A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
VA should
reconsider
plans for
Walla Walla
A
potential move by the De-
partment of Veterans Af-
fairs to scale back services at
its medical center in Walla Walla is
a bad idea and should be reconsid-
ered carefully.
Last month, the VA released a re-
port from the Asset and Infrastruc-
ture Review Commission that rec-
ommended the Walla Walla VA
reduce services to primary care and
mental health.
That move would downgrade the
facility’s services and potentially
create problems for thousands of
veterans who live across the Pacific
Northwest’s inland empire of East-
ern Washington and Northeastern
Oregon.
The best, recent news came from
Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who
vowed he would reach out to the VA
to get an explanation for the recom-
mendation.
The commission’s suggestions
about reducing services at the Walla
Walla center appear to be misguided
and crafted through a certain degree
of ignorance regarding the plight of
veterans in rural areas of the Pacific
Northwest.
All too often the government seeks
to slash funding for programs that
provide key services with apparently
little forethought.
Modifying a funding outlay for an
expensive, nonessential government
program makes good sense and is a
service to taxpayers, but VA facilities
and programs should be off limits.
That’s not because VA programs
and facilities are not expensive.
They are. However, the VA and its
programs are part of a sacred cove-
nant established between those who
give service to our great nation and
the rest of us who vow to take care
of them.
As a nation we tend to get geared
up for a major conflict but forget
each war, each confrontation where
our men and women are deployed,
has long-term consequences. Those
consequences are the health and care
of our veterans, and we cannot ignore
our pledge.
When a man or woman dons the
uniform of one of our nation’s service
branches they do so as volunteers and
as part of an unspoken bargain, they
know America will watch out for
them after their service ends. We owe
our veterans more than we can ever
repay, but we can ensure that as they
age they have the best medical care
our nation can provide.
Shifting resources to save money
and potentially leaving our veterans
out on a limb runs contrary to our
nation’s values.
Unsigned editorials are the opin-
ion of the Baker City Herald. Col-
umns, letters and cartoons on this
page express the opinions of the au-
thors and not necessarily that of the
Baker City Herald.
YOUR VIEWS
Voters should be aware of how Precinct
Committee Person races actually work
I want to alert the community to some mail-
ers and fake social media ads I’m seeing regard-
ing various Republican Precinct Committee
Person (PCP) races. A lot of this would apply to
just about any other race as well.
These materials encourage people to NOT
vote for the candidates who actually live in
their own precincts and are on the ballot, and
instead write in candidates who live on the op-
posite end of the county. Why?! Your precinct
is your neighborhood. Your PCP is supposed
to be familiar with it and represent YOU. Your
PCP should of course know what a PCP actu-
ally is, what a PCP actually does, how county
parties work, how the state party works, and
how the national party works. PCPs go through
hours of training, learn Roberts Rules of Order,
study the party platform and state statutes, and
spend countless hours volunteering to get Re-
publicans elected.
Some of this marketing is being made to ap-
pear as if it comes from The Baker County Re-
publicans or Baker County GOP. It does not.
This is illegal.
“Paid for by Candidates” violates campaign
finance law. (Authentic candidates and cam-
paigns will know this.) If a group is advertising
on behalf of a candidate for any elected position
and has spent even a few hundred dollars total
doing political activities, they have to form a
political action committee (PAC) with the Sec-
retary of State so that the public can transpar-
ently see who is paying for what. If this hasn’t
happened, financial backers are being hidden.
This is also illegal and with good reason. Ask
for PAC names if you’re in doubt, so you can
go to the Secretary of State’s website and access
Orestar, where all campaign finances are out in
the open for everyone to see. The civil fines are
high, and criminal prosecution is possible for
campaign finance violations.
Oregon statute states organizations which
operate as a political PAC but are not regis-
tered, such as Baker County United, are break-
ing the law. They are not being transparent
with their donations, operations and expendi-
tures, go cautious with their recommendations
this election cycle.
Suzan Ellis Jones
Baker County Republican Chair
ing Dennis Richardson who was also a state-
wide candidate.
This proposal was shared with the committee
by Tom Hughes. It was tabled until the Novem-
ber meeting. At the November meeting, Tom
Van Diepen made the motion to set aside the
specific bylaw article and endorse Kerry. Mo-
tion was seconded, and passed unanimously.
After that item of business was completed,
Tom Van Diepen made a second motion to do-
nate $2,500 to Kerry’s campaign. This motion
was seconded, followed by a brief discussion
and passed unanimously. Unanimously. All ac-
cepted parliamentary procedures were followed
to the letter, of course people who were NOT at
the meeting wouldn’t know that.
Baker County Republican Committee
The people who were in the room can at-
test to the fact that it was not the County
sets record straight
Chair Suzan Ellis Jones, the Vice Chair Julie
After months of false information being writ- McKinney, nor Committee Treasurer Joanna
ten in letters to the Baker City Herald and too
Dixon who made the proposal. The accusa-
numerous to count social media platforms,
tions that money was stolen from the com-
members of the Baker County Republican
mittee is false, the accusation that the County
Committee will set the record straight.
Chair was behind endorsing and making the
Jake Brown and Ken Hackett’s accusations of donation are false. Brown and Hackett have
been on a very toxic hate trip this past year,
theft are coming from people who were not at
the meeting, who don’t attend meetings. If there doing everything they can to discredit those
in the committee that actually work for the
was a person at that meeting who disagreed
benefit of the committee. They actually act
with the proposal and motions made for ap-
proval, they didn’t express themselves, because like Democrat operatives.
