B6 THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Bill could end
many sweeps of
homeless camps
T
he rule for Bend parks is: No person shall camp or sleep overnight
on district property.
So where should the homeless go?
There aren’t enough places in homeless
shelters. Should they violate the rule and
sleep in a park? Go to county land? Land
near the Bend Parkway? Private prop-
erty? Federal land?
Ideally the city, the county, the state
and nonprofits would be able to offer the
homeless better alternatives. A place to
stay. Resources to help them find what
they might need — permanent housing,
medical help, addiction treatment and
more.
A bill working through the Legislature,
House Bill 2367, is what is called a “right
to rest” law. It could end the practice of
sweeps of homeless camps in many places.
Briefly, the bill proposes to:
• Grant homeless people a right to
privacy for their property even if that
property is located in a public space.
• Allow homeless people to “rest in
public spaces and seek protection from
adverse weather conditions” as long as
they don’t block human or vehicle traffic.
That would not apply if an area was not
open to the general public or required a
fee for entry.
• Allow homeless people to stay in a
motor vehicle or recreational vehicle pro-
vided it is legally parked on public prop-
erty or private property with the land-
owner’s permission.
• And it would be unlawful in Oregon
to restrict these rights.
The bill has some strong support from
homeless advocates and others. It also
apparently has some strong opposition
from some cities, though we couldn’t find
any testimony officially submitted from
cities. The Oregon Recreation and Park
Association did submit a video, which is
certainly not in favor of the bill.
Passage of this bill may drive commu-
nities to do more to help the homeless so
parks, sidewalks and other public places
don’t become permanent camping places.
And that should be the true goal. Is this
the right way to do that? Is it just the right
thing to do? Tell your legislators what
you think. The bill is also scheduled for a
public hearing on April 13.
Historical editorials:
Elections of U.S. senators
Editor’s note: These historical editorials originally
appeared in what was then called The Bend Bulletin
on April 13, 1906.
A
large majority of the people of
the United States favor the elec-
tion of the United States senators
by a direct vote of the people and they
propose to effectuate that desire in spite
of constitutional forms. A powerful ele-
ment in the constitutional convention of
1789 frankly distrusted the capacity of
the common people to participate in the
government of the country.... Many of the
states including Oregon, have embodied
in their election laws provisions for bal-
loting for United States senator at general
elections and every candidate for election
to the state legislature must state whether
or not he will be bound by the choice of
a majority of this party of United States
senator. When it becomes apparent that
the people mean to insist upon an honest
compliance with this requirement and
will visit their displeasure upon any leg-
islator who fails to carry out his pledge,
a much needed reform in the legislative
branch of the federal government will
have been attained.
…
The state printing office is a very ex-
pensive office to the people of Oregon.
Only one candidate for state printer, Will
S. Dunway, pledges himself to reduce the
cost of the office. He is a man of good
personal character, with a reputation for
business integrity, and his friends have no
doubt that he will make good his pledges
of retrenchment in the most expensive
office in the state.
…
The Wasco News has some very nice
things to say about H.M. Cake, the Re-
publican candidate for United States sen-
ator. That he is very popular in Eastern
Oregon will appear from the following:
“H.M. Cake, who is one of the aspi-
rants for a seat in the United States sen-
ate is a man fully competent to represent
the state. Mr. Cake has long been iden-
tified with all movements looking to the
general welfare of the state, and espe-
cially has he been active in movements
looking to the opening of the Columbia
River. He is generally well known as a
man who enters all his work in a whole-
hearted way that usually accomplishes
something.”
Mr. Cake is also very popular along the
coast, according to the following in the
Tillamook Headlight of March 29th.
“The Headlight can conscientiously
recommend Mr. Cake as a gentlemen
who will fill the oath of office of United
State senator with credit and those who
vote for him will be satisfied that they
vote for a clean man and whenever it be-
comes his duty to look after the interests
of Tillamook he will do it successfully, for
he is just the man the country and people
need.”
