A8 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Getting back to
normal, one
donation at a time
I
t is a well-known fact that communities with strong
artistic foundations thrive over those that don’t support
the arts.
A large part of Bend’s attractive-
ness is its music and art scene, its
theaters both large and intimate.
From the small bistros and tav-
erns to the bigger venues of the Les
Schwab Amphitheater, music and
art is a driving force behind Cen-
tral Oregon’s economy.
round of fundraising. That money
The year-old coronavirus pan-
directly benefits these artists,
demic put a damper on the arts
whether they be musicians, per-
scene — as it did many other busi- formers or visual artists. There are
nesses — but a few found ways to
other ways one can contribute, too.
reach audiences and
Head to www.bend-
even host live shows, The launch of the
bulletin.com/talent
though sadly socially
to make a donation,
Central Oregon
distant. While some
or, if you’re an art-
music settings are
Creative Artists Relief ist, apply for a grant.
starting to reopen,
Donations are tax
Effort (CO CAREs) is
we are a long way
deductible.
from the vibrant
Scalehouse, a col-
one
way
to
get
back
scene that is Bend.
laborative for the
to some normalcy for arts, is the fiscal
The launch of the
Central Oregon Cre-
sponsor of the proj-
the arts community.
ative Artists Relief
ect and will handle
Effort (CO CAREs)
The initiative created grant applications
is one way to get
and the distribution
a straight-to-the-point of funds. An advi-
back to some nor-
malcy for the arts
sory board made up
video expressing the
community.
of artists, design-
need for art in Bend.
Sunday’s an-
ers and performers
nouncement in The
outside Central
At one point, musician from
Bulletin — a part-
Oregon, will deter-
ner in this project
mine who gets the
Jason Graham
— captures the diffi-
funding.
(Mosley Watta), says,
culty musicians face
Current donors
even in the best of
and partners include
“Art
is
a
way
for
a
times. It hasn’t been
The House Concert,
easy with many ven- community to fall
Brooks Resources,
ues closed, and even
Robberson Ford,
now, when some are in love with itself …
Lincoln and Mazda,
starting to reopen,
The Tower Theatre,
unconditionally and
artists need a shot in
KPOV (commu-
in varying ways. If we nity radio), Amy
the arm (aside from
a vaccine, if you will) don’t have that, we get Tykeson and Dr.
to get back up on
John Teller. We en-
lost. And we’ve had a courage more to hop
stage.
The seed for
on that help out this
lot of loss recently.”
the project germi-
worthy cause.
nated from an idea
The initiative cre-
by Richard Schuurman, who has
ated a straight-to-the-point video
launched a small endeavor called
expressing the need for art in
The House Concert, a platform for Bend. At one point, musician Jason
recording artists to get their songs
Graham (Mosley Watta), says, “Art
out to the public via recording stu- is a way for a community to fall in
dio-quality videos. Musicians also
love with itself … unconditionally
chat about their creative process.
and in varying ways. If we don’t
Schuurman, husband of Heidi
have that, we get lost. And we’ve
Wright, the publisher of The Bul-
had a lot of loss recently.”
letin, convinced others of the need
Check out the website and the
to help keep musicians here and
video and read up on the local art-
working. The result is CO CAREs. ists that make up this community.
CO CAREs is hoping to raise
Even more so, donate to this wor-
$40,000 in grant money through
thy cause and help the artistic com-
crowdfunding during its first
munity get back on its feet.
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
Some thoughts on
hydroelectric power
I find the article in Saturday’s paper,
titled “support for hydroelectric proj-
ect” to be very encouraging. I sincerely
hope that Commissioners DeBone and
Chang will indeed vote to allow the
completion of the hydroelectric project
on Wychus Creek.
One aspect of these generation sta-
tions that often seems to be overlooked
is that once the water is used for gen-
eration it does not disappear from the
area. In most cases it is returned to the
stream bed or irrigation canal from
which it came. That water is still avail-
able for irrigation or stream flow uses.
