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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 2020)
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 Baker City, Oregon 4A Write a letter news@bakercityherald.com EDITORIAL Churches and ‘the right thing’ Leaders from the Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Island City, the epicenter for Oregon’s biggest CO- VID-19 outbreak, have declined to respond to multi- ple media requests for interviews, including from the Herald’s sister paper, The Observer in La Grande. This reticence is perhaps not surprising. But it’s not as shocking as the video message church leader James Parker posted to the church’s Facebook page on June 16, after testing had con- fi rmed that the vast majority of Union County’s in- fections — more than 235 of them — were connected to the church (the post was later deleted, according to a report in The Oregonian). Parker said: “Our fruit will show that what we did is the right thing. And more people need to do what we did. And the more people that do the right thing, the easier it’s going to be for the rest of the world to combat this, this pandemic that we’re going through.” No evidence has been made public showing that Parker has an advanced degree in epidemiology, vi- rology or any other discipline that would lend a shred of credibility to his claim. To the contrary, those who do have such expertise have been quite clear in saying that the sorts of gath- erings the Lighthouse Pentecostal Church hosted in April and May are exactly the wrong thing to do. It’s diffi cult to imagine a more brazen example of irresponsibility during the world’s most serious pandemic in 102 years. As of Wednesday, none of the 287 Union County residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 has died. But the church’s recklessness has harmed the Union County economy. County commissioners, un- derstandably, reverted to the more stringent restric- tions under phase 1 of the state’s reopening plan. The closures caused by the pandemic have had spiritual costs as well as fi nancial ones. The former are signifi cant, as churchgoers in many cases have been unable to worship as they normally do. But many other local churches — indeed, it ap- pears all of them, except the Lighthouse Pentecostal Church — have confronted the challenges and con- tinued to serve their congregations without putting them, or the community at large, at undue risk. Which is to say, all those churches, to borrow Parker’s phrase, did the right thing. — Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor Letters to the editor OTHER VIEWS The pandemic is not winding down Editorial from The Baltimore Sun: With COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. topping the 120,000 mark last weekend and some 21 states seeing an uptick in new cases (and worse, in hospitaliza- tions, a number that can’t be dismissed as the product of more widespread test- ing), it would seem almost too incred- ible to believe that Americans think the pandemic is over. Or even no longer a threat. That’s not what we know from the experience of the past or what public health experts are telling us. Yet the signs of such a response, of a collective “well, it’s time to move on,” are unmis- takable. It’s in Vice President Mike Pence’s claim last week that there isn’t a “sec- ond wave” which is correct only in that the fi rst wave isn’t fi nished yet. It’s in the behavior of thousands who thought it a swell idea to crowd the BOK Cen- ter for a Donald Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday even as local health offi cials warned against it. And it’s in the growing number of Americans who refuse to wear a mask or other facial covering confusing “personal freedom” with “irresponsible, self-destructive behavior.” There are any number of reasons behind this abundance of wishful thinking. Americans, and probably a lot of other folks around the world, are growing tired of social distancing, shut- downs, the accompanying economic recession and all the rest. President Donald Trump, ever focused on self-interest and reelection, is not just rooting for recovery, he’s happily misrepresenting reality in an off-the-charts level of denial or perhaps a let-them-eat-cake attitude toward the masses. And, of course, the overall trends have been moving in a favorable direction including in Maryland where last week marked the third straight of declining number of hospitalizations. Mix in a bit of unmasked envy among the Fox News crowd as they whine about the lack of social distancing among certain Black Lives Matter pro- testers. Not to mention how so many coronavirus-related restrictions have been lifted successfully by states. Per- haps the moment when people became sick of it all was inevitable. So here’s a reality check. It isn’t over. And that’s not Democrats-wanting- President-Trump-to-fail talking. It’s not fearmongering in the “mainstream me- dia,” however that’s defi ned these days. It’s experience and medical expertise. During the last major pandemic, the 1918 “Spanish Flu,” the fi rst wave in the spring was bad but the second wave in the fall was much worse, kill- ing tens of millions. The opportunity World War I presented for the virus to be spread across Europe and beyond by young men living in close quarters made the difference. As National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci has observed, this is no time for complacency. Think football can be played as usual in the fall? Not unless players are willing to live in a bubble. That a Republican National Convention in Florida can be held in August without social distanc- ing after authorities in Charlotte, North Carolina, declined to allow full