THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
4A
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EDITORIAL
Legislating
what can
(or should)
be flushed
That the Oregon Legislature is devoting not only
time, but actual legislation, to the issue of disposable
wipes might seem an especially noxious example
of lawmakers meddling in matters beyond their
bailiwick.
The situation can also inspire the sort of scatologi-
cal humor that appeals to pre-teen boys.
But in this case lawmakers had a good reason for
delving into the topic.
It seems likely, at any rate, that most people would
consider keeping sewer pipes fl owing freely a good
reason.
Certainly anybody who has been on the wrong end
of a plugged pipe would agree.
On June 8, Gov. Kate Brown signed into law
House Bill 2344. Her signature made Oregon the
second state — following Washington, in 2020 — to
require packages of disposable wipes to include a “do
not fl ush” label.
The problem, as Baker City offi cials have discov-
ered over the past several years, is that baby wipes
and other similar products marketed as “fl ushable”
don’t really qualify as such.
Although these products generally will swirl down
the toilet without clogging it, they can, in volume,
block sewer pipes. Those products don’t deteriorate
as rapidly as toilet paper so they can accumulate in
pipes.
Several times the Baker City Public Works De-
partment, in responding to reports of sewer prob-
lems, has found masses of fl ushable wipes (and other
debris that also got stuck) in a pipe.
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies
(which is preferable, surely, to associations of dirty
water agencies) estimated in a 2020 report that clogs
caused by these products boost operational costs by
$440 million per year nationally.
The Oregon bill was a priority for the League
of Oregon Cities, the Oregon Association of Clean
Water Agencies and the Special Districts Association
of Oregon.
The potential benefi t from Oregon’s new labeling
law is hardly limited, however, to cities and other
government agencies responsible for sewer pipes.
Michelle Owen, Baker City’s public works director,
said in an interview last year that fl ushable wipes
actually are more likely to block the smaller-diam-
eter lateral lines that connect homes to the city’s
larger pipes.
And homeowners, not the city, are responsible for
unclogging those lateral lines.
In other words, if you fl ush a lot of those wipes,
you’re more apt to cause trouble for yourself than for
the city.
And although the new law doesn’t prohibit people
from continuing to fl ush those products — monetary
fi nes and other potential punishments are limited
to those that make, or sell, such products without
labels — at least you’ll be warned in advance of the
possible messy consequences.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
Biden and the Mexico border
By Jay Ambrose
Joe Biden was elected president and
soon enough reversed Donald Trump’s
reduction of illegal southern border
crossings to the point that we now have
the highest infl ux in 20 years. The hu-
man suffering has been excruciating
and the publicity has been poisonous,
and so Biden walked away from the
problem, handing it to Vice President
Kamala Harris, who almost disap-
peared and has since demonstrated why
that was a good idea.
She fi nally ended up in Guatemala, a
primary source of young people risking
their lives in tortuous, thug-infested,
sometimes deadly desert treks to
the United States. Sounding like the
audacious Trump himself, Harris said,
“Cut it out. Don’t come north anymore.
We are not going to let you in.” Here
are thoughts repulsive to some and a
delight to others, even if insuffi ciently
backed up with action to keep many out.
Along with smugglers abetting thou-
sands of American drug deaths, illegal
immigrants are rushing the border in
record numbers even as TV reporters al-
most seem more on hand to greet them
than border agents. One person less in
sight than winter snow has been Harris,
who didn’t seem to understand when an
interviewer asked why she had not gone
to the border. She replied with an incom-
prehensible joke about not going to Eu-
rope either. Biden practically invited the
immigrants when, among other moves,
he freed refugees to wander in America
without hearings.
One of Trump’s surge solutions was to
immediately move asylum seekers back
to Mexico until, in a number of years,
judges could apply the law to their eligi-
bility. They seem to have endured grave
hurt, but after Biden began undoing
the Trump strategy, Harris is saying to
refugees “you will be turned back” with
Mexico as the only landing place.
Harris is looking at changing the refu-
gee law so it would make things easier
for them to sign up in the places they
came from. In my view, that’s good if
it happens. Also needed are far more
border guards, letting ICE agents be
more proactive and even building some
technologically alert walls of a kind
that have worked in Israel. Listen to a
besieged Texas sheriff and you will get
a much longer list, and, yes, costs are
involved.
But Harris said over and over again
that what she really wanted was to get
to the “root cause” of the desert treks:
living conditions horrible enough for
parents to further enrich gangsters
guiding their children to northern op-
portunity.
To make things better, Harris said,
the United States would hand out
$4 billion over the coming years to
countries in Central America. We will
thereby risk the foreign aid curse of
enhancing the luxuries of the powerful
elite. Even if the moolah reaches the
poor, that’s not enough. It is the honest
rule of law that enables a productive
economy, and, yes, Harris is demand-
ing reform in a nation that needs
it, starting with a corrupt judicial
system that will unlikely bend to the
lost cause of nation-building that the
United States tried for to little notice-
able avail.
