Editorials from around Oregon

Selected editorials from Oregon newspapers:

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The Daily Astorian, May 7, on leaving artifacts in place:

“Looting” isn’t a word that crops up very often in local news coverage, so it caused a degree of consternation last month when it was applied to a theft inside Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

Thefts from recognized and unrecognized archaeological sites are, however, a pressing concern all around the world - one that deserves local attention.

Most humans are acquisitive creatures, and some activities that professional archaeologists might define as looting are regarded in a far more benign light by participants. Many who live in more arid areas of the West look for Indian arrowheads and other stone artifacts with no ill intent, even though picking them up on federal property is almost always a violation of the law. Depending on individual state laws, even collecting artifacts on private property may be legally problematic.

Looting archaeological objects for profit is an even more serious problem worldwide, with the spread of metal detectors - along with lax enforcement - opening many sites to commercial exploitation. The spoils often end up being sold online. Even in the U.S., there is an ongoing crisis relating to thefts from ancient Indian sites, along with fossils from widespread paleontological sites in the West.

Why is any of this a problem? For one thing, “finders, keepers” is not a valid legal doctrine. The theft of objects from public property is a theft from all of us, and robs the future of opportunities to better understand the past. Theft of Native American objects is a particular insult, as tribal members properly regard such things as important links to ancestors and cultural patrimony.

From a scientific perspective, removing an object from the context in which it was located robs it of much of its value. A particular kind of stone projectile found in a specific soil stratum might tell an important story about a previously unknown past, while it becomes merely a pretty piece of rock once removed without careful study of where it was. In a real-world example of this, an archaeological dig at one of the national park’s sites on the Washington shore of the Columbia found humble beads, broken pottery and other objects that revealed it to be the likely home of legendary Chinook Chief Comcomly, and one of the original international trade marts on what we now call the Pacific Rim.

The looting at Fort Clatsop apparently did not involve Indian material, or far less Lewis and Clark items, which are vanishingly rare. But it could have told some other notable story about our forebears here in the Columbia-Pacific region. So little attention used to be paid to the lives of ordinary working people that an archaeological site associated with them might tell us some meaningful story about life here a century or more ago.

As this area becomes ever more densely populated, it’s crucial that we all bear these issues in mind. Metal detecting is fun and legitimate. But when it comes to serious artifacts and potential archaeological sites, the real fun stems from calling in the professionals to see what they can learn and share about this area’s fascinating past.

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The Corvallis Gazette-Times, May 6, on preparing for wildfires:

Residents of the Skyline West neighborhood in northwest Corvallis spent some of their Saturday in an unusual exercise: They practiced how they’d evacuate their neighborhood in the event of a fire or other emergency.

The hope, of course, is that this is not a set of skills that the neighborhood, or any other neighborhood, will ever need to use in a real-life situation.

But the facts belie that hope: Every year, another neighborhood in Oregon or elsewhere has to endure an evacuation as a wildfire or other natural disaster rolls through. And, as we saw last year with the devastating Camp Fire that wiped out Paradise, California, it’s not just neighborhoods situated in mostly rural areas that need to get ready for the possibility of evacuation.

The need to be prepared may be particularly high along the West Coast this summer, in the wake of a report last week from the National Interagency Fire Center. Most of the country can expect a normal wildfire season this year, the center reported, with one notable exception: The West Coast can expect another busy season.

The center, based in Boise, Idaho, said a heavy crop of grasses and fine fuels has developed across California and the West Coast, and should elevate fire potential as it dries throughout the summer. Despite the heavy rains of early April, those fuels already are drying out, and we’re seeing serious fires with the potential to make devastating runs, such as a blaze that started in a barn last week near Blodgett.

The fire center also noted that the Pacific Northwest has entered a period of moderate drought, which could spell an early fire season in the Cascade Range. The potential for significant wildfires is above normal west of the Cascade crest through August, according to the center.

In a recent editorial, we discussed the need to protect your home against wildfire, and creating that defensible space of flammable materials still is important. But you also need to be ready for the moment when it becomes necessary to leave it behind. The exercise over the weekend in the Skyline West neighborhood offers another reminder that we all would benefit from a bit of preparation.

Skyline West offers a complication: Only one road, Northwest Ponderosa Avenue, is available for residents to escape a fire or other emergency. And that road likely will be clogged with fire engines and other rolling stock being used by first responders. Unfortunately, this kind of complication is not unheard-of in the Western United States, especially in developments in what’s known as the wildland-urban interface.

Even if you live in an area with more than one road out, experts suggest that you take time to identify several possible routes to take to safety, paying particular attention to locations such as schools or fairgrounds that might be used as designated shelters. Practice driving those routes.

Have a plan ready for pets and livestock; keep pet carriers and leashes ready and put your name and cellphone number and your veterinarian’s name and office number on carriers.