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
Boost renewable energy
Oregon communities, espe-
cially environmental justice com-
munities (BIPOC, rural & coastal
and low-income Oregonians)
need opportunities. Clean energy
projects create good jobs and lo-
cal economic and resiliency ben-
efits.
H ouse Bill 2021, as amended,
would create good, well-paying,
local jobs in the renewable en-
ergy sectors that incentivize local
projects that are good for com-
munities and reduce pollution by
achieving 100% clean energy as
soon as possible.
HB 2021 would require that
Oregon be powered by 100%
clean electricity as soon as possi-
ble (no later than 2040).
100% Clean Energy for All
means: all of Oregon’s electric-
ity generated using renewable or
emissions-free resources; good
jobs that hire local Oregonians,
pay prevailing wage and provide
apprenticeship opportunities; and
community-based projects that
increase independence, energy
affordability and disaster resil-
ience.
HB 2021 is rooted in the idea
that our electricity system should
support opportunities such as liv-
ing-wage jobs, workforce equity
and energy resilience while also
minimizing burdens to environ-
mental justice communities. Each
utility will convene a Community
Benefits and Impacts Advisory
Group to guide this work.
This bill is a must for Oregon
to reduce our carbon emissions
so that we can minimize the ef-
fect of climate change. Please call
or write state Reps. Jason Kropf
or Jack Zika to encourage them to
pass HB 2021.
— Craig Mackie, Camp Sherman
Lopez for Redmond schools
A vote for Keri Lopez for Red-
mond School District position #4
will ensure that our children will
have the opportunity to receive
the best education possible.
Keri wants our students back
in the classroom five days a week
for education, as well as develop-
ing social skills with activities like
sports, drama and music. Keri
will fight to have diversity and in-
clusion in our schools.
As a college student in Central
Oregon, Keri was instrumental in
securing the funding for the Or-
egon State University -Cascades
campus in Bend. She testified
at the Oregon Legislature with
former state Rep . Ben Westlund
to gain funding for the college.
She was part of the first graduat-
ing class from the Oregon State
University- Cascades campus in
2003.
As her grandmother, I am very
proud to endorse Keri Lopez for
the Redmond School Board.
—Jo Anne Sutherland is former
Redmond city manager
Improve recycling in southern
Deschutes County
People have home-based recy-
cling just about everywhere else
in Deschutes County. It is time
to bring south Deschutes County
out of the Dark Ages! A proposal
is being considered to divert ex-
cess fees into a fancy new pub-
lic recycling center in Sunriver.
Those fees are collected from
the garbage service customers
and should be used to subsidize
home-based recycling. Unmon-
itored public centers, like Sun-
river’s, allow for indiscriminate
dumping, while home-based re-
cycling promotes a cleaner and
more marketable stream. The
proposed new facility will just
move the problems to a new lo-
cation. When a bin of contami-
nated recycling leaves the center,
does it go to a landfill? Filling up
our landfills is not good for any
of us, and not what we intended
when we make the effort to recy-
cle properly.
If you live in south Deschutes
County, now is the time to advo-
cate for the adoption of home-
based recycling. The fancy new
public center proposed to benefit
Sunriver could become the most
expensive recycling center in the
state, and the most inconvenient
for those that live outside of Sun-
river.
Take the time to contact your
hauler and your county commis-
sioners and let them know you
want your excess garbage fees to
be spent wisely. Let them know
you want home-based recycling
that is sensible and more conve-
nient.
It is time to make the change
before the Sunriver special deal
is done!
— Mark McConnell, Sunriver
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 signature, phone number
and address for verification. We edit
letters for brevity, grammar, taste and
legal reasons. We reject poetry, per-
sonal attacks, form letters, letters sub-
mitted elsewhere and those appropri-
ate 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 number and address
for verification. We edit submissions
for brevity, grammar, taste and legal
reasons. We reject those submitted
elsewhere. Locally submitted columns
alternate with national columnists and
commentaries. Writers are limited to
one letter or guest column every 30
days.
Please address your submission to
either My Nickel’s Worth or Guest Col-
umn and mail, fax or email it to The
Bulletin. Email submissions are pre-
ferred.
