A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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news@bakercityherald.com
Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Exposing secrecy
U
.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is casting a wel-
come, and bright, light on the Central Intelli-
gence Agency’s methods for secretly gather-
ing information about, and from, Americans. Wyden
and another senator, Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico,
commented last week about the recent declassification
of a letter they wrote to CIA Director William Burns in
April 2021.
The senators, both members of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, noted in the letter that the CIA has under-
taken a “bulk surveillance” program authorized under
an executive order signed in 1981 by President Ronald
Reagan but outside oversight by Congress or the judi-
cial branch. This program is also separate from the bet-
ter-known FISA law — Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act — which was passed by Congress and occasionally
results in public releases of documents.
Wyden and Heinrich are calling on CIA to explain to
the public the kinds of records it has collected under aus-
pices of the executive order, and the legal justification for
doing so.
Those are important questions, and Americans de-
serve to receive thorough answers.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
OTHER VIEWS
Politics driving
decisions on masks
BY NOLAN FINLEY
The Detroit News
It was never about the science.
When the first COVID-19 mandates were issued in hopes
of turning back a mysterious pandemic, there wasn’t enough
science or data available to know for certain what would
work.
It was all best guesses and speculation, and a desperate in-
stinct to do something in the face of a lethal public health
threat unseen in our lifetimes.
COVID had its way with us no matter what protective or-
ders were put in place. But few policymakers were willing
to risk abandoning their edicts, even when the virus defied
them.
Suddenly, though, keeping mask mandates and other re-
strictive measures in place has become riskier to the pol-
iticians who ordered them than the potential for another
COVID surge.
Indoor masking requirements are coming off even in states
run by Democrats. California, New York, New Jersey and
Delaware are among the Blue states that are shedding masks
this week.
What changed?
COVID hasn’t gone away. Nationwide, roughly 250,000
new cases are reported every day, and 2,400 deaths. While
daily cases have dropped over the past 30 days, daily deaths
increased.
Yet the masks are going even in states where they’ve been
akin to a cloak of righteousness. Why?
Because it’s an election year, and masks mandates are not
polling well, particularly among parents of schoolchildren.
Governors notice what happened in Michigan, where Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer backed off the active management of
the pandemic last fall and has watched her approval num-
bers climb.
Omicron has tipped the balance. The highly contagious
variant has blown past masks, as well as vaccines, to infect
even those who are most vigilant in following the protective
protocols.
Last month, the CDC said the cloth and paper masks most
of us have strapped across our faces are not very effective in
screening omicron particles. If it’s not an N-95 mask or the
equivalent, its protection is uncertain.
And yet wearing the flimsier versions allows us to go to
school, fly on airplanes and fully participate in society. It
makes no sense.
We have also surrendered to the reality we can’t hide from
COVID. Lockdowns and school closures didn’t stop the
spread and were largely abandoned. Now the masks we’ve
been wearing for two years are going on the trash heaps.
Even vaccines have proven not to be the answer we had
hoped. Eighty percent of the nation, age 5 and up, has had at
least one dose of the vaccine, and yet the hospitals are filled
with COVID patients.
Forcing compliance with ineffective measures does, how-
ever, give us someone to blame for the persistence of the pan-
demic — the virus is spreading because certain groups of
people aren’t wearing masks, or they aren’t social distancing,
or they aren’t getting the shots, etc.
Omicron has demonstrated that no matter what we do, the
virus will persist until it tires of tormenting us.
For two years we’ve put up with limits on our freedom in
hopes of beating COVID. But it’s in our national DNA to re-
sist arbitrary dictates that don’t produce results.
People are plain fed up. And when politicians realize the
consequences of that, political science is the only science
that matters.
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Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald,
P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814
Email: news@bakercityherald.com
YOUR VIEWS
My emailing experience with
Baker County United
Recent letters to the editor written
in support of Baker County United
(BCU), make me wonder if its support-
ers really know what their organization
is all about. The following information
is based on my considerable personal
interaction with person(s), who pur-
port to speak for BCU.
BCU first came to my attention on
the morning of Oct. 4, 2021, when I re-
ceived an email from a friend saying,
“This was on our doorknob this morn-
ing.” Attached to the email was a very
colorful flyer titled “Community Call
to Action.” A sub-headline pleaded,
“Operation Boston Tea Party, Withhold
Your Property Taxes!” I ran right out
and sure enough, the same flyer was
hanging in a plastic sack from my door-
knob.
The flyer informed readers, “Letters
with over 300 signatures have been sent
to Baker City Council, Attn. Mayor
McQuisten, Sheriff Travis Ash, and the
Baker County Commissioners.” Near
the bottom of the flyer was another
sub-headline, “Stand United For Medi-
cal Freedom!”
Ah, hah! I thought, this is all about
opposition to Governor Brown’s vac-
cine mandate. That mandate requires
that all persons working in health-re-
lated professions be vaccinated for
COVID-19.
With my interest piqued, I set about
trying to find out who the leaders of
BCU are. The 8½ x 11 flyer had not one
word about who composed the flyer
and/or who paid for printing and dis-
tribution of the flyer. But the flyer says
“the movement” has a website: Baker-
CountyUnited.org; and an email ad-
dress: BakerCountyUnited@proton-
mail.com.
