A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2022
BAKER CITY
EDITORIAL
Rethinking
fentanyl
punishment
W
e can feel relieved that the car Darren
Glenn Yeater was driving when he
was arrested in Baker City on June 1
has been impounded, and along with it the 40.2
grams of fentanyl powder, nearly 16,000 fentanyl
pills and quantities of other drugs police found
inside while doing a warrant search the next day.
But that relief doesn’t completely assuage
the frightening prospect of those drugs, and in
particular the frequently lethal fentanyl, being so
near. Th e synthetic opioid, which is much more
powerful than heroin, is responsible for a signif-
icant number of overdose deaths in Oregon and
nationwide. Offi cials blame fentanyl for con-
tributing to Oregon’s 41% increase in overdose
deaths in 2021, according to the National Center
for Health Statistics.
Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby said on June
7 that although Baker County once was “pretty
insulated” from some of the greatest dangers
of the illicit drug trade, that’s not the case with
fentanyl. It’s cheap and easy to transport. And it’s
deadly — in many cases because the person who
took it didn’t know it was fentanyl.
Th e day aft er Yeater’s car was searched, an
Oregon State Police trooper cited two Washing-
ton men, on Interstate 84 near Farewell Bend, for
possession of much smaller — less than 5 grams
each — of fentanyl. Due to Measure 110, which
Oregon voters approved in November 2020
(though about 62% of Baker County voters were
opposed), the two men were given what amounts
to a traffi c ticket because the amount of fentanyl
they had was under the 5-gram threshold.
Yet according to the Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration, even 2 milligrams of fentanyl can
kill a person. In other words, having 4.9 grams of
fentanyl — approximately 2,450 lethal doses —
would net you a $100 fi ne.
Yeater, who had substantially larger quantities, is
facing much more serious punishment, of course.
But for a drug as dangerous as fentanyl, Or-
egonians might wish to reconsider whether we
ought to treat people who have any amount as
though they had failed to make a complete stop
at a sign, or exceeded the posted speed limit by
10 mph.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
Opinion
WRITE A LETTER
news@bakercityherald.com
Baker City, Oregon
YOUR VIEWS
City’s quiet zone effort is
misguided and costly
I am against the misguided and costly
effort by the city council and manager
to bow to the complaints by a handful of
new residents to establish quiet zones for
all Union Pacific trains passing through
our city for numerous reasons:
First is the lengthy process and cost
associated with complying legally with
such efforts which are detailed in an
email that I requested from the Union
Pacific’s Regional Office in Portland sent
to me by Aaron Hunt.
According to a Union Pacific docu-
ment dealing with quiet zones: “Union
Pacific believes quiet zones compromise
the safety of railroad employees, custom-
ers, and the general public. While the
railroad does not endorse quiet zones, it
does comply with provisions outlined in
the federal law.”
The document also states: “In order to
maintain high public safety standards,
it is critical and beneficial to have the
perspective gained from the railroad’s
experience and expertise concerning
quiet zones. Union Pacific representa-
tives will participate in diagnostic meet-
ings and provide the necessary railroad
information for quiet zone projects on
Union Pacific lines, as required in the
Final Rule.”
The Union Pacific document also
mentions the potential cost to tax-
payers in jurisdictions that establish a
quiet zone.
“Establishing quiet zones not only
creates a public safety risk but also is a
potential cost burden to taxpayers,” the
Union Pacific document states. “Public
authorities are responsible for the cost
of preliminary engineering, construc-
tion, maintenance and replacement of
active warning devices or their com-
ponents, including wayside horn sys-
tems installed at crossings to meet quiet
zone standards.
“Public authorities are required to ex-
ecute a preliminary engineering agree-
ment with Union Pacific to reimburse
the railroad for all costs related to quiet
zone meetings, diagnostics and notice
reviews. If it is determined that railroad
work is required, public authorities are
required to enter into a separate con-
struction and maintenance agreement to
guarantee reimbursement to the railroad
for all actual costs associated with the
installation and maintenance of the rail-
road improvements.”
Second is the historic charm that
Baker prides itself on. The chiming of
the city clock, the ringing of church bells
on Sundays, the blowing of the now de-
funct lumber mill horn at shift change
and the sounding of warning horns by
trains passing through Baker since 1884
are all the sounds that added to the his-
tory and ambiance of Baker.
Why a city council that wants to do
away with ambulance service over a
small annual deficit but incur the in-
credible cost of providing quiet zones is
beyond my comprehension.
Harvey Haskell
Baker City
thought otherwise. Surely God must be
in that revered document.
So he searched and searched. He read
through Article I, which sets up the
Legislative powers of our government.
Then Article II, which sets up the Judi-
cial branch. Then Article III, which sets
up the executive branch. There he ran
across the proscribed President’s Oath of
Office. He must have thought surely I’ll
find God mentioned there.