One other area that the commis-
sioners can look into for hydroelectric
generation is the city of Bend drink-
ing water project, already in place on
Deschutes County land just west of
Bend. It already pipes large quanti-
ties of drinking water downhill from
Bridge Creek to the city of Bend filtra-
tion and storage site, also on Deschutes
County land.
This water flows downhill, virtually
unchecked in a piping system from its
source to the filtration plant. It will take
engineering studies to determine the
total available motive force in this pipe
system. But based on the total drop in
elevation I am certain that it contains
many times the amount of power avail-
able in most low head (low drop) irri-
gation generation systems.
The city could sell the electrical en-
ergy generated to offset its ever-grow-
ing need for financial income, without
raising taxes.
— Dale Brieske, Redmond
A response to housing column
Ms. Austin stated in her response to
former Mayor Allan Bruckner’s arti-
cle that, “It is not age that allows one to
understand the needs of others.”
I’m guessing then that Ms. Austin
would not be opposed to having an all-
white male city council with everyone
69 years of age or older.
— Scott Pogue, Bend
Author has impressive,
wide-ranging background
For those who heard Sheryl Wu-
Dunn and Nicholas Kristof speak about
their most recent book, “Tightrope:
Americans Reaching for Hope”, in the
last of the Author! Author! series this
past week, you met Sheryl WuDunn.
If you only read the Feb. 25 Bulletin
article about the couple, you missed an
opportunity to learn about this skilled
and impactful woman. Other than
reading that they split the assignments
of writing their Pulitzer Prize winning
work, that’s all we would know about
Sheryl WuDunn.
In this limited space I’ll fill in just
some of Sheryl WuDunn’s background:
business executive, senior banker, pri-
vate wealth advisor, writer, lecturer,
and Pulitzer Prize winner to name
some of her accomplished careers.
Starting as the first Asian-American
reporter hired at The New York Times,
WuDunn ran coverage of global en-
ergy, global markets, foreign technol-
ogy and foreign industry. She was also
the anchor on The New York Times
Page One nightly program.
She is on these short lists to recog-
nize extraordinary women: Fast Com-
pany, Harvard Business School, PBS,
and Business Insider. I don’t mean to
diminish Nicholas Kristof’s well de-
served recognition as a journalist and
political commentator. They are the
first couple to win a Pulitzer Prize for
journalism.
Sheryl WuDunn certainly pulls her
weight in this duo. Take a look at her
two TED talks to see the additional
depth of who Sheryl WuDunn is. Bend
would be very fortunate to have her re-
turn on her own stage.
— Leslie Koc, Bend
Letters policy
Guest columns
How to submit
We welcome your letters. Letters should be
limited to one issue, contain no more than
250 words and include the writer’s signa-
ture, phone number and address for verifi-
cation. We edit letters for brevity, grammar,
taste and legal reasons. We reject poetry,
personal attacks, form letters, letters sub-
mitted elsewhere and those appropriate
for other sections of The Bulletin. Writers
are limited to one letter or guest column
every 30 days.
Your submissions should be between 550
and 650 words; they must be signed; and
they must include the writer’s phone num-
ber and address for verification. We edit
submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and
legal reasons. We reject those submitted
elsewhere. Locally submitted columns al-
ternate with national columnists and com-
mentaries. Writers are limited to one letter
or guest column every 30 days.
Please address your submission to either
My Nickel’s Worth or Guest Column and
mail, fax or email it to The Bulletin. Email
submissions are preferred.
Email: letters@bendbulletin.com
Write: My Nickel’s Worth/Guest Column
P.O. Box 6020
Bend, OR 97708
Fax:
541-385-5804
It is time to give voice to the values that unite us
BY ADAM DAVIS
Guest Columnist
A
s a recently retired opinion re-
searcher, I spent a professional
career exploring the divides in
Oregon.
The political divide.
The racial divide.
The urban-rural divide.
Too often my exploration was lim-
ited to one or another subgroup of
Oregonians, rather than all Orego-
nians. And my charge was to simply
report the numbers and let my clients
take it from there, which most often
meant using the data to promote their
self-interest in one way or another.
