TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
A4
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EDITORIAL
Should
Oregon
expand
betting?
The Oregon Lottery’s mission is contradictory: make
money off gambling and don’t encourage people to gamble
too much.
Launching sports betting was one way the lottery tried
to expand its revenue. It has the potential to grow. But that
could represent some challenging policy choices.
Lottery offi cials moved into sports betting because, well,
there is money to be made. And arguably it helps the Oregon
Lottery balance its competing missions. It would like to have
more people gambling a little than a few gambling a lot.
And it doesn’t want people to be gambling away money they
should be spending on more important things. Sports bettors
tend to be younger, male and have money to spend.
When you look at the numbers, sports betting is still just
a fraction of Oregon Lottery revenues. It’s new. For instance,
the lottery’s monthly net profi t for June was $59 million.
Video lottery brought in most of the net revenue at $98 mil-
lion. Traditional lottery tickets like Powerball and Scratch-
Its brought in $10.4 million. Sports betting trailed with $2.8
million.
(It’s not particularly relevant for a discussion about sports
betting policy, but we were curious about how much of the
money spent was returned in prizes to lottery customers.
Video lottery has the highest percentage at 92%. About 65%
of money spent on traditional lottery tickets was returned in
prizes. And sports betting is at 89%. Those are numbers we
crunched based on June 2021.)
You can drill down a bit in the data from sports betting.
For instance, you can see in August that there was one bet
for $30 on a chess match. That was the only bet on chess.
The profi t margin for the state on chess was 10%. There was
one bet for $8 on surfi ng. The margin for the state -773%.
Most of the bets placed in August were on baseball with
198,276 bets. The margin for the state was 4.5%.
The Oregon Lottery tries to walk a tightrope with sports
betting. Take betting on the Olympics. You could not bet on
individual events that included minors. But you could bet
on things like the overall medal counts, which would include
minors.
Still, moving the state into sports betting made some Ore-
gonians and Oregon lawmakers uncomfortable. The Oregon
Lottery proposed going into collegiate sports. No dice. Too
controversial. No betting is allowed on high school sports.
Other states, such as Pennsylvania, allow more forms of
gambling online than in Oregon. It’s not a casino on your
phone. It’s close.
Should Oregon allow betting on college sports? Should it
offer more games on people’s phones? It would mean more
revenue for the state. Would that be too much? Or is Oregon
already allowing too much?
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker City
Herald. Columns, letters and cartoons on this page express
the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the
Baker City Herald.
How COVID-19 affects people
COVID sucks! Seriously. We
are currently seeing the surge of
COVID respiratory illness those of
us in healthcare anticipated seeing
in April or May of 2020. Watch-
ing younger people with few or no
chronic illnesses struggle to breathe
is not fun, particularly when you are
doing everything you can to keep
them alive and worry that it still
won’t be enough.
I want to explain how COVID-19
affects the lungs and why people
end up requiring oxygen. Like most
respiratory viruses, the most com-
mon way this virus enters a person’s
body is through their lungs. Many
people will have typical viral symp-
toms such as fever, cough, runny
nose, muscle aches, and fatigue.
About 80% of infections are mild
and people will recover at home
with no intervention. The other
20% of infections will be moderate
or severe. Most moderate or severe
cases develop viral pneumonia,
infl ammation or swelling of the lung
tissue that allows oxygen to pass
into our blood.
In moderate COVID-19 infec-
tions, the level of oxygen in a per-
son’s blood drops low enough that
they need supplemental oxygen and
medications to reduce the infl am-
mation in their lungs. Current best
evidence suggests that a person
with symptoms severe enough to
NEIL J.
CARROLL
warrant hospitalization benefi t from
steroids such as dexamethasone
or methylprednisolone. Steroids do
not help in mild cases of COVID-19,
and in fact, may actually worsen
outcomes due to side effects and
suppression of the immune system
attempting to fi ght off the virus.
About 5% of people who contract
COVID-19 develop a severe infec-
tion that requires admission to an
intensive care unit (ICU). The air
sacs in the lungs fi ll with so much
fl uid and swelling that oxygen can
no longer easily transfer into the
blood. At this point, the only options
are to use a very high fl ow of oxygen
(40-60 liters per minute up your
nose), a bipap device (that keeps a
minimum amount of air pressure
pushing into your lungs even when
you are exhaling), or a tube in your
trachea (windpipe) called intuba-
tion.
So why is COVID-pneumonia
worse than bacterial pneumonia?
Most bacterial pneumonia will only
affect one lung or even one portion
of one lung. Bacterial pneumonia
can be treated with antibiotics, but
resistance to these medications has
been developing with over-prescrib-
ing of antibiotics for nonbacterial
viral illnesses such as COVID-19.
