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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2015)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Opinion — Editorial — Turning a mouse-sized problem into a mountain We were introduced to both the Eltrym Theater’s “Movie Rat” and the City’s graffiti ordinance on September 15—the day we were tipped off about a Facebook post from the day before, penned by that business’s owners com- plaining about a $250 citation they’d received. As the story went, the owners enjoy the picture of the mouse, and unlike other graffiti, wanted to have it remain on their building. Therefore, they be- lieved they should not have been cited. Frankly, we couldn’t care less if the owners want to keep the graffiti for which they were cited, or if they want to paint it over. Not our circus. Not our monkeys. Not our building, for that matter. But we do care about how the issue was handled, in that our City Police Department was publicly accused of “harassment,” setting off a fire storm of police bashing on social media—all for issuing a citation to this business in the same way a citation would likely be is- sued to any business in violation of that particular ordinance. It’s apparent in that post, that local law enforcement attempted to com- municate several times about the issue, finally only writing up a citation after being told by the owners that they wouldn’t comply. We call that being backed into a corner. The code enforcement officer didn’t write the ordinance. He may agree or disagree with it—we have no clue. But it’s his job to follow the law and enforce it equally, and it appears that’s what he did. From that point, the situation seemed to escalate quickly, and discussion of the ordinance and the “Movie Rat” was nearly immediately sensationalized fur- ther via other local media, and placed on the agendas for the next Public Arts Commission and City Council meet- ings. At those meetings, one personal friend of the theater’s owners stood and expressed concern over the “vindic- tiveness” of a complaint-based graffiti ordinance. We still aren’t entirely clear if local authorities simply witnessed the graffiti themselves or if a complaint had ever been registered at some prior date, but we do note the word “vindictiveness.” Unfortunately, over this past month, being the small community it is, we re- ceived additional tips from a multitude of sources who heard rumor-mongering and false accusations being thrown, not just at the police, but at another busi- ness owner with claims they had used that complaint-driven ordinance to yes, “harass” the theater for whatever imagined reason. That’s an awful lot of harassment going on over a bit a paint that most people in the community haven’t seen and probably didn’t even know about— and nothing but malicious, adolescent behavior on the part of the gossips. And now to top it off, taxpayers are looking at a bare minimum of several hundred dollars worth of legal fees on this issue as the City attempts to alter the existing ordinance to insert more “flexibility” into it in the form of an appeals system. We’ll be the first to stand up and ad- vocate for property owners’ rights. We can get behind the idea of chang- ing the ordinance in such a way as to give police a little more discretion in its enforcement, and property owners more leeway. And we do like the idea of an “art alley” or “freak alley” being identi- fied where local artists can go to get creative. If that art alley winds up being located behind the theater, great! However, as far as the expense of changing the ordinance as suggested, we were of the understanding that an appeals system is already in place. When issued a citation, any individual or business can refuse to pay it, and instead request time in court—where a judge will review and rule on the matter, choosing to enforce a citation, reduce or dismiss it. The drama that has ensued, surround- ing the fate of the “Movie Rat,” comes across so very divisive and unnecessary to us—a true case of turning a mouse- sized problem into a mountain. —The Baker County Press Editorial Board — Letters to the Editor — Taxes need increased to fight global warming To the Editor: This year’s catastrophic wildfires in Baker County and surrounding areas provide ample justification and motivation to take bold action against global warming by all levels of government. Unless we curtail and replace carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and until we find the money to properly treat overgrown forests, we almost certainly face ever- increasing danger and destruction. But, when it comes to creating a safe and sustainable future for our county and our state and our country, there are a couple of “elephants in the living room” that must be addressed and overcome: 1) Deception, confusion, and denial about the growing concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses in our atmo- sphere which cause global warming, and 2) Deception, confusion, and denial about the growing concentration of ex- treme wealth in the hands of a very few that deprives us from making needed infrastructure investments, like alterna- tive energy sources and forest treatment to minimize wildfires and protect our watersheds. It is essential that we overcome these Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker County Press reserves the right not to publish letters containing factual falsehoods or incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or detracting from specific for-profit businesses will not be published. Word limit is 375 words per letter. Letters are limited to one every other week per author. Letters should be submitted to Editor@TheBaker- CountyPress.com. Advertising and Opinion Page Disclaimer: Opinions submitted as roadblocks and get needed political action at the federal level, and we should all press for it. For example, we need to price fossil fu- els out of the market. CO2 concentrations for hundreds of thousands of years have been around 285 parts per million (ppm). Starting in 1800, they grew to 399 ppm today—a 40 percent increase during those 215 years, mainly due to human activ- ity. A revenue-neutral carbon tax would promote consumer decisions based on the true total cost of oil, gas, and coal. We also need much higher taxes on ex- treme wealth. With increased revenue, we can pay for not only forest treatment and restoration, but also