As a co-founder of the nonprofit
Oregon Values and Beliefs Center
(OVBC), I now feel like Django Un-
chained. As a native Oregonian (an-
other divide: short- and long-term
residents), I consider it an honor to
help provide Oregonians a tool to not
only explore the divides in our state
but also to help bridge those divides.
We are at a critical moment in
Oregon. The hounds are no longer
waiting outside the door. They are
in our living rooms: the health and
economic impacts of the pandemic,
the overdue need to address racial
inequalities, and frightening implica-
tions of climate change.
From the perspective of an opinion
researcher and student of public poli-
cymaking, I see two things needed to
help soothe the savage beasts, both of
which OVBC can provide.
First, is regularly hearing from all
Oregonians about their values and be-
liefs, not just a subgroup like frequent
voters.
Second is to be regularly reminded
that there are certain things we Ore-
gonians agree on regardless of our po-
litical party, race, and where we live,
and these values and beliefs represent
the common ground we can stand on
together to rise above the divides and
make our state better at the local, re-
gional and state levels.
The Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center is about hearing from all Ore-
gonians and amplifying their voices to
identify what unites us and to better
understand what divides us.
What will distinguish OVBC’s work
from most other opinion research
conducted in Oregon is how the re-
search studies are designed and ad-
ministered. We will ask questions of
the general population, not just vot-
ers or even more narrowly, likely vot-
ers. Importantly, this includes hard-
to-reach populations like younger
Oregonians, communities of color
and rural Oregonians.
GUEST COLUMN
More than a penny for your thoughts
Another distinc-
tion will be the use
of stratified sam-
pling rather that
proportional sam-
pling to assure that
organizations in all
Davis
regions of the state,
not just the Portland
metro area and the Willamette Valley,
have enough valid and statistically re-
liable data to help them build stronger
communities. This includes informa-
tion to assist with needs assessments,
program evaluation and public in-
volvement.
And finally, we will not be work-
ing for clients looking to support a
position. Rather, we are a nonprofit
tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization
which conducts nonpartisan opinion
research to assist public, private and
nonprofit organizations.
For the next 12 months, we will be
collaborating with Pamplin Media
Group, EO Media and other news
outlets in what we’re calling the Ore-
gon Values & Voices project.
The goal is to build OVBC’s capac-
ity to reach all Oregonians and to as-
sure that the resulting research does
The Oregon Values and Beliefs Center is committed to the highest level of public
opinion research. To help obtain that, the nonprofit is building a large research panel
of Oregonians to ensure that all voices are represented in discussions of public policy
in a valid and statistically reliable way.
Selected panelists earn points for their participation, which can be redeemed for
cash or donated to a charity. To learn more visit https://oregonvbc.org/about-the-
panel/ and join the panel.
not just end up sitting on a shelf. The
research is important. But it’s only
the first step. We need to use our in-
dependent, trusted journalists to use
those findings to tell stories, connect
the dots to not only describe how peo-
ple are feeling about things but also
why they are feeling that way.
OVBC has started rising above the
political mudslinging and partisanship
to identify some common ground:
• Oregonians want our leaders to
address the same issues
• We value the same things about
living in our community, with natural
beauty and environmental quality be-
ing at the top of the list
• We feel the same about which
public services are most important
• We all support a public safety net
for vulnerable children and seniors
The Oregon Values & Voices col-
laboration will produce truly inde-
pendent and non-partisan research
and reporting that will inform Orego-
nians working to build stronger com-
munities across the state. We want to
help Oregonians learn how to better
talk to each other and not past each
other. Again, we want to shine a light
on what unites us and to better under-
stand what divides us, all in the hope
of giving us a greater chance to suc-
cessfully address our challenges.
e e
e e
Adam Davis is co-founder of DHM Research,
an independent, nonpartisan firm, and the
Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. He has been
conducting opinion research in Oregon for more
than 40 years.
Editor’s note: EO Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group have a partnership with Oregon
Values and Voices to report on some of its poll
findings. Direction of the reporting is solely up to
the media groups.