WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2019
Baker City, Oregon
4A
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OUR VIEW
Making it
easier for
voters to
register
State Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, believes Or-
egonians would be better served if they could register
to vote right up through Election Day. The change, he
argues, would improve voter turnout, and that’s not a
bad thing.
The state constitution requires would-be voters
to have registered “not less than 20 days” before the
next election. They also must live in Oregon for the
six months preceding the election, and Hass does not
propose changing the residency requirement.
But, as Hass notes, the 20-day requirement may
have made sense when it was enacted in 1986. The
era of modern technology had not yet taken hold, and
county clerks favored the Ballot Measure 13 that
established the 20-day registration cutoff.
Voters agreed, though elected offi cials, the League
of Women Voters and other groups all opposed it,
arguing that the registration deadline would reduce
voter participation in elections because fewer people
would be eligible to vote. A Bend Bulletin editorial
about the measure noted that in 1986, some 71,000
voters registered in the 20 days before the general
election, and in 1980, more than 100,000 registered
in that same time period.
Supporters of the measure argued the deadline
would cut fraud and save money, and the measure
passed handily.
Yet, Hass is correct in noting that technology has
advanced so much since 1986 that it no longer takes
20 days to verify that those who have registered are,
in fact, entitled to vote. He would let voters decide the
matter, and, assuming they approved the change, he
would charge the secretary of state with establishing
what documentation to use to establish voter eligibil-
ity.
Hass wants to be his party’s candidate for secre-
tary of state in 2020, and he no doubt sees changing
the registration deadline as something that voters
will favor. But he’s also likely right in his belief that
same-day registration will get more Oregonians to
the polls. It’s a change worth trying.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker City Herald.
Columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions
of the authors and not necessarily that of the Baker City Herald.
Letters to the editor
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Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald,
P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814
Email: news@bakercityherald.com
Your views
Planning Commission should
reject proposed cell tower
Whit Deschner’s poem in the October
25th edition of the Baker City Herald
is pure poetic genius. It’s also quite
humorous.
But Deschner’s criticism of the pro-
posed 70-foot-tall cell tower is meant to
be taken VERY seriously.
For the Baker City Planning Com-
mission it should be a slam-dunk “NO”
decision to reject the proposal.
I suggest that every member of the
Planning Commission, City Council,
and all citizens go see the proposed site,
which includes a dense residential area
within a football fi eld’s distance.
Here’s how you get there. Go to the
corner of Main and D, where City
Manager Fred Warner Jr., lives. Drive
east on D Street over the Powder River
bridge and a little further until you’re
at the north end of the Fairgrounds
and Leo Adler Baseball Park. Stop and
look north. Then visualize a structure
standing there that is as tall as a
7-story building towering several times
higher than every building in that part
of town.
I have a cellphone going on 10 years
old. It has no problem sending and
receiving calls and messages in every
part of Baker City. If my cellphone
can do that, it means a 70-foot-tall cell
tower in the middle of Baker City is
completely superfl uous.
Gary Dielman
Baker City
Towers are the price of
cellphone convenience
Just read an interesting poem sent
in by a fellow reader in opposition to
the proposed cellphone tower. Now
to explain myself, both my wife and I
neither one of us have a cellphone or a
desire to have one. We have a land line
and an answering machine, which has
served us faithfully for decades. How-
ever I have absolutely no opposition to
the cellphone tower being proposed. My
fellow poet and the majority of citizens
in Baker City have to ask themselves
are they willing to give up their cell-
phones. You can’t have reliable service
without towers. Everyone wants the
freedom of the cellphone and it comes
with a price. You can’t have it both
ways. I’ll never understand the “Not in
my Backyard” thinking when it comes
to wanting something but not willing to
pay the price.
Bill Ward
Baker City
Looking forward to Nancy
Pelosi as president
Just sitting here thinking, when Mr.
Trump is impeached, and vice presi-
dent Pearce is in prison for being an ac-
complice, the world will be right again,
with Nancy Pelosi as president. Donald
Trump should face charges of treason.
He is not an American icon, he is an
infatuation of all the people out there
who wanted change, but chose wrong.
He has made the greatest country in
the world vulnerable, for his own gain.
Wake up America.
Donald Worley
Baker City
Kurds helped track al-Baghdadi
One could be forgiven for concluding
that the widespread national secu-
rity panic following President Donald
Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces
from northeastern Syria was overstated.
As that withdrawal was happening,
we now know, U.S. special forces were
homing in on the location of Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s leader
and founder, in al Qaeda-controlled ter-
ritory near the Turkish border. Trump
himself said the intelligence that led to
his capture came together in those fateful
weeks as Kurds and Turks briefl y fought
and dozens of Islamic State prisoners
escaped.
