OPINION READER’S FORUM
Founded in 1906
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2021
A4
OUR VIEW
Individual cases of COVID-19 remind us of the larger tragedy
Through all the news and statistics, it
can be easy to forget the personal toll the
COVID-19 virus has had on people in our
region and throughout the nation.
A good case in point is Dave Bender,
who suff ered at least two and maybe three
bouts of the infection.
Bender, who owned RetroRaagz, antique
store in Stanfi eld, received his fi rst positive
test for COVID-19 in July 2020 and a sec-
ond one in Hermiston. Before that, he fell
ill in December 2019 with a illness that
mimicked all of the symptoms of the virus.
Catching the virus twice is rare, accord-
ing to health offi cials, and a third infection
is almost unheard of. Bender rented a store-
front in Stanfi eld for his new antique busi-
ness. He acquired an inventory and planned
to open in late 2019. Yet the virus created a
barrier to opening his new store. He would
feel better and then get sick again. He did
open the store on request and he tried to
fi nd success with sidewalk sales. He used
the internet as well but none of his mea-
sures brought in the cash he needed to stay
afl oat. He applied for the Small Business
Assistance COVID-19 Disaster Relief loan
and small grants.
The federal money was denied and that
left Bender in a tough situation. Now he
is in the fi nal stages of closing his shop
for good.
It is no doubt a tale of woe but Bend-
er’s story is also one that helps shine a light
on the deep impact the virus has on peo-
ple. Thousands of people end up in the
hospital because of the virus, but thou-
sands more are aff ected in other ways like
Bender. Some people become COVID-19
“long-haulers,” those still suff ered debili-
tating side aff ects from the virus months or
years after the were fi rst struck down by the
infection.
The toll from the virus medically is usu-
ally well known. Daily reports of overfi ll-
ing hospitals and deaths continue to domi-
nate the news cycle, but there are thousands
more people who face the after eff ects of
the disease every day.
Bender’s story is a good example of
how a disease can touch a life in ways that
are unforeseen yet impactful. We must not
forget those who suff ered — or are still suf-
fering — from the impact of the virus yet
may not be in a hospital. Before the fi nal
tally on this pandemic is written, there will
surely be many more people who will be
impacted in ways like Bender. That is very
unfortunate.
We must not forget them.
COLUMN
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Homeless shelters are a ‘bandage
on a gaping wound’
Balanced maps, untouched by human hands
I think it would be in the best inter-
est of the county to think in terms of an
it-takes-a-village-approach when plan-
ning the homeless encampment. Most
people take the approach that get the
homeless off the streets and out of sight.
Put a roof over their heads and keep them
out of the elements. That is just putting
a bandage on a gaping wound. To eff ect
real change you have the address the root
cause of the homelessness. This is where
you need a village to address the issues.
I would seek out input from various
community stakeholders. They include
but are not limited to Veterans Aff airs,
the Oregon Department of Human Ser-
vices, mental health, additions services,
employment department and faith based
groups. Each of these organizations can
provide support both in terms of fi nancial
assistance and support services.
I found out years ago that many of
the community stakeholders provide like
services. If we assign a case manager to
each homeless person they will be able to
build a comprehensive case plan for each
individual. The goal would be to address
the issues that caused the homelessness,
fi nd stable employment and housing.
A good many of the homeless have
mental health issues, some are veter-
ans, some have addiction issues, and
some are hopeless. Most people who are
homeless do it not by choice but they
are out of options. Umatilla county has
a great opportunity to build a good pro-
gram if they think outside the box. Just
my thoughts.
Joe Mesteth
Hermiston
F
rom our
a decade of unequal political
bleacher
representation.
seats in East-
Let’s be fair and agree
ern Oregon, the
the truth lies somewhere in
redistricting pro-
the middle. Of course Dem-
cess can seem
ocrats, who control both
labored and, ulti-
chambers and all executive
Daniel
mately, futile.
seats in Oregon, baked their
Wattenburger priorities in the new maps.
