A4
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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news@bakercityherald.com
Saturday, October 29, 2022 • Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Caution with
COVID-19
vaccine
mandates
W
hether, and where, a COVID-19 vaccine
could become mandatory for children to
attend schools, is uncertain.
It appears likely that the Centers for Disease Control
will add the COVID-19 vaccine to the agency’s list of
immunizations recommended for kids. The Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices recently recom-
mended that the CDC do so, and the federal agency usu-
ally heeds the committee’s advice.
But a CDC recommendation is not a mandate for
states, or for school districts.
In Oregon, a state law administered by the Oregon
Health Authority determines which inoculations are re-
quired for school attendance.
In this state, however, the word “required” should be
appended by an asterisk. A big asterisk.
Parents can exempt their children from any, or all, vac-
cines on Oregon’s list through a nonmedical exemption
— which is to say, they don’t need an opinion from a doc-
tor about why a child shouldn’t be immunized.
But even though the current law basically makes it
impossible for Oregon to actually exclude from schools
those students who don’t take a particular vaccine, state
officials should be cautious if they consider adding
COVID-19 vaccines to the list of “required” vaccines,
such as those for measles, mumps and whooping cough.
The risk here is that the extreme feelings about
COVID-19 vaccines — which are political fodder in a
way other childhood immunizations are not — could
result in fewer children getting vaccines they would oth-
erwise have had. And worse still, vaccines that protect
them against illnesses which, quite unlike COVID-19,
actually pose a significant health risk for children.
Indeed there’s probably already a “vaccine gap” in the
U.S., although researchers attribute this not to skepticism
about vaccines driven by the pandemic, but to reduced
access to clinics, a situation that, fortunately, is largely in
the past.
Regardless, Oregon officials shouldn’t ignore the statis-
tics that show parents don’t see the value in having their
children vaccinated against a virus that poses a minus-
cule threat for serious illness or death for that age group.
(Of Oregon’s 8,600 deaths related to COVID-19, al-
most 85% were people 60 or older. Just eight were chil-
dren 9 or younger.)
Statewide, 41.6% of children ages 5 to 11 have had one
dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 37% have had two
doses. The percentage is much lower in Baker County —
12.3% of residents ages 5 to 11 have had one dose.
There’s no compelling evidence that adding
COVID-19 vaccines to the required list for Oregon stu-
dents would help curb the spread of the virus or, more
important, save lives.
But it’s plausible to conclude that making COVID-19
vaccines “mandatory” for students — even accounting
for Oregon’s regrettably lenient law allowing nonmedical
exemptions — would contribute to a declining vaccina-
tion rate for those other diseases which, thanks to high
immunization rates, have been all but eradicated.
Certainly, parents’ acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines
for children to this point makes it abundantly clear that,
if forced to decide, a significant percentage of parents
would seek a nonmedical exemption were COVID-19
vaccines added to the list for school attendance.
If some of those parents also eschewed other vaccines,
for whatever reason, then the requirement could not be
branded as anything but an abject failure — a decision
that, instead of helping children, would be more likely to
harm them.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
YOUR VIEWS
New benches are great addition to
Geiser-Pollman Park
It is with much appreciation that this let-
ter is written. Two years ago, we lost a very
dear friend after a courageous battle with
cancer. Many of us wanted to honor Mer-
rie Hensley with a bench to commemorate
our friendship. We worked with Lynette
Perry, co-founder of the Baker City Events
organization. Her vision was for donated
benches to be placed around the bandstand
in the Geiser-Pollman city park, a great way
to increase seating for musical events and
community activities while paying tribute
to others.
We are happy that the seven new metal
benches are now in place. Because this was
a team effort, we would like to thank the
following: Lynette Perry for her dedication
to this project; Natural Structures for the
sturdy and well-designed benches; R.D.
Mac for donating the concrete pads; and
Robert Collins for his work to install the
benches.
As donors of a bench, we are happy that
Merrie’s many friends and family will have a
great place to remember her. We are grate-
ful to those who volunteered their time and
efforts in making this project come to fru-
ition. What a beautiful park we are lucky
to enjoy in so many ways, and now with a
bench to honor a very special friend.
Patty Bogart, Victoria Howard, Fawn
Robertson, Erin Callahan, Heather
Palmer Johnson, Kathy Saunders, Diane
Davis, Jean Justus, Julie Stout, Theresa
Dennis, Kathy Mitchell, Jerri Wickert,
Barbara Haynes, Kelly Nichols
Support Baker Rural Fire District
tax levy
On the Baker Rural Fire Protection Dis-
trict (BRFPD) tax levy, an informed YES
vote. Please support all your local rural fire
districts by volunteering, supporting, and
encouraging others to do so! All volunteer
organizations are in the same situation: short
on operating budgets, and more importantly,
volunteers. The service to the patrons of
any district is directly tied to the volunteers,
equipment, and training available. This is
paid for by the patrons’ tax dollars, and any
grant money that can be acquired.
In response to Mr. Johnson’s last two let-
ters to the editor asking for no votes on the
tax levy request — there was only a small
sliver of accuracy: that being he was a mem-
ber of the volunteer department for a period
of time. The facts are: a few addresses were
affected by station location change, one was
just outside by a few feet, and couple ad-
dresses were added into area. All affected
addresses have been, and will continue to be
provided service by the district. The depart-
ment chief and training officers receive a
small compensation for extra time spent to
support the volunteers and patrons. The dis-
trict is not required to, and does NOT, pay
PERS. Personnel, volunteer or paid, levels
fluctuate in any organization due to many
factors. We have not had vast resignations,
only two.
