CHEERS? for the city financials… if you’re into that… because they are out again for the latest look into how our fair city is coming along. SPOILER ALERT: they have $119,304,580 in the bank. If, by some really bizarre chance, you are not into the minutiae of local government, then let’s get to our next entry…
CHEERS to Patricia Thomas for a letter to the G-T calling out the hate-filled message of whoever has been targeting our city with swastikas, saying, “Hate begins with a seed and when we ignore it, that seed swells.” Corvallis is the place it is because of people like Thomas who stand up to jerks like this. Luckily, a couple of city agencies and some community members are responding, removing or covering up hate graffiti and taking down times and places they’re seen at. We’ll keep y’all posted as we find out more. PLOT NOTE: We covered this story a few days before Patricia’s letter, the G-T…? Well, not yet.
SIGHS for the entire United States of America. This week, we reached a sorry and avoidable milestone. On Monday, it was announced that more people have died of COVID-19 than died in the Great Influenza of 1918.
FURROWED BROWS over the Corvallis Fall Festival being held this weekend. We love our city and the artisans who make it spectacular, but please remember to be safe, mask up, and try to stay as socially distanced as possible.
JEERS to the firefighters and peace officers who are not only refusing to get vaccinated in an effort to keep citizens well, but are actually suing the state and Gov. Kate Brown over it. We understand that needles can be scary, and that sometimes when you get a shot it makes you feel icky for a few days. However, if you are tasked with keeping lives safe, then how can you refuse to see that that includes safety from a virus that you may not even know you have? QUESTIONING FACES to Corvallis Police and Benton County Sheriff officers, because while we’ve gotten percentages from a slew of agencies throughout the area, these folks aren’t saying how many of their staff have gotten the shots. Hmmm…. We wonder why…
THIS JUST IN for the Corvallis PD Vax numbers… one person speaking to our roving reporter about the situation said that they had collected the numbers and handed them over to the Human Resources people. Yet HR said they weren’t keeping track. Interesting…
CHEERS for the Philomath Connection. They went fare-free for the pandemic, and decided to keep the service free starting right now! [Well, starting Wednesday, but you know it takes us a minute to get things out to you because that’s kinda how news works, but hopefully you didn’t accidentally pay them in the last two days] Moving on…
CHEERS for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde for buying the land at Willamette Falls and returning it to a more natural state. The work began with a prayer and excavation trucks tearing down the wall of an abandoned paper mill. All of the Advocateers’ happiest thoughts are with them.
BOOS and HISSES for the Newberg School Board who have triple-downed on their ban of Black Lives Matter and Pride paraphernalia because they consider it “political.” Could this level of insensitivity to Black and LGBTQ+ students have led one teacher’s aid to feel emboldened to show up to an elementary school in blackface? She claimed it was in protest of the vaccine, but we’re failing to see the connection between life-saving medicine and racist behavior. [Luckily, the school didn’t see the connection either and put the woman on leave.]
JEERS for the stubbornness of Yamhill County’s Mary Starrett. Commissioner Starrett, who originally came to the public eye as a local TV personality, made a math error. No biggie, right? Well… no. The math error was about how many vaccinated Oregonians died from COVID-19 between July 1 and Aug. 29 — her saying that of the 292 deaths, 138 had been vaccinated, which would be 47.3% and a very scary number indeed. However, the Oregon Health Authority quickly disagreed, saying that only 70 of the 321 who died were vaccinated — this maths up to almost 22% — add that 80% of the 70 [about 56 of them] were over the age of 70… which has consistently been included as an “underlying condition.” Starrett will not admit that she’s wrong or that she maybe added the case numbers from two different reports. [Math Geek Editors here are screaming into the wind over this one, and the screams are winning.]
MORE FURROWEDNESS over the fact that the Pendleton Roundup still seems to have a green light. We love our horses as well as the next guy [provided the next guy, you know, loves horses], but we can’t see how that emotional attachment to a big, gentle, sweet equine should propel anyone into a large crowd amidst the fourth wave of a pandemic that is officially the worst we’ve ever had in the US.
JEERS for the people who don’t want to change the school names, and DOUBLEPLUS JEERS for those who wish there had been “more discussion” about it. To paraphrase When Harry Met Sally: When you realize you’ve named your schools after despicable people, you want the situation fixed as soon as possible.
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