A4 THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Fill the gap in
caring for the
mentally ill
T
he Oregon State Hospital has some 758 total licensed
beds. Because of the pandemic and other things, its
actual capacity is now closer to 671.
And that can be a problem.
The Oregon State Hospital cares
for people who basically fall into
three categories:
1) People who might be in prison
if they were not mentally ill.
2) People who need care to under-
stand legal charges against them.
3) People who are civilly commit-
ted. A civil commitment is a process
where a judge is convinced through
evidence that a person, for instance,
has a mental disorder and because of
it is a danger to self or others or un-
able to take care of their basic needs.
By law, the state must accept peo-
ple at the hospital in the first two
categories — people found guilty
except for insanity and patients
who need treatment to become
well enough to aid and assist their
own defense.
The state hospital has also had to
increase its numbers of “aid and as-
sist” patients to ensure it followed
a federal court order. The average
daily population of aid and assist
patients was about 74 in 2000 and
in April 2019, it had hit 260.
That squeezes the hospital’s ca-
pacity to serve other sorts of pa-
tients. Patients with civil commit-
ments can be left in community
hospitals or at other locations that
aren’t the best place to be for long-
term care.
It’s happening in Deschutes
County and in other places around
the state. We aren’t talking big
numbers of people, locally. There
were perhaps five people last year
who were civil commitments in
Deschutes County who arguably
That squeezes the hospital’s
capacity to serve other sorts
of patients. Patients with civil
commitments can be left in
community hospitals or at other
locations that aren’t the best
place to be for long-term care. It’s
happening in Deschutes County
and in other places around
the state. We aren’t talking big
numbers of people, locally.
may need the level of care for their
mental illness that the state hospi-
tal can provide, according to Holly
Harris, program manager of De-
schutes County Behavioral Health
Services. St. Charles does its best.
Sage View Psychiatric Center at
St. Charles is the only inpatient
psychiatric facility east of the Cas-
cades. It is, though, for short-term
care.
The answer is not simply: Build
more beds at the state hospital.
That’s an oversimplification. Just
waiting for the pandemic to end
isn’t the solution, either.
There were problems before the
pandemic.
Oregon’s legislators have heard
about these problems before. Will
they do something about it during
the 2021 Legislature?
We hope so.
Bend council sets goals;
you can have an impact
T
he Bend City Council is gear-
ing up to set its goals for the
next two years. If past coun-
cils are any guide, it will stick closely
to those goals. So if you want to help
set the direction that city govern-
ment is going to go, now is an im-
portant time.
New council. New goals. New
opportunity.
On Monday the council is holding
a listening session. It’s really for the
city’s advisory boards and commu-
nity organizations to have their say.
City staff has been reaching out to
let people know.
What the council will do next is
hold more goal-setting meetings on
Jan. 20 and Jan. 21. You watch them.
Check out www.bendoregon.gov/
councilagenda
But you don’t have to sit through
a bunch of meetings to have input.
And you don’t have to be a member
of a group to have your say. Send an
email to council@bendoregon.gov.
That goes to all of the councilors.
You know a lot more about what’s
going on in your neighborhood or
your business than councilors do.
They can’t try to help if they don’t
know about it.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
My Nickel’s Worth
I agree with Bentz
Once again, your Jan. 8 editorial
page published numerous letters re-
garding Rep. Cliff Bentz — all nega-
tive.
In his interview with your paper, he
said that many of his constituents had
contacted him regarding the upcom-
ing counting of the Electoral College
votes. I am one of those constituents
who called his office. I wanted him
to read the Constitution and vote ac-
cording to the law.
He did. Our Constitution states that
only the respective state can change
election laws.
The state of Pennsylvania had
county clerks and other election of-
ficials change the rules of how and
when folks could vote. This is against
the law.
I applaud my representative who
objected to these votes on legal
grounds.
Thank you, Rep. Bentz, for listen-
ing to at least one of your constitu-
ents.
— Sherril Wallace, Prineville
Bulletin is biased
I am sorry to say that The Bulletin
has really shown its true colors. I read
the whole front and back pages of the
Jan. 7 edition and was thoroughly dis-
gusted and disappointed.
The Bulletin is obviously in lock-
step with all other left-wing biased
publications. I would like to know
where you were while the Do-Noth-
ing Democrats watched while the
mobs burned, looted and destroyed
businesses and federal buildings in
Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and
others.
Why is it that you only give this
much coverage when a conservative
group protests? You might notice,
there were no fires and only a very,
very small number that invaded the
area. That’s when compared to the
thousands of slugs that were throw-
ing Molotov cocktails with their faces
covered because they were not brave
enough let anyone recognize them.
Not the case on the 7th.
All that said, I am sad and mad
about what happened; I am very dis-
appointed in the way it was handled.
I am also very disappointed with the
front-page column that says, “Our
president is fanning the flames.” That
is not reporting; that is an editorial
piece. I hope you realize that you are
fanning the flames of division and not
helping our country come together
and heal.
— Charles Thomson, Bend
Sensationalizing the news
“Thousands could die before vac-
cine arrives.” This was the large and
sensational front-page headline in a
recent edition of The Bulletin. This
type of reporting can only be de-
scribed as sensationalism, inflamma-
tory and fear mongering. Accurate
and objective journalism would not
come to mind for anyone who reads
the article.
