Opinion
4A
Thursday, April 9, 2020
The Observer
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Deadline nears
for political letters
C
OVID-19 continues to dominate local
news and beyond. But we also are in the
midst of an election season. We have a
front page story today about House District 58
candidate Barbara Wright of Pendleton pushing a
coronoavirus conspiracy theory that lacks basis in
fact.
In the coming weeks, we intend to cover elec-
tions, focusing on local races — such as the
four-way race for Union County sheriff — and
providing
some gen-
PHIL WRIGHT
eral infor-
OBSERVER EDITOR
mation about
regional and
national races. Our role is to wade through the
noise and provide relative information to help
you make an informed decision when ballots go
out in the mail on April 29.
And since we are in election season, it’s time
for a reminder about letters to the editor, espe-
cially those that aim to influence the outcome of
an election.
Letters to the editor often are a favorite fea-
ture of a newspaper and vital to the health and
well-being of our opinion page. A strong letters
section is a good way to gauge reader involve-
ment, providing something of a potluck of feed-
back from readers and a forum for opinions
that can showcase differences and reflect shared
community goals and values.
The goal of the letters to the editor sec-
tion is to harvest as many different viewpoints
regarding a variety of subjects as possible.
Printing four or five letters to the editor from a
single source runs the risk of pushing out other
letters from new sources that are interesting and
thought-provoking.
The Observer welcomes letters original let-
ters of 400 words or less on public issues and
public policies for publication in the newspaper
and on our website. The newspaper has the right
to refuse to publish letters that don’t adhere
to communtiy standards, for example, or that
engage in personal attacks or level consumer
complaints against businesses. That’s not what
the letters page is for. Likewise, we will not pub-
lish poetry.
We require letters include the name of the
author, their city of residence and a daytime
phone number. We will not publish the phone
number but that helps us to verify authorship.
We also will not publish anonymous letters. On
rare occasions, we publish letters that are not
specifically for The Observer.
A broad range of opinions and sentiments
are what makes a good letters section. So, keep
churning out those letters, but please limit your
letters to no more than one every two weeks. We
want to give space to as many voices and views
as we can in a timely manner.
To that end, political letters play a role in a
robust editorial page.
Political letters can provide readers with a
mixture of different views that can be useful
once ballots arrive in the mail. American elec-
tions are all about input from voters and votes
declaring their support — or nonsupport — for a
specific candidate or issue.
An opinion page should be a vibrant place
where voters — readers — can furnish a view-
point in a balanced, well-thought-out way that
resembles a giant community bulletin board. We
won’t publish letters that are diatribes or add
little to the larger political dialogue, but we do
welcome reasoned, precise viewpoints.
We will continue to run endorsement letters
as we receive them. All political letters are due
by noon April 22 and the final day we will run
them in print is Saturday, April 25.
We will not publish letters we receive after
the deadline.
Your views
Miller has compassion,
understanding
I met Bill Miller during the Basic
Police Academy in Salem. Bill and I
took to each other pretty easily as we
were the two oldest guys in the class.
I could tell right away that Bill was a
straight shooter and a man who kept
his word. Both are genuine character-
istics I look for in my friends.
About halfway through our
academy, a fellow student was being
harassed by another student. She
was fearful of how to handle the sit-
uation and of reprisal. She came to
Bill and I, asking for our advice.
While she told us the story, Bill lis-
tened patiently to her and gave his
full attention. She was very adamant
that she did not want to report the
harassing incidents and just wanted
them to go away.
Bill explained to her that the
repeated incidents were severe
enough they should be reported
to our training supervisor. With
utmost compassion, Bill explained
to this student that as officers/depu-
ties, we are held to the highest stan-
dard because of the trust given to us
by the public when we take the oath.
Bill even suggested that we go with
the student when she spoke to our
training sergeant and volunteered
to remain by her side through the
process.
In the end, our fellow student was
able to stand up for herself and tell
her story. She graduated the academy
with us and went on with her career.
If you want a leader for sheriff
who will show compassion, caring
and understanding to those in need,
then you should vote Bill Miller for
sheriff of Union County.
