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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2017)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Opinion — Guest Opinion — — Letters to the Editor — Collaboratives exclude public To the Editor: Forest Service “Collaboratives” do not want to grant Eastern Oregon residents a vote at the table. They want people to “participate” but not to ask for a vote in the process, that’s why now, finally, when residents of Grant County ask for voting status, the Blue Mountains Forest Partners come out with defamatory statements of residents being “untrustworthy,” hoping to marginalize those trying to participate in a meaningful manner. My mom had to sit through a shaming by the Blue Mountains Forest Partners be- cause she was “untrustworthy”, because I question the collaboratives, and how they use economic hardship to justify restrict- ing motorized access to the mountains of Eastern Oregon. Using “vegetative treat- ments” to “restore” the forest, while re- stricting motorized access when they help the Forest Service “develop projects.” The collaboratives are supposed to be civil and open to diverse public input, but, if that input does not align with the collabor- atives stated goals, they become personal, nasty, and petty. The question is, can we get logs to the mills without “rewilding” Eastern Oregon? We did it for decades, and grew some of the healthiest wildlife populations around. Unfortunately, the environmental community turned that on its head with their litigation strategy, and they now get to drive their message thru these collab- oratives, while excluding public input thru voting membership. To paraphrase a collaborative board member “my grandmother always told me, you are the company you keep”. The other lesson most of us learned from our grandparents was “the only thing you have is your word”, unfortunately, collabora- tives members never learned that lesson, because every time they give you “their word”, they back track from it. Eastern Oregonians should not be shamed upon requesting voting member status to “diverse and inclusive” groups, but unfortunately, that’s how Eastern Oregon Collaboratives operate. John George Bates Taxpayer-funded abortion law needs repealed To the Editor: In mid-August, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law HB 3391, The Reproductive Health Equity Act. This law requires private health insurers to offer free abortions without deductible or co- pay—abortions with no restrictions from conception until birth. Oregon is the only state in the United States with no abortion restrictions. Abor- tions can be done at Oregon taxpayers expense any time before birth, for any reason, for citizen or non-citizen. Yes, we Oregonians are now forced to pay the entire cost of all abortions in the state. Or- egon taxpayers already pay for an average of 10 abortions per day through the Or- egon Health Plan (OHP) at a typical cost of about $450 each. HB 3391 gives $10.2 million to expand the Oregon Health Authority in order to provide “services, drugs, devices, products and procedures” for undocumented residents, $500,000 of which would specifically be used for abortions. Of course, the biggest losers in this sce- nario are the human beings living in their mothers’ wombs. They have no say in the matter of their lives being eliminated through the brutal act of abortion. It is essential that those of us who hold human life to be sacred and/or are con- cerned about fiscal responsibility to speak out and act on this matter. A citizens’ ini- tiative, Stop Taxpayer Funding for Abor- tion Act, is in place to block the stream of taxpayer dollars now funding abortions through OHP. This initiative will also reverse the expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion mandated by HB 3391. Time is short. A total of 117,000 valid signatures are needed by September 30 to qualify this measure for the next statewide ballot. Petitions are available from Oregon Life United (https://www.oregonlifeunit- ed.org/). We urge all Oregon citizens who want fiscal responsibility and/or want to Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker County Press reserves the right not to publish letters con- taining 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@TheBakerCountyPress.com. Advertising and Opinion Page Disclaimer: Opinions submitted as Guest Opinions or Letters protect human life to obtain and sign a petition—or better yet obtain and circulate petitions to assure that this initiative is successful. John and Susie Busch Baker City I liked anti-Trump economy book To the Editor: How does our economy work? According to Canadian activist Naomi Klein, we have a corrosive values system that places profit above the well-being of people and the planet. It is a system based on limitless taking and extracting. It takes from workers, asking more and more from them, even as employers offer less and less security and lower wages in return. Schools, parks, transit, and other services have had resources clawed back from them over many decades. Our system takes endlessly from the earth’s natural bounty, without protecting cycles of regeneration, while paying little attention to where we are offloading pollu- tion, whether it be into water systems that sustain life or the atmosphere that keeps our climate system in balance. Our economy is addicted to short-term profits, treating people and the earth either like resources to be mined to their limits or as garbage to be disposed of far out of sight, whether deep in the ocean or deep in a prison cell. The economic system described above is not mine, but slightly paraphrased from that presented by Klein in her new book “No is NOT Enough: Resisting Trump’s shock politics and winning the world we need.” The system we need, says Klein, needs to shift “from a system based on end- less taking—from the earth and from one another—to a culture based on caretak- ing, the principle that when we take, we also take care and give back. A system in which everyone is valued, and we don’t treat people or the natural world as if they were disposable.” I highly recommend reading Klein’s “No is NOT Enough.” Gary Dielman Baker City Please sign anti-gun grab petition To the Editor: Okay folks, game on. As you know, the Governor has signed the Boquist/Burdick gun confiscation bill. What you might not know is how few of our friends in law enforcement are even aware of it. When the courts begin ordering the sei- zure of guns from people who have com- mitted no crime, things are going to get real ugly in Oregon. So it’s time to go to work. Rest assured, as the effort begins to re- peal this vicious attack on our rights, New York billionaires will be pumping a fortune into our state to continue the lies that the supporters of this bill told to pass it. This will NOT be an easy fight but you can do something about it. And you can start now. Please visit http://www.repeal719.com/ right now to download petitions to refer this bill to the voters. Please share this link with everyone you know who believes in liberty and due process, especially our friends in the rural