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Blue Mountain Eagle
TEENS
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“This level of engagement
online increases the risks of
cyberbullying,” he said.
New psychological im-
pacts have resulted from of all
this smartphone use — about
half of all U.S. teenagers re-
port feeling addicted to their
smartphones and 59 percent
of parents agree with that.
Numerous
networks
Wenning provided a
thumbnail sketch of the nu-
merous social media plat-
forms used by teenagers.
About 71 percent of teenagers
report using more than one
social network, with Face-
book, Instagram and Snapchat
being the top three, he said.
Just when parents think
they’re catching up with the
new technology, their chil-
dren are 10 steps ahead, he
said. When parents ask teen-
agers to see their social me-
dia accounts, their children
often show only the “clean”
accounts and leave others hid-
den, he said.
About 93 percent of par-
ents report they have a good
idea of what their children are
doing, but about 41 percent
of teenagers say their parents
don’t, Wenning said.
Wenning noted that photos
on Snapchat disappear after
a short time period, but apps
exist that allow teenagers to
save a screenshot of the Snap-
chat image. The images are
never really gone, he said, and
he advised parents to remove
Snapchat and Instagram from
their children’s smartphones.
Tumblr is easy to find, but
privacy is difficult to protect,
he said. Kik Messenger lets
teenagers text message for
free, but allows communica-
tion with strangers. Whisper
is a social confessional app
that “can get really dark,”
Wenning said. People who
use Whisper might encourage
a person with suicidal feelings
to kill himself, while others
might take advantage of vul-
nerable girls.
Yik Yak works like Twit-
ter but is limited to short dis-
tances, which could help a
user with bad intentions get
physically close to a teenage
user, Wenning said. Omegle
is a chatroom app intended
to connect strangers, which
could lead to all kinds of
problems, he said.
These apps appeal to teen-
agers for a variety of reasons,
Wenning said, including com-
petition for “likes,” a cure for
boredom and the need to be
noticed. The reduced inhibi-
tion that social networks pro-
vide helps teenagers come out
of their shells and say things
without realizing their actions
are not short-lived, that their
online behavior is traceable
and long-lasting.
Sexting
About 20 percent of teen-
agers reported sending nude
photos, and about 39 percent
reported sending sexually
suggestive text messages.
Sexting typically starts out as
casual talk and then escalates,
Wenning said.
“They’re basically fish-
ing,” he said.
The goal of sexting is to
line up a sexual encounter,
and often sexting involves il-
legal activities. According to
Oregon law, sexually explicit
conduct can include actual
and simulated behavior —
acting out a sexual act could
be illegal, Wenning said.
Exchanging nude photos
of a girlfriend when she is
a minor is illegal. Providing
nude photos for a “consider-
ation” could be a felony —
even if the “consideration”
is not money but a prom-
ise to do an older brother’s
chores around the house,
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Wenning said.
“There is no such thing as
innocent sexting,” he said.
“Nearly all cases of sexting
are felonies.”
The consequences can
be severe. Some online sex
crimes carry a 70-month man-
datory minimum, and if mul-
tiple offenses occur, the man-
datory minimum could be 25
years in prison. And teenagers
from 15-17 years could be
convicted as an adult, Wen-
ning said.
Offenders convicted of a
sex crime must register in all
50 states as a sex offender, he
said. This can restrict where
they can reside and affect job
prospects for the rest of their
lives.
Bullying
If a teenager avoids crimi-
nal prosecution, he or she may
be subject to cyberbullying.
Wenning cited the cases of
Amanda Todd and Jessica Lo-
gan, teenagers who were bul-
lied for years after their nude
photos were initially posted
online. Both girls eventually
took their own lives. Revenge
porn is another example,
where boyfriends might post
nude photos of ex-girlfriends
after a bad breakup.
About 87 percent of teen-
agers reported being bullied
on Facebook, and about 81
percent reported that it was
easy to bully a person online,
Wenning said. He noted that
58 percent of cyberbullying
was done by girls and 41 per-
cent by boys. He said boys
often turn to physical bullying
instead.
