A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
WRITE A LETTER
news@bakercityherald.com
Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Oregon children
are dying needlessly
A
child’s unnecessary death is agonizing. Learning the
details is painful. But if we don’t learn how children
in Oregon die needlessly, more will die needlessly.
Oregon’s Department of Human Services does a special
investigation when it is aware the death of a child could have
been the result of abuse or neglect and there was previous
contact with the state’s child services. They are called Critical
Incident Review Team Final Reports. They are public docu-
ments, scrubbed of identifying information.
It’s hard to know what is the worst thing about reading the
reports. That there are so many. That there were often wor-
rying signs that people saw before the child died. That so
often the conclusion is that there are no specific recommen-
dations for changes in DHS policy that might have led to a
better outcome.
Here are some details of just one. Reviewing how the alle-
gations stacked up and knowing how it ended, it’s an evolv-
ing nightmare.
In May, an Oregon father came home and found his own
17-year-old child dead and the child’s 17-year-old partner
also dead. Both died of drug overdose from fentanyl.
Family members knew the children were using drugs,
though not how much. The father of one of the children
knew his child was using alcohol and marijuana. The father
of the other child knew his child was using marijuana. It’s not
clear if parents knew they were using more dangerous drugs.
Staff at the children’s school had been concerned. They
had worried the two children had been using illegal drugs,
specifically pills. The school has reported the concerns to the
parents. The school offered the children help. The children
chose not to access it.
Several months earlier, in December, Oregon’s Department
of Human Services received a report stating that one of these
children was using and selling drugs for the child’s father.
That child had also reportedly used LSD with the other child.
A caseworker from DHS made an unscheduled visit to the
home. The father was actually on the phone with the police
when the caseworker arrived, reporting his home had been
burglarized. The father and the two children denied many
of the drug allegations. One child did admit using marijuana
and using LSD.
The caseworker checked all the rooms of the home. No
signs of substance abuse were found. The caseworker deter-
mined the allegations of neglect and harm by the father of
the home were unfounded.
Before that incident, there were state interactions with the
other child’s family going back to 2005. They included:
Alleged neglect by the mother in 2005 by supposedly driv-
ing under the influence of marijuana and exposing the child
to marijuana smoke. The mother denied the allegation. DHS
determination at the time: unfounded.
In another incident in 2005, the father was alleged to have
put the child behind the car so the mother would not leave.
DHS determination at the time: unfounded.
In 2008, the child alleged it had been smacked to the
ground by the mother. DHS determination at the time: un-
founded.
In 2009, the child stated it had hurt its head when the
mother shoved it in a corner. DHS determination at the time:
Dismissed because the child had no evidence of injury.
There were two cases in 2013 where neglect by the mother
and father was found because of lack of supervision. There
was another case in 2013 where the father was found to have
admitted to driving the child to school in 2013 under medi-
cation that made him drowsy. In 2019, the father was alleged
to be supplying a child with marijuana. The report was dis-
missed at its initial screening because of lack of details, ap-
parently with no effort to investigate further.
What could have been done differently to prevent these
two children from dying? The state’s report identifies a num-
ber of places where the state should have done more. For
instance, in 2019 not enough information was gathered to
make an adequate determination to dismiss the allegation.
And when the children rejected services for substance abuse,
not enough extra steps were taken to ensure they did. There
are several more.
This tragedy happened despite the fact that Gov. Kate
Brown implemented more close oversight of the Department
of Human Services. She and the Legislature worked together
to provide more caseworkers to ease the burden on over-
worked and stressed state staff. We will be choosing a new
governor in November to lead. They need to be asked how
specifically can the state make progress on reducing night-
mares like this one. There is no simple answer. But we need
our leaders to focus on it.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Idaho Power acting like a bully in
pursuit of B2H power line
Idaho Power is continuing their bul-
lying of Oregon landowners. The law
does not allow a utility to force land-
owners to enter their property absent
a Certificate of Public Convenience
which would allow them to have the
court condemn the property to build a
transmission line. The company cannot
get a Certificate of Public Convenience
until the Oregon Department of En-
ergy issues a final Site Certificate. This
has not occurred and there are multiple
contested cases ongoing regarding the
transmission line which need to be re-
solved prior to issuing a Site Certificate.
STOP B2H and multiple private citizens
have active contested cases, many of
which will likely go to the Oregon Su-
preme Court for final resolution. The
issues are multiple, including a failure
to adequately address wildfire risk and
invasive weeds, impacts to the Oregon
Trail, noise above safe noise standards,
impacts to threatened and endangered
fish, impacts to wells and springs, and
the list goes on and on.
Since day one this out-of-state utility
has advertised and told property own-
ers that this transmission line is a “done
deal.” There is no point in fighting it.
They have misled and misinformed cit-
izens to get them to accommodate their
demands. Eastern Oregon is not filled
with a bunch of sheep that will just bow
down and allow themselves to be run
over by this out of state utility. Idaho
Power is in it for the profit the utility
users will be forced to pay them for the
development of this unnecessary trans-
mission line. We are in it to protect our
environment and quality of life. They
have money, we have heart and the fight
continues.