Baker County Republican Committee is
the vote was unanimous. Brown and Hackett
honored and feel it a privilege to donate money
just make stuff up out of thin air.
and publicly support one of our own for gover-
In September of 2021 a proposal was dis-
nor of Oregon.
cussed for the committee to set aside an arti-
Vote Kerry McQuisten for governor. We are.
cle bylaw which is allowed by Roberts Rules of
Justin Langan
Order and to endorse Kerry McQuisten. This
Tom Hughes
proposal was based on what other counties have
Baker City
done in a variety of races over the years, includ-
OTHER VIEWS
Angry parents ruining youth sports
enough that nearly two dozen states have laws
against harming sports officials. And the Legis-
lature in Minnesota is considering a $1,000 fine
for unruly sports parents.
But laws, says Brian Barlow, a referee ac-
tivist in Oklahoma, aren’t the answer. He has
refereed youth soccer for 14 years and started
the Facebook page Offside. It began as satire
— publicly shaming abusive sideline behavior
with video — but has grown into an advocacy
group for refs.
The problem is worse than ever, says Bar-
low, who also runs a referee academy. Leagues
are losing referees at record rates, and they’re
recruiting at historically low rates. “I’ve never
seen a time when so many games are being
canceled,” he says.
The result? Kids simply don’t get to play —
because their parents can’t behave.
Out-of-control youth sports parents are noth-
ing new. In a 2017 survey by the National As-
sociation of Sports Officials, some 87% of par-
ticipants said they had suffered verbal abuse,
13% had been assaulted and 47% had felt un-
safe because of administrator, player, coach or
spectator behavior. And when it’s all caught on
cellphone video, it’s increasingly hard to brush
aside these incidents as isolated events.
There’s some reason to believe that this most
recent wave of violent behavior — also seen
on planes, at grocery stores, at the Oscars —
has been fueled by the pandemic. Keith Hum-
phreys, a psychiatry professor at Stanford Uni-
versity, told The Atlantic that the pandemic has
created “high-stress, low-reward” situations
that can result in shocking outbursts. Other
theories? Rudeness is contagious, substance
abuse is up and the isolation of the pandemic
has been crushing.
Some experts believe that as the world re-
turns to “normal” our societal norms will return
too. Eventually. But in the meantime, youth
sports parents have to do better.
One solution? When parents are abusive, take
away their privilege of watching their kids play
youth sports. Barlow believes that banishment
would be more effective than a fine.
To make this work, everyone — from the ma-
jor leagues down through state associations and
local clubs and government — needs to adopt a
standard of zero tolerance. And then they have
to enforce the rules and laws. (The assailant
from the softball game in Mississippi will re-
portedly be banned from all recreational facili-
ties in her city.)
Referees themselves can also take a stand.
At the end of the day, if there’s no ref, there’s no
game. It’s hard to accept that it has come to this:
Friday night flag football, Saturday morning
soccer, canceled because no referee is willing to
put up with the abuse.
As I watch parents go nuts on the sidelines
— and sometimes feel a little rage myself as a
parent coach — I can’t help thinking we’ve got-
ten everything entirely backward. With time, no
one really remembers the score of a youth game.
But everyone remembers the parent who went
berserk or the ref who was socked in the face.
While you can’t blame anyone for quitting,
the answer isn’t to leave the field. It’s to step up
and remake youth sports into a communal and
civil activity.
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1111; to send
comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov.
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.
97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.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. 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.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221 Dirksen Senate Office
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
BY BEN SHERWOOD
As millions of kids in the U.S. return to fields
and courts for spring sports, black eyes and
bloody noses are returning too. This time the
injuries aren’t just among the athletes. These are
dangerous times for referees and umpires who
call penalties and outs.
In Laurel, Mississippi, earlier this month, an
umpire of a 12-year-olds’ softball game was am-
bushed by a parent in the parking lot and hit in
the face after the game. The accused assailant —
wearing a “Mother of the Year” T-shirt — was
arrested and charged with simple assault, a mis-
demeanor, and fined $422.25.
In Livonia, Georgia, at a church basketball
game this month, a referee was attacked after
the final whistle by parents and eighth grade
players. Some 30 stitches later, the ref is recov-
ering.
Attacks have happened at a Texas baseball
game, a Northern California soccer game and
a Colorado hockey game, where one parent
sprayed a referee in the face with an industri-
al-sized can of Lysol. Chemical warfare comes
to youth sports. What next?
No wonder youth sports today face dou-
ble trouble. Some 70% of young athletes drop
out by age 11, primarily because sports aren’t
fun anymore. And 80% of referees quit within
two years.
Some have called referee abuse “a national
crisis.” More broadly, others have labeled youth
sports “a cauldron of yelling and hysteria.”
Although plenty of games go off without a
hitch, too many referees are demeaned and
rules disregarded, abuse and violence are ram-
pant, and winning appears to be the only thing
that matters.
The sideline mayhem has become pervasive
█
Ben Sherwood, founder and CEO of MOJO, a youth sports
app, is a soccer referee and has coached his sons for the last
13 years in four sports. He has served as president of ABC
News, president of the Disney ABC Television Group and
co-chair of the Disney Media Networks.
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
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.