OPINION READER’S FORUM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021
A4
EDITOR’S DESK
Imagining a post-pandemic world
R
emember at the beginning of
quarantine, when we used to
talk about what we would do
when “this is all over,” as if one day
we would be in complete lockdown
and the next we would be throwing
a gigantic party in the
streets?
That’s not how pan-
demics work, of course.
They slowly fade
out over time. But as
Jade
COVID-19 cases and
McDowell
deaths continue to
NEWS EDITOR
steadily decrease in the
United States to numbers not seen in
more than a year, and a growing por-
tion of the population is protected
by vaccines, it is worth talking about
what pandemic habits we should
keep once this is truly “over.”
The fi rst thing I hope we keep is
the idea of staying home while sick
as much as possible. I think we all
know that feeling of frustration when
we wake with a tickle in our throat
and a sniffl e in our nose after notic-
ing someone near us had those same
symptoms a couple of days earlier. I
cringe now when I think of the times
I showed up to the offi ce with a cold
when I could have worked from
home.
A 2018 report by the Inte-
grated Benefi ts Institute found that
employee illnesses cost U.S. employ-
ers about $530 billion each year.
Short-sighted managers who insist
employees come in while sick often
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A sign advising of the mask requirement adorns the front door at Neighborhood Books and
Gifts in downtown Hermiston.
cause a chain eff ect that creates an
outbreak among multiple workers
and customers, all of whom lose pro-
ductivity in the process. Germs also
spread through schools, churches and
social groups as people decide it’s
not a big deal to show up somewhere
nonessential in an obviously conta-
gious state.
Let’s not do that anymore.
In the same vein, I hope we start
thinking more about easy ways to
slow the spread of illness in our com-
munities. How many times have we
all gone to some sort of open house
or meeting, for example, and shook
hands with everyone there before
grabbing a cookie with our unwashed
hands? I won’t complain if in the
future it becomes standard practice to
keep a bottle of hand sanitizer by the
cookie tray.
As much as I’ve heard some peo-
ple scoff that preventing COVID-19
is as simple as washing your hands,
during what has supposedly been a
very heightened sense of awareness
of germs, I still see people constantly
practice bad hygiene habits in public.
They sneeze or cough without cover-
ing their mouth, wipe their nose with
their hand or rub their eyes with the
same hands they just used to grab a
public door handle.
I hope there is less uncovered
sneezing and more hand washing in
COLUMN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Time for dialogue on dam removal issues
N
ortheast Oregon is home to
some of the most rich and
fertile farmland in the state,
producing products like potatoes,
onion, carrots, peas and numerous
other variety of crops for consump-
tion here at home and for export
around the globe. This region also
leads the world in irrigation tech-
nologies and water
sustainability.
The four lower
Snake River dams
play a vital role in
sustaining this corner
of the state, and our
regional stakeholders Fred
Ziari
have a long history
to
of working together
preserve and enhance local salmon
populations. That’s why I was dis-
appointed to learn that after join-
ing the governors of Washington,
Idaho and Montana in a collabo-
rative eff ort to rebuild Columbia
Basin salmon, Gov. Kate Brown
fi led a lawsuit over the federal gov-
ernment’s management of the four
lower Snake River dams.
I’ve been involved in the fi sh
versus dams debate for nearly three
decades, and lawsuits have gotten
us nowhere. The only way forward
is through working together toward
a collaborative long-term solution. I
hope Brown will set aside her law-
suit and work to make the four-state
process a success.
The agriculture sector relies on
the four lower Snake River dams
for hydropower, transportation and
irrigation. The dams are a signifi -
cant part of the federal hydropower
system, which provides as much
as 95% of the clean, reliable and
aff ordable power essential to fam-
ilies, farmers, ranchers and busi-
nesses in rural Oregon. According
to a recent three-year study of Snake
River dams completed by the fed-
eral government, removal could
result in an energy price hike in
rural Oregon of up to 50%, which
adds up to several hundred dollars
per year for each rural family.
Farm operations and related agri-
culture industries and manufacturing
are the backbone of our Umatilla
and Morrow counties’ economy,
employing nearly 40% of local res-
idents and producing crops and
products that are barged down the
Columbia River for export to world
markets.
