Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 2017)
A4 Opinion Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, August 9, 2017 Health authority’s smear plans should outrage taxpayers A lthough the plan went nowhere, Oregonians should be outraged that a state agency even considered planting negative news stories about a health care nonprofi t. The Portland Tribune broke the story last week about an Oregon Health Authority proposal to promote negative news coverage and undermine the credibility of FamilyCare Health, one of the state’s coordinated care organizations. The draft communications plan included looking for an HIV patient who would complain about FamilyCare and trying to get a journalist to write about that patient’s experience. Journalists often work off such tips, but it’s beyond callous for a state agency — especially the state health agency — to consider exploiting a patient in such a way. The plan never was implemented. Lynne Saxton, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said it was part of an initial draft that was soon squelched. “If something bad happens ( at OHA) , I take full responsibility for it, as I am doing here,” she told us on Monday. Saxton said she encourages her staff to be creative. But the fact that anyone in a state agency would even suggest planting negative news stories raises questions about the culture at the Oregon Health Authority and the leadership of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. “This is outrageous. I’ve never heard or seen anything like this,” said state Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, whose roots in state government reach back to the Tom McCall administration. “This is not the Oregon way. Our way is to work collaboratively and hammer out compromises, not to throw people under the bus just because you disagree with them.” The health authority already had raised eyebrows this year for its aggressive press releases about its dispute with FamilyCare, with which the health authority has been in litigation and mediation for 2 1/2 years. It’s been a tough year for the state health department. This spring, Republican legislators criticized the health authority and the state Department of Environmental Quality for attempting “to push a misleading story line” regarding health and environmental concerns at Entek International in Lebanon. Legislators also were upset that the health authority may have been authorizing state- paid health care to substantial numbers of Oregonians who were ineligible, despite assurances to the Legislature that everything was under control. Against that backdrop, it’s troubling that the state was slow to respond to last week’s Tribune article. Saxton told us that she would be sending a letter of apology to Oregon’s coordinating care organizations, assuring them that the health authority would treat them fairly and would not tolerate negative public-relations efforts. She also will ask the state Department of Justice to train her staff on attorney-client privilege . Those may be worthwhile steps, assuming they promote transparency and openness instead of fi nding ways to hide “creative” ideas under the veil of attorney-client privilege . Still, it is disconcerting that the Governor’s Offi ce did not immediately respond to the Tribune’s revelations. One leading Republican candidate for governor, Bend Rep. Knute Buehler, said the Oregon Health Authority’s negative-publicity plan – even though it never was implemented – demonstrates arrogance and a lack of accountability by a state agency. The state’s CEO, Gov. Brown, should recognize that as well. W HERE TO W RITE GRANT COUNTY • Grant County Courthouse — 201 S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541- 575-2248. • Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu- rylink.net. • Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541- 987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net • John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day, 97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541- 575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net. Blue Mountain EAGLE P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY • Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-3075. Email: info@cityofl ong- creek.com. • Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument 97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net. • Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net. • Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net. • Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161. Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com. T HE B ACKROADS A win-win-win-win By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle It was nice to see some live mu- sic in town this weekend. As a musician and music lover from a small town in Eastern Or- egon, I’ve grown accustomed over the years to traveling to larger ar- eas to see concerts — and being forced to spend my money outside of my community. With the new venue in John Day, I can get my fi x while sup- porting local business, with far less time and expense for travel. It’s a win-win: for local patrons and the local economy. While the Madden Brothers Performing Arts Center would never be able to host some of the larger shows I’ve attended — the Merle Haggards and Bob Dylans — the gym in the old junior high provides a suitable place for small- town entertainment. The building that sat vacant for so many years now has new life. The Madden brothers fi xed up the Sean Hart facade, and instead of a sign of de- cline, the perform- ing arts center now stands as a com- munity asset. With the com- munity benefi t, I guess it’s a win- win-win. A fair number of communi- ty members came out for the fi rst show Friday, and most seemed to be enjoying themselves. The sound was good. The food was good. The musicians — Micky & the Motorcars and Dustin Schae- fer — were good. It really was a high-quality little show — not just for a small town deprived of ample opportunities to experience the arts. But in an area like ours with few concerts outside of