A tip of the hat; a kick in the pants: June 15, 2010
6/15/2010 12:15:00 PM
A temporary fix to a long-term bleacher problem deserves a tip of the hat for the partnership it may signal. The Confederated Tribes and the Round-Up Association have joined together to replace old wooden seating with new aluminum bleachers in the Indian participation section in time for the Centennial Round-Up.
The bleachers, a traditional gathering place for tribal members and other participants in Round-Up festivities, are clearly worn out and inadequate. The long-term solution is to raise the money - lots of it - needed to elevate the bleachers and cover them with a roof to protect everyone from the sun and rain. This would bring this part of the grounds up to the same standard as the rest of the beautiful new grandstands that are set to open this fall. The current Indian participant bleachers are too low, making it difficult to view many of the rodeo activities.
The new partnership formed for a temporary fix can, hopefully, lead to a longer term partnering-up to do a permanent fix. That would be worth another celebration at the 2011 Round-Up and a big hat tip to both Tribal members and the Round-Up board.
A kick in the pants for anyone who believes limiting or cancelling Oregon’s child care subsidy for low income parents is a good idea. There are many Department of Human Services programs on the chopping block to help fill the $577 million state budget shortfall, but this is one to save.
Without the Employment Related Day Care program, thousands of working parents would no longer be able to afford child care. Without child care, they would not be able to continue working.
The costs of the ERDC program are paltry compared to the costs of unemployment benefits. These costs are not just financial. For children, this program can be the difference between growing up with working parents and being in a (hopefully) educational child care setting, versus growing up with unemployed parents and surviving on welfare. Another option for families is to leave children poorly-supervised - or unsupervised - while they work.
Cutting the child care subsidy program entirely would affect 35,000 children in Oregon; the proposed cuts would affect about 4,600 children.
We’ve written about the importance of this program before, and we’ll keep beating this drum. This is a program that keeps parents at work and helps keep children safe.
A tip of the hat to the 2010 Leadership Hermiston class for selecting a local women’s shelter as its community service project.
This year’s class, according to facilitator Brenda Turner, decided to take on improvements in landscaping at the shelter after touring it and noticed the grounds were sorely neglected. With the help of donations from the community, the class spent a day planting flowers, hauling off debris and fixing up a gazebo. It may seem like a small gesture, but it shows the pride of a community.
The leadership class project shows this year’s graduates are willing to step up in their community.
A tip of the hat to Amber Williams, who graduated from Blue Mountain Community College Friday despite becoming a mom seven years ago.
Williams took responsibility for her situation when she had a child at age 15, and after seven years of struggling through school while caring for her son, Jacon, she earned her associate’s degree.
She was willing to have her story told in the pages of the East Oregonian, and hopefully it was received by readers - especially young readers - as a positive example of how to handle adversity.
Williams admitted it was a mistake that temporarily derailed her life, and in the same way it was her responsibility to make good. She refused to be a ‘state aid case,’ despite being told she had little hope for anything else.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board, comprised of Publisher and Editor Tom Brown, Associate Publisher Kathryn Brown, General Manager Wendy DalPez, Managing Editor Skip Nichols, News Editor Daniel Wattenburger and Senior Reporter Dean Brickey. EO Publishing Co. Board Chairman Mike Forrester also contributes editorial content. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the East Oregonian.
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