FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Gun control: Senate Bill 941
Bandstand
Continued from Page 1
Continued from Page 1
Transfer, for the purpos-
es of this bill means “the
delivery of a fi rearm from
a transferor to a transferee,
including, but not limited
to, the sale, gift, loan or
lease of the fi rearm.”
The bill also “requires
the Department of State
Police to notify local law
enforcement agency when,
during criminal back-
ground check performed
prior to transfer of fi rearm,
department determines that
recipient is prohibited from
possessing fi rearm. Au-
thorizes court to prohibit
person ordered to partici-
pate in assisted outpatient
treatment from purchasing
or possessing fi rearm dur-
ing period of treatment if
certain criteria are met.”
Certain portions of the
bill are exempted for a
person’s immediate family
members.
Current Oregon law
already prevents felons
and the mentally ill from
owning fi rearms, and op-
ponents say this bill simply
targets the law-abiding gun
owners.
Several county Sheriffs
across Oregon, including
Sheriff Glenn Palmer of
adjoining Grant County,
have stepped up to oppose.
Palmer has called the bill
“borderline treasonous”
and states that it is unen-
forceable.
Newly appointed Baker
County Interim Sheriff,
Travis Ash, who steps into
his new role May 1, agrees
heartily on Palmer’s last
point.
Said Ash, “I have read
SB 941 and I don’t see
where it is going to prevent
criminals from obtaining
fi rearms. We currently
have laws that prohibit
certain criminals from pos-
sessing fi rearms, but they
still obtain them illegally.
“I do believe that it is
going to cause an unneces-
sary fi nancial burden for
taxpayers with the in-
creased demand on Oregon
State Police performing
background checks. I also
believe that it is going to
be huge inconvenience and
increase expense for law-
abiding citizens that want
to purchase fi rearms.”
Local City police here
aren’t impressed with
the potential of this law,
either. Said Baker City
Police Chief Wyn Lohner,
“I think it will have very
little, if any, effect on
keeping fi rearms out of
the hands of criminals.
Criminals typically don’t
buy their fi rearms from
honest citizens and if they
did, as soon as going to a
dealer for a background
check was mentioned, the
criminal would go another
direction.”
Lohner added, “This law,
as I read it, will be next
to impossible to enforce.
Unless some law enforce-
ment entity runs a ‘sting’
and poses as a fi rearms
buyer, trying to see if an
honest citizen will sell a
gun without fi rst going to
a dealer and completing a
background check, it will
require a citizen complaint.
Even with a complaint, the
investigation would be ex-
tremely diffi cult due to all
the exceptions in the law.”
Many elected offi cials
are upset with the process
and the way this bill has
been “fast-tracked” from
the start. State Rep. Greg
Barreto from nearby Cove
said in a press release,
“I’m very disappointed that
the Committee Chairman
would limit public discus-
sion on such an important
bill.
“On Wednesday, April 1,
dozens of Oregonians from
across the state traveled
to the Capitol to testify
before the Senate Judiciary
Committee regarding Sen-
ate Bill 941, legislation
that expands background
checks to the private sale
of fi rearms. Of the more
than 100 registered wit-
nesses, 94% of those who
signed up to speak in favor
of the bill were allowed
to testify, while only 19%
of those who planned to
speak in opposition were
allowed to voice their
concerns.”
In total, at least 68 Or-
egonians who planned to
testify against SB 941 were
denied the opportunity to
do so, including several
individuals who traveled
more than 100 miles.
“I’m even more upset,”
said Barreto, “to learn that
one of my constituents,
who took a day off from
work and traveled more
than fi ve hours in order to
speak on this issue, was
turned away by the com-
mittee. Oregonians deserve
better from their Legisla-
ture.”
That individual, Irene
Gilbert, a gun store
manager from La Grande,
traveled several hundred
miles (610 miles round
trip) before being denied
the opportunity to voice
her concerns about the
legislation.
Gilbert penned a letter to
the Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee later that day. She
writes, “This is the second
time I have sent this tes-
timony and comments re-
garding SB 941. It has not
been published with the
other public testimony on
the bill. Given that I was
denied an opportunity to
speak by the chairman of
this committee, I hope you
will see to it that my com-
ments are posted tomorrow
on the public record for
this bill.”
