Opinion
4A
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Seventeen-year-old Weston-McEwen senior Bailey Munck testifi es re-
motely from Pendleton on March 25, 2021, for Senate Bill 649, known
as Bailey’s Bill. The bill increases penalties for criminal sexual contact
with an underage victim when the defendant is the victim’s teacher.
Our View
Bill should
not be used as
political pawn
n the end, it is a shame a few Oregon law-
makers were forced to resort to a lit-
tle-known, and hardly used, rule to get a bill
that addresses criminal sexual contact off the ice
and moving in the Legislature.
The legislation, Senate Bill 649 — also known
as Bailey’s Bill — boosts penalties for criminal
sexual contact with an underage victim if the
off ender is the victim’s teacher. The existing law
delivers harsher penalties to a coach caught in the
same situation as a teacher. The bill, named after
Weston-McEwen student Bailey Munck, received
easy approval in the Oregon Senate before it trav-
eled to the House where, for reasons not clear, it
stalled at the House Judiciary Committee.
The chair of the committee, Rep. Janelle
Bynum, D-Clackamas, “indicated” she was not
going to give the bill a hearing, which prompted
nine members of the judicial committee to invoke
House Rule 8.20. The rule stipulates if a majority
of committee members request a hearing in
writing, the chair must set up a hearing within
fi ve days.
That set up a hearing for Tuesday, May 18,
with another on May 24, along with a work ses-
sion on the bill that same day.
Bynum’s reluctance to move the bill may be
connected to political brinkmanship, where it was
going to be used as a bargaining chip regarding
other legislation. Hopefully, that is incorrect. If
it is not, then that should give readers — not to
mention voters — pause.
A lawmaker should not regulate a bill that
addresses a subject as sensitive and as important
as criminal sexual contact to a mere chess piece
on a broader political chess board.
The lawmakers who pushed for the hearing
should be lauded. Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
and Sen. Kathleen Taylor, D-Milwaukie, who
navigated the bill through the Senate, also
deserve praise.
Bailey’s Bill should not have ended up stuck in
limbo in a committee of the House. The bill, once
it reached the House, should have been acted on
immediately.
That it was not is troubling.
The broader issue, though, is appropriate pun-
ishment for those who prey on our children. This
bill will fi x a glaring hole that seemingly gives
instructors a lighter punishment when they, in
fact, should receive the same penalty as coaches.
It will close a dangerous loophole.
The other key piece of the bill is it has wide,
bipartisan support. Currently, such unity among
lawmakers is rare and when it occurs should be
advanced as quickly as possible.
This time lawmakers did the right thing and
voters should be pleased.
And Bynum’s constituents ought to have a
word with her about her actions.
I
My Voice
Our freedom requires
responsibility, not home arsenals
EVELYN
SWART
JOSEPH
hen referring to the early
colonial days, some people
conclude that since the col-
onists had to fi ght to gain indepen-
dence from the tyranny of the king
of England, patriots now must have
home arsenals to fi ght our current
government. They believe that the
Second Amendment to the Constitu-
tion requires that there be no limits to
the amount of armor they collect and
prepare to use.
There is a diff erent way to think of
the Second Amendment and the way it
relates to the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. As an exercise toward under-
standing “freedom” on one Fourth of
July, a group of us reenacted the colo-
nists’ deliberation for the Declaration
of Independence. We were assigned
opposing positions, those agreeing
to separate from English rule and
those who were reluctant to change
the status quo. As the group read the
historical document, we noticed that
the phrases at the beginning of the
document were, and still are, used
frequently:
“We hold these truths to be self-ev-
W
Letter
It is time to part ways with
big government in Salem
I read with interest and totally
agree with Mike McCarter’s Other
Views column in the May 1 edition
of The Observer.
For way too long rural Orego-
nians have lived under the thumb
of a Democratic governor and Leg-
islature that design the rules and
laws to fi t the metropolitan scene,
totally ignoring the lifestyle of
ranchers, loggers and citizens in
rural Northeastern Oregon. As
former Oregon Rep. Mark Sim-
mons said, and I believe hundreds
of others agree, it is time to part
ways with them in every legal way
available.
I would say to the folks in rural
Oregon that it is time to divorce
ourselves from the big government
in Salem and the metro area.
Duane Berry
Imbler
ident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.”
The Fourth of July group read
through what seemed a never-ending
list of grievances against the king
of England. Sure, the colonists were
against paying taxes to the king
because they suff ered extreme abuses
by the dictator king. The king’s sol-
diers were the controlling power in the
colonies even during times of peace.
Just read the long list of abuses listed
in the Declaration of Independence
and you will appreciate our freedom
today.
The Declaration of Independence
is a powerful reminder of the reasons
our founders wrote the Constitution
as they did. Those ideas or concepts
form a contract structuring the U.S.
as a free country. We citizens are free
from tyranny and authoritarianism
because the patriots who designed our
Constitution made it a “government of
the people, by the people and for the
people.”
As a result, the lives we live today
are far diff erent from the oppression
the colonists experienced. We have
civilian control of our government.
We vote for our representatives and
let them know what we want in our
Write to us
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country. Our representatives raise
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that is the way our government is
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We disagree with one another,
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I believe that by understanding the
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protect their homes, property, fam-
ilies. Muskets were enough for the
patriots in 1776 and they ought to be
enough for patriots in 2021.
Freedom requires responsibility,
not home arsenals.
———
Evelyn Swart is a retired educator
who lives in Joseph and believes
education is an important solution for
understanding the issues we face.
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