Editorial Column: Journalism Reveals Challenges of “Paradise”

–by Margie Doyle —

July 4, 2011 — Here in the U.S. Heartland (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) I breakfast at the hotel where Casey Anthony’s trial continues to fix the imagination of Americans, and senior adults overeat at the free buffet while the kids prance about, anxiously waiting to go to the hotel waterslides in this recently-flooded, now scorching climate.

I am now halfway to my destination in Kentucky and at last making tracks, having wandered through Montana for three days. Today is Independence Day and someone has left their copy of the Argus Leader at the table. I look at the “Local News” section for Flandreau, South Dakota. While I somehow doubt few locals would refer to their home in the way many Orcas Islanders do, as “paradise,” here are some of the stories and issues reported in their news:

• Storm cleanup — 70 mph “straightline winds” — I never heard that expression before, but it’s a great descriptor of the event that affected power, traffic and wastewater. Emergency responders went door to door to see if people are okay. Sounds like Orcas.
• Fishing pal saves snake-bitten friend — Two boys, 18 and 13 years old are fishing, when the older boy is bit by a rattlesnake. The younger boy, “having had some driving experience from working on a farm,” drove to get help, continually trying to reach 911 before meeting up with an ambulance. The older boy, after treatment at a Rapid City hospital, said he tried to “keep his mind and thoughts positive by thinking of the people closest to him. He knew the younger boy was  ‘not your average 13-year-old and I had a good feeling he could do it. He’s definitely a hero.’ Sounds like some Orcas school kids I know.
• South Dakotans close gap in Medicare — and “cash in” on a new medical benefit (Part D) to help pay for prescription drugs. This year the discount switched to a percentage that shows up automatically when consumers pay thier bill at the drugstore. “We’re saving money for people who really need it most,” said a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Do Orcas seniors make use of this federal benefit?
• Pawn shop rules tough to agree on — proposed new regulations would require some businesses to register purchases in a national database. In The intent is to help crime victims. But at a “contentious” meeting of almost 20 people, “most of the regulations were shot down for reasons ranging from constitutionality to more regulation on businesses where there hasn’t been a problem.” The issue came to a head last year with an internal audit of the police department suggesting changes.”  Sound familiar to those puzzling out San Juan County CAO updates.
• Cities must figure long-term costs of floods — With the continuing flooding of the Missouri and Vermillion Rivers, community leaders still deal with fending off flood threats that began in May, and in consultations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are tracking short- and long-term costs. One local official says, “I am envisioning there will come a time when we say, ‘Here’s our plan; let’s execute it.'” Though not waste disposal, the costs of government services plague other counties too.
• Education: Teacher evaluation beyond test scores — does class size matter? how does in-person student performance compare to achievement in online courses? which teachers consistently get the most individual student growth in their classroom? In the middle of the country, tax-payers ask the same questions that we on Orcas Island ask.
• Firefighters complain of rigorous testing requirements — Tests required in 8 minutes, 42 seconds:
  • drag a 5-inch supply house 100 feet
  • simulate forcing entry into a building using a sledgehammer
  • go up and down 12 flights of stairs carrying a fire house
  • drag a 165 pound mannequin 50 feet
  • “Testing here symbolizes a growing trend in the U.S,” local fire Chief says. Running a fire department is a life-and-death proposition whether on a small green island (where there are no 12-story buildings) or in a major U.S. city.

So while taking a break from my small green island, I see that all over America in 2011, everyday heroes, bureaucrats, teachers, seniors, business owners and firefighters face shared challenges and issues. That’s a part of paradise too.