OPINION READER’S FORUM
Founded in 1906
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2021
A4
OUR VIEW
Where has Rep. Greg Smith been?
Last week a conservative, national orga-
nization released a report that showed Rep.
Greg Smith, R-Heppner, has missed more
votes — 240 out of 825 — than any other
member of the Oregon House of Represen-
tatives during the last Legislative session.
The Club for Growth Foundation, a
501c organization with a focus on cutting
taxes and other economic issues, issued a
scorecard evaluating how many times law-
makers — in both the House and Senate —
were available to vote on the array of bills
that come up during a legislative session.
The data collected by the group showed
in the Oregon House, the average member
missed 8% of the 825 total votes. Repub-
lican House members missed, on aver-
age, 10% of all fl oor votes and Democratic
members missed an average of 7% of all
fl oor votes. Rep. Smith missed 29% of
votes in 2021.
The voting record of a lawmaker is
important. How many times an elected
leader votes are one clear way for constit-
uents to gauge how involved they are and
whether they are truly doing the people’s
business.
Voters don’t elect men and women to
the Legislature to do nothing. Voters should
expect their lawmaker will be actively
engaged and responsive.
To be fair, lawmakers can miss votes for
a host of reasons. Sickness, family matters
and, at least in the past few years, COVID-
19. No doubt, the coronavirus pandemic
created new and complex problems for
lawmakers.
Still, to be singled out as the one law-
maker who missed more than 200 votes,
as Smith was, is surely not a good sign for
area voters.
In fact, it is troubling and raises a host
of questions that, so far, are unanswered.
That’s because Smith did not respond when
he was asked by the Club for Growth why
he missed so many votes. Other lawmakers
who missed many votes did respond to the
organization.
Some cited other legislative responsibil-
ities — such as caucus eff orts — or men-
tioned COVID-19 restrictions or a desire to
SCHOOL DAYS
avoid the infection.
There could very well be good rea-
sons why Smith missed so many votes but
absent an explanation what it looks like is
he is not doing a good job representing his
constituents.
His voting record is even more mys-
tifying because he was fi rst elected to the
House in 2000. He is a veteran lawmaker
who should know better.
Smith’s voting record deserves a closer
look by his constituents. Because on the
face of it, it doesn’t look like Mr. Smith is
spending the amount of time he needs to
attend to business at the Legislature.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Healthy habits help students
cope with challenges
T
he holidays are most often a as their academic growth. They are
time of joyful celebration for intrinsically linked.
children and families. Even
It’s even more important that par-
with adjustments to some of the usual ents have the tools to help their chil-
school traditions like concerts and dren develop healthy coping skills
class parties, there is still a lot of cheer and positive mental health. The fi ve
to be found in our classrooms
areas we pay attention to, and
and in our community.
ask parents to help cultivate,
But for some students, this
are:
season is the most diffi cult time
• Self-Management
—
of the year. A study from the
How well students man-
National Alliance on Mental Ill-
age their emotions, thoughts,
ness reports that 64% of peo-
and behaviors in diff erent
ple with mental illness say their
situations.
conditions worsen during the Tricia
• Social Awareness — How
holidays. This is true for adults Mooney
well students consider the per-
and children alike.
spectives of others and empathize
Children are like sponges, soaking with them.
up everything around them – joy, grat-
• Grit — How well students per-
itude, stress, and anxiety alike. What severe through setbacks to achieve
they experience at home, at school, long-term goals.
and with friends shapes the way they
• Growth Mindset — How stu-
process and manage their emotions dents perceive the potential to change
and mental health.
factors central to their performance in
We’ve all been living through a school.
historically traumatic time, and the
• Emotion Regulation — How
accumulation of that anxiety takes a well students regulate their emotions.
toll.
It starts in the home, and when stu-
Teachers and staff in the Hermis- dents enter kindergarten we begin by
ton School District pay close attention talking about how to listen to what
to the social and emotional needs of their feelings and bodies are tell-
students. Their mental and physical ing them. We teach students how to
well-being is every bit as important calm themselves when they are over-
whelmed and how to name what they
are experiencing.
As they move through elementary
school we begin to work with students
on their grit and how to develop a
growth mindset. They learn that chal-
lenges are learning opportunities, and
how to build supportive relationships
with others.
In secondary grades we focus on
interpersonal skills and respect for
themselves and others, which are
both important parts of creating a safe
environment. They also learn how to
set goals for themselves and follow
through. Using these skills they are
better prepared to handle the stress
and anxiety life can throw at them.
We can always remember that
the holidays aren’t a time for joy for
everyone, and that expressing sad-
ness and depression is the healthiest
way to deal with them. It can be diffi -
cult when it feels like everyone else is
feeling festive, but you are not alone.
We do hope you and your family
have a wonderful holiday season and
come back refreshed for a new year
and new opportunities in 2022.
———
Tricia Mooney, doctor of
education, is the superintendent of
the Hermiston School District.
Poisonings an attack on
all wildlife
The loss of eight Eastern
Oregon wolves to poison-
ing over the last year is an
assault on all things living. It
represents an indiscriminate
attack on all our wildlife. All
wildlife, avian and mamma-
lian, carnivores and scaven-
gers, are put at risk by these
selfi sh acts.
These animals repre-
sent important pieces of a
healthy, naturally-function-
ing ecosystem. Their short
sighted and illegal exter-
mination threatens the bal-
ance and function of that
ecosystem.
The Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation supports a balanced
approach to wolf recov-
ery and carnivore manage-
ment. Health, human safety
and protection of our local
economies is an important
part of that balance, as is the
maintenance of healthy big-
game populations through a
transparent, thoughtful and
professional management
approach. The vilifi cation
of wildlife species and these
vigilante attacks undermines
this management approach.