Keep important documents in a fireproof safe or in a safety deposit box. Create password-protected digital copies in a second secure location.

Keep a pair of sturdy shoes and a flashlight near your bed in the event of a nighttime evacuation. Keep a list of emergency contacts - family, friends, doctors, insurance companies and so forth - in your emergency supply kit. And remember to include specific medical needs in that emergency supply kit, along with N95 respirator masks. Sign up for the Linn-Benton Alert Notification System; information on how to do that is available on each county’s website.

The important thing is to start planning now. By the nature of emergency evacuations, time is at a premium. The moment when wildfire crests a nearby ridge is not the time to start planning.

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The News-Review, May 1, on Oregon legislation that would eliminate vaccine exemptions:

Seventy-five days and nearly $1 million later, the Oregon-Washington measles outbreak is over. But thanks to growing opposition to vaccinations, it’s unlikely to be the last.

The outbreak, which sickened 77 people, prompted a public health emergency declaration in Washington and prompted the Oregon Legislature to consider a bill that would eliminate all exemptions to vaccinations for school-age children, except for medical reasons. That’s because the re-emergence of the disease is scary.

Measles is highly contagious and spreads through the air, lingering for up to two hours in an enclosed area. In fact, it’s so contagious, nine out of 10 unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus will contract it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But thanks to a highly effective measles vaccine that was introduced in the 1960s and a strong vaccination program, the measles were officially wiped out in the U.S. by 2000. Before that time, an estimated 3 to 4 million people got measles each year, according to the CDC.

But measles is much more than a fast-spreading disease - it’s dangerous.

There’s this understanding that even if you get measles, it isn’t a big deal. And fortunately, for most people, that’s true. But the problem with that philosophy is that for some, the disease is deadly.

“Three in 1,000 kids who get the measles will die,” said Allison Bartlett of the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital. “The odds are in your favor, but if everyone is vaccinated, 0 out of 1,000 kids will die.”

That’s the group of people who needs everyone to get vaccinated the most. Vaccines aren’t perfect, but they work much better when more people are immunized. The concept is called “herd immunity,” and it’s how modern science has been able to combat a number of dangerous diseases.

The concept works because once enough people are immunized, outbreaks become significantly less likely. Once a person is vaccinated, the possibility that the virus can spread to another person who is also immunized is greatly reduced, meaning the virus doesn’t have free reign to sweep through communities. If fewer people are immunized, outbreaks are more common and more people can get sick.

The greatest aspect of herd immunity is that it protects those who can’t get immunized, whether the person is too young to get a shot or is allergic to the vaccine.

Which is what’s most concerning about this recent outbreak. Because of a small, but a determined, group of parents who - incorrectly - believe vaccines cause autism and other medical issues, more people are choosing not to vaccinate their children.

The sudden distrust in longstanding science is happening nationwide, but it’s also happening in our own county. Just last year, Douglas County officials said they have seen an increase in the number of parents who have declined to vaccinate their kids.

“The number of kids that can’t get a vaccination because of medical reasons, has continued to drop and is now very, very low … less than one-in-a-thousand,” Douglas Public Health Network Director Bob Dannenhoffer told The News-Review last year. “All of the vaccinations that kids haven’t gotten (in Douglas County) have been from parental choice.”

Which seems to be the case up north, too. Of the people who were sickened in the Vancouver area, nearly all were under the age of 18 and completely unvaccinated, according to The Oregonian.

Maybe measles, for whatever reason, isn’t concerning enough (again, it should be) to convince that group or parents to vaccinate their children. But vaccines are also credited with wiping out smallpox, and they are well on their way to eradicating polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis B and neonatal tetanus as well - diseases that are responsible for killing millions of people each year.

Putting that progress at risk because of a surge of misinformation, nearly as contagious as the diseases themselves, simply can’t be allowed. Which is why Oregon legislators are debating whether students should be excused from vaccinations due to their family’s beliefs.

HB 3063, if it becomes law, Oregon would effectively end religious and philosophical exemptions beginning August 2020, joining just a handful of states that only allow for medical exemptions.

Under the law, if parents choose to forgo any or all immunizations for nonmedical reasons, their children would be barred from public or private schools. Instead, the children could attend online courses or be homeschooled.

Critics of the bill, including Rep. Gary Leif, R-Roseburg, say the bill is an example of government overreach and infringes on individual freedoms. But unvaccinated individuals not only endanger themselves, they pose a risk to entire communities. They threaten those with weak immune systems and those who have legitimate medical conditions and aren’t able to protect themselves through the proven vaccination schedule. A bill that reduces the number of opportunities to skip out on improving the community’s health is fundamentally good.

Perhaps we’re too far removed from the death and disability caused by these horrific childhood diseases. Perhaps we’ve forgotten the anguish. Neither, however, are good reasons to allow such insidious infections to return.