SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
4A
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news@bakercityherald.com
EDITORIAL
Making
public
records fees
equal for all
House Bill 2485 in the Oregon Legislature sounds like
something a newspaper would endorse.
The bill, which had a public hearing Thursday, Feb. 18,
would require state agencies, on passage of the bill, to cut
by 50% the fee for providing public records to the news
media. The legislation would require local governments
that are also subject to the public records law, such as cit-
ies, counties and school districts, to make the same 50%
cut in fees starting Jan. 1, 2022.
The 50% reduction isn’t exclusive to news media (a
term the legislation doesn’t defi ne). Any request “made
in public interest” would also qualify for the halved fee.
But the bill would automatically deem requests from
the news media as being in the public interest, and thus
subject to the 50% fee reduction.
The idea of giving deference to the news media is not
without foundation. It is reasonable to believe that a
reporter is more likely to use public records for a purpose
— distributing information to the public about the works
of government — that could fairly be described as being
in the public interest.
A citizen who isn’t a journalist, by contrast, might not
have the inclination, or the ability, to use public records
for that purpose.
But here’s the thing: Oregon’s Public Records Law,
which dates to 1973, is not the “News Media Public Re-
cords Law.” It’s just the Public Records Law. Every citizen
has the same legal right to these records. This is as it
should be. Just as the law doesn’t give any group special
access to records, neither should it charge any group less
to retrieve those records.
The Legislature should pass a version of House Bill
2485 — a version that cuts fees by 50% for everyone who
makes requests. Moreover, lawmakers need to empha-
size to public agencies that the purpose of the Public
Records Law is to make records readily available. Too
often, whether or not the person requesting is a journal-
ist, a combination of bureaucratic inertia and excessive
fees renders the law’s purpose a cruel illusion. House Bill
2485 addresses this very point: “ ... the costs of retrieving
public records for reproduction can be minimal if a public
body makes efforts to store public records in an orderly
manner for easy retrieval.” That, not deciding whether
a request is in the public interest, should be the guiding
principle for all public agencies.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
Your views
Councilor was wrong to cite
‘emotion’ in board choice
It’s hard to believe in this day and
age that a male city councilor had the
nerve to play the “emotional female”
card in a public meeting against
our mayor. Was this an attempt at
shaming her for a decision he didn’t
like? Councilor Jason Spriet is the one
who should be ashamed. His desire to
appoint his friend to the Golf Board
was in fact the “emotional” response
if ever I heard one. If Fred Warner Jr.
had so many magical grant opportuni-
ties and contacts, he should have used
them for the golf course during all the
years he was city manager. Mayor
McQuisten used solid personnel man-
agement 101 reasoning. Never, ever
advance the application of a candidate
who may be at odds with any of your
team. I’m guessing that approach is a
shock to good ole boys far and wide.
Chuck Chase
Baker City
Baker City manager, mayor
right to stick to city charter
Thank you to the new city man-
ager, Mr. Jon Cannon, for sticking
to the city charter. Thanks to Mayor
McQuisten for having ethics and
standing for the truth. Thanks for rid-
ding the city of the toxin and saying
goodbye to the “Good Ole Boys Club.”
From my perspective former city
manager, Fred Warner, always had
an agenda, and ignored the average
person who did not fi t into his club.
This has been obvious to many Baker
City folks for a very long time.
Fred randomly popped into a local
restaurant that employs 24 local
families just a few days before his re-
tirement. He tried to bully the owner
in support of the baseless health
mandates. Who was he trying to help?
He had no authority as a city em-
ployee to do this. Fred offered $15,000
to the owner if he would drink the
Kool-Aid and shut down. Where was
he going to get these funds from? The
business owner did not even know
who he was. In all Fred’s years with
the city, he never once bothered to
stop by and say hi or ask how he could
help. I was there and listened to the
conversation.
Now he says he is here to help on
the golf board after retirement? Also,
why would the previous mayor’s wife
be going around town bullying busi-
nesses to oppose the new city council
and the new mayor? I have seen some
interesting text messages from other
local businesses to show this. This ha-
tred is not helping anyone, only creat-
ing more dissension in our community.
But they are here to “HELP?” ...
This leftist cancel culture has no
place in Baker City!
Tom Hughes
Baker City
The lesson in Stalin’s
treatment of a chicken
Stalin once ripped all the feathers
off a live chicken as a lesson to his
followers. He then set the chicken on
the fl oor a short distance away. The
chicken was bloodied and suffering
immensely, yet, when Stalin began
to toss some bits of wheat toward the
chicken, it followed him around. He
said to his followers: “This is how easy
it is to govern stupid people, they will
follow you no matter how much pain
you cause them, as long as you throw
them a little worthless treat once in a
while.”
May God continue to bless America.
Bill Hanley
Baker City
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1111; to send comments,
go to www.whitehouse.gov.
