FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 9
Opinion / Local
— Guest Opinion —
— Obituaries —
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Thomas Patrick
Christman
Richland, 1927-2016
Submitted Photo
Suzan Ellis Jones is Chair of the Baker County Republican Party;
Alternate Chair of the Oregon Republican Party’s (ORP) Congressional Dis-
trict 2, and ORP Chair for the Natural Resource Committee. She is pictured
here with Jesse Watters of Fox TV at the Republican National Convention in
Cleveland, Ohio this year.
Understand
your County
government
before voting
on 1-74
By Suzan Ellis Jones
Special to The Baker County Press
Why you should vote no on Baker
C ounty Measure 1-74? The
last few weeks of Letters to the
Editor have shown how little most
people know and understand our
County Government and partisan
politics—and how they both work
together.
It seems sensible for people to at
least understand the current system
before they attempt to change it.
One letter compared the Baker
County Republican party to Nazis.
Well, history shows Nazis love a
one-party system, and they called
it nonpartisan! Baker Republicans
support a multi-party system.
Oregon allows three forms of
County government by Statute.
Baker is currently general law.
The misguided “yes” crowd
lumps in home rule, county court
and general law into the same pot.
Nine of the current nonpartisan
counties are home rule, meaning
they have a charter that overrules
statute on the replacement process.
Much like the Baker City Council
positions.
1-74 proponents are comparing
apples to oranges.
Leaders in Union, Wallowa,
Crook, Harney and Grant counties
want their old system of county
government back—not to mention
other counties in our second Con-
gressional District.
Voter participation goes down
wherever there are nonpartisan
races.
Commissioner nonpartisan
races can become unwieldy with
the glut of candidates, sometimes
losing the best candidate in the
Hoopes
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The third light duty
release, said Hoopes was
simply put in Ash’s inbox,
and the fourth faxed di-
rectly to SAIF.
By law, the Sheriff’s
Office is not required to
put an employee injured
on the job back on light
duty, though SAIF strongly
encourages that policy.
diluted vote.
Everyone can vote if they
choose to—saying people can’t
vote is the most ridicules argument
yet.
When a candidate is tied to a
party platform, you know where
they stand on important issues.
You know their core beliefs. Here
in Baker County, natural resource
issues are a prime example of
needing to know for whom you are
voting.
Baker County voters turned
down this same measure in May of
2015.
The Baker County Republican
Party was almost extinct five years
ago.
Today we have 45 of 48 pre-
cinct committee people (PCP) slots
filled. These PCPs are elected and
do represent the voters in their
precincts, continuing the history of
being a representative republic.
Three years ago, we had a
nominating convention to replace
Dr. Stiff when he resigned, and it
worked beautifully.
I much prefer 48 people making
the decision of a replacement com-
missioner nominee rather than one,
two or three individuals.
The “ yes” group wants a “kum-
baya” election. Yet these same
people have hooked up with the
Rural Organizing Project (ROP)
group, which met at the Baker
County Library last week. This
same group, which receives fund-
ing from George Soros, also used
armed members sporting New
Black Panther T-shirts as security.
Kick the politics out of Baker
County Business? That statement
is certainly not aligned with this
group, which is as militant of po-
litical group as you can find in the
state. It’s all a ruse folks.
Go to our website at www.Baker-
Republicans.com or our Facebook
page, Baker County Republicans,
to view the educational videos on
our system of government and the
history which shapes us today.
The Baker County Republicans
want to see our county stay a party
system.
Vote no on Measure 1-74.
The law does state that
a full release has to be
followed—and last week,
Hoopes received exactly
that.
Hoopes first talked with
Lt. Joey Jayo who, he
said, began arranging this
week’s schedule. Ash
stepped in and said the
protocol was first to con-
tact SAIF, DPSST, etc. and
that he was unable to act
until hearing from them,
which he hadn’t, according
to Hoopes.
And so he waited.
Then, Heidi Martin,
executive assistant at the
County, asked Hoopes this
week how fast he could
make it to work and he
thought the waiting game
was over.
“I can be there in an
hour,” he said.
But again, that schedule
was not to be.
“I got a call from Warren
Thomspon,” he said. “And
he said I can’t return until I
got through CPR and First
Aid training again.”
That training was sched-
uled for Wednesday, which
officially became Hoopes’
first day back on the job.
Tom's passion was
baseball and coaching girls
fast-pitch softball. He
also coached Pine-Eagle
High school boys baseball.
His proudest accomplish-
ment was capturing the St.
Louis Catholic Girls Youth
League City Championship
trophy in 1967.
Tom was an avid hunter
and fisherman. He loved
cutting firewood with
family and friends. In
his retirement years, in
Florence Arizona, he got
hooked on golf; was proud
of a hole-in-one.
Tom was a member
of Halfway VFW and an
American Legion mem-
ber for 49 years. He
was thrilled to be able to
participate on the WWII
Honor Flight in September
2015.
Tom is survived by his
wife of 68 years, Virginia
"Ginny", four children,
Thomas Jr. and daughter-
in-law Laura Behr of Port
Angeles, Washington;
daughter Terry Christ-
man of Halfway, Oregon,
daughter Kate and son-
in-law Robert Sprauer of
La Grande, Oregon and
son Mark Christman of
Halfway, Oregon; 9 grand-
children and 6 great-grand-
children; brother Robert
Christman of Sun City,
Arizona, several nieces and
nephews.
