A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Quiet zone
assessment
T
hink back to the last time you stopped your car, or your
bike or just yourself, because a train was crossing the
street you were driving or riding or walking on.
Did you stop because you heard the train’s whistle?
Or because the red-and-white arms were blocking your
path and the lights were fl ashing, or because another car, or
cars, were already stopped?
Now think about when you continued on your way.
Did you drive or pedal or walk on because you could no
longer hear the whistle?
Or because the arms lift ed, the lights stopped fl ashing and,
if there were any cars in front of you, they had driven on?
Th e answers here are obvious.
We don’t need to hear a whistle to know when we need
to stop at the railroad tracks. If the whistles alone were vital
to preventing trains from hitting cars or people, the Federal
Railroad Administration (FRA) would not have approved a
single quiet zone.
But that agency has approved more than 900 of them
in the past 15 years or so, including 13 in Oregon (some of
those, including in Pendleton, were adopted by local ordi-
nance earlier and were allowed to continue).
Th e reason quiet zones are so common is simple — to
qualify for one, a city fi rst has to bolster the physical means
that keep vehicles off the tracks at crossings. Common tactics
include building concrete medians that prevent cars from
driving around the crossing arms.
Th ere’s ample evidence that these measures work, and that
the safety benefi t of whistles alone is perception, not reality. A
2017 report from the Government Accountability Offi ce —
the offi cial federal auditor — concluded that FRA studies in
2011 and 2013, which included 562 quiet zones, “showed that
there was generally no statistically signifi cant diff erence in
the number of accidents that occurred before and aft er quiet
zones were established.”
Th is is hardly surprising. If a vehicle can’t physically get to
the tracks when a train is passing, then it’s obviously not go-
ing to be hit by that train. All other factors — lights, whistles
— are rendered irrelevant by that physical reality.
Another objection raised by people who oppose the Baker
City Council’s 4-3 decision on Jan. 25 to apply for a quiet
zone is the cost of improvements to fi ve crossings in the city.
But this concern is also misplaced. A citizens group says it
will raise the estimated $150,000. And if they fail, there won’t
be a quiet zone — the plan the City Council approved specif-
ically states that the money the group raises, not city dollars,
will pay for the improvements.
Michelle Owen, the city’s public works director, told coun-
cilors that long-term maintenance of the crossing upgrades
could average $500 a year. Th at’s not a fi rm fi gure, to be sure,
but there’s no evidence that the cost to the city for main-
tenance would be anything but negligible, or that any city
resident would pay a penny more, in fees or taxes to the city,
as a result of the quiet zone.
As for the potential for the city to be held liable for an
accident at a crossing, the existence of so many hundreds
of quiet zones strongly suggests that such liability is not de-
terring cities. According to the FRA, its rule establishing cri-
teria for creating quiet zones “is intended to remove failure
to sound the horn as a cause of action in lawsuits involving
collisions that have occurred at grade crossings within duly
established quiet zones.”
Th e FRA has also studied the eff ect of quiet zones on death
rates for people who trespass on the railroad right-of-way and
are hit and killed by a train (this does not include suicides). In
other words, people who might not be deterred, as vehicles
would be, by physical upgrades at crossings. Yet over a three-
year period, “there was no statistically signifi cant diff erence
in trespass casualties before and aft er the establishment of the
quiet zones,” according to a September 2020 report.
Quiet zones are not, to be sure, completely silent. Th e
discretion to sound the whistle always lies with the train
crew. But given the physics of trains, which weigh hun-
dreds of tons and can take a mile to stop, the whistle,
whether blown routinely as now, or in emergencies as in a
quiet zone, likely would be equally eff ective in preventing
what the FRA calls “trespass casualties.” In either case,
the train probably wouldn’t be able to stop before hitting
a trespasser. It’s plausible that now, with trains sounding
their whistle within a quarter-mile of crossings, a tres-
passer might be warned, via the whistle, somewhat sooner
than in an emergency situation, especially at night. Yet the
FRA study found that about 74% of trespassing casualties
happen within a quarter-mile of crossings, so it’s likely that
a trespasser would have about as much advance warning
aft er a quiet zone is established as before.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
COLUMN
IRS demands smack of Big Brother
sent forms they sign? Even if they do,
taxpayers may have no choice but to
consent if they need to access their
online account, get their tax records,
or update their child tax credit infor-
mation.
Americans’ ability to interact with
government for basic tax services will
be filtered through a secret private al-
gorithm. All told, the new system will
determine taxpayers’ access to ser-
vices that were used an estimated 60
million times last year. The IRS web-
site also states that over the next year,
additional IRS applications will tran-
sition to the new system.
In other words, in the name of pro-
tecting taxpayer information, the IRS
will compel even more taxpayers to
give away extremely personal infor-
mation to a private company.
The IRS has a poor track record of
safeguarding taxpayer information, and
Americans should be incredulous of
the idea that sharing more data will en-
sure their information remains private.
In June 2021, ProPublica — a
left-leaning news organization that
somehow received private tax docu-
ments — released a report leaking in-
formation on the tax records of doz-
ens of the wealthiest U.S. taxpayers.
Nobody has been held accountable
for the apparent felonious data leak or
data breach, nor is it clear how many
taxpayer records were exposed.
Making a private company a gate-
keeper to certain taxpayer informa-
tion hardly guarantees such infor-
mation is safe from future leaks or
breaches. In 2017, the personal infor-
mation of 147 million Americans was
exposed when Equifax experienced a
data breach.
Also consider the difference be-
tween how state voting laws come
about compared to the IRS’s new
procedures.