Email: letters@bendbulletin.com
Write: My Nickel’s Worth/Guest Col-
umn
P.O. Box 6020
Bend, OR 97708
Fax:
541-385-5804
U.S. is past due to reduce costs and provide health care for all
BY RICH BELZER
O
ne month ago, I wrote about
three areas in which the U.S.
needed to catch up with the
rest of the world’s wealthy nations :
health care, education and child care
for workers. Of these, the most urgent
and obvious area requiring immedi-
ate attention is health care. Why? Be-
cause we spend twice as much money
as a percent of GDP than the other
countries in the Organization for Eco-
nomic Cooperation and Development
and get worse results. In addition,
they all cover every citizen while, as
of 2019, 28.9 million Americans were
uninsured.
Our results? The U.S. ranks 40th in
the world in life expectancy at birth ,
78.5 , while Japan ranks first at 84.3.
The U.S. ranks 37th in the world in
life expectancy at age 60 , 83.1 , while
Japan ranks first at 86.3.
The U.S. ranks 47th in the world in
infant mortality — 6.5 per 1,000 live
births — behind all of Western Eu-
rope and Japan. Even Russia is better
at 5.8 per 1,000 live births.
I could go on, but you probably get
the message at this point. This coun-
try spends extravagantly on health
care as a percent of our GDP, pro-
duces poor results and does not in-
sure everyone. In fact, according to a
2019 study by the American Journal
of Public Health, 66.5% of personal
bankruptcies in the U.S. are due to
medical issues. Spending more and
producing low -quality results is not a
winning formula. The U.S. health care
system can only be described as the
worst of all worlds. Can anyone look
at these facts and disagree?
There are two questions we should
probably be asking ourselves: 1) How
did we let it get this horrible? and 2)
Why aren’t our representatives and
senators falling all over themselves to
fix it? If I can get the above informa-
tion, we know that they can as well.
GUEST COLUMN
First of all, funda-
mental Republican
ideology assumes
that the free mar-
ket will always work
better than the gov-
ernment. In many
Belzer
cases this is true and
is the foundation for
our capitalist system. The free mar-
ket works well when competition re-
strains prices. For example, if Chevy
priced their Silverado $20,000 higher
than a comparable Ford F-150, they
would have a hard time selling their
trucks. In health care, however, com-
petition is minimal and prices are
not readily available, so cost-control
is virtually nonexistent. Imagine that
you are at home in Portland and are
hit with an incredibly painful appen-
dicitis attack. Your wife helpfully calls
the EMT s but, in the meantime, might
you be out on the web trying to find
the hospital with the lowest prices? Is
this information even decipherable?
From a Republican perspective, our
health care system is working exactly
as intended in that it is creating wealth;
we have the highest paid doctors in
the world and our health care com-
panies, up and down the food chain,
are highly profitable. As an example,
I have included a slide on physician
salaries from a class on the U.S. health
care system taught by a friend of mine
at Carnegie Mellon University. To Re-
publicans, the fact that we spend more
than other countries, produce misera-
ble results and leave 30 million Ameri-
cans uninsured is irrelevant compared
to industry profitability.
There has been an attempt at a fix.
The Affordable Care Act was passed
and signed into law by former Presi-
dent Barack Obama in March 2010.
The ACA fell significantly short of
being a total solution, but it did solve
the problem of those who, through a
job change, could not obtain afford-
able insurance due to a pre existing
condition. Through its additional
funding of Medicaid and availability
of insurance through health insurance
exchanges, coverage was expanded by
roughly 20 million people. Unfortu-
nately, it did very little to address the
cost of either services or pharmaceu-
ticals.
The U.S. health care system is ob-
viously broken; the statistics don’t lie.
What should voters say to any con-
gressman or senator who isn’t work-
ing toward a solution that reduces
costs and provides healthcare for all?
“You’re fired!”
Rich Belzer served as director of federal marketing
for a NYSE-listed computer company and
was subsequently a senior executive with two
NASDAQ-listed high-tech companies. He moved
to Bend to join Columbia Aircraft where he
became VP of worldwide sales.