Wolves and other carni-
vores serve an important role
in maintenance of the health
and vitality of our big game
populations, as well as the
many small carnivores and
scavengers that make up our
collective wildlife heritage.
In addition to playing a role
in ecology, predators have
long been respected in tribal
culture. They are prominent
in our stories, coyote being
the most famous, but wolves
and others play a part in
some of those stories handed
down for many generations
to provide teachings and les-
sons as examples.
Predators are esteemed
as hunters, and often used
in tribal members’ Indian
names and tribal place
names. They are promi-
nent features in our regalia,
including sacred eagle feath-
ers, talons, and for some,
even the hides and claws of
mammalian predators are
worn. All of these predators
are threatened by indiscrimi-
nate acts like poisoning.
We hope the responsible
parties are caught and held
accountable for their actions
and encourage any others
contemplating such mea-
sures to please reconsider.
Kat Brigham
CTUIR Board of
Trustees chair
EDUCATION CORNER
Teaching our children how to deal with disappointment
Q
uickly babies learn that if
they are hungry, with a bit of
crying, someone will
provide nutrition.
As they grow and
develop, they promptly
refi ne what response they
need to give to resolve what
is causing their unhappi-
ness. The child is beginning
to create confl ict resolution Scott
Smith
skills. Yet when they reach
a certain point, we as adults
often step in and “fi x” situations
so our children don’t become frus-
trated and have a meltdown caus-
ing us possible embarrassment.
Our problem-solving skills of
avoiding a temper tantrum stop the
child from developing this life skill
of self-evaluation and resolution.
Everyone being a winner does
not help our children succeed in
dealing with life disappointments
independently. It does teach them
that adults will fi x things, so they
are happy. The older the child gets,
the harder it becomes to change
those behaviors. Starting young
and teaching them how to
deal with disappointments
and evaluating how they
might avoid the situation
next time will serve them
the rest of their lives.
Taking the time to teach
your children how to deal
with loss or failure and not
blame is a complex skill
they will continue to refi ne
all their life. At some point, you
or they will have to deal with fail-
ure or loss. Sooner is better than
later. Stepping back and helping
them evaluate why they lost or
failed is that life-impacting teach-
ing moment. Asking them, “What
could you do next time?” teaches
them what they need to do to have
success. It is much more challeng-
ing than it seems, but the results
will have rewards beyond belief.
It’s a process and takes multiple
situations to refi ne the understand-
Printed on
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VOLUME 114 • NUMBER 50
Andrew Cutler | Publisher • acutler@eomediagroup.com • 541-278-2673
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Angel Aguilar | Multi-Media Consultant • aaguilar@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4531
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ing that failure or loss is actually
learning.
As adults, how we deal with
the failure of a situation models
how our children respond when
they experience a loss or failure.
Most of us have gone to a school’s
science fair and observed the stu-
dents’ projects. The student who
learns the most often is the one
with the sad-looking cardboard
box with notebook paper notes
and drawing taped on the box, if
handled correctly. This child was
placed into the natural process of
evaluating their project against
others. Therefore, learning to see
what others did, they understand
adjustments they might try their
next project. This student now
learns the process of assessing a
situation to better the result next
time. The more often we allow a
child to experience this process,
the more their abilities will be
enhanced, and they will use these
abilities daily.
Timing can be crucial. The
night of the science fair when they
see no ribbon is the best time to
evaluate things. There is a natural
process of learning when dealing
with loss or failure. The absolute
worst thing you can do is push the
loss or failure onto someone else
or something else. Later, spend
time to reassure your child that you
are proud of them and ask them
what they noticed about other sci-
ence projects and what they might
do diff erently next time.
Life-learning occurs when we
allow the child to evaluate a sit-
uation and make life adjustments
to prevent replaying the previous
experience. Life-learning also hap-
pens when participating in sports
— asking, “What might you try
next time to make things better?”
cause the child to start the thinking
process. It’s easy to blame others
when things don’t go as planned.
The skill of self-evaluation over
what the child might change next
time activates the thinking process
in the child. However, blame won’t
increase the child’s ability to eval-
uate and improve their skills or
change the result.
Looking for ways to acknowl-
edge our children’s frustration
and learn how to deal with loss or
failure is accomplished through
questioning as a way of evalua-
tion. Asking questions such as:
“What do you think happened?”
“What should we do diff erently
next time?” helps build their
understanding of evaluating and
taking charge of situations in a
healthy way.
Loss and failure are a part of
life, yet we can control how we
deal with it and make things better
for ourselves and others.
———
Scott Smith, doctor of educa-
tion, is a 40-plus year Umatilla
County educator and serves on the
Decoding Dyslexia Oregon board
as its parent/teacher liaison.
CORRECTIONS
length and for content.
It is the policy of the Hermiston Herald to correct errors as
soon as they are discovered. Incorrect information will be
corrected on Page 2A. Errors commited on the Opinion page
will be corrected on that page. Corrections also are noted in
the online versions of our stories.
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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.
Please contact the editor at editor@hermistonherald.com
or call 541-278-2673 with issues about this policy or to report
errors.
OBITUARY POLICY
SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Hermiston Herald publishes paid obituaries; death
notices and information about services are published at no
charge. Obituaries can include small photos and, for veter-
ans, a fl ag symbol at no charge.
Letters Policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for the
Hermiston Herald readers to express themselves on local,
state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer
letters should be kept to 250 words.
No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person.
The Hermiston Herald reserves the right to edit letters for
Obituaries and notices may be submitted online at herm-
istonherald.com/obituaryform, by email to obits@ hermis-
tonherald.com, placed via the funeral home or in person at
the Hermiston Herald or East Oregonian offi ces. For more
information, call 541-966-0818 or 800-522-0255.