attendance in their arena? Dr. Fauci has strong reservations. And, by the way, he wouldn’t have attended the Tulsa rally, not because of any animus toward Trump but because he regards it as too dangerous. He just wants some common sense and no indoor crowds. “Outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd,” he has said. Can masks be uncomfortable and maybe look a little goofy? Sure can. Does it seem decidedly low-tech to use a face covering like those 17th century plague doctors with their beaked masks? Yes to that as well. But researchers caution that the virus passes through little droplets expelled from the mouth and nose every time a person speaks, sings, laughs, coughs or simply exhales. And masks protect against those droplets, both from you passing them to others and you receiv- ing them from folks who may not even realize they have it. Tight masks around the face is best. Pleats are better than fl at. Multiple layers are good, too. Follow those and other social distancing guidelines and you lessen the chances not only that you won’t become sick but that others around you stay healthy as well. Anyone unconvinced that the coronavirus is nothing to fear ought to take a few minutes to read Baltimore Sun reporter Jon Meoli’s recent ac- count of life on the COVID-19 reha- bilitation ward with patients learning to breathe, to talk, to swallow after weeks with a tube stuck down their throat pumping air into their lungs. Until there’s a readily available vaccine, we need to band together and take these reasonable precautions. That’s how the hospitalization rate fell in recent weeks and it’s how Ameri- cans can, hopefully, avoid that dreaded second wave. ready to prevent, so they say, rioting in Baker City. Makes me wonder what they know about the use of deadly force by civil- ians. If, for example, in the unimagi- nable case they were to see rioters on Main Street breaking plate glass shop windows and hauling off merchandise, what would they do about it? Perhaps they would like to enlighten me at tubingen@eoni.com or better, by writing their own letter to the editor explaining how they see their role as civilian law-enforcers. Gary Dielman Baker City Your views • We welcome letters on any issue of public interest. Customer complaints about specifi c businesses will not be printed. • The writer must sign the letter and include an address and phone number (for verifi cation only). Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814 Email: news@bakercityherald.com What would the gun-toters do if there were rioters? Thank you for the excellent article about the use of force policies of Baker City Police and Sheriff departments in the June 11 issue of the Herald. In the same issue, there’s a photo of two macho men with their big weapons OTHER VIEWS Another Black man killed by police unnecessarily Editorial from The Baltimore Sun: Once again, a city is in turmoil over the horrifi c killing of a Black man by a white police offi cer. This time it’s in Atlanta, where a benign police call June 12 about an apparently intoxicated man asleep and blocking the drive-thru at a Wendy’s frighteningly ended with Rayshard Brooks dead — shot twice in the back as he ran away. At this moment, when all eyes across this country and the world are on police conduct in the weeks since George Floyd’s killing by police, we struggle to understand why an of- fi cer would not look for any other option than to shoot to kill. Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned a day after the shooting, which was video-recorded and shared widely on social media. And Offi cer Garrett Rolfe was charged on June 17 with felony murder and 10 other charges. Another white offi cer, Devin Brosnan, faces three charges, includ- ing aggravated assault. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said that after shooting Brooks, Rolfe said “I got him” and kicked him, and of- fi cers didn’t render medical aid for two min- utes after the shooting. We get that offi cers are often placed in emotional and volatile situations. But the whole incident suggests a dangerous “shoot-fi rst” mentality that has led to such distrust of the police among com- munities of color. In our view, this is another case that high- lights the critical importance of de-escalation training in our country’s police departments — and it hinges on the proper use of deadly force. Offi cers are supposed to use lethal force only when they feel their lives are in danger or the suspect is endangering other lives. Consider that videos show that the offi cers spoke calmly with a cooperative Brooks for more than 20 minutes before administer- ing a Breathalyzer that Brooks apparently failed. As offi cers were trying to handcuff Brooks, he resisted. One of the offi cers dis- lodged his Taser, which Brooks grabbed and ran off with. Disturbing video shows Rolfe giving chase, and after Brooks pointed the Taser at the offi cers, Rolfe fi red three shots. It seems reasonable that offi cers could have caught up with a reportedly drunken Brooks on foot, chased him by car or searched for him — anything but shooting him in the back. Communities have started a deep and necessary examination of their police de- partments’ policies and procedures. There is much work to do among those in law enforcement and city governments to make improvements and create confi dence among residents that police abuse will not be toler- ated. We also know that no matter the policy reforms, much of the tough work that police offi cers do will call upon their best judgment. It’s fair to say that even when deadly force is allowed, it doesn’t mean offi cers should always use it. We can’t help but believe that Rayshard Brooks did not have to die.