for increased wage supplements to combat needless poverty, and for other infrastructure needs, such a free college tuition, road and highway maintenance, and so much more. Pope Francis pointed the way during his recent visit when he told us, “Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to our future generations.” Let us all work together to press for increased governmental intervention for the common good. Marshall McComb Chair of the Baker County Democrats Baker City Guest Opinions or Letters to the Editor express the opinions of their authors, and have not been authored by and are not necessarily the opinions of The Baker County Press, any of our staff, management, independent contractors or affiliates. Advertisements placed by political groups, candidates, business- es, etc., are printed as a paid service, which does not constitute an endorse- ment of or fulfillment obligation by this newspaper for the products or ser- vices advertised. — Guest Opinion — My thoughts on mandatory vaccines By Leo Castillo Special to The Baker County Press This year, more than 100 bills were introduced in multiple states to add more vaccine mandates and restrict or eliminate non-medical vaccine exemptions. Many of these would have been declared an “emergency” upon passage. Oregon’s defeated Senate Bill 442 is an example. For those choosing vaccine exemp- tion, the school attendance requirement to watch an Oregon Health “Authority,” or OHA approved, propaganda vaccine module is still in effect. Here are some hard facts you won’t find in the vaccine module: • Some of the potential adverse reac- tions to the OHA required DPT, Polio, Varicella, MMR, Hepatitis A&B, and Hib shots, via the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health webpage include: convulsions, apnea, vertigo, diarrhea, vomiting, atypical measles, fever, dia- betes, arthritis, measles, Guillain-Barré Syndrome (polio), fatigue, myalgia, al- lergic rash, anaphylactic shock, encepha- litis; warnings to avoid close association with “high risk” individuals for up to six weeks, to prevent transmission of vaccine virus. The National Vaccine Injury Compen- sation Program website has a “Vaccine Injury Table” that openly lists all the severe injuries and conditions that can occur from vaccinations, including brain damage, paralytic polio and death. A little history: Dr. Jennifer Craig, (no, not the famous weight loss personality), details in her extensively researched book “Jabs, Jenner & Juggernauts,” that the smallpox vaccine actually exacerbated cases of smallpox, multifold. In 1992, the CDC published an ad- mission that the live-virus vaccine had become the dominant cause of polio in the United States, and in fact, according to CDC figures, every case of polio in the U.S. since 1979 was caused by the oral polio vaccine—Strebel PM, Clinical Infectious Diseases CDC, February 1992 Dr. William Thompson from the CDC, was granted immunity by the Obama administration (yeah, I know, I couldn’t believe it either) in February, 2015 against prosecution from said CDC for falsifying a report he conducted with others in 2004, in which omitted evidence shows a direct link between vaccines and autism. On July 29th, Congressman Bill Posey from Florida entered a statement by Dr Thompson regarding fraud and the CDC’s MMR vaccine studies into the Congres- sional Record, and plead for a Congressio- nal investigation into the matter. Health Impact News 8-9-2015. There’s much, much, more. Back to mandated vaccines. According to Barbara Loe Fisher from Submitted Photo Leo Castillo is the host of World Gone Crazy, Sunday evenings on KBKR 1490 AM. the National Vaccine Information Center, while the States were busy with a myriad of mandatory vaccine legislation earlier this year, the lobbies of the pharmaceuti- cal industry and medical trade associa- tions, funded by industry and government, pushed through the 21st Century Cures Act, which passed in the US House of Representatives on July 10th. Reuters July 10, 2015 “The bill allows the FDA to lower licensing standards for testing of ex- perimental drugs, medical devices and “biological products”—a category that includes vaccines, so companies will no longer be required to conduct large, case controlled clinical trials to evaluate safety and effectiveness. This bill (H.R. 6) also fast-tracks experimental vaccines to licensure that the government will then legally require healthy children and adults to buy and use. Think about that. To continue to quote Ms. Fisher in her article “Here Comes the 21st Cen- tury Cures Act: Say Goodbye to Vaccine Safety Science” July 21st, 2015. The financial public-private partnership that Congress has directed government to forge with industry through a series of federal laws created over the past 30 years ... is using the “greater good” club to violate the human and civil rights of the American people in the name of a highly politicized “War on Disease,” has the po- tential to destroy more lives than any war our nation has ever fought. The 21st Century Cures Act is a pre- scription for disaster. Vaccine research, development and fast- tracking should not be a part of it. Good thing they named it the “Cures Act,” huh? Will we allow substances with highly dubious benefits to our health, which ad- mit on the package from the labs they’re manufactured at to potentially cause harm and even kill us, to forcibly be injected into our bloodstreem? I’ll leave you with a quote from JFK: “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion with- out the discomfort of thought.” Visit nvicadvocacy.org for State-specific legislation information. — Contact Us — The Baker County Press PO Box 567 Baker City, Ore. 97814 Open Monday-Thursday for calls 9 AM - 4 PM Open 24/7 for emails Office location: TBA Phone: 541.519.0572 TheBakerCountyPress.com Kerry McQuisten, Publisher Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com David Conn, Advertising and Sales David@TheBakerCountyPress.com YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS President Barack Obama 202.456.1414 202.456.2461 fax Whitehouse.gov/contact US Sen. Jeff Merkley 503.326.3386 503.326.2900 fax Merkley.Senate.gov US Sen. Ron Wyden 541.962.7691 Wyden.Senate.gov US Rep. Greg Walden 541.624.2400 541.624.2402 fax Walden.House.gov Oregon Gov. Kate Brown 503.378.3111 Governor.Oregon.gov Published weekly every Friday. 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