Editorials from around New York

Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York’s newspapers:

(Rochester) Democrat and Chronicle on teen suicide prevention.

May 20

Perhaps the most important thing to know about suicide is that there are ways to prevent it.

Despite that fact, far too few of us actually know how to do it.

We have a lot of difficulty simply talking about this public health problem, especially when it afflicts children and teenagers. It is even harder when those children and teens might be our own sons and daughters.

As with all public health issues, however, broadening awareness and knowledge while decreasing stigma surrounding teen suicide is critical to prevention. Talking about it is the first step toward stopping it.

A series of teen deaths over the past 18 months in Penfield is prompting many area parents, educators and other community members to consider having these difficult discussions. At Penfield High School, they have already started. This is, quite likely, the only silver lining to the sadness that we feel.

Adults in our community should be learning and sharing teen suicide prevention practices. And they should be providing opportunities for children and teenagers to express how they are feeling.

Bringing up the topic of suicide with young people living in our homes or in our community is not likely to lead to an increase in suicidal behavior. It might, however, open a door for youths to step through in desperate search of help for themselves or a troubled classmate.

And that is a key point to remember. Suicide is nearly always related to mental illness. Teens who are bullied, or stressed, or angry are still not likely to attempt to take their own lives if they are not first troubled by a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety. These are treatable conditions.

Teenagers who are contemplating suicide nearly always offer some form of advance notice. They talk about having no purpose, being a burden on others, feeling trapped or in pain. They say they want to kill themselves. They become more reckless, or more withdrawn. Their sleep patterns change. They rage.

But, if we have not learned how to recognize warning signs like these, advance notice is of little value. And, if we are not prepared to appropriately respond to the warning signs, we might miss an important moment. …

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Online:

https://on.rocne.ws/2qVlX8E

(Utica) Observer-Dispatch on dealing with the opioid epidemic.

May 24

Last week, police in Nassau County and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested three men from Long Island who allegedly attempted to sell ketamine and fentanyl to undercover officers. Long Island’s Newsday reported that authorities raided the men’s storage facility in Queens and found 2.5 million glassine envelopes commonly used to package drugs like cocaine and heroin.

The sale of $19,000 in drugs to undercover Long Island police officers led authorities to a massive operation that they say had been supplying the entire East Coast with drug paraphernalia and packaging. One police official says there was enough fentanyl to “take out a whole neighborhood.”

In all likelihood, the Utica region was hooked into the supply chain.

The opioid epidemic is rampant. No place escapes. …

The opioid problem began growing in part over the past decade as patients were prescribed narcotics to help ease post-surgical pain. But the ready availability of so many prescription painkillers sparked an epidemic of opioid addiction. Some patients became unwittingly addicted, while others misused their pills, not following prescription directions.

More recently, doctors like Andrew Wickline have moved away from the painkillers, using other pain management techniques, such as nerve blocks and a simplified rehab regimen. When absolutely necessary, he might prescribe pain pills, but far fewer in number and with rare refills.

To deal with the erupting crisis, attitudes and law are changing. New guidelines on opioid prescribing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March 2016 made a big impact on medical thinking, said Dr. Brian Johnson, a professor of psychiatry, behavioral sciences and anesthesiology at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

“The addictive drug industry is huge,” said Johnson. “In the world, it’s about as big as the oil and gas industry, world tourism. There’s so many dollars in selling drugs to people. The No. 1 (addictive) drug is nicotine, No. 2 alcohol and No. 3 opioids.” …

“If we can get communities talking about it, if we can get middle-class parents, who think it’s an inner-city problem, to talk about it ….” said Kent Hogeboom, who with his wife has custody of his grandchildren. Their father - the Hogebooms’ son - died in February at age 34 of a heroin overdose after 8½ months in recovery.

Many other families have been touched by the pain of addiction, too. …

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Online:

https://bit.ly/2rQZ8Rv

Poughkeepsie Journal on the need for transparency in state bureaucracies.

May 23

For decades, state officials have played bureaucratic shell games to shield government decisions from the public. These devious maneuvers take many forms, including creating boards and authorities that don’t always have to comply with two tenets of good government in New York - the Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law.

Too often, we have seen what can happen when these boards and authorities are kept in the shadows, yet have the power to make big decisions and spend oodles of public money. State authorities, for instance, have accumulated an alarming amount of debt. There is little accountability and transparency in their decisions. Consequently, there also have been plenty of abuses over the years, including sweetheart deals being given to contractors and lavish bonuses going to their executives.

The most recent and troubling case in point involves two scandal-ridden boards that oversaw operations at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, the Albany-based college that steered much of upstate’s economic development. The boards, Fort Schuyler and Fuller Road Management, largely operated outside of public oversight, including not complying with FOIL and the Open Meetings Law, at least at times.

Fort Schuyler and SUNY Poly now find themselves at the center of a federal criminal investigation connected to potential bid-rigging. While this investigation continues, the state can take definitive action to bring more accountability to these type of boards.

You can always rely on Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, to break down these often complicated matters into digestible terms, and he did so earlier this year in a guest column published by the Poughkeepsie Journal. He says in many cases, “quasi” organizations are, in reality, part of the government: For instance, they would not exist but for their relationship with a government agency.