States that enact voter ID require-
ments or change other election laws
must do so through the standard
legislative process: duly elected rep-
resentatives passing laws that are
subject to all the legal checks and
balances.
Yet Biden’s IRS will require sensi-
tive taxpayer data to access basic tax
functions with no new laws passed
and no elected officials accountable
for the change.
Which is more undemocratic?
The Biden IRS has consistently
sought more power, whether through
the legislative process or not. Last
fall, the Treasury Department pushed
to allow the IRS to track the bank
transactions of virtually all Amer-
icans, but the effort stalled when it
was met with public outcry.
The Build Back Better Act would
have nearly doubled the size of
the IRS, adding 87,000 new agents
mostly dedicated to enforcement.
The unpopularity of provisions like
this ultimately led the Senate to balk
at the House version of the bill.
In the case of the new facial rec-
ognition requirements, though, the
IRS is acting outside the legislative
process, flexing its own power by im-
posing new information-sharing re-
quirements on taxpayers.
When agencies like the IRS exert
the power to trample on taxpayer
privacy, it exposes the ever-increas-
ing power of the executive branch,
an actual flaw in the functioning of
our democratic republic. In Biden’s
words, “That’s the kind of power
you see in totalitarian states, not in
democracies.”
sition is this: We don’t agree with
governmental mandates. The haters
will keep hating. We’ll still pray for
Baker County United is not the
them. Come join us.
KKK. BCU is not anti-vaccine. BCU
Jason Bland
is not “radical.” BCU is not a militia.
Baker City
BCU is not “extreme.” We are Amer-
We need to band together to
icans, each endowed with certain
rights by our Creator — not granted preserve the American Dream
by the government (at any level). We
believe in the Constitution and in
People, the time is now! If you are
the Bill of Rights. If you are in this
at all dissatisfied with what is happen-
community, a BCU member will al- ing in government you need to raise
ways help you — no matter who you your voice. We need to band together
so our voices can be heard. There
are. We are from many faiths and
is no way we can all agree on every
backgrounds. We are a group who
minutiae but what I hope we can all
formed because we simply had no
agree on is that we love our country
where else to go. Our political po-
and we believe our forefathers gave us
their best shot at making the Ameri-
can Dream a reality.
Take a moment to revisit the Con-
stitution and the Bill of Rights. Nearly
every article in the Bill of Rights has
been denied us at some point over the
last two years. History shows us that if
you give your rights away to those in
power they will not give those rights
back unless the people demand them.
It is up to we the people to stand for
our freedom. That is why I joined
Baker County United. And we need
you, we need your voice.
In solidarity.
Danika Sinram
Baker City
BY PRESTON BRASHERS
Surveys find 81 percent of U.S.
adults support voter ID requirements.
Yet President Joe Biden recently con-
demned state election integrity laws
that strengthen voter ID protections
and ensure the accuracy of voter reg-
istration rolls as “Jim Crow 2.0.” This
supposed “threat to our democracy”
is so grave that Biden equated those
who support them with overt racists
like Bull Connor and George Wallace.
But if the president thinks checking
IDs and verifying voter rolls is racist,
how can he condone the new IRS pro-
cedures requiring taxpayers to give a
private company a copy of their gov-
ernment-issued photo ID — as well
as their email address, phone num-
ber, Social Security Number and a
video selfie taken with a smartphone
or computer — before they can gain
access to basic tax services on the IRS
website? Is Biden’s IRS engaging in
“Jim Crow 3.0?”
Actually, the IRS’s demands of tax-
payers smack more of dangerous Big
Brotherism than racism. For example,
if ID.me, the Virginia-based company
being entrusted with taxpayers’ pri-
vate information, is unable to verify
users’ identity with the information,
users will then have to join a video
call with a “trusted referee” to “answer
a few questions.”
ID.me will use the video selfies
— which all users must provide —
to collect biometric data, including
voiceprints and facial geometry rec-
ognition. Taxpayers must sign a con-
sent form for the company to collect
this data, and the form allows ID.me
to “reserve the right to change or
modify this Biometric Consent.”
Many taxpayers won’t fully un-
derstand what information is be-
ing collected or how it will be used.
How many people read all the con-
Preston Brashers is the senior
tax policy analyst in The Heritage
Foundation’s Hermann Center for the
Federal Budget.
YOUR VIEWS
Baker County United is not a
group of radicals
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. office: 313 Hart
Senate Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington,
D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997.
Portland office: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W.
Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-
326-3386; fax 503-326-2900. Baker City office,
1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-278-1129; merkley.
senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221 Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office:
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.
office: 1239 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-
225-5774. Medford office: 14 N. Central Avenue
Suite 112, Medford, OR 97850; Phone: 541-776-
4646; fax: 541-779-0204; Ontario office: 2430 S.W.
Fourth Ave., No. 2, Ontario, OR 97914; Phone: 541-
709-2040. bentz.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
office: 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
office: 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, Johnny
Waggoner Sr. and Dean Guyer.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541.
Jonathan Cannon, city manager; Ty Duby, police
chief; Sean Lee, fire chief; Michelle Owen, public
works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County
Courthouse 1995 3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814;
541-523-8200. Meets the first 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 Durflinger,
county treasurer; Stefanie Kirby, county clerk;
Kerry Savage, county assessor.
Baker School District: 2090 4th Street, Baker
City, OR 97814; 541-524-2260; fax 541-524-2564.
Superintendent: Mark Witty. Board meets the third
Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Council Chambers,
Baker City Hall,1655 First St.; Chris Hawkins,
Andrew Bryan, Travis Cook, Jessica Dougherty,
Julie Huntington.