THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
A4
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OUR VIEW
Liquor
sales in
groceries?
If you are a newcomer to Oregon and yearn for
booze, you learn quickly that you can only buy hard
liquor in state liquor stores.
If you are a newcomer to Oregon, you also learn
quickly that Oregonians can’t pump their own gas in
many parts of the state. (It’s a wonder the state lets
people plug in their own electric cars!)
Surveys from the Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center seem to indicate Oregonians are ready for
change — where they can buy liquor and in pumping
gas. Polls done in January showed more than 50% of
Oregonians support both policy changes.
The restrictions on pumping your own gas already
have begun eroding. It’s OK to pump your own in
much of Eastern Oregon, including Baker County. We
think all Oregonians can handle it full time. If you
don’t want to pump your own gas, we understand. In
other states, full-service stations often cater to that
desire.
A permanent shift in the rules for booze may soon
be coming to a ballot near you. Two possible ballot
measures led in part by Lauren Johnson of Newport
Market in Bend aim for change. In one, grocers could
sell local spirits. In the second, hard liquor just would
be for sale at the grocer. It’s not clear if the Northwest
Grocery Association, which is backing both efforts,
will actually focus on one or the other for the 2022
ballot.
A private system with state oversight works OK
for pot sales. Grocery stores manage to sell beer and
wine just fi ne. We are sure they could do the same
with hard liquor.
There are many questions, though. What happens
to the people who have invested in state-controlled
liquor stores? Their business model would be in big
trouble. And will small producers of craft liquors be
better off in this new system or worse?
The bigger worry for some is what happens if it
becomes more convenient to get hard liquor. Would
problems with addiction and substance abuse rise?
Maybe. But if people want booze now, though, they
will manage to get it. And we don’t see a tidal wave
of people in states with more freedom to buy liquor
calling to add more restrictions to where liquor can
be sold.
There’s going to be interest in fi guring out what
it might do to prices, as well. But until we know for
certain what will be on the ballot, it’s hard to know
what it might do. It’s also hard to know if this just
will be another in a series of similar measures that
never became law.
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.
Prescribed fires take the heat off
It was 102 degrees in Medford on
June 1, 2021. Let me say that again just
in case it didn’t fully sink in — Medford
suffered temperatures as high as 102
degrees in spring, making it harder for
fi refi ghters battling Southern Oregon’s
fi rst fi res of the year.
Now, I usually like Oregon to be in the
record-setting business, but not for hot,
dry weather in April and May. Having a
100-degree day while still in springtime
should ring alarm bells for Oregonians
everywhere.
It was not so long ago that Oregon’s
fi re season was only a few weeks in
August and September. The events of
Memorial Day weekend only serve as
a reminder that the human-caused cli-
mate crisis has increased the frequency
of fi res that threaten lives, businesses
and entire communities.
Over the past week, I met with forest
managers and fi rst responders in South-
ern Oregon, Central Oregon and the
Willamette Valley to hear their forecasts
for the 2021 fi re year.
The bottom line is it’s long past time
for nickel-and-dime solutions to billion-
dollar problems caused by wildfi re, such
RON WYDEN
as smoke-related health issues, damage
to local economies and life-and-death
threats to Oregonians.
Our state has a backlog of roughly 2.5
million acres of federal land in dire need
of wildfi re prevention. And Oregonians
don’t want 2.5 million excuses about
why there aren’t more forest health
improvements and prescribed fi re treat-
ments completed on these 2.5 million
acres.
They just want these fi re risks re-
duced as soon as possible.
The science is clear: Controlled burns
clear out dead trees and vegetation as
well as break down and return nutri-
ents to the soil, creating healthier and
more resilient forests. Prescribed burns
or fuel reduction treatments can head
off wildfi res before they have the chance
to burn out of control, devastating lives
and livelihoods.
I saw this fi rsthand in Sisters, where
a prescribed burn near the Whychus
Creek provided key support in suppress-
ing the 2017 Milli fi re before it could
overtake Sisters.
To that end, I recently introduced
legislation to increase the pace and
scale of prescribed fi res. The National
Prescribed Fire Act has the support of
conservation groups as well as leading
timber industry voices because its pas-
sage would mean healthier forests for
timber harvest, forest ecosystems and
outdoor recreation alike.
It’s going to take all hands on deck
to prevent wildfi re in the coming dry
seasons, so that’s why I have introduced
bills to harden our power grid by bury-
ing power lines, generate thousands of
good-paying jobs for young people reduc-
ing fi re-causing fuels in the woods and
meet emissions goals by investing in the
clean energy sector.
Smart, science-based forestry policy is
smart climate policy. If we treat hazard-
ous, fi re-starting fuels now in the cooler,
wetter months, we can prevent future
fi res before they have a chance to spark.
Ron Wyden, a Democrat, represents
Oregon in the U.S. Senate.