BRFPD board and budget meetings are
open to the public, and legal notices and
publications of both are made as required
by statute. The current board of directors is
working the same as those before: provide
the best possible resources, training, and
services to the volunteers and patrons of the
district with what we have to work with. The
board decisions are based on all factors with
the information available and in the best in-
terest of Baker Rural Fire Protection District
patrons. Please be informed with the facts,
not negative opinions. Contact any BRFPD
board member or volunteer to help make an
informed decision.Vote YES for BRFPD tax
levy request!
Collin Kaseberg
Baker County
COLUMN
Sliding on ice while still thinking about dust
I was used to driving through it, spawn-
ing noxious gritty clouds that I tried to stay
ahead of, even if that necessitated a higher
speed and a commensurately bumpier ride.
And I was used to walking through it,
pressed the brake pedal and immediately each step creating a smaller but still annoy-
wished I hadn’t.
ing version of those vehicular dust storms.
Not quite so firmly, anyway.
The transition, then, from dust and sweat
Almost as soon as my boot touched the
to ice and frigid fingers, was so sudden that I
hard rubber square I heard the telltale scuff- felt a trifle woozy, as though I had just tum-
ing sound of tires sliding on ice, felt the
bled off a merry-go-round propelled by en-
sudden and unsettling sensation that 4,500
ergetic and muscular children.
pounds of vehicle was no longer rolling but
On Friday, Oct. 21, the day the first great
rather floating.
storm of autumn arrived, the dust was
Something my Toyota FJ Cruiser was de- still thick where I walked above Denny
cidedly not designed to do.
Creek, south of the Powder River near
(Although its capacity to ford water, thanks the Burnt-Powder divide. The rain hadn’t
to an elevated air intake, greatly exceeds the
started, and although it was the first cloudy
depth I’m likely to ever experiment with.)
day in nearly a month, the air was still mild.
Less than 48 hours earlier, driving the
Less than two full days later my wife,
same vehicle on a different road, I was fix-
Lisa, and I were trudging through 8 inches
ated not on ice but on what could be consid- of snow on the Elkhorn Crest Trail near
ered its antithesis — dust.
Anthony Lakes, so fresh even the squir-
Dust, of course, is ubiquitous in summer rels, which are forever scurrying about, had
on the unpaved roads around here.
barely blemished the soft white surface.
(Which is most of the roads, if your desti-
The temperature was 24 degrees.
nation is the woods or the rangelands.)
The season’s first snow always seems a bit
Nor is it rare for dust to persist into fall,
jarring, to be sure.
tamped down only by the first good rain.
In our somewhat elevated piece of ground,
This year, though, was anything but typ-
far from the moderating influences of the
ical.
Pacific, the cold and the snow are inevitable.
For the first 20 days, October was distin-
We know this implicitly, but the differ-
guished not so much by its complete lack of ence between knowing something, and then
rainfall — which itself is not so unusual —
slogging through 8 inches of it after months
but by its consistent warmth.
of sweltering, can’t help but seem new and
On all of those days the temperature ex-
different.
ceeded 70 degrees at the Baker City Airport.
The first day in spring when the sun
Although many mornings were moder-
shines with real authority, making a patch
ately chilly, the air warmed each day with a
of shade a welcome refuge for the first
rapidity that reminded me more of late Au- time since before Halloween, has about it
gust than October. For my afternoon strolls the same strange flavor, familiar but also
about town I inevitably donned shorts and a largely forgotten over the long span of fri-
T-shirt, attire I had become so accustomed
gidity.
to that the whereabouts of my sweatpants
Our seasons are so distinct — a reflec-
was something of a mystery, albeit one I had tion of their extremes, particularly in tem-
no reason to try to solve.
perature, with a few triple digit days likely
I was also used to the dust.
in summer and subzero mornings even
Jayson
Jacoby
I
more common in winter — that the transi-
tion is apt to seem abrupt regardless of the
reality.
But this autumn was an especially dra-
matic example, it seems to me.
Although I would argue that, so far at
least, there hasn’t actually been much of an
autumn.
The conditions that define that season
— periods of sunny but cool weather inter-
rupted by benevolent storms that lay the dust
and perhaps briefly whiten the peaks of the
Elkhorn and Wallowas — have so far been
absent.
No, in 2022 we leaped from a long-linger-
ing summer straight to a fair approximation
of December.
I resolved to myself not to begrudge this
jarring jump, lest my incessant whining
these past several weeks about summer’s per-
sistence brand me a hypocrite, if only in my
own mind.
But during those treacherous few min-
utes as we descended the steepest grades
below Anthony Lakes, I regretted, if not the
weather, then at least that our Cruiser was
still rolling on its mud-terrain tires.
(Although, as I mentioned, it was sliding
as much as it was rolling.)
These tires, with their aggressive pattern
of blocks with lots of space between, are de-
signed to fling mud away before it coats the
tread and leaves your rig foundering.
They are quite effective at this.
But on ice these tires, with their smooth,
sipeless tread, are about as useful as drag-rac-
ing slicks.
The studded tires are still stacked in the
corner of a shed.
Where, appropriately enough, they’ve
been gathering dust during these months
when my only interest in ice was making
sure I crammed enough cubes into my water
bottle to make sure it didn’t turn tepid before
I slaked my thirst.
█
Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City Herald.
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