COMMUNITY
THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021
COUNCIL
Continued from Page 1A
Sells said she has concerns
about some of the wording in
the nearly 2 1/2-page resolu-
tion, but was not questioning
its purpose.
“There’s just some things in
this resolution as it is written
that I don’t wholeheartedly
agree with and it’s hard for
me to stand by and push
this forward as is without
asking that we do look at it or
provide a little bit more time
to maybe look at some edits,”
Sells said.
Sells mentioned a section
near the end of the resolution,
which states that the city will
“support future statewide
ballot initiatives that limit the
duration and extent of Gover-
nor’s emergency powers ...”
“I don’t see how we can ask
that of our city,” Sells said.
Spriet posed a general ques-
tion to residents who spoke in
favor of the resolution during
Tuesday’s meeting, asking
how they think the resolution
can improve the situation in
the city related to pandemic
restrictions on businesses and
activities.
“This isn’t going to change
the law,” Spriet said.
He said he wanted to make
sure everyone
understood the
city can’t be re-
sponsible for any
repercussions
that business
Spriet
owners might
have if they fail
to adhere to state regulations.
“Whether we do this or not,
you have that right to open
your business regardless of
this resolution,” Spriet said.
The second paragraph of
the resolution acknowledges
that the city “cannot protect
any local business from State-
directed targeting, repercus-
sions and penalties” that
could result from a business
fl outing state mandates.
Spriet said that although
“I want this to pass so that we can stand
together with you guys and make a
very loud statement that will hopefully
spread across the state.”
— Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuisten
he voted against the resolu-
tion, he believes that the
governor’s restrictions do not
take into account differences
between rural and urban
parts of the state.
Perry asked for a minor
change to a section that in
the original version stated
that “businesses in Baker
City have already closed their
doors permanently as a result
of the Governor’s emergency
declaration.”
Perry said she wanted to
make sure the resolution
didn’t imply that all busi-
nesses had closed.
“Other than that, I think
it’s beautifully written,” Perry
said.
Mayor Kerry McQuisten,
who drafted the resolution
in consultation with City
Manager Jon Cannon and
the city’s attorney, said she
believes the resolution brings
the community together.
McQuisten said she has heard
from “hundreds of people”
about the resolution and that
about 5% were opposed to the
Council approving it.
“I want this to pass so that
we can stand together with
you guys and make a very
loud statement that will hope-
fully spread across the state,”
McQuisten said Tuesday. “If
we can get the media and
other cities and other coun-
ties to listen to this and do
something similar, that’s our
only shot as far as I can see of
getting the state and Salem to
listen to us.”
Alderson said he believes
the resolution is a way for the
City Council to make its voice
heard.
“And even if it goes un-
heard, at some point when the
roll is called, and people look
back at this time, it will stand
as a record of what we believe
and the unfairness we have
received from our own govern-
ment,” he said.
Whether or not the resolu-
tion is persuasive in Salem,
Alderson said, its passage will
“show our resolve and the
resolve that this council has
for the citizens.”
Dixon said state mandates,
including requirements that
business customers wear
masks and restrictions on
occupancy, have contributed
to divisiveness in the city that
has lasted for months.
“We have had business
people going around to other
businesses, bullying them
because they are trying to run
their business,” Dixon said.
“We have had business people
turning in other businesses
for being open. That is when
the divisiveness happened.
It did not happen with this
resolution.”
Waggoner said he liked the
way the resolution is written,
saying it was drafted with
passion.
Residents’ comments
McQuisten said the city
has received about 30 letters
regarding the resolution, with
all but three of the writers
favoring its passage.
Several residents also spoke
to the Council Tuesday.
Jodi Furtney, owner of
Charlie’s Ice Cream Par-
lor, said she supports the
resolution. She focused on the
resolution’s description of the
governor’s orders as “draco-
nian.”
“Draconian means exces-
sively harsh and severe. So,
I agree that when the state
takes away your ability to earn
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
a living, that is excessively
harsh and severe,” Furtney
said.“When someone else who
never misses a paycheck gets
to decide if you’re essential.”