parts of the state. Then... start gathering signatures. As many as you can. The Repeal 719 website had both single signer sheets and 10 signature sheets if you are willing to gather other signatures. And why wouldn’t you be? These are your guns. The website has everything you need to get going on this, including info on how to gather signatures and the reasons this bill is so dangerous. Bring them to your gun club and share them with your friends. We have, and the response has been great. This is the first part of the fight,a part you can play a major role in. After the referral is on the ballot, we will face a very expen- sive battle in a campaign against anti-gun billionaires but now we need signatures. Please do your part. Kevin Starrett Oregon Firearms Federation Salem, Oregon to the Editor express the opinions of their authors, and have not been authored by and are not neces- sarily the opinions of The Baker County Press, any of our staff, management, independent contractors or affiliates. Advertisements placed by political groups, candidates, businesses, etc., are printed as a paid service, which does not constitute an endorsement of or fulfillment obligation by this newspaper for the products or services advertised. “Repeal 719” Ballot Referendum Initiative By Rep. Bill Post I know that many in Oregon are very u pset that SB 719 passed. Therefore a group of us are working to repeal it via the ballot. We need your help. Why are we doing this? SB 719 calls for the forced confisca- tion of property by the police with no due process, no accusation of a crime let alone conviction of a crime. It allows people with no mental health credentials to make assessments of other’s states of mind and it allows people with no mental health credentials (judges) to punish people they have never met or spoken to. Furthermore it actually forbids judges from considering assessments of the respondents mental health by people who actually DO have mental health creden- tials. The law allows a judge to confiscate every firearm in a household because one person there has ever has a DUI convic- tion. The law provides no help whatsoever for a person who has been accused of being suicidal. In fact, an amendment that would have called for some minimal intervention was not even considered. The law provides NO protection for people who are living in the household of a person who has been accused of being a danger to others. The law provides no guidance for the police who are tasked with confiscating the firearms of the person who has not been accused of or tried for a crime. The law allows 24 hours for the respon- dent to turn over firearms even though in many cases that is not possible. That 24 hour window is clearly a time of extreme danger in the event the respondent actu- ally IS a danger to self or others. The law defines no provisions for deter- mining how many firearms the respondent has, or how to assure they have all been seized and lastly and probably most im- portantly to me: Governor Kate Brown stalled signing this bill into law which greatly limited the amount of days to gather signatures, thus depriving Oregonians of their constitu- tional rights. So, what do you do and how can you help? Below are the links for the two sided petition sheets. They need to be printed back to back. So, first download each (they are pdf files) then print the first sheet, turn the paper over and print the “cover sheet” on back. Once you have filled a sheet out (read the instructions carefully on the cover sheet and down below on this page) send them in to the addresses listed. Here are the two sheets to download to go gather signatures: http://www.billpost. Submitted Photo Rep. Bill Post out of Keizer rep- resents Oregon’s House District 25. He is also host to the Bill Post Radio Show. com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2018- 302-RP-10-line-08222017.pdf. Mail completed sheets to: Bill Post, 5135 Lacey St N, Keizer, OR 97303; Mike Nearman, 2570 Greenwood Rd S, Independence, Oregon 97351; or Teri Grier, 94342 Sether Street Ln, North Bend, Oregon 97459. Instructions for Circulators Only active Oregon voters may sign a petition. Ask each signer if they are an ac- tive registered voter in Oregon. A single circulator must personally wit- ness all signatures collected on any one signature sheet. After witnessing each signature on a sheet, use a pen to sign and date the circulator certification. Initial any changes you make to the date you signed the certification. A complete list of allowable circulator certification corrections is provided in the Circula- tor Training Manual available at www. oregonvotes.gov. It is against the law for circulators to: Circulate a petition containing a false signature. Make false statements to any person who signs the petition or requests infor- mation about it. Attempt to obtain the signature of a person who is not qualified to sign the petition. Offer money or anything of value to another person to sign or not sign the petition. Sell or offer to sell signature sheets. Write, alter, correct, clarify or obscure any information about the signers unless the signer is disabled and requests assistance or the signer initials after the changes are made. Accept compensation to circulate a petition that is based on the number of signatures obtained. Warning Violations of the circulator requirements may result in conviction of a felony with a fine of up to $125,000 and/ or prison for up to 5 years. Instructions for Signers Only active Oregon voters may sign a petition. Use a pen to sign your name, as you did when you registered to vote. Provide the date you signed the petition, your printed name and residence address. Only you may complete this optional information. Initial any changes the circulator makes to your printed name, residence address or date you signed the petition. Go to www.billpost.us for more. — Contact Us — YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS The Baker County Press President Donald Trump PO Box 567 Baker City, Ore. 97814 202.456.2461 fax Open Monday-Thursday for calls 9 AM - 4 PM Open 24/7 for emails 202.456.1414 Whitehouse.gov/contact US Sen. Jeff Merkley 503.326.3386 503.326.2900 fax Merkley.Senate.gov Phone: 541.519.0572 TheBakerCountyPress.com US Sen. Ron Wyden 541.962.7691 Wyden.Senate.gov Kerry McQuisten, Publisher Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com US Rep. Greg Walden Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com 541.624.2402 fax David Conn, Advertising and Sales David@TheBakerCountyPress.com Published weekly every Friday. Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas, e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery, Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue, mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only. Payment in advance. A division of Black Lyon Publishing, LLC 541.624.2400 Walden.House.gov Oregon Gov. Kate Brown 503.378.3111 Governor.Oregon.gov State Rep. Cliff Bentz 503.986.1460 State Sen. Ted Ferrioli 541.490.6528 Baker County Commissioners Bill Harvey; Mark Bennett; Bruce Nichols 541.523.8200 Copyright © 2014 -2017 541.523.8201