However, the federal study deter-
mined that removing the dams
would make the Snake River unnav-
igable for barge traffi c, resulting in
higher production costs for farmers
who would have to transition to rail
or truck transport. Under this sce-
nario, freight transportation by rail
could increase by as much as 86%
— a level that is too high for exist-
ing rail capacity.
The transition from barge to sur-
face transportation would also result
in more traffi c congestion and the
need for road and rail infrastructure
improvements. Truck and rail trans-
portation create higher emissions
per ton than barges, which would
result in a net increase in CO2 emis-
sions of approximately 17% — tak-
ing us in the wrong direction as the
state is working to meet its clean
energy goals.
With an average annual rainfall
of less than 8 inches per year, our
region is also dependent on the river
for local water supply. Removal of
four Snake River dams in Washing-
ton state would have an especially
long-term adverse impact on oper-
ations of existing Columbia River
pump stations in the lower McNary
and John Day pools in Northeast
Oregon, as 50 years of sediments
will be now deposited in the irriga-
tion intakes downstream. This neg-
ative impact is in addition to much
more expensive or even nonexisting
barging for our products as well as
higher energy costs.
Over the last 30 years, the East-
ern Oregon irrigation community
had a respectful and open dialogue
with our past governors (Roberts,
Kitzhaber and Kulongoski) and we
ask Gov. Brown to commit to the
process by listening and understand-
ing our local agricultural concerns
as well as all river stakeholders so
that she can develop a collaborative
approach to protecting salmon with-
out harming the rural economy.
We are committed to a respectful,
open minded and solution-oriented
dialogue with Gov. Brown and her
staff .
———
Fred Ziari is an irrigation
engineer who for the last 39
years has worked on water
management issues in Hermiston
and the Pacifi c Northwest.
Investing in families provides many benefi ts
After living in Hermiston for 20 years, I have noticed
how much our small town has grown in multiple aspects. I
have seen Hermiston better their schools, open new busi-
nesses and create a community, but I have also seen levels of
crime, homelessness and cost of living increase. With Presi-
dent Biden’s proposed American Family Plan, I can see these
unwanted characteristics of Hermiston minimize.
Biden’s American Family Plan suggests providing free uni-
versal preschool. As I’m sure you all know, preschool is seen
as a luxury and not an accessible option for all families. After
studying at Oregon State University with a focus on child
development, I have seen the positive infl uence early educa-
tion has on society. Early childhood education has been seen
to positively impact their adulthood in many aspects, such as
reducing risky behaviors, achieving school readiness, and bet-
ter employment outcomes.
In addition to universal preschool, Biden also introduces
the idea of extending tax cuts that will benefi t a vast majority
of the Hermiston population. It also supports the idea of pro-
viding direct support to children and families. These two ideas
will decrease the homelessness rates in Hermiston as well as
help with the costs of living.
In my class on family policy this term, we have exam-
ined how providing direct help does not discourage work as
many may assume, but lessens fi nancial stress on individuals.
Although these policies may seem a far reach, it is an eff ort to
invest in our families, which will only benefi t our community.
Yulaidi Ornelas
Hermiston
CORRECTIONS
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VOLUME 114 • NUMBER 20
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the post-pandemic world than in the
pre-pandemic one.
Another thing we’ve learned from
the pandemic is that for many jobs,
you don’t have to be sitting in an
offi ce to be working. I’ve missed
working in an offi ce, with the cama-
raderie and mentorship that happens
more naturally face to face. I hope
that continues after the pandemic.
But I also hope that it becomes much
more culturally acceptable for people
to be able to work from home when
their child is sick, or the roads are
icy, or a repair person will be stop-
ping by sometime that morning.
It also makes sense to continue
some of the increased accessibil-
ity that has been provided during
the pandemic. I think it’s great how
many elected bodies now livestream
their meetings on YouTube, where
they are then archived and accessi-
ble later for people who aren’t able to
make it in person. The same goes for
streaming concerts and graduations
and other events that a grandparent in
the next state might want to see.
Most things about the pandemic
have been bad, but not all. If you
picked up a new hobby, if you cook
healthier food now, if you have
developed a regular video chat habit
with a family member you didn’t talk
to as often before, don’t give it up.
When this is all over, it wouldn’t
necessarily be a bad thing if every-
thing didn’t go back to just how it
was before.
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