FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2019
Baker City, Oregon
4A
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news@bakercityherald.com
OUR VIEW
Ballot
measure
battle
The war may not be over yet, but Oregon Secretary
of State Bev Clarno has won the fi rst battle. Last
week a Marion County Circuit Court judge ruled
Clarno was right to reject a trio of proposed ballot
measures because, she said, they improperly dealt
with more than one subject each.
Clarno rejected Ballot Measures 35, 36 and 37 on
Sept. 24, saying at the time that each covered more
than a single subject, in violation of the state consti-
tution. Oregon Wild, one of the groups sponsoring the
trio, sued. Wednesday, Nov. 27, Judge Daniel Wren
upheld Clarno’s decision. Oregon Wild has said it will
appeal.
The measures each would have, among other
things, banned clearcutting and limited aerial spray-
ing of pesticides. The aerial spray ban, for example,
would have limited spraying near streams and lakes.
At the same time, it would have banned the proce-
dure near occupied homes and schools. In addition,
the trio would bar state forestry board members from
voting on measures dealing with forest waters if they
receive a substantial portion of their income from a
person or organization regulated by state forestry
law.
The state constitution says twice that initiative
petitions must be limited to a single subject.
In Article XVII, Sect. 1, constitutional amend-
ments are confi ned to a single subject, a limitation
that’s been upheld in court at least twice in the last
25 years. In Article IV, Sect. 1(d), the same limit is
applied to the people’s right to both propose new laws
and amend old ones by initiative petition.
It’s unclear how appeals courts will rule on the
Marion County decision, though both sides believe
they’re reading the law correctly. One thing is clear,
however. Clarno was absolutely right when she said
“Voters should not need a law degree to interpret bal-
lot measures.”
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.
Your views
Translator district thankful
for community support
The Board of the Blue Mountain
Translator District is grateful for com-
munity support after a year of historic
change. BMTD has spent the last two
years listening to community concerns
and taking action, resulting in the Leg-
islature’s adoption of SB 393 and 394.
SB 394 allows BMTD to seek new
revenue opportunities by creating a TV
channel with local news and informa-
tion and upgrading to next-generation
TV technology that will enable us to
utilize your airwaves for additional
data delivery initiatives. SB 394 also
Letters to the editor
• We welcome letters on any issue of
public interest. Customer complaints
about specifi c businesses will not be
printed.
• The Baker City Herald will not
knowingly print false or misleading
claims. However, we cannot verify the
permits BMTD to work with stations
to transmit local emergency alerts on
our signals, and a grant from Wildhorse
Foundation allowed us to purchase new
equipment to upgrade our network with
this capability.
We are grateful for the legislative
support of Sen. Bill Hansell, Sen. Cliff
Bentz, Rep. Greg Barreto and Rep.
Lynn Findley. Our success in Salem
was possible only with the assistance
of Union County; the cities of Elgin,
Imbler, Island City and North Powder;
the RFPD’s serving Imbler, La Grande,
Medical Springs, North Powder and
Union; Union County Chamber of Com-
merce; and Union County Farm Bureau.
Government agencies likes BMTD
are responsible to the people, and we
look forward to continued dialogue with
the community to improve the telecom-
munications infrastructure of Northeast
Oregon.
Alex McHaddad
Executive Director
Blue Mountain Translator District
Tim Wallender
Board president
Jean Innerarity
Mike Kenny
Christina Wood
Directors
accuracy of all statements in letters to
the editor.
• Letters are limited to 350 words; longer
letters will be edited for length. Writers
are limited to one letter every 15 days.
• The writer must sign the letter and
include an address and phone number
(for verifi cation only). Letters that do
not include this information cannot be
published.
• Letters will be edited for brevity,
grammar, taste and legal reasons.
Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald,
P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814
Email: news@bakercityherald.com
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.
When the gas station no longer dispenses gas
When I was a boy I considered it
a grand treat to go with my dad to
the gas station.
I found every aspect of the
transaction fascinating — the
hollow clunk as the jockey shoved
the nozzle into the fi ller tube (this
was in Oregon in the 1970s; no
self-serve), the gurgle as the fuel
fl owed into the unseen nether
regions of the rig, the plastic clack
of the credit card machine and the
solemnity, or so it seemed to me, of
my dad scrawling his signature on
the slip and tucking the card back
into his battered wallet.
I even relished the smell of the
fumes.
Fueling up has long since lost
its luster for me, becoming just an-
other regular routine among many,
devoid of the thrills of youth.
But I still fi nd the astringent
scent of gasoline pleasant.
And at least these days the
aroma isn’t quite so nasty as it
used to be.