Furtney said her business
has been directly affected by
state restrictions, which have
affected restaurants, and has
not written herself a paycheck
in 12 months.
“It’s depressing, demoraliz-
ing, degrading, and the mental
stress is over the top. It’s
draconian,” Furtney said.
Tom Hughes discussed the
effect the mandates have had
on children.
“Experts say we’ve lost at
least a generation of our kids
to this pandemic,” Hughes
said. “It’s not just math, spell-
ing, or reading. It’s the lack of
social interaction and forced
alienation from their family,
their friends, and the public.
Beverly Calder, owner of
BELLA Main Street Market,
spoke in opposition to the
resolution, saying she was
concerned when she read the
resolution.
Calder, a former city council
member, said her fi rst thought
was “what’s the point of this?”
She described the resolution
as negative and infl ammatory,
and ill-timed given that the
county is doing well at vacci-
nating residents and reducing
COVID-19 cases.
“We are almost through
this,” Calder said. “What does
this resolution do to help us as
a community come through?”
She contends there is
nothing in the resolution that
“holds the promise of bring-
ing the community together,
strengthening businesses and
business districts.”
“There is nothing here to
help,” Calder said. “And that’s
what we need from this coun-
cil. We need you to help us get
through this, not talk about
how bad it is.”
Matthew Cunningham
spoke in favor of the resolution
saying he strongly disagrees
with mask mandates. Cun-
ningham said he has multiple
sclerosis and takes an im-
munosuppressant medication
that makes him more vulner-
able to COVID-19.
“14 days to fl atten the curve
has mutated into 14 months
to destroy the Constitution,”
Cunningham said. “For the
past year, we have continually
been asked to surrender our
liberties in the name of public
safety.”
“I’ve been told by some that
wearing masks is virtuous
so as to model good behavior
for children,” Cunningham
said. “What they mean to say
is, they have two supreme
secular virtues of compliance
and conformity. I will give you
examples of good compliant
people — the North Koreans,
the Chinese, the Jews, the
Nazis, they were all compliant
and they were all forced to
conform. Covering your face is
nothing more than a diaboli-
cal plot to erase the miracle of
who God created you as in an
attempt to make you nothing
more than a body without a
soul, a drone, a cypher. It is
depersonalizing, demoralizing,
and a tool to teach subjugation
without reason.”
Jerry Shaw, Dylan Glock
and Eric Johnson also told
councilors they support the
resolution.
Shaw, who owns the Inland
Cafe, said his sales are down
almost $300,000 during the
pandemic.
“Yes, I have received PPP
grants, it isn’t anywhere near
close to that,” Shaw said. “Not
to mention the fact that the
cost of food is higher because
there isn’t people to work be-
cause the factories are closed.”
Shaw said he could endure
the pandemic if he were al-
lowed to open his restaurant
to diners who are comfortable
eating inside, rather than be-
ing limited to 50% occupancy,
as is the case even when
Baker County is at the lowest
of the state’s four risk levels.
For other customers, he said,
“We need you to help us
get through this, not talk
about how bad it is.”
— Beverly Calder, Baker City
business owner
he would offer curbside pickup
and hire a delivery driver.
“It would still cost me less
money than losing half my
tables,” Shaw said.
Glock said the two-week
period to slow the spread
of the virus last spring has
continued for a year.
“We should be allowed to
open our businesses, run them
how we want, whether we
want to make people wear
masks,” said Glock, who owns
The Squeaky Stirrup.
Johnson, who runs a
management consulting fi rm
in Baker County, is skeptical
about whether masks are
effective.
“My wife is a nurse. She
worked COVID for all winter,”
Johnson said. “She wrote a
very nice piece, a very nice
article. She also does research
with doctors. The science is out
there; it doesn’t work.”
Johnson said he should
have the right to choose
whether he wants to wear a
mask or not. He said he and
others who eschew masks
have been relegated to the
back of their church.
