FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Opinion / Local
— Letters to the Editor —
Nichols likes senior citizens
To the Editor:
In the upcoming election for Baker County Commis-
sion position, we all have the opportunity to elect new and
responsible leadership. Baker County strongly depends
on the Natural Resources Industries – crop and livestock
agriculture; mining and timber; tourism, both foreign and
domestic. A respected businessman, Bruce Nichols has
worked county wide with industry leaders. We believe
Bruce to be that Commissioner to listen to all concerns
and with quiet demeanor get the job done.
Being members of the Older Persuasion, we recognize
the many concerns our growing population of mature citi-
zens have. Baker County has one of the largest per capita
percentages of senior citizens in the state. For this reason
alone, we know the candidate most qualified and ready to
put the County on a forward path is Bruce Nichols.
For example, Baker County provides some funding
support for Community Connection, who sponsors many
senior wellness programs, furnishes assistance including
free legal aid, in-home respite care, heat assistance for
low income households and senior citizens. Nutritious
meals are served five days a week in Baker City and New
Bridge, many delivered through the Meals on Wheels pro-
gram. Bruce Nichols understands the importance of sup-
porting opportunities to both our low income and senior
populations. He will be a strong advocate for continued
county support of these programs that keep people healthy
and functioning in their own homes, and having a wide
range of important socialization opportunities.
Deanna Davis and Milt Prowell
Baker City
Nichols suggested putting County into debt
To the Editor:
Why would Bruce Nichols advocate Baker County go
into debt with low interest loans to purchase items for the
County? (Stated in a Halfway meet and greet.) Mr. Nich-
ols does not seem to realize County Government budgets
must balance by statute.
I am seeing an accountant who just deals in numbers,
but has never dealt in real management of programs,
employees and their unions, and issues which affect our
largest industry in Baker County, Agriculture. Nichols
will not stand up for Baker County issue or its people.
Not sure he has the energy or the time to really do the
job and keep up with committee assignments based on his
attendance record with Baker City Budget Board (3-year
term, missed one whole year of meetings!) I don’t want
Mr. Nichols minding my business. I am voting for Kody
Justus for Baker County Commissioner.
Larry Wampler
Halfway
Humbled by Peggi Timm award
To the Editor:
I was humbled and appreciative to have been awarded
the Peggi Timm Civic Leadership Award by Oregon Trail
Electric Cooperative. I must thank so many people for
this remarkable award including Mary Tomlinson, Rich-
ard and Kathleen Chaves, Maurizio Valerio and Andrew
Bryan who were the nominators. Mary worked tirelessly
on the application and I know contacted many friends
and colleagues for letters of support. Thank you to all of
those who wrote letters of support! I want to thank the
Crossroads Board of Directors, past and present, and the
amazing staff at Crossroads: Cynthia Newman and Derek
Hosler for their ongoing support.
This award while giving to me represents many people
who I have had the pleasure to work with over the years.
From the Baker County YMCA, 4-H, Boy Scouts, Baker
Little League, Baker 5J School District, Ford Family
Foundation and many more.
I have to thank my family; if not for them none of this is
possible. My parents Jay and Beth Grimes of Prineville,
Or and my in-laws Bob and Marie Savage of Baker City.
Our sons, Blain Savage now living in Broomfield, CO and
Lee Robert Savage who is finishing college at Eastern,
who were the reason for this life’s work, to make their
hometown a better place To my husband, Kerry Savage,
who I was smart enough 26 years ago to marry and to
build a life here in Baker City. He is my rock!
I need to thank the Board of Directors of OTEC, Lara
Petitclerc-Stokes, and the entire staff of OTEC for this
amazing honor and with it a $25,000 gift to Crossroads
Carnegie Art Center. But I have to thank my hero and
mentor, the late Peggi Timm. She, like Leo Adler, was
the spark of this community, who believed Baker City and
Baker County to accomplish anything. I am profoundly
humbled to have my name associated with Peggi’s lasting
gift to this community. She is in my thoughts daily and
my love and prayers to Glenn and Peggi’s children, grand-
children and great grandchildren.
Thank you to my entire community. We look forward
to sharing with you what Crossroads has planned with this
tremendous gift and legacy of a remarkable lady.
