HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879 Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024
Vol. 145 No. 24
$1.00
Get ready for smoke
County meetings still roiling over jail
EVAN ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY
Commissioners, Sheriff at odds over presumed facts RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL The fate of the Klickitat County Jail continues to dominate meetings of the Klickitat County Board of Commissioners (BOCC). That was the case with the June 4 BOCC meeting, which opened with eight of the 12 public comments focused on the jail. That may have been due in part to a press release issued by the Sheriff’s office the day before. The four-page document laid out Sheriff Bob Songer’s version of recent events and his arguments against actions by Commissioners Jacob Anderson and Lori Zoller. [The Sentinel ran the release last week on its opinion page.] In his harshest language to date, Songer accused the two commissioners of being “either bungling incompetent or intentionally lying to the public and the Sheriff’s Office.” He also called Commissioner Zoller “power hungry.” At the meeting Tuesday he called for a public vote on the matter to include an option that the jail remain under the control of the Sheriff’s Department. One of his key arguments was that Chair Zoller lied to everyone in her March 29 announcement that the county was closing the jail and that inmates would be shipped to NORCOR by April 12. A check of the meeting recording, however, revealed Zoller did not say she had a contract in her initial motion, which was defeated. “To begin the discussion with my seatmates,” she said, “I will step down to make the motion to authorize staff to immediately move forward with all steps necessary to contract with NORCOR to provide jail services under RCW 70.48.090, with the intent to close the Klickitat County Jail, no later than April 12, 2024. I would entertain a second and open discussion.” And Zoller did not say that prisoners would definitely be moved by April 12, only that such was the intent. Following comments by Commissioner Dan Christopher that he couldn’t vote on any such motion because this was a complete surprise to him and he had not seen any facts and figures on the consequences of such a move, the board moved into an unusual middle-of-the-meeting executive session. An email from Christopher to a constituent forwarded to The Sentinel, however, revealed that Christopher had been well aware of the possibility of an arrangement with NORCOR before the March 29 meeting and that he considered it worthy of consideration. It was after the board returned to regular session at that meeting that Anderson made the motion that did pass on a two-to-one vote. “Madam Chair,” he said, “I would make a motion to direct staff to move forward with negotiations with NORCOR, providing jail services for Klickitat County under RCW 70.48.090. Staff and Commissioner Zoller are further authorized to negotiate with the cities of White Salmon, Bingen, and Goldendale for jail services that we currently provide. The BOCC is directing staff to prepare a supplemental budget removing
See County page A8
COURTESY JOHNLAPTADPHOTO.COM
EQIUNE AND OLD GLORY: See photos from last weekend’s Bickleton Rodeo on page B8.
GEOFF CRIMMINS, MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS
WHERE’S THE HIGH ROAD IN MEDICINE?: Dr. Wiliam Kabaseche, WSU professor of philosophy, plies his trade at the meeting point of morality and medicine. He’ll be speaking in Goldendale this coming Monday.
Finding the conjunction of good medicine and sound ethics LOU MARZELES EDITOR We’ll need a running start to say the full name and title of this person, so here goes: he’s Dr. William P. Kabasenche, Professor of Philosophy, Career-track. Wait, just warming up. Here’s more: School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs, College of Arts & Sciences. Take a break, smoke ’em if you got ’em. Next: Ethics Education Director, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University. Whew. Kabasenche will be in Goldendale this Monday, June 17, at 6 p.m. at the Maryhill Museum of Art to deliver a free presentation called “Morality and Medicine: How Philosophy Can Help with Healthcare Decisions.” Here’s how the presentation is described: “Medical professionals are often asked to make life or death choices. How can humankind’s knowledge about what is ‘good’ help? In this talk, explore
the intersection of philosophy and healthcare... Does good medical care require a knowledge of ethics? Can an unethical doctor still be effective?... Learn why some of the ethical responsibilities of healthcare providers are directly linked to the provider’s success.” Kabasenche designs, oversees, and delivers the ethics component of university medical curriculum. “I might come in and do an afternoon on end-of-life decision-making for patients with cardiovascular disease,” he says, describing how he weaves ethics topics in varied medical classes. “It’s very hard to make ethical judgements in the abstract. But depending on the context, the details of a particular case or a situation, then the students and I would be thinking together about what would be good or best or right.” Asked about his talk’s question about whether or not an unethical doctor can be effective, Kabasenche has a ready
answer. “In some cases there is a close alignment between being effective and being ethical,” he says. “We could say if someone’s being ineffective in certain domains, that means they’re also being unethical. And then in those same domains, if they’re being unethical, that also means they’re being ineffective. “One way I could know I’m dealing with an unethical provider is if the care they give is not going to be effective in one respect or another. To use one example, if a provider had financial conflicts of interest that led them to make judgments about what was best, for instance, what’s the best medication for me to take? Did the financial conflict of interest affect their judgment and lead them to, say, want to prescribe a medication from a company from which they’ve received money in the past? Then the drugs being a poor fit for me could be a strong indicator that something ethically problematic was going on.
See Ethics page A8
Since wildfire season will be here soon, now is the perfect time to make sure you and those around you are prepared. Getting #SmokeReady—the focus of this week—means identifying personal health risks, learning how to protect your indoor air, and knowing where to find the most up-to-date information about the location and intensity of wildfire smoke. #SmokeReady themes Over the course of #SmokeReady Week, Ecology will be posting on social media in line with daily themes: Wednesday, June 12: Smoke and your health • Symptoms of smoke exposure include: - Eye, nose, and throat irritation - Coughing, sore throat, and phlegm - Headaches - Shortness of breath and asthma attacks - Heart attacks • People in a sensitive group are more likely to be affected, including: - People with breathing or heart conditions - Babies and children under 18 - People over 65 - Pregnant women - People who smoke or have diabetes - People in these groups should take extra care to avoid exposure to wildfire smoke when possible. Thursday, June 13: Minimize exposure to smoke • When air quality is poor, try to stay inside and: - Shut windows and doors. - Delay vacuuming, dusting, and lighting candles. - Run fans to stay cool in the room you’re in. - Use HEPA air filters to purify indoor air. - Create a clean room. - Build your own clean air fan. • If you must go outside: - Reduce physical activity. - Wear a fitted N95 or KN95 mask. (Other kinds or masks don’t protect from PM2.5.) - Set your car’s air conditioner to recirculate. - Drink plenty of water. Friday, June 14: Prevent smoke • The increasingly hot and dry conditions caused by climate change mean more–and more intense–wildfires. • That said, over 80% of wildland fires are started by humans. - Be sure to: - Fully extinguish campfires. - Obey burn bans. - Choose alternatives to burning, such as composting, bagging, or chipping yard waste. - Fully extinguish cigarettes in an ashtray. - Park hot vehicles on asphalt, not dry grass. - Check your trailer chains to avoid sparks from dragging. Check on current and future smoke conditions In addition to Ecology’s website and social media pages, be sure to check the Washington Smoke Information blog, the state’s leading public resource for wildfire smoke information. You will find a map with near real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) values from air monitors and sensors across the state and nation. In addition to current air quality conditions, the map shows a smoke forecast for the next five days. It’s important to check the forecast regularly. Conditions can change very quickly. Below the map are tabs for the latest smoke data, local smoke outlooks, and external resources. Among these are monitoring and forecasting, fire, and health impact information.