“Nobody told me there’d be days like these.”—John Lennon
That’s the song at the top of my personal playlist these days, with the Police (“Don’t Stand So Close to me”).
These are truly difficult times for Lincoln County, the United States and the world. As the COVID-19 pandemic started to unfold, I told a friend we’re heading into the worst health crisis since 1918 and the worst economic crisis since 1929. But I prefer to think we should focus on a different year—1942, when the Greatest Generation stepped forward to win a global war against fascism.
Millions of young Americans served in uniform. Millions more (many of them women entering the workforce for the first time) filled vital defense production jobs. Everyone, though, took part in a spirit of shared sacrifice, dealing with rationing of food, gasoline and other essentials, and did without a lot of consumer goods entirely.
Today, we’re also being asked to sacrifice for the common good. Unfortunately, this is not a sacrifice that’s being shared equally. Some of us are laid off, furloughed, or otherwise without work; some have had the relatively minor inconvenience of figuring out how to work from home; but a lot of people on the front lines in health care, retail, public safety and other essential work keep showing up every day.
I wish we could undo a lot of things in the recent past. I wish that as a country we had ramped up testing capacity and production of personal protective equipment. But without that, social distancing is the only mechanism that we have to flatten the curve and keep this virus from overwhelming our limited medical resources here.
I believe it’s one of the greatest obligations of an elected official to continually do research, listen and learn on important issues, and whenever possible, represent the will of the people. Sometimes that’s more difficult than other times, because the public rarely speaks with one voice. The message that’s come to me most loudly, clearly and consistently from the people I’ve heard from is please don’t compound earlier mistakes by making another one and reopening too soon.
Closing a business for a few weeks is really hard. It’s harder still to have to close forever. Every business closure represents a loss of community vitality, a loss of income, and the death of a dream. But you know what’s even harder to close forever? A coffin.
Lincoln County finds itself back about where we were at the worst of the recession a decade ago. But we fought back from that, and I’m confident we will fight back from this. I’ve been an elected county official for one-quarter of my life and I’ve called this paradise on earth home for my than half my life. The people of Lincoln County are resilient and resourceful. We will get through this—together.
Outstanding words of encouragement! Thank you Claire
Are you a coward? Are you stupid? I didn’t think so.
Prove it.
You’re sitting in your house in a weird reversal of ‘quarantine’ where the healthy get locked up.
You get told that anyone talking about UN Agenda 21 is a conspiracy theorist and that it’s a non-binding plan, nothing to see here, you rightwing MAGA-hat wearing nut.
UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is the action plan implemented worldwide to inventory and control all land, all water, all minerals, all plants, all animals, all construction, all means of production, all energy, all education, all information, and all human beings in the world. INVENTORY AND CONTROL.—-Rosa Koire
Wake up Claire Hall, please wake up.
We haven’t used many coffins yet or have you failed to take note? What you are doing sickens me. I talk to business people that are very close to giving up. You are arrogant and I guess you plain don’t care. Your words are not reassuring, to say the least.
There is absolutely no reason why we can’t begin reopening our businesses, utilizing safety protocol. What a novel idea.
Would you be willing to endorse that concept? Or will you continue to ignore the right thing to do? Please come to Jesus and help save our community.
A Lincoln City Resident
This is not a time for us to bring politics to the table. But it is a time for us to come together as human beings. To be kind and to try to understand the importance of this moment and to be able to make a change in the trajectory Of this virus. It is not the goal of Federal and local agencies to destroy lives and to destroy the economy. The goal is simply to save lives. Let’s research the facts together let’s study the history of pandemics together let’s find out how people made it through those emergencies, So that we can find out ways to get through ours …together! let’s stop fighting each other! If we do not fight this TOGETHER, we cannot win .
BRAVO Claire and BRAVO Tammy!
As a side note, Lincoln county has also extended the ban on any new vacation rental licenses being applied for till October in all of Lincoln County, strange times indeed for current and future property owners who live here or were thinking of moving here. Good thing our economy is not tourism based.
With the casino closed and no casino related crime, maybe Lincoln City should “furlough” a certain “alleged” rapist cop. Just a suggestion.
Glad you’re having a great time in your own head
Agenda 21:
President George H.W. Bush was one of the 178 heads of government who signed the final text of the agreement at the Earth Summit in 1992.
Agenda 21 fears have played a role in opposition to local government’s efforts to promote resource and land conservation, build bike lanes, and construct hubs for public transportation.
Because it found 2021 was an overly optimistic date, its new timeline is targeting 2030, now Agenda 30. Thank You George Rest In Peace.
Claire,
LC is one of only 4 counties in Oregon which hasn’t filed a reopen plan with the Gov. Nice work, are you going to list that on your resume?
And yes Lennon is correct, there will be “Days like these” as long as your in office.