A4
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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news@bakercityherald.com
Tuesday, August 30, 2022 • Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Polio’s tiny, but
troubling, return
P
olio, the specter that haunted America during
the first half of the 20th century, leaving
parents frightened that their children would be
killed or paralyzed for life, can seem as relevant today
as manual typewriters or black-and-white TV sets.
And for more than three decades, the viral disease
has been relegated to history.
Polio hasn’t spread widely in the U.S. since 1979.
And the federal government declared the disease
eradicated from the U.S. in 1994.
The reason is simple — vaccination.
Vaccines have all but eliminated polio, along with
other previously widespread diseases that mainly af-
flicted children, such as measles, mumps, diphtheria
and whooping cough.
Yet earlier this month a young adult who is not vac-
cinated against polio and lives in Rockland County,
New York, north of New York City, contracted the vi-
rus and was paralyzed. More troubling, the virus was
found in sewage samples in a few New York counties,
as well as in New York City.
Vaccination rates remain high in most of the coun-
try, fortunately. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported that about 93% of 2-year-olds
have had at least three doses of polio vaccine (federal
officials recommend four doses, although some states
require only three for students attending school).
But the CDC also notes, in a report on the recent
New York state polio case, that vaccination rates have
dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due
to disruptions in some vaccination programs.
There’s another potential concern — that the polit-
icization of COVID-19 vaccines will convince some
people to eschew polio and other vaccines whose ef-
fectiveness and safety are indisputable based on volu-
minous data over many decades.
According to the New York State Immunization In-
formation System, vaccination rates among children 2
and younger in Rockland County was 60.3% as of Au-
gust 2022. In some communities, the rate was as low
as 37.3%. That puts a significant number of children
at risk of contracting a preventable disease.
New York officials believe polio arrived in the state
by way of a person infected with a strain of the virus
linked to samples found in wastewater in Israel and the
United Kingdom. That person either had few or no
symptoms — which is the case with most people who
are infected with the polio virus — and then spread it
to others, including the person who, due to the paraly-
sis, became the first known confirmed case in the state.
The reappearance of polio, even in a very limited
sense as is the case in New York, doesn’t mean the dis-
ease is going to become widespread again. But the ep-
isode should be a valuable reminder to Americans of
how vital vaccination is, and how much inoculations
have done to spare both children and adults from ter-
rible, and potentially fatal, infections.
Sadly, someone’s life was irrevocably changed in the
process.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
YOUR VIEWS
Mining is essential to
America’s economy
Our country has a number
of serious problems; two of
which particularly bother me.
Money and mining. I think
our money problems have
been created in part by the
fact that far too many in our
government have forgotten
or don’t know where money
comes from. All wealth comes
from the ground. It’s created
when we harvest food and re-
sources from the earth. This
wealth is expanded when
products are treated and man-
ufactured into more useful
products for mankind. Every-
one else makes a living by dis-
tributing or selling these essen-
tial products. All others in our
country make a living by pro-
viding a service for others or
working for the government.
Just living on printed
money is going to backfire on
us one of these days as it will
be declared worthless and our
creditors will demand pay-
ment in gold or solid goods.
Thus, our basic industries
are the foundation of our
economy. Farming, ranching,
fishing, timbering, oil recov-
ery and mining are absolutely
essential — and mineral re-
covery is the most important.
Our country has all these min-
erals except one — tin — and
we could provide our indus-
tries if we would let our min-
ers work. We cannot manufac-
ture one thing without using
minerals, either in the product
or the tools and machinery
needed to make it.
The sad fact is that we are
completely dependent on
China for 25 minerals and
partially for seven more. If
they wanted they can bank-
rupt and shut down our coun-
try in a few weeks. The only
reason it hasn’t happened al-
ready is that we are their big-
gest customer.
