The BulleTin • Friday, January 22, 2021 A5
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Youth suicides
are not on the
rise in Oregon
G
ov. Kate Brown recently explained one reason why
she wanted to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations for
teachers.
“I made the decision based on the
fact that we have got to get our chil-
dren back in school,” she said last
week.
Her voice then colored with emo-
tion and she reached her hand up to
touch her chest.
“I know of families where 12- and
13-year-olds years are committing
— attempting — suicide,” she said.
“I talked with the CEO and presi-
dent of Salem Health on my vaccina-
tion tour this week. She is hearing of
many 11- and 12-year-olds attempt-
ing suicide.”
That is frightening. You may have
heard rumors that suicides or at-
tempts among youth in Oregon have
increased during the pandemic.
Television stations reported what
Brown said.
But it is important to put those con-
cerns in perspective. The information
Gov. Brown presented was anecdotal.
We asked her staff if there was data to
back up her concern. Charles Boyle, a
spokesman for the governor, said he
was not aware of any.
We checked with the Oregon
Health Authority. OHA tracks sui-
cides and Oregon hospitals, are re-
quired by law to report suicide at-
tempts by people under the age of
18. The data for both categories for
2020 actually look remarkably simi-
lar to 2019.
“According to our Zero Suicide in
Health Systems program, based on
preliminary data, Oregon has not
seen an increase in the number of
suicides for the first 11 months of
2020 when compared to the same
time period in 2019 for both youth
and across the lifespan,” said Jonathan
Modie, a lead communications offi-
cer with the Oregon Health Author-
ity. “Until more data (finalized data)
become available, it is premature to
identify any changes since the start of
the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Let’s be clear. That doesn’t mean
that what Gov. Brown said is not
true. It is just that currently available
data in Oregon does not support an
overall increasing trend. And it is
certainly true that any youth suicide
or youth suicide attempt is a reason
to be concerned.
Brown also was correct when she
added at the same news conference:
“We know that our schools are a
place of social interaction. They’re a
place where young people, students,
can get their behavioral health and
emotional supports met.”
Coping skills, support and treat-
ment work for most people who
have thoughts about suicide. And
schools can help identify children
who need help and get them the re-
sources they need. A return to more
social interaction would undoubt-
edly be good for everyone’s mental
health. But at least according to the
data the state has, Brown’s anecdotes
are not examples of a trend.
Rep. Zika proposes bills
on housing, child care
T
he bills legislators introduce tell
you something about them. So
we took a look at the bills Rep.
Jack Zika, R-Redmond, sponsored.
We don’t pretend this is an exhaus-
tive list. We are cherry picking a few
that we found interesting.
You may recall Zika worked hard
to ensure Redmond could locate a
development that contained afford-
able housing outside its urban growth
boundary. House Bill 2708 would
make that more generally available
to local governments for affordable
housing. It couldn’t be done just any-
where. For instance, it couldn’t eat up
high-value farmland. And there are
other requirements. But this bill is an
important step toward expanding a
program that both Bend and Red-
mond were able to take advantage of.
We hope it moves forward.
House Bill 2524 would make it eas-
ier for child care facilities to be sited
in Oregon. It allows child care cen-
ters to be located in commercial
and industrial zones. It also forbids
local governments from imposing
more restrictive requirements than
imposed on other uses in the same
zone. Of course, this bill does not su-
persede other state health and safety
requirements for child care facilities.
Zika is a Realtor, so perhaps it is
no surprise that he sponsored a bill
about home ownership. House Bill
2702 would require each school dis-
trict to ensure students in grade 12
get one total hour of instruction on
home ownership. It could be taught
by a person licensed by the state’s
Real Estate Commission or someone
from a bank. We would think schools
— without this added requirement
— would already give enough in-
struction that students could figure
it out themselves or know where to
go to learn more. He also has another
bill, House Bill 2703, which would
ensure that real estate continuing ed-
ucation courses include information
about fair housing laws.
There are many more. If you go
to the Oregon Legislature’s website
you can click on bills and search by
name.
My Nickel’s Worth
Sno-park bingo
Milquetoast editorial
I appreciated Jan. 15th’s article on
crowded sno-parks, especially since
waking up at 4 a.m. on ski days has
become my new reality.
I’ve checked all the boxes in Cen-
tral Oregon sno-park bingo, includ-
ing meeting the out-of-stater who
said “the parking ticket was only $130
— worth it!” and seeing the last legal
spot at Dutchman fill before 6 a.m. —
on a weekday.
Overrun sno-parks and the out-
pouring of interest we are seeing for
public lands year-round is instructive
should we choose to pay attention.
The population of Central Oregon is
set to double in the next few decades.
COVID-19 has driven people to the
outdoors more than ever before, shin-
ing a light on a clear supply-and-de-
mand issue.
I am hopeful that the recent change
in presidential administration will
allow agencies like the U.S. Forest
Service to finally throw some serious
time and money behind planning for
the future of recreation on our pub-
lic lands. Values like fish and wildlife
habitat, carbon storage, clean water
and recreation have long played sec-
ond fiddle to logging, and it’s time for
that to change.
We need a new plan for our public
lands. One that addresses the supply
and demand of recreation, conserves
space for wild creatures and ensures
historically excluded communities are
able to access and enjoy them.