Past policies of giving money to Lat-
in American countries did not work,
whereas Trump’s threats of tariffs did,
getting Mexico to use armed troops to
stop immigrant caravans from heading
to the United States.
A Gallup poll shows 158 million
people around the world, including 40
million in Latin America, would like to
come here. A fraction of that could de-
stroy us, of course, and what we need is
enforced immigration rules that serve
both the immigrants and our society,
such as putting emphasis on merit in
skills and education in legal admis-
sions. That does not rule out the poor;
there are lots of accomplished people
in desperate circumstances and un-
skilled people would not be eliminated.
We should look at the whole world, be
fair to all and recognize that especially
at a point of Americans not replacing
themselves anymore, we can absolutely
benefi t.
becomes destructive, and the right to
bear arms. Bear arms for what? To
protect family and country.
Did you hear that and did you
understand that deep inside your soul
and spirit? There are no other words
that should be used to take away that
right. I have no belief in either party.
Although I have been a Republican all
my life and I am 78 years old, I served
and have seen a lot. These two parties
get on nationwide TV and talk about
what is wrong with the other party. The
blame game, over and over and over
again, and what is the result? Nothing
but nothing. Nothing but gibberish and
turkey gobble. Meanwhile, our borders
are wide open and we are being lied
to about it. Our country is being taken
over by socialist laws. Back to high gas
prices. High taxes. Food prices. Being
told by government how to live. A total
mindset. Why is this happening? Voting
without any perception of what is evil
and what is good. Fraudulent elections.
Read Romans 1:23 through 32.
Let’s show this country and world
that people in Baker City, Oregon,
stand by troops and Constitution and
fl ag and our creator, our father, God
almighty. Forever. Please buy a fl ag.
Fly it and all its blessings on the front
of your house and let this nation hear
from the people in Baker City that we
stand as one nation under God with
liberty and justice for all. Enough is
enough. Let our nation fl y the fl ag on
every house and show the world that
the sleeping giant is awake and well.
Fly the fl ag 24 hours a day and replace
it as it gets worn.
God bless America and Baker City.
Gary W. Robinson
Baker City
Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for
Tribune News Service. Readers may email
him at speaktojay@aol.com.
Your views
Fly the America fl ag and
show your pride
Why the American fl ag, what does
it do and what does it stand for? It
fl ies and waves with the wind as it
has in all the battles we engaged in for
over 250 years. Though unoffi cial, red
is symbolic of the blood of those who
have given their lives to defend and
protect the great nation from all of her
enemies, both foreign and domestic.
White represents purity, innocence and
hope. Blue is for vigilance, persever-
ance and justice.
But in our hearts (and our minds)
our fl ag stands for many things, as
evident in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence where all men are created
equal by God, with rights to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. We also
have the right of the people to alter or
abolish any form of government that
OTHER VIEWS
Editorial from Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette:
With each passing year, the events
of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack fade a bit
more from public memory.
That fateful day may be stamped
forever in the minds of those who
were alive to witness it, but more
than 70 million Americans have been
born in the intervening decades.
Education about 9/11 has been
uneven at best, and one 2019 survey
of teachers noted a distressing up-
ward trend in the number of students
repeating conspiracy theories about
9/11 or misunderstanding the rela-
tionship between Islamic extremism
and terrorism.
This event shaped a generation of
Americans. Those in schools should
be taught in a clear and deliberate
manner to understand its signifi-
cance. To clarify misconceptions and
clip conspiracy theories in the bud, the
federal government should set stan-
dards for teaching 9/11 in schools.
At present there is no national
guidance for states to follow in terms
of teaching the topic, and teaching
strategies vary considerably by state,
school and individual educator. Some
opt to teach the subject in U.S. history
courses, while some place it in social
studies or civics programs. Some text-
books give little mention to the event.
For those thinking a national stan-
dard would be an overreach or too
much meddling by the federal govern-
ment, education standards already
are applied to other subjects. The
importance of this particular topic de-
mands care and attention in how it is
broached with students from a young
age, as the complexity of discussing
terrorism requires discretion.
Kids need to know, but what they
need to know at what age can be a
tricky needle to thread.
There are some free resources
available now to teachers and others
who are interested in 9/11 including
photos, video, and first person ac-
counts of the events of the day.
Additionally, federal agencies
including the U.S. Department of
Education, the Library of Congress,
the Smithsonian Institution and the
National Park Service have compiled
and created materials to assist teach-
ers with lesson plans on the topic,
many of which were created around
the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
The National Education Associa-
tion offers free resources to teachers to
provide suggestions on how to teach
9/11 to students who have no memory
of that day.
As America approaches the 20th
anniversary of the attacks, taking a
further step and codifying guidelines
and standards for teaching the mate-
rial will help memorialize the facts of
the attacks as well as the unity that
resulted in the aftermath of that dark
day.