Gilbert continues, “I
drove fi ve hours … from
La Grande, Oregon to get
to testify for two min-
utes in front of the above
committee. I listened to
multiple speakers from
California, Washington,
and other states interjecting
their opinions about what
Oregon should be doing. I
heard as much misinforma-
tion regarding facts and
fi gures as I have heard in
a two-hour period in my
entire life. What I did not
hear was the testimony of
hundreds of Oregonians
including myself who were
not provided the opportu-
nity to testify. The head of
this committee has appar-
ently forgotten that he is
supposed to be represent-
ing the citizens of Oregon.
Those are the people who
will have to live with the
legislation that is passed in
this state.”
Gilbert points to the add-
ed expense, time for those
in rural areas to travel to a
dealer, and a host of delays
and fl aws in the already
existing state registration
system. She says, “Of the
cases denied, by far the
majority are due to an
expired drivers license, an
error in the home address
on the driver’s license or
another simple error. When
cases are pended, it can
take several weeks for a
response which is normally
an approval.”
She adds, “The one
denial I processed dur-
ing the past six months
was a young boy who
came in with his mother
to purchase his fi rst gun.
The policeman came in
for the information on the
purchaser while they were
still in the store. He talked
to them and said that it was
no big deal and he had told
them how to fi x the prob-
lem. By making the failure
to complete this paper
process a Class A Misde-
meanor you put a paper
processing failure in the
same category as assault in
the fourth degree or theft
in the second degree. This
means that issuing cita-
tions for this infraction will
result in more verbal and
physical abuse or death of
police offi cers, will con-
sume hours of their time
due to the increase in court
time that will be required.
Since it is recommended
that anyone charged with
a Class A Misdemeanor be
represented by an attorney,
the bill serves no one other
than the attorneys of the
state.”
“This bill places a dis-
proportionate burden on
those in rural and economi-
cally depressed areas and
removes our police offi cers
from providing protection
for serious crimes as well
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Sen. Floyd Prozanski.
as requiring jail space to
incarcerate otherwise law
abiding citizens,” Gilbert
states.
Gilbert concludes, “We
do not need the addi-
tional liability of keep-
ing people’s fi rearms on
pended cases. It opens
us up to accusations that
we have damaged a gun,
or whatever. In addition,
we do not need to assume
additional liability for
having accurate records
when we are visited by
ATF. The last time we were
inspected, we had two men
who recorded every serial
number of every gun in the
store and made sure they
were all correctly logged
in. They then reviewed
every gun we sold to
make sure every box was
correctly fi lled and check
mark made. We were noti-
fi ed that we had not always
checked the ‘proceed’ box
even though we had re-
corded the release number
on some of the forms. I
could continue with facts,
however, it appears that
there is little interest in
hearing facts about the
consequences of this bill.
“What I will say is this:
In my sixty-plus years in
this state, I can say with
confi dence that those
controlling this legislature
have done more harm to
the freedom and pock-
etbooks of the people of
this state in the name of
‘protecting’ us than any
other group coming before
you. Please just leave our
constitution alone!”
On Monday, an amend-
ment to the bill, which
was proposed by Sen. Kim
Thatcher, was shot down
and the existing bill left
standing.
More specifi cally, the
amendment would have
made individuals who
transfer a gun to a pro-
hibited person criminally
liable whether the trans-
feror knew the recipient
was prohibited or not. This
would act as incentive for
individuals to perform due
diligence when selling a
weapon without mandating
background checks for all
private gun transfers.
“Mandating background
checks on private gun sales
will do little in the way of
preventing gun violence
and stopping criminals
from obtaining a gun,” said
Thatcher. “My amendment
would have been a great
compromise which would
have encouraged more due
diligence in private gun
sales while also protecting
law-abiding Oregon gun
owners.”
Republicans in the
Senate and House remain
locked solidly against the
bill, and only Democratic
Senator Betsy Johnson has
parted ways with her side
of the aisle to oppose it.
In total, the bill is 23
pages long and is expected
to take its next step toward
becoming a law in the very
near future.
John Phillip Sousa, who was also known as the Ameri-
can March king, was a composer and conductor known
for military and patriotic Marches. Sousa composed such
works as Semper Fidelis, the offi cial March of the Marine
Corps and The Stars And Stripes Forever, the national
March of The United States of America.
