THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
A4
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EDITORIAL
Your views
Call to kill
wolf pack
warranted
Government shouldn’t force
COVID-19 shots
It is the sickest of ironies (possibly
cognitive dissonance) that the same
liberals who demand a woman have
complete control of her body, to the
point of being allowed to murder her
unborn child, are just fi ne with a gov-
ernor and president who want to force
citizens to receive a COVID shot!
Where are the “my body, my choice”
demands regarding shots? To be clear,
I support getting the shots and my
wife and I got ours last spring, after
discussion with our medical provid-
ers, as soon as our age group was
eligible. The signifi cance, however, is
that we did it by our choice, not the
governor’s or president’s mandate.
While I encourage my fellow citizens
to talk to their medical provider and
evaluate getting the shots, it should
be absolutely their choice and I
staunchly oppose the shot mandates
and consider them gross overreach
of government.
Our state and national leaders are
demonstrating tyranny, not sound
judgment, and causing unnecessary
division within our country. If people
aren’t getting the shots, it means they
don’t need them or aren’t convinced
that they should. The governor and
president need to come up with better
information and arguments, not force.
Jim Carnahan
Baker City
Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash lays out a convinc-
ing case for killing all the wolves in the Lookout Moun-
tain pack in his recent letter to Curt Melcher, director of
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).
Ash points out that nonlethal tactics to deter wolves,
including ranchers hazing wolves and checking their
cattle frequently, have failed to curb wolf attacks in the
area north and northeast of Durkee. Wolves have killed
six head of cattle and injured two others since mid July.
Melcher approved a lethal take permit for up to four
subadult wolves on July 31, and the next day ODFW
employees shot and killed two wolf pups. There were no
confi rmed attacks for the next two and a half weeks, but
since then Lookout Mountain wolves have killed four
calves, the most recent attack confi rmed by ODFW biolo-
gists on Monday, Sept. 13. No additional wolves have
been killed. Ash also wrote that the abundance of wild
prey, including elk and deer, in the Lookout Mountain
area hasn’t deterred wolves from attacking cattle.
In the two decades since wolves migrated from Idaho
to Oregon, the animals have expanded their population
and geographic range. ODFW confi rmed that at least
173 wolves were in the state at the end of 2020, and the
agency concedes that is not a complete tally.
Although wolves have occasionally killed livestock,
ODFW has authorized the killing of wolves just seven
times, including the permit for the Lookout Mountain
wolves. According to Oregon’s 2019 wolf management
plan, killing wolves is an option in cases of chronic
depredation. The situation this summer in the Lookout
Mountain area certainly qualifi es as chronic.
It’s also clear that ODFW’s strategy of targeting
subadults rather than the pack’s breeding pair has
failed. The 2019 wolf plan cites research in Montana in
2015 which showed that killing some wolves from a pack
reduced subsequent attacks on livestock by 29%, while
killing the entire pack cut attacks by 79% over fi ve years.
Wolves and livestock can coexist in Oregon; indeed,
they usually do.
But that’s not the case now with the Lookout Moun-
tain pack.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
Who is being ‘tread upon’ in the
country, exactly?
As anyone who lives in the area
knows, it is not uncommon to see
“Don’t Tread On Me” fl ags waving
from various pickups and residences.
The vast majority of these fl ags are
being displayed by “anti-maskers”
and “non-vaxxers.” What these people
don’t seem to realize is that “Don’t
Tread On Me” works both ways. His-
tory has proven time and again that
real Americans care about the health,
safety and well being of others. There
are currently over 177 million real
Americans that are fully vaccinated;
many of whom are growing tired of
being “tread upon” by people acting
like a bunch of spoiled 10-year-olds
who seem to think they have the
right to spread sickness and death
to others. For the record, nobody has
that “right” ... period. I suspect that
many of these same people don’t
even bother to wash their hands after
using the bathroom simply because
public health standards and common
sense requires it.
Leslie Dickey
Baker City
City Council should be working to
defeat virus
It is so frustrating to see the
COVID-19 cases surge here in our
county. I am concerned with our City
Council. Instead of encouraging ways
to defeat the virus, they are condemn-
ing those who are at least doing some-
thing to help. Considering suing the
governor for trying to help is a bunch
of bull, forgive my bluntness, but any
restrictions placed on businesses here
or mandates that may increase can
be placed squarely on the Council’s
shoulders.
Don Worley
Baker City
Reasons for silencing the train
whistles in Baker City
Reason 1: As my dad lay dying on
his death bed, his last words to me
were, ‘The money, it’s buried under
the ...” but at that moment a train
passed and blew his whistle. Unfortu-
nately at that same moment my dad
also passed and the money remains
buried under the ... I have not liked
trains whistling since that day.
Reason 2: Rumor has it that a cer-
tain UP engineer is having a messy
breakup with his signifi cant other
who happens to still live in Baker and
taking revenge to new levels holds the
horn on. Well thanks, Casey Jones,
there’s others who live here too.
Reason 3: According to the Geneva
Convention, sleep deprivation is a
war crime. That means every night
in Baker UP carries out 11 to 14 war
crimes.
Reason 4: Maybe those people who
keep sending their junk mail about
getting a hearing aid would cease and
desist.
Union Pacifi c claims it would be
too expensive to extend the cross-
ing bars in lieu of removing warning
whistles rendering any audible warn-
ing system useless because certain
people race the barriers anyway.