Only disappointment did he find, for
that oath reads: “Before he enter on the
Execution of his Office, he shall take
the following Oath or Affirmation: I do
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
faithfully execute the Office of the Presi-
dent of the United States, and will to the
best of my Ability preserve, protect, and
defend the Constitution of the United
States.” What, no “...so help me God”?
How can that be?
So, Neal kept reading and reading.
Through Articles IV, and V, and VI. Still
no mention of God.
Then, voila!, there in Article VII about
ratification of the just finished Consti-
tution, the very last of the articles, Neal
tells us in his letter to the editor, “[T]he
Constitution mentions God.”
Well, not quite. He fails to tell the
readers what he found was only a date:
“...done in Convention by Unanimous
Consent of the States present the Seven-
teenth Day of September in the Year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred
and Eighty seven....” Now, that’s what
I believe merchandisers call “bait and
switch.”
Naughty, naughty, Neal, you devil.
Gary Dielman
Baker City
In Idaho Power’s realm,
everybody’s gone serfing
Hear ye! Hear ye! Serfs and peasants!
Thy principality of Idaho Power Cor-
poration (IPC) speaks! Two and some
score ago, the kingdom of IPC was cre-
ated for the common good. Thus we
were ordained as a monopoly, meaning
whatever offensives we do be for your
own goode. We assure thee, this be the
present case.
From the far flung borders of our di-
God in the U.S. Constitution?
vinely blessed kingdom we hear grum-
blings from dissenting peasants — led
Well, sort of
by those in the forbidden Stop B2H.
In the June 7, 2022, edition of the Her- These are scurrilous rumors from the
ald, Neal Jacobson refutes another letter same ill-bred peasants who cooked up
writer’s assertion that God is not in the
the bubonic plague and intend to take
U.S. Constitution. Neal, a very nice guy, your crossbows away. Offensive rumors
say that yon Idaho Power CEO, Her
Highness Queen Lisa A. Grow (LAG) is
worth — thanks to our clever sharecrop-
ping arrangement — 5.5 million gold
pieces in total compensation for being
president and chief executive mucky
muck of Idaho Power in 2022. Know
that she labors for us all.
Hear ye! There’s that offensive non-
sense about the mere $0.0 bond asked by
ye olde fed and state agencies for most
unlikely damages caused by building our
awe-inspiring power line. Bull crape. Ye
olde government agencies charge zero
because they believe in our wizardry.
Hear ye! Further chin wags abound
that the B2H likely will start fires as the
gentle yon kingdom of PG&E did start a
fire at the olde village of Paradise roast-
ing 86 people. Serfs of low degree mur-
mur that if the kingdom of PG&E would
be a person, the penalty would put their
head on a stake. This be gossip and be
sorely hurtful: It was PG&E’s right to
sacrifice the town of Paradise for wor-
thier peasants. Would such happen on
the splendid B2H powerline in the far
reaches of the IPC kingdom of eastern
Oregon? Believe it not.
Hear ye! In order to condemn your
garden plots to extend our beloved ar-
chaic electrical system Her Majesty
Queen LAG will be sending out repre-
sentatives this month. Treat them well.
The traitorous Stop B2H claim they
speak no truths. Rest easy, they be there
to assuage ye.
Hear ye! Beware these scabrous ru-
mors:
The kingdom of IPC will spread
weeds building the power line.
Best views of ye historic Oregon Trail
will be destroyed.
B2H magnificent power lines will bor-
der many villages, but will provide no
power to them.
The world is round.
Hear ye! Anyone caught watering this
heretical STOP B2H information — will,
like those nasty folke, be hung, drawn,
and quartered.
Hear ye! Royal regrets to the Smithe
family for hanging your father for failing
to bring his IPC power tithes in goode
time. Ye olde bureaucratic SNAFU tem-
porarily misplaced them.
Hear ye! Body pickup will resume at
five bells every day until the plague sub-
sides.
This royal pronouncement ends here
due to parchment shortage.
Whit Deschner
Baker City
COLUMN
The eternal mystery of history’s infamous crimes
I
was listening to a podcast host de-
scribe in gruesome detail Jack the
Ripper’s various eviscerations, as a
person does while pottering about in
the yard on a fine April afternoon.
I find this a strangely satisfying di-
version, despite the horrific topic.
A well-crafted podcast can trans-
port me from a sunny day, my hands
smudged with the good soil, to the
dank, fog-draped alleys of London’s
East End in the dreadful late summer
and autumn of 1888. This distracts
me from the otherwise vexing task
of trying to rid the place of both new
weeds and old leaves, that stubborn
detritus of spring.
The episode on this particular day
happened to focus on that most infa-
mous of serial killers.
But there is a wealth of other leg-
endary mysteries that I find equally
fascinating.
And as with most online matters,
the volume of podcasts delving into
every nasty nook and creepy cranny is
prodigious indeed.
Their quality varies widely, to be
sure.
I have occasionally deleted an ep-
isode after just a few minutes when
it became clear that the host, who
seemingly decided on a whim to start
recording, knew less about the sub-
ject than I did — and I’m hardly an
authority on any of the cases that in-
trigue me.
