Wednesday, November 3, 2021
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
Locals
provide
needed
help half a
world away
L
ast week’s editorial described
how students in FFA can restore
our hope for humanity.
Today, we want to highlight the sub-
jects of two stories in today’s Chieftain
— Emily Sheahan and Olan Fulfer — as
another reason why, in spite of the insan-
ity we see today, the world may not be
100% doom and gloom.
The stories highlight different ways
these two individuals have helped half
way around the world in Africa —
Sheahan by running marathons to help
support World Vision (and also seeing
their work done in Africa), and Fulfer
by taking a trip this summer to Tanza-
nia to teach and provided needed sup-
port for residents in and around the city
of Arusha.
Many people in Africa live in condi-
tions that are unthinkable in America,
a level of poverty that really cannot be
understood unless you see it firsthand,
as a member of this editorial board has.
Pictures only show so much.
You see those photos, hear those sto-
ries, have your heartstrings tugged at and
want to help, which is good.
Yet what Fulfer said was true in that
providing help cannot be done by just
giving money and walking away, or giv-
ing supplies. Supplies and funding, to be
sure, is needed at times.
But this is also a moment where the
proverb of giving a man a fish versus
teaching a man to fish comes into play.
Do you give somebody what they need
just for a day? Or supply them with what
they need for a lifetime? Do you give to
the point that they become dependent on
what you give, and find they are worse
off in the end? Or do you find a way to
empower them?
The book “Toxic Charity” delves into
this issue, explaining how the best of
intentions can harm as opposed to help
in the long run. It is a book that really
causes the reader to think, and does bring
into question what we see as the best
way to help, while also giving its own
model. It’s worth a read for anyone inter-
ested in philanthropy or missions trips.
But that is not the point of this edi-
torial. The point is that many millions
— not only in Africa, but around the
world — are in desperate need for essen-
tials that we take for granted in America.
Food. Water. Clothing. A bed. Health.
Warmth.
The fact that, as Fulfer shared, he
was able to buy a family of six a week’s
worth of food for $4 says something
about how blessed we are.
And how much we should be follow-
ing the lead of these two, and many oth-
ers who donate time and resources, to
help the less fortunate.
What Sheahan and Fulfer are doing,
in two different ways, is a good work
— one that should be emulated by more
people.
And it’s a work that should help
restore a semblance of hope for
humanity.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Applause for Wyden,
River Democracy Act
Gender bias in high school
sports coverage
I am writing to readers of the Chieftain
to give voice to those who have none: our
nonhuman relatives and many other mem-
bers of our community who support the
protections that would be provided by Sen.
Ron Wyden’s River Democracy Act. As a
resident of Halfway — Nimiipuu Lands —
I am happy to be joined by many friends,
neighbors, and importantly, the Nez Perce
and Umatilla Tribes.
Clean, cold waters sustain rich aquatic
habitats that produce fish and wildlife in
diversity and abundance. That so many
rural voices have nominated not just big,
iconic rivers, but also smaller tributaries
for protection, bespeaks a collective wis-
dom in seeing our water cycle in a holis-
tic manner.
Opposition to including these is not
unlike treating a cardiovascular prob-
lem by solely focusing on the arteries —
a questionable practice with a likely sorry
outcome.
I invite readers to consider a case study
I observed in the mid-2000s, working on
salmon recovery with the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
(CTUIR) in Pendleton.
Studies of the Umatilla River by their
natural resources staff demonstrated how
railroads and highways blocked the flow
of surface and ground water into the main
channel. This disconnect prevented the
mixing of cooler waters with the warming
main stream and degraded the aquatic hab-
itat for cold water fish species.
The tribe’s salmon restoration strategy
aimed to reconnect these hyporheic flows
by protecting their headwaters and breach-
ing 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 non-
humans alike. If we genuinely care about
protecting the values of our waterways,
it would be irresponsible of us to exclude
tributaries, intermittent streams, and wet-
lands from the protections of the River
Democracy Act. I applaud Sen. Wyden and
his river nominations for their vision.
Mike Beaty
Halfway
The Chieftain is gender biased in its
sports coverage.
For the past several weeks the Joseph
High School girls volleyball team has
been on a historic run of wins, including
going undefeated in Old Oregon League
play and winning the District 7 tournament
(for only the second time since the 1980s)
to advance to state. During that time the
Chieftain has repeatedly chosen to high-
light football and boys cross-country over
covering volleyball. I don’t grudge those
teams and individuals the coverage, but I
do object to those stories receiving at least
three times the space in the sports section
than the girls receive.
This Oct. 27 issue took the cake. Instead
of detailed coverage of the Eagles’ win at
district last weekend and publishing the all-
league team members from Wallowa and
Joseph and player of the year who is from
Joseph — all of which were announced at
the end of the volleyball tournament — the
Chieftain chose to publish and feature at
the top of its sports section a detailed ret-
rospective of the best decades of football
at each school in the county. The cover-
age of the girls’ story takes one minute to
read, according to the Chieftain web site.
The football retrospective is a four-minute
read. This choice only served to emphasize
your bias.
Step up and do the right thing. Cover
girls sports with the same dedication and
column space as you give to boys sports.
Benjamin Curry
Joseph
New Republican Party
must be rejected
Whose Republican Party is this? Not
the same as even 10 years ago. Although
this party has not revised the platform in
six years, actions speak louder than words.
1. A Republican president was
impeached in 2020 for extortion by with-
holding financial and military aid from an
ally, the government of Ukraine, until they
would announce an unfounded investiga-
tion into his political opponent. There were
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numerous confirming testimonies during
this investigation, including his own staff.
The Republican Senate then unanimously
acquitted him with no reservations and
no witnesses, in effect saying, “This was
acceptable behavior for our man.”
2. This same president was again
impeached with insurrection in 2021 when
he was found responsible for efforts to
overturn the results of our national election
in a violation of the U.S. Constitution, with
a resulting riot and attack on the nation’s
capitol by his supporters. No witness tes-
timony was heard to deny this charge, and
in fact, after numerous election recounts
and more than 80 lawsuits all being dis-
missed as frivolous or lack of evidence, he
still claims to have won the election. He
was again acquitted by vote of the Republi-
can Senate with no reservations. This effec-
tively condones disregarding the Constitu-
tion while the Republican Party is in power.
3. Support for voter suppression: Mul-
tiple state Republican leaders and legis-
latures have enacted new laws, since los-
ing the presidential election in 2020, to
limit voting. Reducing the opportunity
to request a mail-in ballot or register to
vote, prohibiting officials from automat-
ically sending ballot applications, reduce
the number of ballot drop boxes, adding
new and stricter voter ID, shorten the time
frame for early voting and expanding voter
purge practices are all intended to reduce
voter turnout. Congressional Republicans
have threatened to filibuster H.R. 4, a vot-
ing rights bill which would have restored
voting rights, if it was brought to the Sen-
ate floor for a vote where it could be
defeated.
This party is all about power and an
authoritarian government. It certainly does
not abide by the Constitution, and only
refers to it when it benefits the party. This
is no longer a “Party of the People.” It has
been “bought and paid for” by Citizens
United, special-interest groups and super
PACs.
If democracy is to survive, it is cru-
cial we send a clear message at the voting
booth to all public officials, “the Ameri-
can people are rejecting the New Republi-
can Party.”
David Ebbert
Enterprise
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