Sure, we have
new proposed
And of course Republicans
electoral maps that refl ect
were going to call foul, no
our state’s changing popula-
matter what the maps looked
tion. That means, among other
like.
things, a sixth representative in
It’s worth remembering
Congress.
2001, when Republicans con-
The maps may still be chal- trolled both chambers and pre-
lenged in court and revised.
sented a map that Democrats
Or they may go into eff ect and
deemed so unacceptable they
set the parameters for Oregon
orchestrated a walkout to pre-
elections for the next decade.
vent its passage. This put the
We’ll know before November.
process in the hands of Secre-
Either way, we in Eastern
tary of State Bill Bradbury, a
Oregon are still squarely in the Democrat, who drew up a map
2nd Congressional District,
that Republicans opposed but
which was and still is the only
failed to overturn in court. It
predictably Republican district also set a walkout precedent
in the state. Our representa-
that still hangs over every leg-
tives in the Oregon legislature
islative session.
will continue to serve roughly
All this to say, when a
the same cities and counties.
map is drafted by politicians,
So why get riled up? Watch- the politicians of the oppos-
ing the fl oor speeches by many ing party will oppose it. And
Democrats, you’d think the
they’ll get as much mileage out
maps were ordained by the
of it as they can.
collective spirit of the Ore-
But where does this leave
gon people. To hear the more
the voters, the people who
outspoken Republicans tell it,
electoral districts are meant to
Democrats have undermined
empower?
every interest except their own
There are public hearings
and have doomed the state to
to give us the opportunity to
share our thoughts. There are
also rules requiring the districts
to follow existing boundaries,
protect communities of com-
mon interest, and not to favor
a party, politician, or any indi-
vidual. But whether the input is
heeded, and how fair the maps
are, is diffi cult to gauge.
With a decade to go before
our next predictable tussle, we
have time to enlist the help of a
truly impartial observer: artifi -
cial intelligence.
The old axiom goes that
voters should choose their rep-
resentatives and not the other
way around. Inserting a neutral
entity with no ties to any party
or agenda is the best way to
make that happen.
A.I. would be more than
capable of taking in relevant
data — demographic, geo-
graphic, historical — and cre-
ating maps that are evenly bal-
anced with no concessions to
individual interests. It could
even pump out a hundred iter-
ations, or a thousand, and ran-
domly select one to serve as
a base map for the public to
review and comment on. If
there is suffi cient reason to
alter the map, it would have to
be done transparently.
This would account for the
countless ways the state could
be divided, show no prefer-
ence to any of them, and give
the public the fi rst say on what
the maps should look like. At
the very least, it would take
power away from partisan lead-
ers and allow them to focus on
legislation that we need actual
humans to make.
The North Carolina Senate
already took a step down this
road in 2019. When ordered to
redistrict badly gerrymandered
maps by the state court, the leg-
islature turned the process over
to a computer algorithm that
drew up 1,000 versions. Staff -
ers selected fi ve, which were
put into a lottery drawing to
randomly select the fi nal one.
It wasn’t perfect. The fi nal
map was still contested by
Democrats, and they’ve gone
back to the old style of com-
mittee-drawn maps.
Oregon is a state that has
shown a willingness to lead.
Just look at mail-in voting. This
is our opportunity to improve
the system we have now, take
advantage of technological effi -
ciency, and show we’re serious
about empowering voters.
———
Daniel Wattenburger is the
former managing editor of the
East Oregonian. He lives in
Hermiston with his wife and
children and is an account
manager for Pac/West Lobby
Group. Contact him at daniel-
wattenburger@gmail.com.
PETERSON’S POINTS
The amazing example of my friend Reginald Ugwu
N
ow, I have
fi nished a
full month
at the Hermiston
Herald, and I have
already noticed a
pattern in my col-
Erick
umn. So far, my
Peterson
columns tend to
have one of two
underlying messages. They are as
follows: 1) People are nice; and
2) fun also is nice. The day will
come when I summon the rage
within me and rain down heck on
evildoers. That day is not today.
