TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
A4
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EDITORIAL
What are the
big ideas on
property tax?
Heads up, homeowners. For Oregon reformers, you are next.
A legislative committee is meeting this week to look at prop-
erty taxes.
Will you end up paying less? Or more?
We don’t know exactly what ideas the committee will con-
sider. But it’s not hard to guess, because legislators bring some
ideas up repeatedly.
The big one is: Reset on sale.
Property values in Oregon do not reset on sale. They are
artifi cially limited thanks to Measures 5 and 50. Basically,
older homes had an artifi cial value created to determine their
taxes — the assessed value. Their maximum assessed value
was set at their real market value in 1995 minus 10%. And they
can only go up by 3% a year. That has benefi ted people in older
homes in areas that have been gentrifying.
The system we got from the ballot measures also has created
other oddities, such as two similarly sized homes in a neighbor-
hood having very different tax rates.
What’s the real problem with this system that helps keep
property taxes low? Doesn’t it ensure government has to spend
money carefully? Yes, but ...
The “but” is the controls on property tax revenue can mean
governments can be more reliant on fees. And fees can be rela-
tively more diffi cult for low-income people to pay, while people
who are richer benefi t from owning homes.
Of course, any changes that are made to the property tax
system could be hard on some family incomes. That’s why re-
formers talk about including some safety valves. There could be
exemptions to protect a certain value of a homestead from taxes,
relief for seniors, and also fl at-out refunds for taxes that are
believed to be too high. But how and where would those be set?
One other idea the committee is set to discuss is the prepay-
ment discount — such as getting a 3% discount for paying your
property taxes in full by mid-November. We don’t know if the
committee will talk about getting rid of the discounts. It might.
If you are interested in what your government might do to
your property taxes, a House Interim Committee on Revenue
meeting that was held earlier this week is available online so
you can see what was discussed.
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
Council: Don’t spend public
money on personal issue
This is a copy of the letter I sent
to all our city council members.
I was not at the council meeting
but have read two accounts of the
meeting.
Those presenting views related
to the mandate to be vaccinated
make the issue one of personal pref-
erence but want to sue the governor
using tax dollars and resources. If it
is a personal preference, then why
are they not using their personal
money to fi le a personal suit; or join
with others who have the same per-
sonal views and use their joint per-
sonal resources in this endeavor?
I live in Baker City and I am a
taxpayer and I have no interest in
my tax dollars being spent on the
personal issues of others. Neither do
I feel those who spoke at the council
meeting represent the taxpayers of
this city; they represent themselves
and their personal views. I believe
the city council should be inter-
ested in and seeking to spend our
limited tax resources in a way that
benefi ts all the citizens of Baker
City not the personal interests of a
few. I would suggest you seek input
from the citizens you represent
before proceeding any further with
this endeavor.
Priscilla Synan
Baker City
It’s time to quiet the train
whistles in Baker City
I’m a conservative Republican,
former City Councilor, retired local
business owner and 40-year mem-
ber of the Lions Club, and I support
the railroad Quiet Zone. If I was on
Council now, I’d vote for it. This deci-
sion is past due. I’ve lived in several
parts of Baker, and while Baker has
been good to me, the train horn has
not. No matter where in town I’ve
lived it has always been a painful
nuisance. I have been waiting for a
railroad Quiet Zone since 1963!
Living one block from the tracks,
the horn is truly unbearable. My
hearing was damaged from Air
Force service and guns. It is painful
and stressful when my hearing
aides amplify the 110-decibel horn.
My audiologist wants me to always
wear hearing aides so my hear-
ing doesn’t decline, but if I keep
them in, the train horn hurts. I feel
trapped.
It’s painful for me, but I also
think about the kids at South
Baker. The train starts blowing the
horn from the railroad overpass
and right past the playground. We
should not allow our children to be
exposed to that level of hazardous
noise. Period.
I don’t need ridiculous horns to
tell me a train is coming. I can see
the fl ashing red lights, hear the bells,
see the yellow signs, and see the
train’s bright headlights. Just in case
I’m still not paying attention, the
crossing gates drop down too. Plus, a
railroad Quiet Zone would have even
more features to make it even safer,
otherwise it won’t be approved by
safety offi cials. Think about this: We
drive down streets with no stop signs
every day. Should we all behave like
the train and honk our horns four
times before every intersection? No
way. I believe everyone should take
personal responsibility for their
safety. I don’t need a train horn
requirement from a federal nanny to
keep me safe.
Even with a railroad Quiet Zone
we will still hear the horns, but only
when they are necessary. Otherwise,
they will be off in the distance — just
how I like them.
Terry Schumacher
Baker City
The front lines of COVID care
By KAREN GALLARDO
I’m a respiratory therapist. With
the fourth wave of the pandemic in
full swing, fueled by the highly con-
tagious delta variant, the trajectory
of the patients I see, from admission
to critical care, is all too familiar.