There is also an inevitable redun-
dancy when dozens of podcasters
delve into rather ancient stories —
dating back 134 years, in Jack the
Ripper’s case. The chances of any
significant developments in these
stories is slim. And when they hap-
pen they’re likely to generate pub-
licity in outlets far more prominent
than the sort of podcast people pro-
duce in their garages.
(Or possibly their dungeons, based
on the sound quality that some have.
Or, rather, don’t have.)
For all that, the lure of these tales
is, of course, the attraction of the un-
known.
Jack the Ripper is legendary in part
— perhaps it’s even the largest part,
considering subsequent slayers have
surpassed even his brutality — be-
cause we don’t know who he was.
And despite the library’s worth of
books whose authors claim they can
answer that question — and with a
smugness that only the prospect of
rich royalties can induce — the reality
is that none has done so.
This almost certainly will continue
to be true, for eternity.
The odds of actually solving a case
that predates by many decades even
the basic practices of forensic science
that we take for granted today are mi-
nuscule.
And that’s being charitable.
Indeed, many in the field of Rip-
perology profess to not even concern
themselves with suspects, preferring
instead to investigate the many tan-
gents.
(That this subject has a widely
accepted, pseudoscientific name —
Ripperology — illustrates the per-
sistent fascination with the case, as
not by the killer himself, but by an
enterprising journalist who, I have to
concede, had a knack.)
Among other well-known un-
solved crimes, a couple that have rich
though its practitioners were study- deposits in the podcasting world also
ing rock formations or ancient civi- are known by monikers — the Zodiac
lizations or some similarly respect- killer, and D.B. Cooper.
able field.)
Both have claimed considerable
These people, some of them au-
amounts of storage space on my
thors and some podcasters, contend phone, enlivened many hours of
that they find it more compelling to
yardwork drudgery, and entertained
study Jack the Ripper’s era than to
me on hikes or long drives.
continue the quixotic pursuit of the
The Zodiac, in common with Jack
murderer’s identity.
the Ripper, is believed to have killed
I even believe some of these people. five people. The Zodiac committed
But for me — and I think for
his crimes in the San Francisco Bay
other neophytes — this case and
Area during 1968 and 1969. He wrote
others in the genre beckon us with many letters to area newspapers,
the power of that singular question taunting police and including, in
— who did it?
some messages, cryptograms, one of
(Or whodunit, if you prefer.)
which he claimed included his iden-
Perhaps because I use these top-
tity. Unlike Jack, the Zodiac coined
ics to stave off boredom, rather than his nickname without any assistance
pursue them as a serious academic
from the media.
researcher, the reality that a solution
As with Jack the Ripper, the Zodi-
is all but unreachable isn’t discour-
ac’s legacy has spawned a consider-
aging.
able — though comparatively puny,
I simply appreciate that, while I’m by Ripper standards — collection of
trying to coax quackgrass roots to
books. Many of those are also “suspect
give up their powerful hold on the
books” — in which the author fixates
soil, I can let my mind wander, to
on a particular person and endeav-
know that somebody killed those
ors, with flights of logical fancy that
women in 1888 and to ponder the
are entertaining if not frequently ludi-
great mystery of why we still can’t put crous, to prove that he’s the culprit.
a name to him.
D.B. Cooper is the name, almost
(A real name, that is, not that cruel, certainly an alias, of the man who, on
but undeniably catchy, nickname.
the day before Thanksgiving in 1971,
Which, in a rare example of wide-
hijacked a Northwest Orient 727 fly-
spread consensus among Ripperolo- ing from Portland to Seattle.
gists, was almost certainly bestowed
(The hijacker actually gave his
Jayson
Jacoby
name as Dan Cooper when he
bought his $20 ticket in Portland. A
garbled phone conversation between
police and a reporter resulted in
Dan becoming D.B. And D.B., per-
haps because it sounds cooler than
Dan, it remains.)
Cooper let the passengers disem-
bark in Seattle after receiving his ran-
som of $200,000 in $20 bills, along
with four parachutes. He jumped out
of the 727 — unusual among passen-
ger jets, it has a retractable staircase in
the bottom of the fuselage — in West-
ern Washington, not far north of the
Columbia River, and was never heard
from again.
A boy digging in the sand along the
Columbia found some of the ransom
bills in 1980, a tantalizing clue that
hasn’t, however, solved the case.
The idea that we might come to
know who Cooper or the Zodiac was
remains somewhat plausible, if only
because they happened comparatively
recently, and there is rather more tan-
gible evidence associated with each.
I suspect, though, that half a cen-
tury from now, when both cases have
passed their centennial, the identities
of the Zodiac and D.B. Cooper will re-
main as elusive as Jack the Ripper’s.
But I also imagine that, for peo-
ple with obstinate vegetation to deal
with or other, unstimulating tasks, the
prospect of spending an hour or two
pondering these spectres of the always
fading past will remain enticing.
Jayson Jacoby is editor of the
Baker City Herald.