“Now we are going to break ground for our new Pow-
der River Pavilion,” Hunsaker said.
He specifi cally acknowledged what he called “the orig-
inal dream team”—Al Durgan and Phyllis Badgley. “If
they hadn’t come up with idea to replace it we wouldn’t
be here today. This has been a true community project,
and critical to its success have been the many individual
donations from near and far, including Scotland.”
Although some donors wished to remain anonymous
others were recognized including The Baker City Band-
stand Committee consisting of Lynette Perry, Marvin
Sundean, Cindy Endicott, Joyce Badgley Hunsaker, and
Dave Hunsaker.
“The Soroptimists International, Baker County have
been our nonprofi t partner the whole way and we deeply
appreciate their support. Thanks to Baker City Council,
Mayors both past and present, and city staff they have
been fabulous to work with. We’d also like to thank the
Leo Adler Foundation; they have been with us from
day one, The Ford Family Foundation Fund, The Pease
Family Fund and Triple C Redi-Mix who is donating all
the concrete for this project. Natural Structures has been
has been working with us patiently in all our changes,
trials and tribulations. Baker County is known for being
hands on, can do, coming up with an idea, fi guring out
how to get to its goal and being persistent enough to see
it through. This project is a perfect example of the get’er
done attitude. We thank the community for its patience
and steadfast support. Thank you all very much for being
here, we are going to break some ground now,” Hunsaker
said.
After a countdown, the group dug their shovels in and
overturned ground signifying the start of the exciting and
anticipated project.
Former Baker City Mayor and current City Council-
man Richard Langrell said, “It was a real good turnout.”
The bandstand design is an open concept that is
intended to discourage vandalism. Dedication of the new
bandstand will be announced at a later date upon comple-
tion and is expected to be sometime before Miner’s
Jubilee in July.
In addition to the numerous fundraisers held, com-
memorative bricks, tiles and columns were sold to help
fund the project. Although the bandstand maintenance
will be turned over to the city, no city funds were utilized
in the project.
As disclosed at a previous meeting any money left
over after the completion of the bandstand will be turned
over to the City to assist in costs associated to the band-
stand.
Additional information regarding the bandstand includ-
ing design can be seen on the website bakercityband-
stand.org.
A complete list of contributors including names of
those that have purchased bricks, tiles and columns can
also be accessed and the website acknowledges that while
every small contributor may not be specifi cally recog-
nized they are no less important. Before the crowd dis-
persed, it was brought to everyone’s attention that Phyllis
Badgley was celebrating her 91st birthday.
The crowd paid tribute by singing a round of Happy
Birthday.
The celebrating has already begun.
Hells Canyon
to one lane
OXBOW, Oregon, April 3, 2015 — Vehicles crossing
Hells Canyon Dam will continue to be restricted to one
lane for several weeks while Idaho Power crews perform
maintenance on the dam.
Flaggers at either end of the dam will control traffi c
while work is taking place, usually between 8 a.m. and
5:30 p.m. each day, Monday through Thursday. Although
fl aggers will not be present at night or on Fridays, the
road will still be restricted to one lane by equipment on
the dam; motorists are urged to use extra caution when
crossing.
Additionally, a reader board is in place at Oxbow to
warn drivers of the road restriction.
The lane restriction is necessary to allow crews to safe-
ly perform maintenance work on the dam’s intake gates.
Completed in 1967, Hells Canyon Dam is Idaho Power’s
second-largest dam in terms of electricity generation. It
has a nameplate capacity of 391.5 megawatts.
3-Gun Match
Series May 16
The Powder River Sportsmen’s Club is conducting
a 3-Gun Match Series beginning May 16 at the Virtue
Flat Shooting Range. Prizes will be awarded to beginner,
Intermediate, and Expert Classes at the end-of-season
match on September 26. Visitors and new shooters are al-
ways welcome. Series competition is not required; occa-
sional shooters are welcome too! Visit www.baker3gun.
com for details and contact information, or call David
Spaugh at 541-519-8298. If you are interested in 3-Gun
but have never shot a match, we’ll be happy to help you
get started. Specialized equipment is not a requirement
for participation in practical shooting sports!