Some people do feel better after
treatment with antibiotics for their
viral illness, likely due to the anti-
infl ammatory properties that some
antibiotics exhibit. Like other viral
pneumonias, COVID-pneumonia
does not respond to antibiotics,
making it much harder to treat.
Recovery from COVID-19 can
be quite prolonged, in part due to
the infl ammation causing thicken-
ing and scarring of the lungs. Some
people will likely be on oxygen for
the rest of their lives, while others
may recover over time.
I respect individual choice and
personally feel mandates are not
the right approach to combatting
the pandemic. The evidence is clear,
vaccines are saving lives and reduc-
ing severe infections, and I hope
many of you who are unvaccinated
will consider getting immunized.
I thank you for your time and I
would encourage you to ask your
physician, PA, or NP any questions
you have about COVID, vaccines,
mask-wearing, or really any other
health-related question.
Dr. Neil J. Carroll is a family
physician for St Luke’s EOMA and
also regularly works as an inpatient
physician at Saint Alphonsus-
Baker City.
Your views
Baker County was fortunate to
have Timothy Bishop
Every once in a while you meet
a person who immediately clicks
with you and becomes a good friend,
enriching your life and the lives
of those around you. As it is with
people, so it is with communities.
We recently learned that our
community will soon lose one of our
greatest collective assets. Timothy
Bishop will leave Baker and become
the economic director in La Grande
in October. This was Timothy’s
second stint in Baker. The fi rst was
in the 90s during the development of
the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.
His efforts in joining with a commu-
nity and statewide marketing and
promotional effort put us on the map
... both nationally and internation-
ally.
When Timothy moved on to other
projects we recognized his contribu-
tions and mourned his loss. Then he
returned. For over a decade — with-
out fanfare — Timothy has enriched
our quality of life here in Baker
County. He has tirelessly promoted
our civic, cultural, and “of interest”
sites and events, all the while forging
strong, long-term partnerships to
benefi t us economically in the highly
competitive arena of tourism. His
service on behalf of Baker County
reminds me of an old saying — ”Ser-
vice is the rent we pay for living in
our great country.”
Timothy: you deserve more
thanks than most in this town are
aware. Timothy and Dawn: best to
you both. We know you will continue
to be a positive force in whatever
endeavors you choose.
Dave and Joyce Hunsaker
Baker City
Editor’s note: Dave Hunsaker was
the fi rst manager of the Interpre-
tive Center. Joyce was the executive
director of the Oregon Trail Preserva-
tion Trust — BLM’s private non-
profi t partner in the development of
the Center.
Citizen frustrated with attempts
to reach mayor
I am a citizen of Baker City and
after leaving a few voice messages
for the Mayor, I received the follow-
ing: “This is a private cell phone
number that was not given to you.
Please don’t call it again.”
I obtained her phone number
from www.truepeoplesearch.com.
The Mayor is a precinct commit-
tee person, and I want to fi nd out
more about her party. She and her
mother — the chair of the county
party — have ignored my calls
for months.
Jason Bland
Baker City
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1111; to send comments, go
to www.whitehouse.gov.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. offi ce: 313 Hart Senate Offi ce
Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753; fax
202-228-3997. Portland offi ce: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W.
Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-
326-2900. Baker City offi ce, 1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-278-1129;
merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. offi ce: 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717.
La Grande offi ce: 105 Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-
7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (2nd District): D.C. offi ce: 2182
Rayburn Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730; fax
202-225-5774. La Grande offi ce: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande,
OR 97850; 541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.treasurer@
ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR 97301-3896;
503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and information
are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem offi ce: 900
Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1730. Email: Sen.
LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem offi ce: 900
Court St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460. Email: Rep.
MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
Baker City Hall: 1655 First Street, P.O. Box 650, Baker City,
OR 97814; 541-523-6541; fax 541-524-2049. City Council meets the
second and fourth Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers. Mayor
Kerry McQuisten, Councilors Jason Spriet, Shane Alderson, Joanna
Dixon, Heather Sells and Johnny Waggoner Sr.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Jonathan Cannon,
city manager; Ty Duby, police chief; Sean Lee, fi re chief; Michelle
Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County Courthouse 1995
3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-523-8200. Meets the fi rst and
third Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Bill Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett, Bruce
Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis Ash, sheriff;
Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Greg Baxter, district attorney; Alice
Durfl inger, county treasurer; Stefanie Kirby, county clerk; Kerry
Savage, county assessor.
Baker School District: 2090 4th Street, Baker City, OR 97814;
541-524-2260; fax 541-524-2564. Superintendent: Mark Witty. Board
meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Council Chambers,
Baker City Hall,1655 First St.; Andrew Bryan, Jessica Dougherty,
Chris Hawkins, Travis Cook and Julie Huntington.