So ...
People are nice, and fun also
is nice.
The nice person I want to tell
you about right now is named
Reginald Ugwu, though this was
not his actual name, but the name
by which I knew him. Reginald
was Nigerian, my roommate and
a good friend.
He invented the peanut butter
and jelly sandwich. Ask me about
it, and I will tell you the full story.
But, for now, I will tell you about
his spirit.
Reginald loved to play. Soccer
was his game of choice, and he
could play it for hours. Often, he
would outplay both his teammates
and his opponents, so that, after
they quit, he would join a new set
of players to begin a fresh game.
Meanwhile, I would sit on
the sidelines and read or chat up
women who still were more inter-
ested in Reginald, his powerful
physique and fun spirit. For Reg-
inald, who earned the nickname
“Xiao Shan,” or “Small Moun-
tain” for his great joy in life,
always laughed when he played.
When he scored a goal in soc-
cer, he would pull the front of his
shirt over his head, and run in a
fi gure-eight. All the while, arms
outstretched, he would laugh.
Meanwhile, I would look up
from my book, and wonder why
he was willing to look so fool-
ish. I also was befuddled as to
why his foolishness did not scare
away friends. In fact, the more
childish he acted, the more he
was beloved.
Reginald, though I did not
understand him at the time, was
living a fully realized life. I
knew he was smarter and stron-
ger than me, but I wish I would
have known he was better than me
at simply living. Then, perhaps,
I could have learned from him
much earlier.
I think about him now, because
of a recent situation. A couple of
weeks ago, I was among friends
and in a situation in which I had to
choose between joy and dignity.
My wife, a couple of other
friends and I were at Butte Park
in Hermiston when we wandered
over to Funland Playground.
It was late in the evening, fol-
lowing our picnic, and we admired
the equipment. I had climbed on
some of the playground, but I had
never cut loose, and certainly had
never gone down one of the large
slides. But when I saw my friends
having fun, even tumbling down
the slides, while I was standing on
the ground, I realized my error.
I was on the ground, while
they were enjoying themselves.
I felt like a real moron, and Reg-
inald would have been ashamed
of me — if he even thought about
me, which he would not have. He
would have been on the slide.
So, I clamored up the large
Funland structure and slid down
the slide, feeling such a rush that I
screamed all the way down. When
I hit the bottom (hard), I went up
to the top again and slid down the
other slide, which was twisty and
dark inside. And, yes, I screamed
again, all the way to the ground.
CORRECTIONS
Printed on
recycled
newsprint
VOLUME 114 • NUMBER 39
Andrew Cutler | Publisher • acutler@eomediagroup.com • 541-278-2673
Erick Peterson | Editor/Senior Reporter • epeterson@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4536
Audra Workman | Multi-Media consultant • aworkman@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4538
Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • community@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4532
Andy Nicolais | Page Designer • anicolais@eomediagroup.com
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Letters Policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for the
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No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person.
Then, I went to other equip-
ment and features of this amaz-
ing park, and I played on them
with my wife and friends. At
times, we even took silly pho-
tos of one another, next to a giant
onion, potato or some other piece
of produce, whichever seemed
less dignifi ed.
I thought, Reginald would
be proud, but the truth is he still
would not have noticed. He would
be off on some other obstacle, still
having his own fun and laughing.
No matter.
He might have taken notice of
me, though, when I rode one of
the Bird Scooters, which are avail-
able for use in Hermiston, around
town. It was the fi rst time I had
used one, and riding it made me
laugh, just like Reginald.
This leads me to my points for
the week: 1) People are nice; and
2) fun also is nice. I am saving my
fury for a diff erent week.
The Hermiston Herald reserves the right to edit letters for
length and for content.
Letters must be original and signed by the writer or writers.
Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include
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Only the letter writer’s name and city of residence will be
published.
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notices and information about services are published at no
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a fl ag symbol at no charge.
Obituaries can be submitted via the funeral home, by email
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