Your views
Remember the Constitution
on the Fourth of July
What does the word “constitution”
mean and what does it stand for? In the
Webster’s New World Dictionary Third
College Edition it teaches us that it is
the system of fundamental laws and
principles of a government, state, soci-
ety, corporation, etc., written or unwrit-
ten. I do not like that word, “unwritten.”
But our Constitution is a document or
set of documents in which these laws
and principles are written down. And
our forefathers gave up their fortunes
and families and their lives to give us
our Constitution written down.
For example, the Second Amend-
ment. “A well-regulated militia, being
necessary to the security of a free state,
the right of the people (did this say gov-
ernment? No) to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed on” — in other
words, fail to observe the terms of. The
right to bear arms was one of the fi rst
ten amendments to the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights were ratifi ed Dec. 15,
1791.
All the amendments to our Constitu-
tion after that are nothing but absolute
insanity to me and that is why we have
so many lawyers today making for-
tunes because of so many amendments
that we are not meant to understand.
Now, there are good lawyers as well
as bad. Jesus Christ expressed his
thoughts of bad lawyers. Luke 11:46
reads, “Woe unto you also ye lawyers!
For your lade men with burdens griev-
ous to be borne.” Luke 11:52 reads:
“Woe unto you lawyers! For ye have
taken away the key of knowledge: Ye
entered not in yourselfs and them that
were entering in ye hindered or forbade
for entrance to and acquirement of
knowledge.” Read Malachi 2:1 through
8.
Our Constitution is written by men
chosen by God. When I was entering
into the United States Marine Corps I
swore to defend the Constitution of the
people of the USA, period. The moral
foundation of the Constitution is in
the Declaration of Independence and
its principle of equal rights. Under the
Constitution, government was to be
limited to protecting those rights.
This Fourth of July, buy an American
fl ag and fl y it on the front of your house
and leave it there until the true Jesus
Chris returns with his eternal govern-
ment.
Gary W. Robinson
Baker City
OTHER VIEWS
Biden risks poisoning his own infrastructure bargain
Editorial from Dallas Morning
News:
Americans have broadly agreed for
years that the nation’s transportation
infrastructure is in desperate need of
attention. Across party lines, people
want the U.S. to once again be a coun-
try with modern and excellent roads,
bridges, airports and rail lines.
And Americans want something
else — a functional political environ-
ment that can deliver these priorities
in a way that is fi scally sound and
that uses America’s credit to fund
long-term investments that will pay
off for generations and cost less to
build in today’s dollars than they
would in tomorrow’s.
That’s what we got in Washington
last week. Well, almost. President
Joe Biden announced an all too rare
bipartisan agreement on a $1 trillion
infrastructure package that was
hammered out by fi ve Republicans
and fi ve Democrats. If the president
signs it, it would not only represent
important progress for the restora-
tion of our infrastructure, but it also
could signal a turning point in our
politics.
We were heartened by the presi-
dent’s words during his announce-
ment of the deal.
“Neither side got everything they
wanted in this deal, and that’s what
it means to compromise. And it re-
fl ects something important: It refl ects
consensus. The heart of democracy
requires consensus,” Biden said, ac-
cording to The New York Times.
Most of us who don’t work in poli-
tics also recognize that as life, or what
the kids sometimes call “adulting.”
Unfortunately, what the president
gave in one moment, he appeared to
take away in the next.
“If this is the only thing that comes
to me, I’m not signing it,” he said.
Biden promised that he wouldn’t
sign the infrastructure bill unless a
far more divisive part of his economic
agenda was passed in tandem.
Then, Saturday, June 26, the presi-
dent gave us another twist, saying
he would stay true to the promise to
support the infrastructure deal.
“The bottom line is this: I gave my
word to support the Infrastructure
Plan, and that’s what I intend to do. I
intend to pursue the passage of that
plan, which Democrats and Repub-
licans agreed to on Thursday, with
vigor,” he said, according to The Wall
Street Journal.
We aren’t sure what to think now.
What we know is that the progres-
sive wing of the Democratic Party
won’t be happy with just an infra-
structure deal. And the president
wants to deliver those progressives
the second part of his plan.
That plan would advance any
number of progressive causes at a
cost of trillions while substantially
raising taxes. It’s far from certain
that Democrats can get the legisla-
tion through Congress and onto
Biden’s desk for a signature. So why
tie up a good deal that is constructive
in so many ways with one that raises
far more political problems? And
why confuse the matter further by
backtracking?
The answer is probably something
we should get accustomed to in this
administration. The president has a
habit of trying to please moderates
of both parties while also trying to
satisfy the progressive wing of his
party. At some point, that won’t wash.
We just hope it doesn’t wash out this
deal.
The president was absolutely right
on another point last week. “We’re in
a race with China and the rest of the
world for the 21st century. This agree-
ment signals to the world that we can
function, deliver and do signifi cant
things,” he said.
We can’t lose that race. Democracy
can’t afford it. Why in the world
would we put that at risk when, for
once it seems, we can all agree on
something?
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