To add to all of this, Con-
gress is thinking of rewriting
the mining laws. These laws
worked well for 130 years un-
til Clinton and his secretary
of interior started changing
environmental regulations
and stopped funding the Bu-
reau of Mines. This group of
explorers, mining engineers
and metallurgists advised and
directed government actions
to develop and produce the
essential metals that made it
possible for America to win
World War II and the Korean
War. This created many jobs
and a great deal of wealth for
our country. Government
agencies — Forest Service,
BLM, DEQ etc. — have used
environmental laws to regu-
late our mining and other in-
dustries out of business. When
all agencies were created,
Congress could not know all
the problems they would en-
counter, so they gave them the
right to write addenda to their
laws and file them in federal
records to give them force of
laws. These regulations were
supposed to follow the word
and intent of previous law. En-
vironmental control has taken
over our country and environ-
ment concerns are only a front
for a land control agency.
The mining laws, Multiple
Use Act, Federal Land Man-
agement Policy Act and all
mining laws are still in effect
and mining land use is su-
preme over all other land uses.
The Supreme Court confirms
this but the Forest Service and
other agencies completely ig-
nore these laws and say their
regulations must be followed.
They use a small book of reg-
ulations that they have written
to give us our permits to mine.
They never meet the 90-day
completion time and most
permits don’t get approved for
many years. All mining laws
including the Federal Land
Management Act and many
Supreme Court decisions di-
rectly forbid agency actions.
The Forest Service, BLM, etc.
have very little expertise in
mining and they have shut
down or driven them over-
seas. We are buying timber
from Canada, or minerals
and other things from China,
our oil from Russia and the
Middle East. Let’s reestablish
the Bureau of Mines and start
producing our own resources
and making wealthy for our
country.
Kenneth Anderson
Professional mining geologist
and engineer
Baker City
City Council should
restore money to pave
Indiana Avenue
During 2021, the Baker City
Council voted to repave the
west end of Indiana Avenue.
At this meeting it was agreed
that no money had been bud-
geted that year, but money
would be budgeted in 2022,
which was then done. This
year, 2022, with several new
members, they reversed the
prior city council’s decision
and voted to not pave this sec-
tion. Here are the facts, and I
challenge anyone to dispute
them.
Several years ago a trench
was dug and a pipeline laid
on this section of Indiana Av-
enue. At that time the road
was paved and a picture of it
had been provided to the 2021
council after a special commit-
tee had been formed to study
the problem, and the chair-
man of this committee who
had previously worked for the
city stated it had never been
paved! Instead of the city pav-
ing over the trench, the whole
road was plowed up and
turned into a dusty gravel road
and when it rains or snows it
gets muddy and tracks into
driveways and garages. This in
turn devalues our homes and
properties.
There is a lot of traffic on
this road including UPS, Fed-
eral Express, cable companies,
and Baker City water works
and local homeowners. I find
it hard to comprehend how
one city council through ma-
jority vote can vote to pave
and the next one cancels the
funding for it which had been
budgeted, especially after they
probably weren’t aware of the
actual facts. The local home-
owners were never given the
courtesy or contacted for in-
put and weren’t even aware
of the reversal until Aug. 23.
This is a very poor way to run
the city!
If each of the city council
members lived on a paved
street and one day the city
turns it into a gravel road with
dust and mud I would imag-
ine they would be as upset as
the homeowners are in this
area of Indiana Avenue. The
current city council should
restore the funds and get it
paved!
Gary McManus
Chairman, Sally’s Addition
homeowners association
Baker City
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and legal reasons.
Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald,
P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814
Email: news@bakercityherald.com
COLUMN
CDC admits it botched COVID-19 response
pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes,”
ORT WORTH, Texas — It’s been she confessed.
said that admitting you have a
I’ll say.
problem is the first step to recov-
Those are fairly substantial failures
ery.
for an agency whose primary role is to
Maybe that’s what Rochelle Walen-
protect public health. And I won’t be
sky, the head of the Centers for Disease the first to assert that funding doesn’t
Control and Prevention, was looking
have much to do with it.
toward when she conceded recently
It was politics, not staffing shortages
that the agency she manages botched its or a hesitancy to release non-peer-re-
response to the COVID-19 pandemic. viewed studies or even bureaucratic
Her stunning admission came in re- failures, that motivated CDC leadership
action to an agency-initiated internal
to repeat questionable or inaccurate in-
review that found the CDC wanting on formation — whether on the origin of
multiple levels.
the virus, its mild impact on children,
The review reportedly found that
or the data regarding efficacy of masks
it “takes too long for CDC to publish
and vaccines.
its data and science for decision mak-
So in reality, Walensky’s admission
ing,” that its guidance is “confusing and only confirmed what most Americans
overwhelming” and that agency staff
have known for a long time.
turnover during the COVID response
The CDC is now little more than
“created gaps and other challenges for
another political entity; one more in-
partners.”
terested in following the polls than the
Some of these failures, Walensky
science.
asserted, are a function of poor infra-
To be fair, the organization deserves
structure, inadequate staffing and fund- grace for its performance during the
ing, and silos within the agency.
early days of the pandemic, when very
In a video message to CDC staff,
little was known about COVID-19. It
Walensky echoed the review findings,
made sense that early guidance would
pointing to the agency’s habitually tardy need to be modified as new informa-
release of relevant data, its muddled
tion became available.
messages on virus mitigation measures,
But the CDC earned no such indul-
and its general inability to respond to
gence when it doubled-down on bad
public health threats effectively.
data, bad guidance and bad decisions
The CDC is “responsible for some
in the preceding two-and-a half years
BY CYNTHIA M. ALLEN
F
— even in the presence of voluminous
contradictory research.
Indeed, the agency’s muddled and
ever-changing rules were adopted and
enforced by many governing entities
around the country.
It’s why some schools remained
closed for months — longer than in
most other parts of the world.
It’s why children as young as 2, in-
cluding those with developmental chal-
lenges, were masked, and some remain
so.
It’s why vaccine mandates that were
powerless to stop the virus’ spread were
put in place in businesses and work-
places.
The devastation caused by those pol-
icies (and the guidelines that prompted
them) is difficult to quantify.
Learning loss, particularly among
vulnerable and at-risk student popula-
tions, may take decades to recover.
There is increasing evidence that
young children and even babies have
suffered developmental delays during
the pandemic; speculation is that social
isolation and masking policies are to
blame.
And the number of people who lost
livelihoods on account of vaccine man-
dates is only now being fully realized —
and legally vindicated, in some cases.
What’s interesting about Walensky’s
admission, though, is the timing.
Her call for an overhaul has come
just days after the CDC walked back its
COVID mitigation guidelines, favoring
individual discretion over rigid, draco-
nian rules.
For example, it’s now viewed as safe
for those exposed to the virus to avoid
quarantine. There is no distinction be-
tween the guidance for unvaccinated
and vaccinated people. Screening for
those without symptoms has been
ruled unnecessary. And thankfully, stu-
dents exposed to the virus may remain
in class.
It’s worth noting that these recom-
mendations were championed by some
doctors and disease experts earlier in
the pandemic, and they were met with
CDC officials’ ire.
The rule changes are a quiet conces-
sion by the CDC that it was — yet again
— wrong.
Of course, for all those suffering
from the agency’s botched COVID re-
sponse, these admissions are too little
too late.
However badly needed an agency
overhaul may be, it will not restore
the trust of the American public. And
there’s no telling the long-term conse-
quences of that failure.
Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram. Readers may send her
email at cmallen@star-telegram.com.
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: 1239 Longworth House Office
Building, Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-
6730; fax 202-225-5774. Medford office: 14
N. Central Avenue Suite 112, Medford, OR
97850; Phone: 541-776-4646; fax: 541-779-
0204; Ontario office: 2430 S.W. Fourth Ave.,
No. 2, Ontario, OR 97914; Phone: 541-709-
2040. bentz.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.
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