What’s more remarkable is that as the
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
concluded that they were being betrayed
by Trump, they nonetheless continued to
track al-Baghdadi and work closely with
their U.S. counterparts in the operation
that killed him.
Kurdish spies began to focus on
al-Baghdadi’s location last spring, after
the last Islamic State stronghold in
Syria fell. “We began to investigate the
presence of Baghdadi, where he was
located, in March,” said Ilham Ahmed,
the president of the Syrian Democratic
Council, in an interview Sunday. “Our
intelligence units were always follow-
ing his movements. They were in a
high-level coordination with American
intelligence.”
ELI LAKE
Ahmed said the chaos of the initial
Turkish invasion did not stop Kurdish
spies in the anti-terrorism unit of the
Syrian Democratic Forces from continu-
ing to gather and analyze information
gleaned about Baghdadi’s location. The
New York Times reported that the initial
tip about al-Baghdadi’s location came in
the summer, following the arrest of one
of his couriers and one of his wives.
Ahmed is now in Washington to make
the case for repairing a partnership that
frayed dramatically after the Turkish
army invaded that region earlier this
month. Despite Trump’s public com-
ments that he sees no reason why U.S.
forces should stand between Kurdish
fi ghters and the Turkish army, Ahmed
said she hopes Trump will use America’s
vast political and economic leverage to
deter Turkey from trying to resettle the
3 million Syrian Arab refugees in histori-
cally Kurdish areas.
For now, she said, the Syrian Kurds
have received guarantees from Russia to
protect some 2 million Kurdish civilians
in the area from the Turkish army and
allied Islamist militias. She fi nds this
Russian assurance cold comfort. The
Kurds would prefer U.S. protection, she
said, but “this is our only option.”
Part of the new arrangement for
Syria’s Kurds means they will have to
rely on Syrian regime forces to provide
protection. This is particularly danger-
ous in light of recent Syrian history.
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s father,
Hafez al-Assad, launched campaigns to
cleanse Syria of Kurds.
And while there has been a pause
in the Turkish-Kurdish war in the last
week, Ahmed is still deeply worried
about the long-term prospects of the
Kurdish people. She still wants the U.S.
to play a role in the Syrian peace process,
she said, and to defend Kurdish au-
tonomy within Syria. “America promised
us support for negotiations with the Syr-
ian government,” she said. “They should
keep that promise.”
The Syrian Kurds have kept their
promise. They have continued to assist
the U.S. war against Islamic State, even
as they had to seek protection from
Russia. The least the U.S. can do now
is to use its remaining leverage to deter
Turkey — and to advocate for an autono-
mous Kurdish region in Syria.
Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist
covering national security and foreign
policy. He was the senior national security
correspondent for the Daily Beast and
covered national security and intelligence for
the Washington Times, the New York Sun
and UPI.
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Donald Trump: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-456-2461; to
send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. offi ce: 313 Hart Senate Offi ce
Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753;
fax 202-228-3997. Portland offi ce: One World Trade Center, 121
S.W. Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386;
fax 503-326-2900. Pendleton offi ce: 310 S.E. Second St. Suite
105, Pendleton 97801; 541-278-1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. offi ce: 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-228-
2717. La Grande offi ce: 105 Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850;
541-962-7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District): D.C. offi ce: 2182
Rayburn Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730;
fax 202-225-5774. La Grande offi ce: 1211 Washington Ave., La
Grande, OR 97850; 541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.
house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
State Sen. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario): Salem offi ce: 900 Court
St. N.E., S-301, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1730. District offi ce:
P.O. Box 1027, Ontario, OR 97914; 541-889-8866.
State Rep. Lynn Findley (R-Vale): Salem offi ce: 900 Court
St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460. Email: Rep.
LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
Baker City Hall: 1655 First Street, P.O. Box 650, Baker City,
OR 97814; 541-523-6541; fax 541-524-2049. City Council meets
the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers.
Mike Downing, Loran Joseph, Randy Schiewe, Lynette Perry,
Arvid Andersen, Ken Gross and Doni Bruland.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Fred Warner Jr.,
city manager; Ray Duman, police chief; John Clark, fi re chief;
Michelle Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County Courthouse 1995
3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-523-8200. Meets the fi rst and
third Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Bill Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett,
Bruce Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis Ash,
sheriff; Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Matt Shirtcliff, district
attorney; Alice Durfl inger, county treasurer; Stefanie Kirby,
county clerk; Kerry Savage, county assessor.