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. Baker City offi ce, 1705 Main St., Suite 504,
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. Cliff Bentz (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. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem offi ce: 900
Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1730. Email: Sen.
LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem offi ce: 900 Court
St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460. Email: Rep.
MarkOwens@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. Councilors Lynette Perry, Jason Spriet, Kerry
McQuisten, Shane Alderson, Joanna Dixon, Heather Sells and
Johnny Waggoner Sr.
Survey shortchanges Oregon’s level of anger
The email’s subject line had the
intended effect of causing my eyes
to pause as they slid down the list
of new messages in my inbox.
I could scarcely avoid the lure
of this sentence: “Oregonians got
angry 5 times each week in 2020,
reveals survey.”
As an Oregonian who spent that
entire year within the state’s bor-
ders, I had to fi nd out more about a
survey that wasn’t just fl awed but
was clearly the product of fantasy.
Angry fi ve times each week?
I got mad fi ve times in as many
minutes during 2020.
And not just once.
Nor do I think my experience was
unusual.
If 2020 had an offi cial emotion,
surely anger was it.
The email also mentions “fear,
stress and frustration,” but those
are merely the psychological blast-
ing caps that can trigger a full-
blown explosion of fury.
The message also states: “A slow
WiFi connection, excess workload or
any number of minor annoyances
can set off your anger.”
This is not Freudian-level analy-
sis.
JAYSON
JACOBY
But that sentence, however obvi-
ous its conclusion, also illustrates
the absurdity of a survey that
claims Oregonians were angry just
fi ve times per week last year, below
the national average of six such
weekly episodes.
(Among the other fi ndings,
Delaware was the “angriest” state,
with residents getting mad 12
times a week, while Hawaiians
were perturbed just twice a week.
Hawaiians have a reputation for
placidity, to be sure, what with the
tranquil weather and the beaches
and all. But the notion of Dela-
ware being a seething stew of rage
doesn’t make sense. If anything, the
state’s residents ought to have been
happier than usual, what with their
local boy, Joe Biden, winning the
presidency.)
Even setting aside WiFi and
other computer problems — which
of course you can’t set aside when
your internet connection gets
severed half an hour before a work
deadline — the key phrase is “any
number of minor annoyances.”
That number, of course, is much
closer to infi nity than to zero.
A single task as basic as empty-
ing the dishwasher can raise my ire
half a dozen times.
A fork’s tines get wedged into
the silverware holder and when I
yank it free I spill spoons all over
the kitchen fl oor and then I whack
my head on the open cupboard door
when I stand up after retrieving
the utensils and then I can’t get the
bowls to nest neatly and there’s no
room for more mugs and all of the
sudden I feel a compulsion to start
throwing dinner plates across the
room like Frisbee discs.
And just like that I’ve plowed
through my weekly allotment of
fi ve bouts of anger in a few minutes.
I wasn’t asked to participate in
the survey conducted by Alcohol.
org, which in December 2020 sur-
veyed 3,003 Americans (a strangely
precise fi gure, it seems to me), ac-
cording to the email I received from
Cherry Digital.
But had I been queried I would
have at least tried to be accurate
in estimating how frequently I had
been angry during the year.
And I would have given a fi gure
considerably higher than Oregon’s
average of fi ve, or the national six,
or even incensed Delaware’s survey-
topping dozen.
I suppose many people, even
afforded the cloak of anonymity,
are reluctant to admit just how
often they get mad. Perhaps they’re
ashamed, feeling that succumbing
to anger is a sign of weakness.
It can be, of course, when a per-
son doesn’t merely rage internally,
but turns the emotion into unpro-
ductive action.
By tossing dinner plates, for
instance.
But anger itself needn’t be
destructive.
Chopping fi rewood, by contrast,
would be a worthwhile outlet.
Alcohol.org admits as much in
the email, conceding that anger
“can be a healthy emotion.”
As you probably deduced, given
the name of the organization that
conducted the survey, respondents
were asked about alcohol use as
well as anger.
Specifi cally, the survey found that
68% of those who were angry due
to the COVID-19 pandemic “have
used alcohol as a coping mecha-
nism.”
That seems low to me.
But it may be that people are
no more eager to admit downing
a couple of beers or martinis than
they are to confess to getting ticked
off frequently.
The survey wasn’t limited to
questions about alcohol use.
About two of every three re-
spondents who admitted drinking
because they were mad said the
alcohol “has the opposite effect and
makes them angrier.”
I’m not convinced this is a com-
pletely fair description of why angry
people imbibe.
For me, alcohol doesn’t transform
my anger into tranquility so much
as it makes the anger seem more
reasonable. Beer is the liquid ver-
sion of the friend who commiserates
with you, who sympathizes when
you explain why a single stuck fork
got your blood boiling.
Jayson Jacoby is editor
of the Baker City Herald.