Ginger Savage
Baker City
Justus supports the 2nd Amendment
To the Editor:
Why is it so important that Baker County gets a strong
Second Amendment ordinance? Well, in America where
our Bill of Rights hinges on free speech and self-defense,
it’s no wonder that these two issues have come under
more attack by Big Brother than any of the others. These
two well established rights are foundational to our very
existence as a free nation. Yet democrats in Washington
won’t stop until they have completely disarmed us and
relegated our voice to caged “speech zones”. There is
ample evidence to support this. The track record of Pelosi,
Reid, Obama, Clinton, Schumer, and many others in the
far Left is now being supported by some so called Repub-
licans claiming to support conservative values.
Our rights to free speech and to bear arms is supported
by our federal and state constitutions. By making a Baker
County ordinance with teeth in it simply empowers our
Sheriff to not only refuse to participate in a gun grab
pushed by the feds, but it bolsters his stand to “defend”
the folks in this county against unlawful acts of traitors in
congress and their relentless pursuit of a gun confiscation.
Believe me, our Sheriff will need every law and ordinance
at the national, state, and county level at his disposal in
order to stand up for our rights.
Kody Justus has said that he’d make it a priority to pass
a needed Second Amendment ordinance to protect our
rights of self-defense at our local level. Bruce Nichols
believes that passing this ordinance is a waste of time
and has wide support from the party that wants strict gun
control. I’m voting for Mr. Justus.
Richard Cochran
Baker City
— SPECIAL COLUMN —
Submitted Photo
Jimmy Ingram is
a local farmer and
father of two who en-
joys people watching
within our wonder-
ful community and
beyond.
Nichols will mind County business
To the Editor:
As we read the profiles presented by the candidates in
the voters pamphlet, it is clear to us that Bruce Nichols
has all the attributes we feel are important to be a positive
addition to the Baker County Commission. Bruce has the
experience and clarity of thought to address problems and
facilitate positive opportunities. He is the candidate with
the broadest set of skills and attributes to help identify
costly mistakes or oversights before they arise.
Bruce doesn’t bring an agenda with him that could be
detrimental to the future of our community. He demon-
strates a realistic understanding of what can and cannot be
done at the county level. Finding solutions is a collabora-
tive process. A County Commissioner’s role is to solicit
opinions and carefully consider the differing views of all
the people that make our county the special place it is.
We can find no examples of poor judgment displayed by
Bruce. He has represented himself to our community with
conduct that serves him well. The priorities Bruce put
forth in the voters pamphlet says enough for us. “Minding
the County’s Business.”
Given what we expect from our county government, the
choice is clear. Bruce Nichols brings the requisite skills,
experience, and common sense understanding to make
our county a place we can all remain proud to be a part of.
Please join us in voting for Bruce Nichols Baker County
Commissioner.
Randy and Joanne Crutcher
Baker City
County doesn’t need a strawman
To the Editor:
I went to three of the four forums for the commissioner
race. I did miss the Sumpter forum where Bruce Nichols
was a no-show.
At the Baker Livestock Association forum all the can-
didates were given an advance a list of topics to discuss.
The topics were from the Owyhee Canyonlands monu-
ment, Wallowa-Whitman Travel Management Plan, Coor-
dination vs. Cooperation, Endangered species to Transfer
of Public lands to name a few. The candidates were given
15 minutes to discuss the list of topics. When it was Bruce
Nichols turn he said, “I am a fish out of water talking
about these things here.” “I know about this much (held
his hand up, forefinger about ¼ from thumb) about these
topics... But I have an opinion about them all.”
When Nichols got to the Endangered Species topic, he
said, “I have been told not to talk about this.”
Cheryl Martin of North Powder asked Nichols, “Who
has told you what you can and cannot say?” No answer
from Nichols. Martin again asked, “Who is telling you
what you can and cannot say… Who is dictating to you
what you can or cannot say?” Again, no answer. Nichols
was asked several times and he would not answer. Baker
County does not need a strawman candidate or another
puppet commissioner whose strings are being pulled by
others. Remember Tim Kerns stating in session that he
only does what his wife tells him to do?
Kody Justus has just received the endorsement from the
Taxpayers Association of Oregon (kind of funny a CPA
did not get this endorsement) and from the Oregon Family
Council. He also has our vote for Baker County Commis-
sioner.
Suzan Ellis Jones
Bridgeport
Thoughts on the coming election
To the Editor:
It’s time to think long and hard about your future or
the potential lack of one. Our country is on the brink of
an economic breakdown. When this happens your job or
source of income will be lost or seriously diminished. This
didn’t just happen, it is the result of 40 years of shortsight-
ed, wrong-headed thinking.