The first line of the article reads,
“Despite the imminent arrival of
the first doses of a COVID-19 vac-
cine, Oregon will likely have thou-
sands more killed.” lt goes on to state
that the total number of deaths from
COVID in Oregon since the pan-
demic started nearly 10 months ago
is 1,138. lf the headline is to be credi-
ble, the total number of deaths to date
will need to triple before the vaccine
arrives. The only tiny thread lend-
ing any credibility to this sensational
claim is one quote from the Oregon
Health Authority director: “We can’t
vaccinate everybody at once, so the
sad truth is there will be more infec-
tions and more deaths.”
The article also states that Oregon
ranks 45th among states for infection
rates. Headline could have read “Ore-
gon among most successful for fight-
ing COVID.”
One will also find in the story that
the widely media-touted and pre-
dicted Thanksgiving surge did not
happen. Perhaps the headline could
have been “No Thanksgiving surge.”
The story further states that there
have been 91,421 confirmed cases
with 1,138 deaths. That equates to a
survival rate of nearly 99%. Perhaps
the headline could have read “99%
survival rate for COVID.”
The biggest news, quoting the story,
“The biggest news is the arrival within
days of the first doses of Pfizer vac-
cine.” Seems like a headline should
reflect the biggest news in the story.
Why not a headline: “Vaccine arriving
within days.”
At best, this is sensationalism to sell
papers. Community psyche and local
businesses be damned. Or could this
be intentionally instilling fear to ad-
vance a much darker agenda?
— Ron Ross, Bend
Letters policy
Guest columns
How to submit
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What should we ask of our elected officials now?
BY KEVIN FRAZIER
O
ne easy way to respond to
events at the Capitol last week
is to view them in a narrow
timespan, through your own partisan
lens, and to explain them in
words we’ve all been coached
to use. For example:
“A bunch of racist, xeno-
phobic, Trump-loving white
folks tried to destroy our
democracy and thwart the
peaceful transition of power,
Frazier
so it’s time to double down
on (1) decimating the Repub-
lican Party and (2) making sure that
anyone with a D next to their name
wins in 2021, 2022, 2023 and, un-
doubtedly, 2024.”
It’s easy to type those words.
It feels good to identify an enemy
and plot their electoral demise.
It’s calming to reduce an unprece-
dented series of events to one run-on
sentence.
This is the easy way because it taps
into all of the things our brain steers
us toward: tribalism, reductionism
and confirmation bias.
Sure, there’s some truth to the easy
way. Those kernels of truth
were correctly called out and
identified by a broad range of
individuals. Let me be blunt
and join a bipartisan group
of current and former elected
officials: Those who invaded
our Capitol deserve to be
called domestic terrorists; the
FBI’s definition of domestic
terrorism makes that clear: “Violent,
criminal acts committed by individu-
als and/or groups to further ideolog-
ical goals stemming from domestic
influences, such as those of a political,
religious, social, racial or environ-
mental nature.”
For all of us, watching those
acts unfold was heartbreaking and
gut-wrenching, myself included.
GUEST COLUMN
Eight years ago, I was a pimpled in-
tern leading tours around the Capitol.
When I guided visiting Oregonians
around those halls, I couldn’t help but
beam. My West Wing dream seemed
to be a reality.
Over the last eight years, the night-
mare lurking behind that dream has
come out of the shadows. Children
separated. Families evicted. Com-
munities on the brink of complete
financial ruin. All the while, our gov-
ernment stuttered, stammered, and
skirted its responsibility.
So, of course, I would love to let my
anger roil over, cloud my judgment,
and blame the Capitol attack and the
past eight years since my internship
on a small group of mad people.
The hard way — the way I aspire to
— is to recognize that we’ve all played
a part in our slide into chaos.
We’ve let social media divide us.
We’ve allowed the loudest voices to
command us. We’ve surrendered to
the comfort of knowing we’re right.
Whether or not we intended it, the
result is that many of us — across the
political spectrum — feel isolated,
persecuted, and separated.
The hard way requires that we
zoom out and see that we’ve all been
complicit in letting things get this bad.
The hard way requires us all to de-
mand more from one another and, es-
pecially, our elected officials.
What can we do for one another?
Step away from social media. These
companies profit off our partisanship
and benefit from our division.
Burst your own bubble. Schedule a
Zoom with someone with a different
party affiliation, background or belief
system. Don’t be a passive player in
a game that’s currently making us all
losers.
Make politics local again. Our
neighbors are struggling. Our small
businesses are failing. Don’t let na-
tional news blind you from seeing the
good you can do in your community.
What can we ask of our elected of-
ficials?
Remember who you represent, not
just who voted for you. The current
system encourages the latter, but we
deserve the former.
Put people, not party, first. Hours
every day should not be spent fund-
raising. Every hour as an elected of-
ficial should be spent thinking about
your constituents, not donors.
Talk to us — all of us! Get off Twit-
ter. Get off Facebook. Stop Twitching.
Talk to us via Zoom and, when possi-
ble, in person. We deserve more than
hashtags and soundbites.
The hard way has a lot of difficult
steps. Will you join me and take them?
e e
Kevin Frazier was raised in Washington County.
He is pursuing a law degree at the University of
California, Berkeley, School of Law.