Bullying increases the risk
of suicidal ideation, Wenning
said. He noted that about
three-quarters of teenagers
who committed suicide had
communicated their intent in
some way in advance. There
are warning signs, he said.
Teenagers often don’t ask
parents for help from bullying
because they want to feel in
control, don’t want to appear
weak or a tattletale, or fear the
humiliation that could result.
Parents need to become at-
tuned to their children’s affect
and any tendency to withdraw
from normal activity. He ad-
vised parents to start a con-
versation with their children
about sexting and bullying.
Useful tools
Wenning suggested some
aids for parents grappling
with this new technology. A
useful tool is the online Ur-
ban Dictionary, which will
help them understand the
words and phrases their chil-
dren use when discussing
social networking.
Parents own the smart-
phones their children use,
and they pay the monthly
bills, Wenning pointed out.
Cell providers offer ways for
parents to control cell ser-
vice, but the providers can’t
stop smartphones from ac-
cessing the internet through
Wi-Fi. Circle with Disney is
one program that can provide
ways to handle that, Wenning
said.
He also suggested parents
visit NetSmartz.org, an inter-
active educational safety re-
source from the National Cen-
ter for Missing and Exploited
Children, and Common-
SenseMedia.org, an indepen-
dent nonprofit organization
dedicated to helping children
thrive in a world of media and
technology.
He also recommended par-
ents and teenagers learn about
the Safe Oregon anonymous
tip line created by the Ore-
gon Legislature in 2016. Tips
are triaged and interpreted by
Oregon State Police within
minutes, depending on secu-
rity, timeliness and need for
assistance. The website was
initially set up to alert police
about potential school shoot-
ings, but 40 percent of the tips
in 2017 involved bullying,
Wenning said.
Eagle file photo
The Kam Wah Chung Museum in John Day.
Chinese sister city
proposal gets the nod
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Sen. Ron Wyden speaks during a town hall meeting in the Prairie City School gym May 1. Behind him are student
body president Megan Camarena and social studies teacher Nate Barber.
WYDEN
Continued from Page A1
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah
worked together to pass — a
10-year extension to the Chil-
dren’s Health Insurance Pro-
gram, the Chronic Care Act
for Medicare and the Family
First Act, which seeks to pre-
vent troubled families from
breaking apart through coun-
seling and treatment.
“Extremism feeds on pov-
erty and despair,” he said,
adding that he hoped his for-
estry bills could help improve
the economy and end extrem-
ism.
Wyden said he didn’t be-
lieve extremist voices were
anywhere near the majority,
and good people across the
political spectrum need to
stand up and speak out and
say, “Extremism is not wel-
come here.”
Wyden cited three steps
he uses when dealing with
people he disagrees with: be
respectful, propose something
and act in a bipartisan way.
When asked by a student
about arming teachers to pre-
vent school shootings, Wyden
suggested other steps that he
believes don’t harm Second
Amendment rights. Guns
should be kept out of the
hands of people with mental
health problems, people on
terrorist watch lists and peo-
ple with domestic abuse his-
tories, he said.
“We need a background
check for every gun sold in
America,” he said, including
gun shows and straw purchas-
es.
Wyden also wanted to
“beef up” the nation’s mental
health system, and he com-
mended the Trump adminis-
tration’s effort to regulate the
sale of “bump stocks,” which
can make a semi-automatic ri-
fle fire like a fully automatic.
On abortion, Wyden said
he supports the U.S. Supreme
Court’s ruling. It’s a private
choice, he said. Otherwise,
the U.S. government would
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arms, ammunition, and fire-
arms accessories,” the sum-
mary states. “Approval of
this measure would require
the Grant County Sheriff to
review federal, state, and lo-
cal laws affecting firearms,
firearms accessories, and/or
n
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GUNS
make unconstitutional in
Grant County any law or
regulation that restricts a
person from possessing fire-
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oo
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mittee on Taxation. He also
sits on the Energy and Nat-
ural Resources and Budget
committees, as well as the
Select Committee on Intel-
ligence.