The Forest Service, and arguably
more importantly, Sens. Wyden and
Merkley and Rep. Bentz, should help
craft a new and better vision for our
public lands now before it’s too late.
— Jamie Dawson lives in Bend
and works for Oregon Wild.
The first week of January was one
to remember for The Bulletin’s edito-
rial section.
First, there was the bewildering waste
of ink headlined, “Did Cliff Bentz fail
Oregonians?” You either failed or were
too frightened to label Bentz’s actions
for what they were: tacit support for the
insurrectionists who tried to thwart the
tallying of the Electoral College vote.
Did Bentz fail Oregonians? Did you re-
ally think that needed to be discussed?
He also failed the United States and
failed to honor the Constitution.
Second, there was publication Sun-
day, Jan. 10, of Ron Ross’ letter to the
editor “Sensationalizing the news,”
in which he claims “the widely me-
dia-touted and predicted Thanksgiv-
ing surge (in coronavirus cases) did
not happen.” According to the Oregon
Health Authority’s COVID-19 weekly
report, the three highest weekly case
counts in Oregon were the week of
Thanksgiving and the next two weeks.
So, even if the increase in cases did
not meet the OHA’s threshold for
a “surge,” the evidence is plain that
the virus spread worse than it had.
Yet The Bulletin allowed Mr. Ross to
propagate misleading information.
A newspaper doesn’t maintain its
desired position as a thought leader by
publishing pointless, milquetoast editori-
als in response to the most serious threat
to our nation’s form of government in
more than 200 years. And a newspaper
doesn’t empower its community when
it publishes misinformation on its most
hallowed real estate, the editorial page.
— Michael Wilson, Bend
Bentz had his reasons
Recent letters to the editor have
made various claims against Cliff
Bentz, our duly elected congressional
representative. The recurring com-
plaint was that he was wrong to chal-
lenge Pennsylvania’s electoral vote.
Writers also faulted him for opposing
impeachment and claimed his ac-
tion contributed to the civil unrest.
These opinions disregard the fact
that Bentz was simply exercising his
constitutional duty to assure the elec-
tions were conducted in a free and fair
manner. He had reason to do that.
The civic disruption due to
COVID-19 required an adjustment
of voting procedures. The problem is
that adjustments to federal elections
are the constitutional prerogative of
state legislatures. Changes made in
several states by court order or by sec-
retaries of state are unconstitutional.
Stanford-MIT Elections Project
monitors election court cases. They
note Vote-by-Mail and Authority to
Act cases totaled 132; many have been
closed while 66 are still active. Hope-
fully, these active cases will result in
states revising their invalid rules.
J. Christian Adams, a U.S. Civil
Rights Commissioner, reports that
billionaire Mark Zuckerberg donated
$350 million to a nonprofit that then
made donations to local election of-
fices. That money was used for voter
turnout, specifically in Democratic
precincts. The effort was successful in
Pennsylvania: In Philadelphia, Dem-
ocratic turnout exceeded that of 2016
by 43,000.
Bentz’s challenge called attention to
spurious voting rules, unresolved legal
cases and billionaire vote buying; it re-
minded us that election laws must be
corrected. Although Joe Biden’s elec-
tion will stand, it has an asterisk denot-
ing its questionable constitutionality.
—Jared Black, Bend
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The hill we climb: A poem written by Amanda Gorman
BY AMANDA GORMAN
Editor’s note: This is a transcription of the poem
written and read by Amanda Gorman at
Wednesday’s inaugural ceremony.
W
hen day comes we ask our-
selves,
where can we find light in
this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must
wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always
peace
And the norms and notions of what
just is Isn’t always justice
And yet the dawn is ours before we
knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and wit-
nessed a nation that isn’t broken but
simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and
a time
Where a skinny Black girl de-
scended from slaves and raised by a
single mother can dream of becoming
president only to find herself reciting
for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine but that doesn’t
mean we are striving to form a union
that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union
with purpose
To compose a country committed
to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what
stands between us but what stands be-
fore us
We close the divide because we
know, to put our future first, we must
first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms so we can
reach out our arms to one another
We seek harm to none and har-
mony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say
this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together,
victorious
Not because we will never again
know defeat but because we will never
again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision that ev-
eryone shall sit under their own vine
and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It’s because being American is more
than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we
step into and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shat-
ter our nation rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it
meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly suc-
ceeded
But while democracy can be period-
ically delayed it can never be perma-
nently defeated
In this truth in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the
future history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the
heirs of such a terrifying hour but
within it we found the power to author
a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to our-
selves
So while once we asked, how could
we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly
prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold, fierce and free
We will not be turned around or in-
terrupted by intimidation because we
know our inaction and inertia will be
the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might, and
might with right, then love becomes
our legacy and change our children’s
birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-
pounded chest, we will raise this
wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed
hills of the west, we will rise from the
windswept northeast where our fore-
fathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed
cities of the midwestern states, we will
rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and re-
cover and every known nook of our
nation and every corner called our
country, our people diverse and beau-
tiful will emerge, battered and beau-
tiful
When day comes we step out of the
shade, aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
e e
Amanda Gorman was the nation’s youngest
inaugural poet.