“We now have six pews
full of non-maskers and over
a quarter of the church is
spread out all over the place
that want to wear a mask,”
Johnson said. “Why are we
segregated in this town? We
should be able to sit where we
want to sit and do what we
want to do.”
Like Cunningham, John-
son cited the Nazi regime in
Germany.
“See how they became and
what tactics they used to gain
power,” he said. “If you really
research what happened, we
are following that in this
country, and especially in this
state, to a T.”
Baker County
CHURCH
DIRECTORY
Sunday Worship
First Service 8:30 am
2nd Service & Sunday School
am
Jr. High & High School Youth
Tues 6:30 pm
Youth Pastor Silas Moe
675 Hwy 7, Baker City • 541-523-5425
FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
EARLY WORSHIP
GATHERING
8:30 AM
SECOND WORSHIP
GATHERING
10:30 AM
3720 Birch St, Baker City
541-523-4233
Third & Broadway
541-523-3891
Sunday Worship Service
10:30 am
Sundays
10 AM Worship Service
9 AM Sunday School
Thursdays
1995 4th Street, Baker City
541-523-5201
5:30 - 6 PM
Free Community Dinner
6:15 - 8 PM
firstpresbaker.blogspot.com
Celebrate Recovery
SEVENTH-DAY
ADVENTIST
CHURCH
SAINT
ALPHONSUS
HOSPITAL CHAPEL
Saturday Worship
11:00 am
Open to all patients,
family and friends for
reflection and prayer.
www.bakercitysda.com
17th & Pocahontas, Baker City
541-523-4913
CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE CHURCH
Elkhorn Baptist
Church
Sunday Service
11:00 am
Sunday School 10 am
Morning Worship 11 am
Evening Worship 6 pm
Discovery Kids Worship
: pm
3520 Birch St, Baker City
541-523-4332
www.ChristianScience.com
3rd & Washington, Baker City
541-523-5911
bakercalvarybaptist.com
St. Stephen’s
Episcopal
Pastor Troy Teeter
Services at 9 am
1st & 3rd Sundays, Holy Eucharist
2nd & 4th Sundays, Morning Prayer
5th Sunday, Morning Prayer
1250 Hughes Lane, Baker City
(Corner of Cedar & Hughes)
541-523-3533
www.bakernaz.com
2177 First Street • Baker City
Entrance on 1st Street
Corner Church & First Streets
541-523-4812
Sunday Worship 9:00 ඉඕ & 10:30 ඉඕ
St. Alphonsus Hospital in
Baker City
ST. BRIGID’S IN THE
PINES COMMUNITY
CHURCH
11:30 a.m. Services
1st & 3rd Sunday
Holy Eucharist
East Auburn Street, Sumpter
541-523-4812
A Mission of St. Stephen's Episcopal
Church in Baker City
St. Francis De
Sales Cathedral
Daily Masses:
M, T, Th, F 9 am
Day Chapel in Cathedral
Wed Daily Mass 9 am
at St. Alphonsus Chapel
Sat 8 am at Day Chapel
Baker City Saturday Mass 6 pm
Baker City Sunday Mass 9:30 am
St. Therese in Halfway 2 pm Sat
St. Anthony's in North Powder
11:30 Sun
541-523-4521
Corner of First & Church, Baker City
Established
1904
FIRST
LUTHERAN
CHURCH
Service at 11 am
September through the
last Sunday of May
1734 Third Street, Baker City
541-523-3922
firstlutheranbakercity@gmail.com
AGAPE
CHRISTIAN
CENTER
Sunday Services
10:00 am & 6:30 pm
South Highway 7,
Baker City
541-523-6586
The church directory is published once monthly. Information for this directory is provided by participating churches, please call 541-523-3673 for more information.
Thank you to the participating churches and these sponsors:
Cliff’s Saws & Cycles
Whelan Electric, Inc.
523-5756 • CCB 103032
2619 Tenth • 523-2412
1950 Place • 523-4300
1500 Dewey • 523-3677