Wednesday, April 7, 2021
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
Voters need
to remain
engaged in
legislative
activity
T
he Oregon Legislature is poised
to approve yet another gun man-
date, and while the battle lines
over such issues are clearly drawn, the
real lesson for voters is they must remain
involved and watchful the actions of
their elected lawmaker.
Late last month, the Oregon Senate
voted to approve a bill to eliminate guns
carried by concealed handgun licensees
from state buildings.
The new bill — House Bill 2510 —
will require the storage of firearms with
trigger or cable locks inside a locked
container or gun room.
Input on the bill is, as expected,
evenly divided. That may be the only
positive element to this piece of legisla-
tion — there is no ambiguity about how
people feel about it.
It is difficult to see how such a bill
— which essentially reaches into a resi-
dent’s private home — will withstand a
court challenge on at least two specific
constitutional pillars, but chances are it
will gain approval.
Anti-gun bills and other pieces of leg-
islation that tackle cultural flashpoint
issues are going to be the norm going
into the future, and that means all vot-
ers must do all they can to stay appraised
of the ambitions and workings of their
elected leaders.
In this day and age, that is no easy
task. Especially with the COVID-19
pandemic.
In the past, there was a robust sys-
tem — including the media and other
watchdog groups — that keep citizens
informed about legislative action. The
media landscape, though, has changed.
The number of reporters who cover the
Oregon Capitol isn’t as large as it once
was and that can be traced to econom-
ics. That means it is up to every voter to
ensure they are following what is going
on at the Legislature.
Thankfully, there are paths to keep up
to tabs on our lawmakers. The internet
is probably the easiest way to do so, and
the Oregon Legislature’s website is very
informative and offers a list of bills that
can be easily accessed.
The world is a bigger place now. Sto-
ries and events are occurring all the time
and often take center stage over what can
be viewed as boring news out of a legis-
lative session.
But it isn’t boring. At least not when
it comes to certain pieces of legislation
that can impact us all. That is why it is
so important that voters stay informed
and remain focused on what is going on
at the Legislature.
Every voter has an obligation to stay
and be informed.
LETTER to the EDITOR
We are free to disagree
I’m grateful for Mr. Polk’s and Mr.
McFall’s response to my letter addressing
concerns with the ethics surrounding the
COVID vaccines. It wasn’t my intent to
misconstrue the facts, however; my posi-
tion on the ethical issues is just that: my
opinion. We are free to disagree on the
ethics of testing non-FDA approved (dif-
ferent than EUA) pharmaceutical prod-
ucts on children. We are also free to dis-
agree on the utility of such a vaccine for
that age group at. Here are the facts not
up for debate:
1. FDA approval (Emergency Use
Authorization included) does not mean
a vaccine or pharmaceutical is safe.
Prescriptiondrugs.procon.org indexes
35 FDA-approved drugs pulled from
the market after 1970 due to safety
concerns. An NPR article published
May 2017 reports one-third of drugs
approved between 2001 and 2010 had
“major safety issues years after the med-
ications were made widely available to
patients.” If an EUA feels safe to you,
that’s your prerogative.
2. According to the federal Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, there are
currently no licensed mRNA vaccines in
the United States. This technology, while
not new in concept, is new to the mar-
ketplace, and the long-term effects of the
COVID vaccines have not been able to be
observed yet. If injecting small children
and young adults (who have a minuscule
risk of death from COVID exposure) with
an understudied substance seems safe to
you, that’s your prerogative.
3. These under-researched vaccines are
being injected into children as young as
6 months without any real (as opposed to
theoretical) understanding of the poten-
tial long-term effects. On March 16, Mod-
erna announced that “the first participants
have been dosed in the Phase 2/3 study,
called the KidCOVE study, of mRNA-
1273 … in children ages 6 months to less
than 12 years.” On March 31, Pfizer-Bi-
oNTech announced in a press release:
“Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech dosed
the first healthy children in a global Phase
1/2/3 seamless study to further evaluate
CONTACT your REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Member Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
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P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828
Office: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore.
Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-423
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
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• • •
Contents copyright © 2021. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
SENATOR
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
EDITORIALS: Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Wallowa County Chieftain editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of
the Wallowa County Chieftain.
LETTERS: The Wallowa County Chieftain welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the
right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that
USPS No. 665-100
Cliff Bentz
1239 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
VOLUME 134
the safety, tolerability and immunogenic-
ity of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19
vaccine in children 6 months to 11 years
of age.” If that seems ethical to you, that’s
your prerogative.
4. The federally managed VAERS
(Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Sys-
tem) contains the reports of more than
a thousand deaths and tens of thou-
sands of injuries that have been recorded
in association with the COVID vac-
cine (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/
defender/vaers-covid-vaccine-injury-re-
ports-increase). Polk and McFall claim
“not a single death has been reported
(from the vaccine).” I know people who
have personally been adversely affected,
and I know many medical profession-
als, including physicians, who refuse to
receive the vaccine for ethical and safety
concerns.
It’s through this kind of open dialogue
that we can discern the truth, and I appre-
ciate the well-articulated response. Per-
haps the readers will find it compelling.
Rebecca Patton
Enterprise
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