special events, a venue that can host such shows year-round will make it much eas- ier to provide a splash of culture to local youth. Watching a live show is a far more fulfi lling experience than listening to an iPod. Maybe the next Bob Dylan or Merle Haggard is growing up in Grant County, just waiting for the inspiration to start their journey to the stage. And maybe they’ll fi nd it as the bass lines and guitar riffs per- meate their bodies and the lyrics re- verberate in their minds, their eyes fi xed on the musicians making the magic that fi lls the room and echoes into the hallways. I remember well the fi rst shows I attended and would never have tak- en up music without the experience. I guess that makes it a win- win-win-win when you add in the educational cultural enhancement. This new venue has the possi- bility to bring a variety of benefi ts to Grant County, and I, for one, am grateful the Madden brothers are taking the risk to get it going. Hopefully the community will support this endeavor to keep it go- ing. Sean Hart is the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle. F ARMER ’ S F ATE Grandma’s ketchup soup was a surprise By Brianna Walker To the Blue Mountain Eagle I wasn’t sure what I was expect- ing 17 years ago when I went on my fi rst date with my husband. Din- ner and a movie maybe? Flowers or candy? Maybe a peck on the cheek goodnight? What I did not expect was watching “The Sound of Mu- sic” — with his grandparents. We drove to a tidy, little blue and white house — tulips and ros- es lining the sidewalk. Usually one has a little more time to prepare for “meeting the parents” or grandpar- ents — like several months, may- be a year? As if a fi rst date wasn’t enough stress, now I had to try to make a good impression on three people. His grandmother was worrying too — albeit for different reasons. She was concerned about us sitting idle in front of the TV for three hours. We had hardly made intro- ductions before we were hustled in to the back room and given scissors and felts to cut out for a project she was working on. For three hours, we listened to Julie Andrews sing while we dutifully cut out felt an- imals and stacked them into piles. The date, while unusual, unorth- odox and productive, turned out to be enjoyable enough that one turned into two, then fi ve, and be- fore I knew it, his grandmother had invited me back for a birthday party. The whole family turned out, a lovely dinner was set and then the guest of honor was pushed up to the head of the ta- ble — the family poodle. He had a nicely shaped can of dog food on a Brianna china plate, with Walker carrots for candles. I guess the surprise showed on my face, because my fu- ture husband leaned over and whis- pered, “At least this year she didn’t make everyone’s food look like dog food!” Going to her house became an adventure — and you could never predict what was going to happen. One evening we dropped by at sup- per time. “Oh there’s plenty of toma- to soup,” she said, scurrying to set two more bowls on the table. “Here, to make sure, we’ll just add some ketchup and water, after all it’s mostly tomatoes anyway, right?” Ketchup soup? Mmm, wonder why this hasn’t been picked up by a chain restaurant yet? On a family camping trip, she ac- cidentally threw out her can opener with the trash. After searching the whole trailer, my husband and I had given up and went hiking. Arriving back into the camp site, we found his grandmother near the dumpster — where she had organized a small group of other campers to help her look through the trash in hopes of fi nding her “very expensive” can opener. It eventually turned up in a bag of bananas in the camp trailer — no dumpster digging had been needed after all. Several years after her husband had passed away, she was on an- other trip with us to the coast. She had been seeing a lot of an elderly gentleman, and spent the majority of our trip waving her cellphone around trying to fi nd reception to call him. Many times through the day we would see her out on the beach standing on a big rock, her back to the wind and the phone pressed tightly to her ear. We had just fi nished a fresh batch of hot, homemade salsa when she came into the camp trailer from one of these calls. “I have found myself a lover!” she announced, with a pleased ex- pression. Just for the record, hot salsa seems even hotter coming out your nose! My husband’s grandmother is turning 90 this month — and would still fi nd sitting for a three-hour movie to be a waste of time, unless there was a project to be fi nished. Seventeen years ago, I had no idea that ketchup soup or dog birthday parties were in my future. It was an unusual fi rst date, to meet an unusu- al woman, with unusual ideas, and who has infl uenced my life — un- usually so. Brianna Walker occasionally writes about the Farmer’s Fate for the Blue Mountain Eagle. L etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. We must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244. Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM R EPORTER ............................... R YLAN B OGGS , RYLAN @ BMEAGLE . COM C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM S PORTS ................................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM M ARKETING R EP ....................... K IM K ELL , ADS @ BMEAGLE . COM O FFICE M ANAGER ..................... L INDSAY B ULLOCK , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM O FFICE A SSISTANT .................... A LIXANDRA P ERKINS , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County .....................................$40 Everywhere else in U.S. .....................$51 Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Email: www.MyEagleNews.com Phone: 541-575-0710 Periodicals Postage Paid at John Day and additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER send address changes to: Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 USPS 226-340 Copyright © 2017 Blue Mountain Eagle All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher. www.facebook.com/MyEagleNews @MyEagleNews