Removing the train’s horns isn’t going
to change anything. Without the horn
honks, but with additional length on
the bars making it harder to swerve
around we could still eliminate many
of the muffl erless trucks in town —
another noise problem. These people
have nothing better do than to play
chicken with RR bars. Do we really
want to protect these people?
Let the whistles and horns and
bells sound all they want but in
exchange, bring back Amtrak so we
can at least get out of town and take a
break from all the noise.
There’s plenty of other reasons too
we need to get rid of this noise. La
Grande is whistle-free; why can’t we
be? Then again, they got the college;
we got the prison.
Whit Deschner
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.
OTHER VIEWS
Railroad quiet zone will improve Baker City
Another sleepless night prompts
me to write this letter. I have
always believed in speaking and
sharing from the heart. Speaking of
hearts, I have a heart condition and
other health issues that recently led
me to resign from City Council. Good
sleep is a key element in healing.
We all deserve a good night’s sleep!
But the train horn continues to
wake me, and many others I have
talked with, at all hours of the night.
Especially the one engineer who, I
believe, opens the horn at full blast
at Haines and never releases it till
he gets past Durkee, at least that’s
how it sounds to me when awakened
yet again. Good health is a thing of
the past for many of us if we cannot
get a decent night’s sleep.
I support the railroad quiet zone
and I was a member of the City
Council in 2019 that voted unani-
mously to initiate the process with
the Federal Railroad Administration
to move forward on the project. We
heard from teachers and students
at South Baker Elementary School
about how the train horns disrupt
instruction time. We also heard from
business owners who believed their
lodging businesses and tourism
would benefi t from a quiet zone and
how they have had cancellations
because of the noise of the horns
LYNETTE
PERRY
at night. We saw support from the
public at town hall meetings.
The drawback of building safety
barriers at the railroad crossings
that allow a quiet zone has always
been the cost. Even in 2002, the
issue that went to the ballot was the
need to use public money to build
the improved crossings. With the
fundraising commitment of quiet
zone volunteers, there is no reason
to waste time and city money on a
ballot measure. It can be supported
by your comments to City Council to
agree to let the volunteers proceed
with their fundraising efforts to fund
the project. Let’s pull together to get
it approved. Email your City Council
members to support the quiet zone.
You can fi nd their email addresses
at: https://www.bakercity.com/Direc-
tory.aspx?DID=4
Baker School District recognizes
the impacts of the train horns on
the health of our children. The
people who are most at risk are our
children and they don’t get to vote
— that’s why we have a City Council
who should vote to support the
young and the elderly so they can all
be safe and healthy.
Regarding cost, the City’s
current estimate for the project is
$150,000. This can be done afford-
ably because, besides city staff time
which has already been invested, the
quiet zone volunteer group is com-
mitted to fundraising for construc-
tion and materials costs. No raised
taxes! We send things to a ballot
measure when there is a signifi cant
cost, and an additional cost to the
taxpayer. That’s why it went to a bal-
lot measure in 2002 when the total
price tag was much higher than it
is now and no one was volunteering
to fundraise. Example: The Powder
River Pavilion didn’t go to a bal-
lot measure because our Build the
Bandstand Committee did fundrais-
ing to get it built, with permission of
City Council. Once built it was gifted
to the City of Baker City. It is the
same with the quiet zone, no need
for a ballot to confuse the issue.
What is a quiet zone? Train
engineers are required by federal
regulations to blast their horns
four times before each railroad
crossing. When quiet zone safety
measures are added to crossings,
the horn mandate goes away. No
more zig zagging through down
arms of the train crossings will also
save lives. Engineers can still use a
horn when needed. At a recent City
Council meeting, we heard questions
about safety and cost. The Federal
Railroad Administration is currently
reviewing the City’s plans and will
only approve the quiet zone if cross-
ings are deemed to be as safe as or
safer than with horns.
Baker City has been blessed with
volunteers who have built so many
of the amenities we all enjoy today.
To name a few: The Museum, the In-
terpretive Center, Central Park, The
Salt Lick statue, the playground,
and Powder River Pavilion at Geiser-
Pollman Park. The dedicated volun-
teers working on the quiet zone are
people who live here and love the
community just like the volunteers
of these other projects.
Congratulations to the quiet zone
volunteers for seeing a problem and
being willing to put in the time and
effort to raise funds privately to
make Baker City a safer and quieter
community for all of us to enjoy. One
thing I know is that we must take
care of each other and when there is
a problem, we need to fi x it. Squash-
ing these dedicated volunteers
because some of them are new to the
community is a huge mistake. All
they want to do is improve the com-
munity, support the learning and
lives of our children, and improve
railroad crossing safety for all of
us. (Not to mention a better night’s
sleep for all.)
I know from my volunteer efforts
how much dedication and team
effort it takes to make a dream a
reality. I also know how much the
community appreciates improve-
ments once they are done.
Yes, the sounds of the trains are
part of our lives, but we should not
minimize the impact on children
learning, businesses losing revenue
or people suffering from lack of sleep
because of constant disruption by
the horns. We will still hear them,
just farther away and much softer.
We’ll also still hear the clickety clack
of the train on the rails, which would
be more pleasant without the shrill
horns disrupting us.
Think back to the time when we
nearly lost our electric service and
Dick Haynes and Peggi and Glen
Timm started the penny pledge
campaign, which led to the creation
of OTEC and keeping the lights
shining. Dedicated people caring
about everyone in their community,
making Baker City a more pleasant
place to live! That is what Baker
City and rural America is all about!
Lynette Perry is a former Baker
City Council member.