When they’re vaccinated, their CO-
VID-19 infections most likely end
after Stage 1. If only that were the
case for everyone.
Get vaccinated. If you choose not
to, here’s what to expect if you are
hospitalized for a serious case of
COVID-19.
Stage 1. You’ve had debilitating
symptoms for a few days, but now it
is so hard to breathe that you come
to the emergency room. Your oxygen
saturation level tells us you need
help, a supplemental fl ow of 1 to 4 li-
ters of oxygen per minute. We admit
you and start you on antivirals, ste-
roids, anticoagulants or monoclonal
antibodies. You’ll spend several days
in the hospital feeling run-down, but
if we can wean you off the oxygen,
you’ll get discharged. You survive.
Stage 2. It becomes harder and
harder for you to breathe. “Like
drowning,” many patients describe
the feeling. The bronchodilator
treatments we give you provide lit-
tle relief. Your oxygen requirements
increase signifi cantly, from 4 liters
to 15 liters to 40 liters per minute.
Little things, like relieving yourself
or sitting up in bed, become too dif-
fi cult for you to do on your own. Your
oxygen saturation rapidly declines
when you move about. We transfer
you to the intensive care unit.
Stage 3. You’re exhausted from
hyperventilating to satisfy your
body’s demand for air. We put you
on noninvasive, “positive pressure”
ventilation — a big, bulky face mask
that must be Velcro’d tightly around
your face so the machine can ef-
fi ciently push pressure into your
lungs to pop them open so you get
enough of the oxygen it delivers.
Stage 4. Your breathing becomes
even more labored. We can tell
you’re severely fatigued. An arterial
blood draw confi rms that the oxy-
gen content in your blood is criti-
cally low. We prepare to intubate
you. If you’re able to and if there’s
time, we will suggest that you call
your loved ones. This might be the
last time they’ll hear your voice.
We connect you to a ventilator.
You are sedated and paralyzed, fed
through a feeding tube, hooked to
a Foley catheter and a rectal tube.
We turn your limp body regularly,
so you don’t develop pressure ul-
cers — bed sores. We bathe you and
keep you clean. We fl ip you onto
your stomach to allow for better
oxygenation. We will try experi-
mental therapeutics.
Stage 5. Some patients sur-
vive Stage 4. Unfortunately, your
oxygen levels and overall condition
have not improved after several
days on the ventilator. Your COV-
ID-infested lungs need assistance
and time to heal, something that
an ECMO machine, which bypass-
es your lungs and oxygenates your
blood, can provide. But alas, our
community hospital doesn’t have
that capability.
If you’re stable enough, you will
get transferred to another hospital
for that therapy. Otherwise, we’ll
continue treating you as best we
can. We’re understaffed and over-
whelmed, but we’ll always give you
the best care we can.
Stage 6. The pressure required
to open your lungs is so high that
air can leak into your chest cavity,
so we insert tubes to clear it out.
Your kidneys fail to fi lter the by-
products from the drugs we contin-
uously give you. Despite diuretics,
your entire body swells from fl uid
retention, and you require dialysis
to help with your renal function.
The long hospital stay and your
depressed immune system make
you susceptible to infections. A
chest X-ray shows fl uid accumulat-
ing in your lung sacs. A blood clot
may show up, too. We can’t prevent
these complications at this point;
we treat them as they present.
If your blood pressure drops criti-
cally, we will administer vasopres-
sors to bring it up, but your heart
may stop anyway. After several
rounds of CPR, we’ll get your pulse
and circulation back. But soon, your
family will need to make a diffi cult
decision.
Stage 7: After several meetings
with the palliative care team, your
family decides to withdraw care.
We extubate you, turning off the
breathing machinery. We set up a
fi nal FaceTime call with your loved
ones. As we work in your room, we
hear crying and loving goodbyes. We
cry, too, and we hold your hand until
your last natural breath.
I’ve been at this for 17 months
now. It doesn’t get easier. My pan-
demic stories rarely end well.
Karen Gallardo is a respiratory
therapist at Community Memorial
Hospital in Ventura, California.
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.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.treasurer@
ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR 97301-
3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and information
are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
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 Jason Spriet, Kerry McQuisten, Shane Alderson, Joanna
Dixon, Heather Sells and Johnny Waggoner Sr.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Jonathan Cannon,
city manager; Ray Duman, police chief; Sean Lee, fi re chief; Michelle
Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County Courthouse 1995
3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-523-8200. Meets the fi rst and
third Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Bill Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett,
Bruce Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis Ash,
sheriff; Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Greg Baxter, district attorney;
Alice Durfl inger, county treasurer; Stefanie Kirby, county clerk; Kerry
Savage, county assessor.