The world has been bombarded by the environmental
movement. It is a noble thing to be concerned for the
environment around us but if a little is good, never ending
move is not better.
The slogan “save the Earth” has swept the Earth but few
know or think of the other half of the equation: “no life
can exist unless we use the Earth and harvest its produce
and resources.” Thus the industries that harvest our food,
timber and minerals are the foundation of our economy.
You know that no business, industry or job can continue
without these resources. Also know that all new wealth
comes from the ground. There is no other source.
Every time we enact a new regulation that restricts ac-
cess and use of the land and set aside another area to just
look at or protect some bird, bug, fish or animal, we stop
productive use and take another bite out of our economy.
We have overextended our regulations and land with
drawals to the point our country can no longer support
itself. Those economic restrictions are bringing on our
economic troubles and perhaps the end of America as we
know it. Our area is in the unique position to blunt some
of these troubles if we act and think right. The mineral
resources of our area are sufficient to provide jobs that
will allow many miners to support their families and many
local merchants. If we are to survive this crisis we must
change the actions and thinking of our government to al-
low the workers of our country to produce the necessities
of life. So use your vote carefully.
Ken Anderson
Baker City
So I was
thinking ...
Battle of the sexes:
Home edition
By Jimmy Ingram
Special to The Baker County Press
The battle of the sexes—it’s raged on for years now.
It’s a wonder after all these years we have not only
managed to co-exist, but sustain relationships with one
another.
However, nothing puts our patience with one another
to the test more than what goes on in various rooms
throughout the home.
The bathroom: To a man, the bathroom is a very sim-
ple room. A utilitarian space for storing only necessary
items: toilet paper, soap, razor. To women, it appears to
be a scientific laboratory outfitted with state of the art
beautification tools our male brains can’t comprehend.
Drawers are systematically filled with moisturizers,
lip glosses, 45 different types of hair ties, files, buffers,
creams, lotions, various electric hair devices, etc. How-
ever, despite the discrepancy in bathroom real estate
between the sexes, it’s normally the male who is ac-
cused of the two major violations of this room: leaving
an empty roll of toilet paper and leaving the seat up.
It’s not that we don’t care, we just figure that since
the woman of the house has declared 90% of the draw-
er and counter space, she bears 90% of the logistical
responsibilities of the room. Ohh, who am I kidding.
We’re sorry for leaving the toilet seat up. We won’t let
it happen again.
Winner: women.
The kitchen: A generation ago this was widely con-
sidered the woman’s domain. Not any more. More and
more modern men are doing their best to contribute in
the kitchen.
Primitive as our male cooking skills may be, we can
get the job done if we really want to. But we really
don’t want to. You cook far better meals than we do.
Your meals end with the phrase “that was delicious”
and our meals start with the phrase “maybe we should
order a pizza.”
You aren’t necessarily required to seize control of this
room but for the good of the family you do.
Winner: women
Living room: For women, the living room is sup-
posed to be an inviting room designed for visual
relaxation and sophisticated entertainment for guests
of the home. To a man this room is a front row seat at a
sporting event.
We need only a modest 70” TV, a comfortable
recliner, plenty of secure storage space for the food
and drink for our four most obnoxious friends, and the
remote control to be no farther than two feet from us at
all times.
To women it’s a ballroom, to men it’s a rec room.
Fortunately, living rooms are able to be transformed
from one theme to another in short order. Just be care-
ful not to double book a baby shower and the Super
Bowl.
Winner: tie.
The bedroom. This room should always be controlled
by women. If it were up to men we’d have an unruly
heap of camouflage bed sheets, a gun safe, a nerf
basketball hoop, and laundry stacked to the ceiling.
Fortunately our ideas for this room are often overruled,
and for good reason. Women make this room look nice
and keep it clean which us men should appreciate.
Winner: women (thank goodness)
The garage: This is the male stomping grounds. All
the things that put hair on our chests can be found here:
power tools, chainsaws, outdoor gear, lubricants for
every known mechanical device, various beer making
supplies, and tacky signs we wouldn’t be allowed to
have anywhere else.
Very few broken items enter the garage that don’t
come out fixed. So let’s compromise shall we: you
look past the 1994 Coors Light bikini model poster
and we’ll promise to fix the garage disposal in a timely
manner.
Winner: men.
Home is place of comfort. A place where we can
get away from the rest of the world. Just be sure not
to let he territorial battles of the home get too serious.
There’s room for everyone.