A4
BAKER CITY
Opinion
WRITE A LETTER
news@bakercityherald.com
Thursday, August 18, 2022 • Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Bringing
Amtrak back
to Baker
T
he concept might seem silly, that in one
respect Baker City is more isolated, two
decades into the 21st century, than it was for
much of the 20th.
But when the topic is trains, the claim has merit.
For much of the city’s history, residents could catch
a train here and, from the depot near Broadway Street,
begin a journey that could take them pretty much
anywhere in America.
But that mobility went away in 1997 when Amtrak
ended its Pioneer line, which started in Seattle and
passed through Baker City.
In the ensuing quarter century, rail advocates —
among them Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden — have lob-
bied Congress to revive the Pioneer, or at least a ver-
sion of it. These efforts have failed, but the campaign
might have more momentum than at any time since
1997. There’s more money potentially available, at any
rate.
Members of All Aboard Northwest, an advocacy
group, noted during a public Train Trek meeting on
Aug. 13 in La Grande that the $1.2 trillion infrastruc-
ture bill Congress passed last year includes $66 billion
for Amtrak’s repair backlog. Train supporters hope
that money, even though it’s allocated for improving
the existing rail network, will make it possible to also
expand passenger service.
It’s a worthwhile goal.
Amtrak relies on government subsidies, of course,
but so do other forms of transportation. Tax dollars,
after all, pay to build and maintain highways and to
run the air traffic control system.
Reviving the Pioneer would give local residents
another travel option — and one that might be espe-
cially attractive when, for instance, winter storms have
again closed Interstate 84. The return of Amtrak could
also be a boost for the tourism industry in Northeast-
ern Oregon, a region where commercial air service is
quite limited.
The federal government will spend hundreds of
billions of dollars on transportation projects over the
next several years. Baker County residents probably
won’t notice the results of the vast majority of that
massive outlay.
Bringing back Amtrak would be a welcome
exception.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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, Kenyon Damschen,
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.
bakercityherald.com
YOUR VIEWS
Baker County United
isn’t targeting any
Republicans
It’s strange that Mayor Mc-
Quisten highlights Jake Brown
and Ken Hackett as “lead-
ers” of Baker County United
(BCU). BCU began on my
patio last year — it started
with the three of us and Carrie
Matthews. There are no lead-
ers in BCU. We are patriotic
people who strive to live by
the golden rule. We are pri-
marily a community service
organization. BCU has not,
and does not, publicly endorse
any candidate.
I was appointed to the
Baker City Council budget
board by a previous council,
and I met McQuisten after
she was elected to council, so
I called her to ask about the
county’s Republican com-
mittee. I was excited that she
might share the same political
goals, and I wanted to talk to
her about them. After three
calls over a week, wherein I
left messages asking her to call
me back, she instead sent me
a text telling me not to call the
number anymore. I stopped.
Then I found out that she had
played my messages for Jon-
athan Cannon, the city man-
ager, in an effort to have me
removed from the budget
board. I called Mr. Cannon
and explained that my medical
condition sometimes makes
speech difficult for me. He
apologized and sent an email
to all of the councilors ex-
plaining my condition. Instead
of apologizing, McQuisten
further defamed me by reply-
ing to Cannon and the coun-
cil — calling my messages
“bizarre and creepy, at best.”
Soon after, she voted against
highly qualified volunteers
who wanted to serve on coun-
cil. This kept the council votes
a 3-3 tie. Council took months
to resolve this while McQuis-
ten traveled the state hoping to
be governor. She even tried to
“deputize” her cohort, Coun-
cilor Joanna Dixon, to be vice
mayor in her absence.
BCU never “targeted” Mc-
Quisten’s mother, nor did we
“target” McQuisten. We de-
cided that if the Baker County
Republican Central Commit-
tee (BCRCC) wasn’t going to
host candidates for all offices,
then we would try. BCU is
not behind the effort to recall
anyone. BCU never attempted
to “overthrow” anything nor
anyone. BCU has not “talked”
about purging BCRCC. What
BCRCC does is their business,
not BCU’s.
Why does McQuisten bla-
tantly lie about BCU?
I started my political life
making calls for Gerald Ford.
I campaigned and voted for
Reagan twice while McQuis-
ten inflated balloons. I in-
terned for Pete Wilson in
Washington, D.C., when he
was in the U.S. Senate. After
graduating from Stanford,
I lived and worked in Japan
for two years in the legal de-
partment of Alps Electric Co.,
Ltd. I moved to Baker City in
2007, following my father who
moved to Halfway in the early
1990s. I love this county and
my country.
Since BCU hosted a num-
ber of other gubernatorial
candidates, BCU invited Mc-
Quisten to meetings and asked
her to speak. She declined and
instead smeared BCU as “an-
tifa” and a “mob.” Regardless,
the invitation stands: Mayor
McQuisten, please join us to
help elect honest, patriotic
candidates this November.
Jason Bland
Baker City
Baker County United
doesn’t support left wing
Here we go again with more
personal attacks from Mayor
McQuisten.
What liberal or Leftist
causes has Baker County
United (BCU) ever sup-
ported?
BCU started in the vacuum
created by the failure of Su-
zan Jones’ leadership of our
Republican party. BCU has a
history of standing up against
the RINO establishment cul-
ture that McQuisten and her
mother have fomented here.
And it’s sad when merely
asking for accountability
from them is considered “an-
tifa” and “mob rule” amidst
their claims of victimization.
Sounds like the “social justice
warrior” calling card.
BCU has championed Con-
stitutional resolutions passed
at the county level in defense
of every single citizen against
Kate Brown’s mask and vac-
cination over-reach. Mayor
McQuisten openly worked
against that effort.
BCU pushed to temporar-
ily suspend our payment of
property taxes until the city
and county protected the jobs
of our emergency service pro-
viders against termination
for failing to be force-vaxxed.
Mayor McQuisten openly
worked against that effort
as well and ignored a letter
signed by a hundred Baker
County citizens on this issue.
BCU provided a stage for
other conservative gubernato-
rial and senate candidates as
Suzan Ellis Jones ignored and
blackballed them from our
Republican audience here for
over a year. Mayor McQuisten
went along with this effort.
BCU actually meets twice
per month and has great at-
tendance and participation,
far better than Jones’ few Re-
publican meetings over the
past two years.
And for doing this, Jones
and McQuisten, the moth-
er-daughter duo, make out-
rageous claims against a truly
conservative and constitu-
tional group by calling BCU
“Antifa.” Is this a joke?
Suzan Jones has refused to
convene Republican commit-
tee meetings this year, and
has only mentioned that we’d
have one committee meeting.
... AFTER November’s elec-
tion. Why has she shut down
the Republican party in Baker
County? Mother and daughter
are not acting as conservatives
at all.
The party met on July
28, 2022, but the commit-
tee members had to call the
meeting because Chair Jones
refused to. The vote from the
floor to suspend Chair Jones
and her executive committee
was unanimous. It was also
voted on to investigate Jones’
actions and behavior as the
Chair. If Suzan Jones and her
daughter want to plug their
ears and close their eyes and
claim they can’t hear or see
anything, they can do so. But
it doesn’t change what hap-
pened.
In fact, Chair Jones did lose
her first precinct spot to a
non-balloted write-in candi-
date and only beat the other
write-in by a few votes; in her
own precinct. That’s unheard
of! And three other members
of her executive committee
weren’t even reelected. At all.
I am not “targeting” Suzan
Jones or Kerry McQuisten.
Their unpopularity speaks
volumes by their actions,
not mine. I was never part
of any recall effort against the
Mayor. McQuisten fabricated
that claim as she has so
many others.
We have a lot to do. The
Baker County Republicans
want to get back to work with
effective leadership and dig in
with forward movement head-
ing into this election.
Jake Brown
Halfway
Baker City watershed
project is vital to
city’s future
The forested watershed that
provides Baker City’s water
supply is at high risk of severe
wildfire. Active forest man-
agement is urgently needed to
restore this federally owned
land back to health and reduce
risks to local communities.
The good news is the Wal-
lowa-Whitman National For-
est has proposed the Baker
City Watershed Fuels Man-
agement Project to thin over-
stocked forests as well as to
protect municipal water sup-
plies and reduce severe wild-
fire risks to homes and vital
infrastructure that are identi-
fied within the Baker County
Community Wildfire Protec-
tion Plan.
The project would also help
restore ecosystem resiliency
and reduce fuel loads by estab-
lishing shaded fuel breaks, and
by carefully reintroducing fire
on the landscape. The project
has been in development for
the past couple years in con-
sultation with city leaders, and
the National Forest is now
accepting public comments
through Aug. 30.
Considering the area’s his-
tory of wildfires, the Baker
City Watershed Fuels Man-
agement Project would create
conditions that would give
firefighters better and safer
opportunities to protect the
watershed and nearby com-
munities. Many of the treat-
ments are focused on areas
within the wildland urban
interface — where forests and
homes intersect — so they can
provide defensible space for
more safe and effective fire-
fighting operations.
We should encourage the
National Forest to implement
this project as soon as possible
to protect local water supplies,
homes and infrastructure.
They should also maximize
forest health treatments across
the proposed project area, in-
cluding riparian areas that are
at high risk of wildfire.
A strong public-private
partnership is necessary to
ensure this project is imple-
mented successfully. Public
lands managers should work
proactively with contractors
to allow a variety of forestry
equipment that can improve
safety and reduce ground dis-
turbance. There is also an im-
portant opportunity to sup-
port local jobs and Eastern
Oregon’s forest infrastructure
through commercial thinning
treatments that provide wood
products.
By reducing the risks of se-
vere, high-intensity wildfire,
the project will help main-
tain high-quality drinking
water supplies for Baker City
residents that all depend on
healthy, high-functioning for-
ests. You can submit a com-
ment directly at Healthy For-
ests, Healthy Communities
web site here- https://bit.
ly/3AjROD8e
Nick Smith
Executive director,
Healthy Forests, Healthy
Communities
Sherwood
Democrat watches
the Baker County
GOP squabbles
Kerry McQuisten’s letter to
the editor on Aug. 13, begins
with this statement: “The far
left must love Jake Brown,
Kenny Hackett, and Baker
County United!”
Considering myself a mem-
ber of the “far left,” plus an
elected Baker County Dem-
ocratic Precinct Committee
Person, here’s my reaction to
the squabbling among Baker
County Republicans.
Kerry McQuisten’s mother,
Suzan Ellis Jones, Chair of
the Baker County Repub-
lican Central Committee
(BCRCC), likes to keep tight
control of Republican Party
politics in Baker County. One
example I’ve noticed is that
she has a closed door pol-
icy when the BCRCC holds
meetings. Contrast that be-
havior with that of the Baker
County Democratic Central
Committee, which for de-
cades has always welcomed
anyone and everyone who
wants to attend our meetings.
Second example. On March
25 the BCRCC held a candi-
date forum at the Baker Elks
Lodge for several Republican
candidates for Oregon gov-
ernor, including Suzan Ellis
Jones’ own daughter, gover-
nor candidate Kerry McQuis-
ten. One meeting ground rule
prohibited videoing, except
by the committee itself. When
a person refused to abide
by that rule, the police were
called and the person was
duly escorted from the forum
site. Others left at the same
time to show their support of
the person who violated the
committee videoing rule.
Third example. Special
treatment of unsuccessful
governor candidate Kerry
McQuisten. The BCRCC do-
nated $2,500 to McQuisten’s
campaign, in spite of the fact
that such a donation violated
the BCRCC’s own rule that
before the May primary elec-
tion all Republican candi-
dates for governor be treated
equally, i.e., $2,500 to each.
Since the BCRCC had only
$3,799.87 in its bank account,
Suzan Ellis Jones got the com-
mittee to remove the equal
treatment rule, thereby ben-
efiting just one candidate for
governor, her own daughter,
Kerry McQuisten.
In closing I want everyone
who doesn’t already know,
that rather than “loving” Jake
Brown and Baker County
United (BCU), I’ve con-
demned harshly both Brown
and his BCU in letters to the
editor.
Turkeys gobble and Baker
County Republicans squabble.
Are you guys turkeys or what?
Gary Dielman
Baker City