Wyden joined Republi-
can Sen. Larry Craig of Ida-
ho to write the Secure Rural
Schools act, which Congress
passed in 2000. Since then,
the act has provided more
than $3.1 billion to Oregon
counties for schools, law en-
forcement and roads. SRS
payments were reauthorized
for two more years under the
2018 Omnibus Appropria-
tions Bill signed by Presi-
dent Donald Trump March
23.
Wyden also played a role
in establishing a 10-year
forest stewardship contract
in the Grant County area,
which helped keep John
Day’s lone lumber mill run-
ning, and he has long sup-
ported legislation to stop the
practice of using fire pre-
vention funds to fight wild-
fires. The omnibus bill con-
tains provisions that address
this practice known as “fire
borrowing.”
Continued from Page A1
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Y 19th
be making choices for wom-
en. He said he would like to
see family planning and other
measures eliminate the need
for abortions altogether.
On climate change, Wyden
presented two questions: Is
there really a problem, and if
so can anything be done? He
answered yes to both, citing
wind and solar projects across
Oregon and the proposed bio-
mass plant in John Day as
constructive steps to address
the problem.
Wyden said his “biggest
frustration” in Washington
has been getting infrastructure
bills through Congress. After
working for several years on
a tax bill, he said he believed
repatriated money from tax-
es on foreign earnings would
be made available for infra-
structure projects. Instead,
the money went to corporate
tax reductions, he said.
“I still hope to get that
money back,” he said.
First elected to office
in a 1996 special election,
Wyden is a ranking member
of the Senate Finance Com-
mittee and a leading Senate
Democrat on the Joint Com-
1188
BREWERY
ammunition and determine
whether they violate the
United States and Oregon
Constitutions as defined by
this measure.”
The measure would
prohibit Grant County
government from enforc-
ing any law restricting
the right of people to pos-
sess firearms, accessories
or ammo and would im-
pose $2,000 individual or
$4,000 corporate fines for
violations, according to the
summary.
The most valuable and
respected source of local news,
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541-620-4255
John Day Taxi will be conducting their
quarterly Adopt-A-Mile clean up Saturday
May 12th, 8-9 a.m. Please slow down.
B EER G ARDEN
P ROVIDED BY
Establishing a sister city in
China could present numer-
ous benefits to Grant County,
the John Day City Council
learned April 24.
Taci Philbrook from Grant
County Chamber of Com-
merce presented a proposal
to establish a sister city rela-
tionship between John Day
and Sijiuzhen, a city in the
Guangdong Province in Chi-
na, or possibly Canton, the
provincial capital.
Ha-Pen, a village in Sijiu-
zhen, is where Doc Hay and
Lung On, owners of the his-
toric Kam Wah Chung busi-
ness in John Day, lived before
coming to the United States
in the late 19th century. At
its peak, about 1,000 Chinese
lived in John Day’s “Tiger
Town,” Philbrook said.
Sister city relationships not
only foster tourism and cultur-
al and educational exchanges
but also establish contacts that
lead to trade and investment,
Philbrook said.
“Generally, Chinese cities
take their sister city relation-
ships seriously,” she said.
Philbrook said Don Mer-
ritt, the museum curator at
the Kam Wah Chung Heri-
tage Site, partnered with the
chamber in naming Ha-Pen
and supports the idea of pro-
moting the heritage site.
There would be no cost
to the city of John Day, Phil-
brook said. The chamber
would cover the cost of the
annual membership. The
council approved the sister
city proposal by consensus.
In other city council news,
City Manger Nick Green read
highlights from his five-page
budget message for the next
fiscal year. The city’s net po-
sition has increased by more
than $2.8 million, he said. Ex-
ternal funding, such as grants,
accounted for $2.6 million.
The city had to contribute
matching funds of $67,500
for the grants, but for every
dollar of taxpayer’s money
spent on the matches, the city
raised $40 in external fund-
ing, he said.
“We made more money in
external investment last year
than from all local revenue
sources combined,” Green
said.
In addition to external
funds, the city saved about
$350,000 by consolidating
a number of loans through
Washington Federal, which
saved interest and origination
fees. The city also expects
save $20,000 to $30,000 per
year by transitioning the 911
dispatch center to another ju-
risdictional authority.
A public hearing for the
proposed budget will be held
at the council’s May 22 meet-
ing.
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