Wednesday, March 17, 2021
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
Across the
aisle in the
Capitol
P
olicy disagreements, partisan-
ship and the walkouts can give
Oregonians a distorted picture of
what their Oregon Legislature is like.
Journalists — and certainly this edito-
rial page — tend to highlight conflicts,
not the places of accord.
Recently, hovwever, what state Rep.
Daniel Bonham said during a commit-
tee hearing struck us regarding a reso-
lution to honor former state Rep. Mitch
Greenlick.
Bonham is a Republican from The
Dalles. His district includes a large
part of Central Oregon — Sisters, Cul-
ver, Madras and the Warm Springs
Reservation. Plot Bonham and Green-
lick along an ideological line and there
would be a big gap between them in
how to solve many of Oregon’s chal-
lenges. Bonham would be on the right.
Greenlick, a Democrat who repre-
sented Multnomah and Washington
counties beginning in 2002, was on the
left. Greenlick died while serving in
office on May 15, 2020.
They became friends.
Commissioners of several Central
Oregon counties appointed Bonham to
the Legislature in November 2017 to
fill a vacancy. He came into the session
in 2018 trying to find his way in the
new role.
He happened to stay in the same
hotel for the session as Greenlick and
his wife, Harriet. They fell into the
habit of exercising together in the gym
and joining each other in the pool. And
talking.
“I got to know Rep. Greenlick more
on a personal level than anything else,”
Bonham said. “What really impressed
me was just his care and concern for
helping somebody brand new to this
role that truly was trying to find their
way. And despite the fact that we were
not of the same party affiliation or
shared the same views on how to solve
health care problems, we had many
wonderful conversations.
“I will say we probably talked more
about the kids, the grandchildren and
the great-grandchildren than we did
about public policy. But his care and
his compassion for others was just evi-
dent in his approach to life. And we
saw it come through in very passionate
ways both on the floor and in commit-
tee and even over lunch.
“I wanted to take the moment to
stop by your meeting here today and to
offer my words of just gratitude to the
Greenlicks. Again, I don’t know how
you talk about Mitch without talking
about Harriet. I don’t know how, at
least from my experience. They were
such a team. I am grateful for their
friendship and for the kindness that
they showed me. I give my absolute
support to SCR (Senate Concurrent
Resolution) 3 and encourage everyone
else to take a moment and read through
it and remember and honor our good
friend Mitch Greenlick.”
LETTER to the EDITOR
Vaccine ethical
issues are concerning
The ethical issues raised by the ongo-
ing coronavirus vaccine campaign are
concerning.
We would surely consider it outra-
geous to expect young people to partic-
ipate in an organ-harvesting campaign
(knowing young, healthy people do not
need two kidneys or a full-sized liver)
in order to benefit the older and sicker
among us, yet we expect our young peo-
ple to take a non-FDA approved biologic
in pursuit of that objective. Research
hasn’t even yet concluded that the vac-
cine will prevent coronavirus transmis-
sion, just that it seems to prevent severe
symptoms (remember that, in unvac-
cinated people, up to 80% of cases are
asymptomatic or show mild symptoms).
A healthy young adult has a greater
risk of dying in a car accident on the
way to be vaccinated (14 deaths/100,000
people) than he or she does from actu-
ally contracting coronavirus (seven
deaths/100,000).
The Hippocratic Oath reminds medi-
CONTACT your REPRESENTATIVES
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Salem, OR 97301
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Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
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Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
SENATOR
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
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Cliff Bentz
1239 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
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REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Jeff Merkley
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Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
VOLUME 134
cal providers to “do no harm,” yet there
are planned experimental studies on
newborns (who are unable to consent)
that will certainly be used to encourage
immunizing children against a virus that
causes negligible symptoms for that age
group.
These are complicated issues and, as
the old proverb goes: “The devil takes a
hand in what is done in haste.” We need
to take a slow, careful look at the medical
ethics around the vaccine campaign.
Rebecca Patton
Enterprise
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