citizens living abroad
vote, because they belong
to this country. That’s the
difference. You must belong
to vote. Let’s face it, unions
would not want nonunion
workers to vote in their
union elections. It’s the same
thing. you must be a citi-
zen to vote in this country.
James P. Elliott
Bend
Shame on
Morrow County
commissioners
Shame, shame, shame
on the Morrow County
commissioners who voted
to terminate Darrell Green.
I’ve rarely met a man of
such integrity, intelligence
and gentle temperament.
Darrell successfully
headed a program at Blue
Mountain Community
College prior to his employ-
ment as county administrator
and was influential in helping
many, many low-income resi-
dents in Umatilla and Morrow
counties get a basic educa-
tion leading to employment.
So commissioners,
what are you really hiding
from the public? you won’t
release the tapes? Why?
He wasn’t approached at
the time of the perceived
issue? So what corruption
are you trying to cover up
on your end? For shame.
you both should be
recalled from office as
soon as possible while Mr.
Green must now look for
a new job, which will now
be more difficult for your
actions. If I were Mr. Green,
I’d hire a good lawyer and
fight this to the end.
Matt Henry
Pendleton