When I think about accompa-
nying my dad, the vehicle he’s
driving is always the mid-1960s
Ford pickup truck he owned for
several years. It was a two-wheel
drive painted a light blue that was
called, in the grandiose way that
automakers prefer, Caribbean tur-
quoise — presuming certain online
sources, and my own imperfect
memory of the particular shade,
can be trusted.
(Why Ford executives thought
JAYSON
JACOBY
buyers of pickup trucks would be
enticed by a reference to the Carib-
bean is to me unclear.)
In any case the Ford wasn’t
saddled with a catalytic converter
and so my dad, when he rolled
down the window (by way of a
chrome-plated handle powered by
muscle, not electricity), he told the
attendant he wanted “ethyl.”
At the time the word was
something of a mystery to me even
though I heard it pretty often. I
knew only that ethyl was one type
of gas, unleaded being the other.
(There were no diesel rigs among
those in which I regularly rode so
I knew nothing of that fuel. Also I
didn’t live on a farm.)
I learned much later that “ethyl”
was advertising shorthand for
tetraethyl lead, the substance that
had been added to gasoline since
the 1920s to prevent engines, which
lacked the sophisticated computer
controls of today, from “knocking”
— which is to say, premature igni-
tion of the gas-fuel mixture.
(Knocking not only reduces fuel
economy but it can severely dam-
age engines.)
Unfortunately tetraethyl lead
— in common with many things
that contain element 82 on the
periodic table — is a pretty potent
poison. And a persistent one, once
it gets into our bodies, something it
accomplishes quite easily when it’s
contained in automobile exhaust.
Little wonder that the market-
ing wizards left the word “lead” out
of the name for their miraculous
product, which caused backfi res in
Americans’ brains even as it was
helping our engines purr along.
The federal government eventu-
ally phased out leaded gasoline,
and if you didn’t start visiting gas
stations until after the mid-1980s
or so, you might not associate the
word “ethyl” with fuel. (Leaded
gas was offi cially banned for road
vehicles in 1996, but with catalytic
converters required on new cars
starting in 1975, it was pretty rare
within a decade or so.)
I had occasion to ponder gaso-
line recently when I was fi lling
my Toyota’s tank (alas, the advent
of self-service siphons a bit of the
potential magic from the event;
had my son been with me he would
have been deprived of seeing his
old man sign a receipt or gab with
the attendant).
While I was standing next to the
pump, watching the digital num-
bers tally my tab, I noticed a Tesla
parked nearby.
It was, of course, distant from the
pumps. Aloof, even. The Tesla takes
on electrons, not gallons.
This happened not long after
Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative
announced that it plans to install
a charging station for electric
vehicles on the east side of Resort
Street, between Thatcher’s Ace
Hardware and the Dollar Tree.
As I drove away I got to thinking
about refueling our vehicles — in
the most general sense — and in
particular how many years will
pass before the experience I re-
member so vividly, with its gurgling
and aromatic liquids, has become
as archaic as tying up your horse
outside the saloon.
I suspect this transition will be
one better measured in decades
rather than years.
In 2018, electric vehicles ac-
counted for just 2.1% of passenger
car sales in the U.S.. That was a
record high, but it’s still a paltry
percentage.
So long as gasoline remains rela-
tively cheap by historical standards
— a refl ection of its continuing
abundance — I think it’s unlikely
that electric vehicles will make
anything but gradual and modest
gains in market share.
But it also seems certain that
electric cars will make such gains
— that they are, as the saying goes,
here to stay.
OTEC’s planned charging station
— and the one that Tesla installed
several years ago at the Sunridge
Inn parking lot, usable only by that
company’s models — represent the
early stages of a revolution, albeit a
key part.
Based on what I’ve read about
electric vehicles, the engineers have
either solved, or are well along
toward solving, the challenges
required to make cars powered by
electric motors about as broadly
useful as those propelled by inter-
nal combustion engines.
The obvious obstacles are range
— how many miles can an elec-
tric vehicle go before it has to be
plugged in — and how long it takes
to replenish that range.
Electric cars fall short of conven-
tional vehicles in both categories.
But the gap is narrowing. One
Tesla model can travel up to 375
miles on a charge. Charging times
are getting shorter.
I have little doubt that for my
children and, perhaps, grandchil-
dren, the memory that remains
so vivid to me — of pulling into a
station and dispensing an aromatic
liquid fuel whenever the needle on
the gauge starts to point toward
the “E” — will be part of theirs.
But I can also envision some
descendant tagging along with
his dad, neither of them knowing
much more of me than perhaps an
old digital photo, going through a
ritual that involves cables rather
than hoses, and the silent trans-
fer of electrons, powerful but not
pungent.
Jayson Jacoby is editor
of the Baker City Herald.