With that much information I
thought surely I’ll be able to find out
who the leaders are. But, nope. Check-
ing out the website, I arrived at the
home page, where there’s a paragraph
declaring, “WHO WE ARE: Baker
County United is a fast growing group
of citizens making a concerted effort to
ensure that our elected representatives
are held to the expectations of their
constituents.” The declaration contin-
ued, “It is the responsibility of all of us
to reject and replace those who are nei-
ther willing nor able to do that.” Else-
where on the website is this statement:
“Desperate times call for what some
may consider desperate measures.”
I wanted to find someone to talk to
about those demands and especially
what “desperate measures” the orga-
nization has in mind. But nowhere on
the website is there the name of anyone
who might answer my questions.
At least the website gave itself a
name, “Operation Boston Tea Party,”
defined as “a movement started by
Baker County United wherein citizens
of Baker County withhold their prop-
erty taxes due in the fall of 2021, and
set them aside.” The theory behind the
movement appears to be that if enough
citizens withhold paying property taxes,
local officials will be forced to accede to
the demands of the movement. (We all
know now what a bust that campaign
ignominiously suffered.)
Inquiring at the Courthouse, I ob-
tained a copy of a letter from “We the
People of Baker County” dated Sept.
17, 2021, addressed to all three Baker
County Commissioners: Bill Harvey,
Mark Bennett, and Bruce Nichols. The
letter is not signed. Instead, attached are
two pages of signatures and addresses
of Baker County citizens totaling 56,
all signed on 9-17-2021, presumably
meaning that not one of all those sig-
natories wanted to take responsibility
for the content of what I refer to as a
demand letter. (That’s like the Declara-
tion of Independence being signed by
“Anonymous.” But Thomas Jefferson
and several other courageous patriots
proudly made their authorship known.)
The BCU declaration continued, “We
insist on your commitment to standing
by our emergency responders affected
by the mandate to receive the covid in-
jections. We require of you ... to retain
the employment and services of these
employees regardless of their decision
to comply or not comply with Governor
Brown’s injection demands.”
I find the movement’s intentions rem-
iniscent of Baker City Council’s Res-
olution last year declaring Baker City
a Sanctuary City, whereby City Coun-
cil encouraged businesses not to abide
by the state mask mandate (but with a
footnote City Council would not pay
their fines).
Having not yet found a person to
query about Operation Boston Tea Par-
ty’s leadership, I sent an email. Thus
began a series of correspondence with
a person who — surprise, surprise —
would not identify himself/herself. Af-
ter several email exchanges with this
anonymous person, I started address-
ing my emails to “KKK,” since he was
hiding his identity under his pointy
white hat, like Ku Klux Klan members
did early in the 20th century. I told
KKK that I consider anonymous cor-
respondence as irresponsible and cow-
ardly. But considering the content of his
emails to me, one can readily under-
stand why he did not want his or her
identity known. Following is just one
sample email from KKK to me.
“You apparently hate yourself be-
cause the KKK were democrats as well
as Hitler. Those are your people, Gary,
so if you hate them so much why act
like them? This is typical radical com-
munist behavior. You project onto oth-
ers the very thing you are doing. Small
minded little men troll others because
they have too much time on their
hands. Please get a few more boosters
for us too. Natural selection works great
on godless people.
“The jab has already affected your
little brain. You are too insignificant to
even think that your behavior has any
affect on us. You and sleepy, commie,
Joe can go back to your basement. You
having your double N95 masks, gloves,
and hoodie proves our point. If peo-
ple don’t have your small communist
mind then you and your Klan Demo-
crats that hate liberty, god and country,
have little snowflake meltdowns and go
to the democrat Herald to air your lit-
tle tamper tantrums when you don’t get
your way. That mentality lost the civil
war and WWII, so keep that in mind,
comrade. God Bless, Signed 80 million
Trump voting patriots who win elec-
tions while your Third Reich cheat,
steal, and spit on everything that made
America Great Again, party will always
be losers. P.S. If you come on Private
Property the owner can have you re-
moved if you keep behaving like an ass.
Your intentions have been made clear
so everyone is watching you.”
I certainly hope that members of
Baker County United would not want
emails like that representing their
movement. Especially concerning is
KKK’s comment that the mentality
of Democrats “lost the civil war and
WWII.” Makes me wonder if we’ll soon
see members of BCU parading down
Main Street waving Confederate flags.
So, who wrote that email? I think he
left a clue. Right after I sent an email
addressed to KKK, thanking the orga-
nization for inviting the public to attend
the upcoming rally to be held at 6 p.m.
on Nov. 4, 2021, I expressed my intent
to attend the event.
Shortly after hitting send, I got a
phone call from Jake Brown, owner of
the large building at 3325 K Street, the
rally’s venue located across K Street
from the Baker County Sheriff ’s Office.
Jake Brown told me I was not invited
and was not to set foot on his property.
So much for the organization’s invita-
tion to the public to participate. Why
does Jake Brown consider this 82-year-
old Democrat so intimidating?
I encourage everyone to send an
email to BakerCountyUnited@pro-
tonmail.com to see if you can find out
who its leaders are. If anyone with the
answer wishes to contact, my email ad-
dress is tubingen@eoni.com and phone
number is 541-523-6760.
Gary Dielman
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. 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.
Kerry McQuisten, Shane Alderson, Joanna Dixon,
Heather Sells, Johnny Waggoner Sr. and Dean Guyer.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.
treasurer@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100,
Salem OR 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Jonathan
Cannon, city manager; Ty Duby, police chief; Sean Lee,
fire chief; Michelle Owen, public works director.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum:
Justice Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-
4400.
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.
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,
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.