Scott Williams
Grants Pass
Rasmussen the right
choice for sheriff
Boyd Rasmussen has served
Union County as sheriff for 15 years
and has 26 total years in law enforce-
ment. He is an integral part of our
community and has raised a won-
derful family here. It has been my
pleasure to know his siblings and par-
ents. A man of integrity like Boyd
Write to us
Mail: The Observer, 911 Jefferson Ave., La
Grande, OR 97850
Email: news@lagrandeobserver.com
• The Observer welcomes letters to the
does not devote his life to public ser-
vice very often. We are all very for-
tunate to have Sheriff Rasmussen
with us in this community. I have
never known a more honest and
devoted person to anything he works
toward.
A time of economic and social tur-
moil is upon us and as such this is not
the time to have drastic change in the
local law enforcement arena. In these
uncertain times we need a home-
grown man of integrity with stead-
fastness, strength, experience and
judgement to see us through, Boyd
Rasmussen is that man.
I know I am very thankful for
Sheriff Rasmussen and the attributes
he brings to the sheriff’s office. We
all know we will be treated fairly and
be shown respect from the highly
trained and well-staffed sheriff’s
office.
Sheriff Rasmussen has improved
the equipment and available
resources of the sheriff’s office
through a steady upgrade policy
based on sound budgeting and allo-
cation of funds. Due to Rasmus-
sen’s leadership, deputies are better
equipped and trained to serve Union
County.
For all the above reasons and
many more please re-elect Boyd Ras-
mussen For Union County sheriff.
Dan and Nancy McDonald
Summerville
Miller has what sheriff’s
office needs
Printed in section 4A of the
April 4, 2020, Observer is a letter
from Michael Gove of La Grande.
Mr. Gove says, “I don’t know why
I’d vote to send someone not qual-
ified to be my sheriff to the police
academy for 16 weeks on my tax
dollars to become qualified to do the
job I’d already be paying for.”
I agree! Let me inform you that
Bill Miller is qualified and remains
certified. He will need 8 hours of
use of force updating and a medical
exam. He will not need to leave the
county to complete these things.
Mr. Gove also says, “I don’t know
why I’d consider folks that say one
thing and do another. Let’s see, a
deputy is in charge of union busi-
editor. We edit letters for brevity, grammar,
taste and legal reasons. We will not publish
consumer complaints against businesses or
personal attacks against private individuals.
Thank-you letters are discouraged.
• Letters are limited to 400 words and
must be signed and carry the author’s
ness, that organization votes to sup-
port the current sheriff. The deputy
leading the union resigns his posi-
tion and runs against his boss. The
association withdraws their support.
Re-read my first sentence.”
Once again, I agree with Mr.
Gove. This does raise some inter-
esting questions, and it is also a
testament to internal problems
within the sheriff’s office. Mr. Gove
says that it’s not time for a change
while things are going fine. Would
a deputy be running against his
boss if things were fine? Would the
union revoke their endorsement of
the current sheriff if things were
fine? Mr. Gove says it’s time for a
change when things aren’t fine. He
is right about that. Bill Miller knows
the changes that need to be made
within the sheriff’s office. He has
the desire and experience to make
these needed changes. Bill will unite
this office and lead the employees to
better serve you.
Michael Gove suggests we not
reinvent the wheel. He says the
sheriff has built inroads and contacts
throughout his years in service. I
don’t doubt this. Bill Miller has been
in law enforcement in this county
for 20 years. Bill has developed
trusted working relationships with
partnering agencies. As evidence,
I urge you to visit Bill Miller For
Union County sheriff on Facebook
and examine the many endorse-
ments he has from trusted leaders
in the law enforcement community
that have worked with Bill over the
years.
Vote for Bill Miller. He will serve
us well.
Sharon Glasson
Elgin
Business owner supports
Rasmussen for sheriff
As a business owner and member
of our community, I wanted to voice
my support for Boyd Rasmussen
as sheriff of Union County. He has
always worked diligently and with the
utmost care and respect anytime we
have needed his assistance.
Respectfully,
Eric Laurence
La Grande
address and phone number (for verification
only).
• Letter writers are limited to one letter
every two weeks.
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lagrandeobserver.com, for more news,
opinion and other content.