Tom was preceded in
death by daughter Julia
"Sam" Christman and
Granddaughter Jessie Rose
Hutton, Father and Mother
Charles and Minnette
Christman and brother
Donald Christman, all of
St. Louis.
For those who would
like to make a memorial
donation in memory of
Tom, the family suggests
a charity of your choice,
through Tami's Pine Valley
Funeral Home & Crema-
tion Services PO Box 543
Halfway, Oregon 97834.
On line condolences may
be shared at www.tamispi-
nevalleyfuneralhome.com
Write-in candidate joins
Sumpter mayor race
BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Sumpter has a new
candidate for mayor. Greg
Lucas, recently appointed
to City Council, is run-
ning a write-in campaign
against LeAnne Woolf,
the only candidate on the
ballot.
Lucas said political
division is growing both
nationally and locally, and
he has realized that if he’s
going to be voicing his
opinions, he needs to step
up and take responsibility
for them. He said though
there are good-hearted
people volunteering to
help, not many are running
for any office in town. Lu-
cas cited political division,
saying it is worse now than
it has been in many years.
Lucas considers part of
his heritage here, having
spent much time hunting,
fishing, and enjoying sum-
mer vacations. His folks
have long owned property
locally and Lucas said his
family has been in the area
on and off since 1867.
Lucas said many people
have told him he would be
a good mayor and that they
believe he could remain
unbiased. He believes that
someone with a neutral
reputation and not seen
as siding with this group
or that, would be to the
advantage of the town.
Lucas said he has two
sides to his personality.
Away from business, he
likes to make people laugh,
especially those who are
down. He also has his
serious side and tries to
approach issues as an unbi-
ased problem-solver.
His philosophy of
serving on Council is that
council members and the
mayor are responsible to
the people of the town and
that although they can’t
separate themselves from
their personal opinions,
that should not influence
deciding what’s best for
the town. He said that
being unable to keep
perspective and too many
emotions involved influ-
ences the ability to think
outside the box and come
to mutual understanding.
Lucas has worked as a
construction project man-
ager for large companies
as well as owning his own
company. He has worked
with city, state, and federal
agencies to come up with
acceptable solutions to is-
sues. Lucas said construc-
tion is about “finding solu-
tions to get the job done”
and politics is the same.
Lucas has had to learn to
be neutral in accomplish-
ing construction projects.
He said you can’t force
DEQ or the GSA to see
things your way. “I had to
see things their way and
figure out how to accom-
plish my goals by incorpo-
rating their regulations and
laws.”
Lucas also has done
a “fair amount” of lay
counseling over the years
and said people seem to be
drawn to bringing their life
problems to him. Through
that and his management
experience, he has learned
to present thoughtful
solutions in a manner that
does not alienate or offend
others, even if they do not
agree.
Lucas said there is a
reason to have all five
positions on Council since
everyone brings different
ideas and perspectives. He
said everyone needs to be
able to share, be respectful,
and come to a consensus,
incorporating ideas to
solve issues.
Lucas said his role in
meetings is to observe,
listen, then participate.
He likes to hear ideas
around the table and then
participate with informed,
partially-thought through
ideas to try and find a solu-
tion. He said in 40 years
of work he has found that
all different personalities
and ways to communicate
are needed.
Lucas said the mayor
needs to show leadership
by setting the example
of openness, respect, and
professionalism. He said
the mayor must be able to
lead by discussing issues
and not reacting.
Lucas said Council
should set the example of
professionalism and that
friendships must take a
back burner to processes
and leadership. He said
Council must lead by
example, and explained
that it is not that others
have been unwilling to
do so, but that things are
currently so dysfunctional
that people don’t want
to get involved. Lucas
would like to see Council
work to honor the system
of majority rule while still
making a strong effort to
be inclusive of minority
concerns.
Lucas said he’d like
to make sure people are
informed of facts on both
sides of issues so that they
can make informed deci-
sions for themselves and
let the Council know what
they desire. He said this
would hopefully create a
common understanding,
leading to less divisive-
ness, and help the town
Meghan Andersch /
The Baker County Press
Greg Lucas.
function more as a group
or family. He acknowl-
edged that arguments will
not go away, but would
hope that an atmosphere
could be created in which
everyone could feel re-
spected and heard.
If elected mayor, Lucas
would send out a monthly
letter informing residents
of problems, finances,
goals, some kind of plan
to address issues, and a
proposed timetable. He
commended the time
volunteers take to do good
things for the City and the
people who live in it, but
said that sometimes every-
one gets so busy conduct-
ing City business, that they
neglect to keep citizens
informed of what’s going
on. He said it takes time
to explain both sides of
issues, including negatives
and positives, and more
information on processes,
ideas, and possible solu-
tions, but it draws people
together better. The only
way for people to know
what’s going on is to hear
from City Hall. Issues that
Lucas would like to see
more transparency in in-
clude the City budget and
finances in projects.
His first priority would
be to create an atmo-
sphere of openness where
everyone could feel safe in
voicing concerns. He said
if not during a meeting, he
would be open to talking to
citizens anytime and bring
their concerns to Council.
His second priority
would be roads. Lucas
said twenty years ago, the
town oiled the main streets
and graded roads to get rid
of potholes. He said they
need to get back to dust
abatement and grading so
the roads are not so hard
on vehicles.
Lucas also would like to
see the water system up-
graded per state laws and
DEQ requirements.
He believes resolving
these issues would create
more time in Council
meetings to start dealing
with other items and get-
ting them worked out.