Irene Gilbert
La Grande
OTHER VIEWS
Why schools should stay open
even during omicron surge
By MICHAEL R. STRAIN
Bravo, Bill de Blasio. The New York
City mayor announced on Tuesday,
Dec. 28 that the city’s public schools will
stop quarantining entire classrooms
when one or more students test positive
for COVID. Instead, the city will in-
crease its use of testing to allow asymp-
tomatic students who test negative to
stay in school.
As omicron cases surge around the
nation, New York’s policy bucks what
could still turn into a wave of school
closures and classroom quarantines. A
district in a Maryland suburb of Wash-
ington, D.C., decided to go virtual
until mid-January in light of an up-
tick in COVID infections. Some local
politicians are suggesting there might
be a need for schools to return to vir-
tual learning. As COVID case counts
continue to grow, so will pressure on
districts across the nation to keep kids
at home.
That would be a disaster for chil-
dren. Even if counts of new omicron
cases break pandemic records, students
should remain in classrooms if they test
negative after an exposure.
In fact, schools should go further. If
rapid tests aren’t available immediately,
then asymptomatic children should
remain in school, even if another stu-
dent in their classroom tests positive.
Their symptoms can be more closely
monitored, as access to tests becomes
available. And kids who test positive
should be let back in after they are no
longer symptomatic and test negative
two days in a row, rather than being
required to stay at home for a specified
number of days.
After 21 months, remote learning has
proved to be a massive failure. Its con-
sequences have been well documented
and widely discussed: learning loss, de-
velopmental setbacks, mental health
issues, food insecurity and even an in-
crease in the severity of child abuse.
Some of these problems will affect stu-
dents’ lives for decades.
Meanwhile, vaccines are available for
older children. Local officials should
be able to decide whether to mandate
them, free of interference from their
state capitol. COVID does not generally
present a serious health risk for kids —
in fact, preliminary evidence suggests
that omicron appears to be causing
milder sickness than the delta variant
— but parents who are concerned about
their children catching COVID are free
to keep them at home.
Yes, there are risks. But consider
some of the long-term economic con-
sequences of remote learning. School-
ing builds skills, which in turn increase
wages and earnings. Learning loss will
reduce the lifetime earnings of today’s
remote learners by tens of thousands
of dollars.
For some students, the losses will
be even greater. During the pandemic
there was an increase in the number of
high school dropouts and a decrease
in the share of high school seniors who
went on for postsecondary education.
Students from higher-income fam-
ilies might be able to catch up from
nearly two years of intermittent in-per-
son school, but low-income children
will find that much more difficult. This
will widen educational disparities today
and economic disparities in the future.
The future economy will suffer be-
cause today’s children aren’t learning as
much as they should. In addition, the
current labor shortage will be exacer-
bated if schools move to remote learn-
ing or if entire classrooms continue to
be quarantined when just one or two
students in the room test positive.
Uncertainty about whether kids will
physically be in school means that many
parents can only work sporadically.
Some have chosen to stay out of the la-
bor force altogether until classrooms are
open consistently. Data from the U.S.
Census Bureau report that over 5 mil-
lion people were not working in early
December because they were caring for
children who weren’t in school or day
care.
For parents who want to work, this
situation is hurting their career progres-
sion and reducing their earnings. Em-
ployers, and the overall economy, are
missing out on their contributions.
With so many workers on the side-
lines, employers are having to raise
workers’ pay rapidly in order to attract
and retain employees, contributing to a
steep rise in nominal wage inflation. Av-
erage wages are growing at a 5% annual
rate. In the leisure and hospitality sector,
they are growing at a 12% annual rate.
These costs are being passed along
to consumers. Last month, consumer
prices rose faster than at any time in
the past four decades. This is erod-
ing the purchasing power of nominal
wage gains and causing substantial
stress for families. It also risks caus-
ing a broader economic slowdown, or
possibly a recession.
It is no longer the spring of 2020. At
this point, developing a severe case of
the virus is essentially a choice because
COVID vaccines are widely available
and very effective. Therapeutics are
increasingly available as well, further
reducing the risk of severe disease. Per-
haps as a result, Americans are learn-
ing to live with the virus, traveling in
large numbers for the holidays and even
packing themselves into movie theaters
to see the latest “Spider-Man” film.
If theaters remain open in the face of
surging omicron cases, so should class-
rooms. At this point in the pandemic,
anything other than in-person learning
for children would be indefensible.
Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg
Opinion columnist. He is director of
economic policy studies and Arthur F.
Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the
American Enterprise Institute. He is the
author of “The American Dream Is Not
Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”
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. office: 313 Hart Senate
Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.,
20510; 202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland
office: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon
St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386;
fax 503-326-2900. Baker City office, 1705 Main St.,
Suite 504, 541-278-1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221 Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office:
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. office:
2182 Rayburn Office Building, Washington,
D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. La
Grande office: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande,
OR 97850; 541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402;
walden.house.gov.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and
information are available online at www.leg.state.
or.us.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol,
Salem, OR 97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.
oregon.gov.
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem office:
900 Court St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1460. Email: Rep.MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.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.
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. Councilors
Lynette Perry, Jason Spriet, Kerry McQuisten, Shane
Alderson, Joanna Dixon, Heather Sells and Johnny
Waggoner Sr.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum:
Justice Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-
4400.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem office:
900 Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1730. Email: Sen.LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov