Opinion
A4
BAKER CITY
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Saturday, August 20, 2022 • Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
River Democracy
Act will get
needed maps
T
he maps are coming. That’s what Oregon
Sen. Ron Wyden, told The Bend Bulletin’s
community editorial board Monday, Aug. 15
about the River Democracy Act.
And we think it is great.
Wyden and his fellow Oregon Democrat, Sen. Jeff
Merkley, introduced the River Democracy Act in Feb-
ruary 2021. It would designate 4,700 miles of water-
ways in Oregon as wild and scenic. That’s the highest
level of environmental protection a waterway can get.
Free-flowing and unpolluted water are goals. Good
for floating. Good for drinking water. Good for recre-
ation and recreation jobs. Good for wildlife. Good for
river health. Many conservationists and groups adore
YOUR VIEWS
the idea.
Shriner upset about
offensive parade entry
Not everyone does. Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Re-
publican, said earlier this year the added layer of en-
vironmental regulation would make the areas around
designated waterways more difficult to treat for wild-
fire and more dangerous. “...(T)his designation will
prevent what needs to be done to protect these wa-
tersheds — placing them in a bureaucratic wasteland
where it will take years, if not decades, to initiate and
then complete plans that may or may not allow the
treatment activities needed right now,” Bentz said in a
statement.
And of course, private property owners adjacent to
a designated area may face new levels of regulation
and scrutiny. The act does say: Nothing in this Act or
I was asked to write a let-
ter in reference to the car ad-
mitted to the Shrine Parade.
I didn’t see the offensive ad
displayed but was told about
it — needless to say. I was in-
formed that this entry will not
be allowed in future parades. I
am very upset with what I was
told and apologize for our er-
ror in allowing this entry.
Shriners try to keep all clean
and have fun. ... the parade
has always been a source of
pride for us and would never
knowingly allow this entry if
we were aware of its offensive
nature. Again — my apologies
for our error.
Jim Pringle
Potentate, Hillah Temple
Medford
Republicans simply trying employee positions perma-
nently removed from Baker
to hold leadership
City? Emphatically yes!
accountable
The “attempted” overthrow
Kerry McQuisten. I am
most positive, the far left does
not love me (but what’s not to
love). Constitutional conser-
vative I am, ANTIFA I am not.
When will you stop fabricat-
ing canards in a smokescreen
attempt to cover your inept-
ness as a city councilor and
mayor, as well as your mother,
Suzan Ellis Jones, inappropri-
ate, illegal, and immoral ac-
tions as the chair of the Baker
County Republican PCPs? At
no time have I helped organize
a meeting against the conser-
vative members of the Baker
City Council. Do I believe that
you and Joanna Dixon should
be recalled for your role in
having 6 Baker City firefighter
of the Baker County Republi-
cans (BCRCC), that you speak
of is nothing more than hold-
ing your mother accountable
as chair of the Baker County
Republican Central Commit-
tee for her blatant refusal to
follow Oregon Revised Stat-
ute, as well as BCRCC bylaws,
immoral actions as chair, and
violation of one’s civil rights.
You scribe wonderfully as a
fictional author!
The only partial truth in
your Aug. 13 LTE is, “My
mother, BCU’s primary tar-
get. ...” BCU has not targeted
your mother. Yes, I believe
Suzan Ellis Jones should be re-
called as chair from the Baker
County Republican PCPs (as
well as chair for CD2). My ac-
tions are the sole representa-
tion of myself, and as such, I
have adamantly expressed MY
opinion. If your mother has
nothing to hide and is 100%
innocent of the legitimate rea-
sons she has been suspended
from the chair position within
the BCRCC. Please answer
this question, why did she not
call for a meeting in which she
could have been 100% trans-
parent and answered ques-
tions and provide evidence
concerning the questions from
elected Baker County Repub-
lican PCPs? I will end here
knowing I could continue to
dissect your rambling canards,
but for the good of the order I
will save the rest for future re-
sponses.
Ken Hackett
Baker City
an amendment made by this Act affects private prop-
OTHER VIEWS
erty rights with respect to a covered segment.
Whatever you may think about the River Democ-
racy Act, the thing that struck us most about its 283
pages was how hard it was to figure out where the des-
ignations would apply. There are word descriptions of
where the designations begin and end. What it needed
was a map or maps that people could zoom into and
see it for themselves. And Wyden told us very good
maps are coming soon. That’s important before any
legislation like this would be seriously considered by
Congress. Oregonians need to easily understand what
would change, first.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker City Herald.
Columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions
of the authors and not necessarily that of the Baker City Herald.
Pence illustrates how abnormal GOP has become
EDITORIAL FROM ST. LOUIS
POST-DISPATCH
T
here was a time, not
that long ago, when it
wouldn’t have been ma-
jor news for a top Republican
to say the party should respect
law enforcement and cooperate
with a congressional investi-
gation. In that sense, the buzz
over former Vice President
Mike Pence’s defense this week
of the FBI, and his suggestion
he might be willing to testify
before the House committee in-
vestigating the Jan. 6, 2021, as-
sault on the Capitol, illustrates
just how radical and lawless too
many other Republicans have
become in the Trump era.
It is only in this party, in
these frenzied times, that such
a bare-minimum acknowledg-
ment of political norms would
merit comment, let alone ku-
dos. But, under the circum-
stances, it does.
In a speech in New Hamp-
shire, Pence broke with the fe-
verish rhetoric of those in his
party who are trashing FBI
agents involved in the search
of former President Donald
Trump’s Florida residence.
Armed with a court order, the
agents were seeking classified
documents that Trump took
from the White House and was
refusing to give back, even after
months of negotiations and a
subpoena.
On the very night of the
search, before any facts were
known, Missouri Attorney
General Eric Schmitt, the state’s
GOP Senate nominee, reck-
lessly vowed to “take a wrecking
ball” to the Justice Department.
Congressional firebrands like
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
R-Ga., in their zeal to side with
Trump no matter what laws
he may have broken, called for
“defunding” the FBI — having
apparently forgotten how that
word came back to bite hard-
left Democrats who used it in
reference to local police forces.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said
the party should “destroy” the
agency.
In the face of all this, Pence’s
milquetoast comments in New
Hampshire sounded almost
radically responsible. He criti-
cized Attorney General Merrick
Garland and demanded “trans-
parency” from the Justice De-
partment (not an unreasonable
demand in any context involv-
ing government), but added:
“Our party stands with the men
and women who stand on the
thin blue line at the federal and
state and local level, and these
attacks on the F.B.I. must stop.
Calls to defund the F.B.I. are
just as wrong as calls to defund
the police.” He asserted that the
GOP is still “the party of law
and order” — which may be
wishful thinking in the Trump
era, but was refreshing to hear
anyway.
COLUMN
Clutch driving amid honks in the city by the bay
T
he horns began to blare, and the
blood rushed to my face.
A veritable sonnet of profan-
ity came together in my mind, a litany
of piquant phrases that would have
delighted George Carlin or Richard
Pryor in their comedic primes, or so
I’d like to believe.
I drove 2,030 miles during our va-
cation in late July without drawing
any great attention from my trio of
passengers. Although I could feel
the heavy weight of my wife’s eyes
when the speedometer needle briefly
pointed past the “80” hashmark while
I was passing a semi on one of the
vast straight stretches of Highway 395
between Lakeview, near the Califor-
nia border, and Susanville, California.
(The needle was in fact nearer the
“100” line, if I am to be honest.)
Yet after hundreds of miles and
many hours that passed without com-
ment on my piloting skill, as soon
as those horns began their annoying
squawking, my wife, Lisa, and our
kids, Olivia and Max, were as en-
tranced as the crowds in the Roman
Colosseum when the lion got the up-
per hand.
(Or, rather, paw.)
I suspect it’s that brief moment,
when we weren’t even moving, that
they’ll be talking about for decades
rather than the eminently forget-
table miles we accumulated before
can eliminate the need for deft foot-
work between clutch and accelerator if
a driver is to survive that city’s precipi-
tous intersections unscathed.
I did not contribute to any colli-
and after.
sions — not with pedestrians, not
I’ll concede that I might have
with any moving vehicles and not
helped to elicit their reaction.
with immobile objects of which there
I had, earlier in our motorized
was a veritable labyrinth.
tour of San Francisco, mentioned
The honking incident, it must be
that, given the affinity drivers had for said, was not my fault, something
sounding their horns, I might feel ne- even my family will attest to.
glected if I didn’t even once during
What happened is I was in heavy
our visit invoke another motorist’s
traffic on a one-way, two-lane street.
wrath.
The street, for some inexplicable rea-
I was encumbered by several hand- son but possibly involved a sadistic
icaps, any of which ought to have got- traffic engineer, made a 90-degree
ten me into at least a few awkward
turn. I was in the outside lane. As I hit
situations. I felt that I would earn an
the apex of the corner, I was stymied
uncouth hand gesture at a minimum. by a white Tesla — a brand that is
I am not accustomed either to the
thick on the ground in the Bay Area,
volume of traffic in the great city by
which happens to be, specifically in
the bay, or to the severe grade of the
Fremont, where they’re assembled —
streets for which San Francisco is re- that had stopped for a purpose obvi-
nowned. I suspect no American city
ous only to the driver. The Tesla was
has bent more shock absorbers during basically straddling the two lanes.
the making of movies.
Being averse to interrupting our
Moreover, our Mazda has a manual otherwise enjoyable vacation with
transmission. And although the car is an exchange of insurance informa-
equipped with a clever function that
tion, I veered left. This put me in the
briefly holds it in place when it’s on a bus-only lane, which seemed to me a
steep upslope and the brake is released minor matter considering there was
while the clutch is engaged — a fea-
no bus visible. But my little detour
ture that I have no doubt saved many seemed to rouse a few other drivers to
San Franciscans’ front bumpers while a state of high anxiety. Anyway they
we were in town — no electronic aid honked.
Jayson
Jacoby
I thought this was both rude and,
worse, unjustified, seeing as I had
avoided a collision rather than made
one more likely. Regardless, I reacted
to the volley of honks by muttering
a few lines of that profane sonnet
I mentioned earlier. I also sped off
when a space opened ahead, attain-
ing a speed in first gear that I had not
believed possible. Olivia, who got her
learner’s permit a couple month ago,
seemed particularly impressed. More
so than her mother, at least.
Despite that harrowing incident,
driving in San Francisco was more
physically demanding for me than it
was mentally taxing.
One day we covered about 12 miles
on foot. We parked at the Presidio and
then walked to the bayfront, taking in
the typical tourist spots such as Pier
39, for which Max showed a fondness
that struck me as peculiar considering
he’d never seen the place except in the
glossy photos of a brochure.
Then we strolled into a few other
neighborhoods, marveling at a pop-
ulation density so much greater than
Baker City’s that the comparison
seems inane.
I had been to San Francisco only
once before, a few decades ago, but I
didn’t walk much of it then. Its repu-
tation as one of the world’s great cit-
ies seems to me deserved. The sense
of history, and its integral role in the
story of the American West, is palpa-
ble. I had neither a detailed knowl-
edge of the place nor an itinerary, so I
was pleased by the happy coincidence
of walking by Saints Peter and Paul
church, the grandest house of worship
I’ve been in since I spent part of the
summer of 1986, between my sopho-
more and junior years in high school,
living in Germany.
After our excursion I was antic-
ipating a good dinner and a frosty
beer. But instead we decided — we are
nothing if not shameless in our sta-
tus as predictable tourists — to drive
through famous neighborhoods such
as Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown and
Pacific Heights.
My left leg — the clutch leg — ob-
jected to this plan. By the time we
merged back onto one of the innu-
merable freeways — I think it was the
101, but possibly it was the 280 — my
thigh felt about as solid as al dente
spaghetti.
From San Francisco we drove
north, swapping a metropolis for red-
woods and remote coast range valleys
and towns where it actually seemed
possible to pass on the sidewalk the
deck hand who had caught the fish
from last night’s dinner.
There was no honking.

Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City
Herald.