“Usually a nonprofit entity is not part of the government, but sometimes, it’s a creation of the government,” he wrote. “When that is so, it’s really part of the government.”

That’s why the Committee on Open Government rightly says laws should be changed to make any nonprofit entity tied to a government subject to FOIL. A bill based on the committee’s recommendation has been introduced by state Democratic Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, of Kenmore, and Republican Senator Philip Boyle, of Bay Shore. That bill reads in part, “Efforts by the news media to gain access to records of those entities have been rebuffed, despite our view that many are and have been required to comply with FOIL.”

The bill has been offered, “In the hopes of rebuilding the public’s faith in their government by furthering transparency and expanding access to information.”

Those are great goals, for sure. The state ought to come clean, offering honest assessments on these organizations and acknowledging they must be part of an open government.

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Online:

https://pojonews.co/2qPQ8xq

(Melville) Newsday on coping with the Manchester terror attack and other violent incidents.

May 23

In the wake of the terrorist bombing of a pop concert in Manchester, England, in the wake of every such massacre these days, our minds respond with a series of irreconcilable dualities: We think, this is just the way the world is today, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. But this cannot be allowed to go on, cannot be permitted to happen.

Monday night’s blast was reportedly set off by a 22-year-old British man, Salman Abedi, whose parents came from Libya. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 22 people and wounded 59.

This is part of, or a result of, a well-funded and organized movement, and it has to be dealt with as such. But many religions have their violent fundamentalists, and the overwhelming majority of Muslims lead peaceful lives.

The concert was by Ariana Grande, a favorite of teen and preteen girls. The bomb was detonated just outside the security perimeter of the arena as attendees were beginning to leave.

It can feel as if nowhere is safe anymore, for our children or for ourselves, and we must be very careful to avoid settings where such attacks are possible. But statistically there is little chance of dying in a terrorist attack or an act of random violence, and we need to live our lives freely and as we choose, because if we do not, the terrorists win.

Britain has been under a “severe” terror threat level, the fourth highest of that nation’s five levels, since 2014. On Tuesday, the threat level was raised to “critical,” meaning an attack might be imminent and that security will be even tighter. After the Manchester bombing, law-enforcement leaders from across the New York City area and the nation promised increased vigilance against attacks, particularly at large public gatherings.

Anything we have to do to stop such attacks is worth it, any amount of security is justified at big events and public venues and airports and train stations. But no matter where you put security checkpoints, there will be lines of people just outside of them. It’s hard to stop a determined killer who is willing to die. And subjecting ourselves to endless checks that won’t always prevent violence could be seen as a burden on freedoms and a waste of time and resources.

So, what we are to do? We persist. We balance. We pursue progress. We work to stop those who would kill even as we work to show them that freedom and peace provide a better path. We hope. We try. And we mourn.

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Online:

https://nwsdy.li/2qkLS5G

(Plattsburgh) Press-Republican on adjusting the national school lunch program.

May 21

Michelle Obama’s attempt to get healthier food served in school cafeterias was a noble and somewhat successful experiment. But it did not achieve the desired goal.

Now, the Trump administration plans to allow schools to have more flexibility in meeting federal requirements.

School officials may not want to admit it - because who wants to speak publicly against healthier food? - but the planned adjustment is actually a sound idea.

The change does not give up on the idea that cafeteria food should be more nutritious, but it does address the issues of cost and waste. Here, as in other areas of the country, many cafeteria workers and teachers have quietly mentioned those factors as definite drawbacks.

Mrs. Obama’s aim was to combat childhood obesity, a burgeoning problem in the United States that results in adults with conditions that tax the health-care system.

Since 2012, school cafeterias have been under order to increase servings of whole grains, vegetables, fruit and nonfat milk and to cut down on calories, fat and sodium, with specific numerical goals to be met.

Local cafeteria crews have been trying to work more whole grains into their menu, but kids haven’t been very receptive. Many are turning up noses at the school versions of pizza, tacos and rolls. And the fruit that students are required to put on their lunch trays often winds up tossed in the basket, observers say.

On May 1, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that, starting next school year, districts can request an exemption from the requirements that would have forced them to move from the current 50 percent use of whole grains to 100 percent. They can also delay the next sodium-level mandate and will be able to serve 1 percent flavored milk instead of nonfat only.

“If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition, thus undermining the intent of the program,” Perdue said.

Praising Mrs. Obama’s efforts, he said: “We’re not winding back any standards at all. We are just slowing down the process.”

The Press-Republican has said, in past editorials, that nutrition changes need to reach into homes in order to be most effective at schools.

Most kids just won’t eat food they aren’t that familiar with. If the whole-grain pizza doesn’t taste like the kind they get at home, they will probably leave it on their plates.

Over time, children might get more used to healthier food choices, especially if their parents are educated on the benefits and national food producers move toward more nutritious offerings.

But what do children learn from being forced to take fruit they don’t want and that they know they are allowed to throw away? What is gained by high whole-grain content if the food doesn’t get eaten?

We hope area schools don’t abandon all the progress that has been made. But it is wasteful and counterproductive to require them to pay more for food that kids aren’t eating.

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Online:

https://bit.ly/2rhRdzC