A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Few
excuses
not to vote
O
regon has led the
way in eliminating
cumbersome and
overly restrictive processes
for getting citizens registered
to vote. Versions of the state’s
automatic voter registration
system ought to be extended
nationwide.
U.S. Sen s. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley and U.S.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer have
introduced legislation to
compel states to move to vote
by mail.
Oregon’s homegrown
system of voting by mail
deserves universal adoption.
We should make it as
convenient as possible for
people to exercise a citizens’
right , not erect an obstacle
course in their path that
discourages all but the most
engaged from participating.
Any election-related
innovation brings meaningless
chatter about the potential
for introducing fraud into
the process. Disenfranchised
felons and non citizens might,
under this theory, slip a
vote in for someone who
they perceive as being more
amenable to their concerns.
Such a worry is quaint to the
point of nearly being amusing.
Meanwhile, it remains to be
seen whether Oregon’s most
recent innovation — nearly
universal voter registration —
will make a difference in voter
turnout or who gets elected.
The choice by political
parties to restrict who votes
in partisan primary elections
means that unaf¿ liated voters
are left on the sidelines at that
vital stage in the process. Only
18.7 percent of automatically
registered voters turned in
ballots in the Oregon May
primary, well below the
overall voter turnout of 53.7
percent, while 76 percent of
automatically registered voters
that month were unaf¿ liated,
The Oregonian reported.
Keeping people from
voting is a key way in which
elections are rigged by the
powerful and the political
consultants who do their
bidding. Voting in sufficient
numbers is the main way
that citizens have a sense of
control over their destiny. In
Oregon at least, there remain
very few excuses not to
vote.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Please vote no on recall
To the Editor:
I think recalls should only be
used when the person has commit-
ted a proven crime or gross negli-
gence. Removing someone from
of¿ ce on vague accusations and
rumors is highly irresponsible and
just downright bad behavior. I have
seen nothing presented that could
be considered factual or criminal.
I think this current recall is not so
much about Boyd Britton as it is
about a group of people wanting a
change in the county government
and not wanting to wait for the nor-
mal election cycle for that to hap-
pen. In my opinion, most of the ac-
cusations used against Boyd are just
opinion and are nothing we should
be going through a recall for. I have
known Boyd for a long time, and I
feel he always puts the interest of
the county ¿ rst. While he has not
always voted as I would have liked,
I see no reason to recall him from
of¿ ce. In fact, some of the things he
has worked on and advocated for
are seeing some very good success,
and the county is doing better eco-
nomically than we have for a long
time ² sustainable À ows of wood
products and jobs to be had in many
different kinds of businesses are
available. With the exception of the
¿ res of last summer, times are good
in the county, and Boyd along with
many others had a big hand in mak-
ing that happen.
Please join me and stand up for
what is right and vote no on the recall.
Dave Hannibal
Mount Vernon
Britton gracious
in disagreement
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: inIo@cityoÀ ong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
• State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario (Dis-
trict: 60), Room H-475, State Capitol, 900
Court St. N.E., Salem OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1460. Email: rep.cliffbentz@state.
or.us. Website: www.leg.state.or.us/bentz/
home.htm.
• State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R — (District
30) Room S-223, State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-986-1950. Email: sen.
tedferrioli@state.or.us. Email: TFER2@aol.
com. Phone: 541-490-6528. Website: www.
leg.state.or.us/ferrioli.
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
• The White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500;
Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switch-
board: 202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart
Senate Of¿ ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Email:
wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Website:
http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Of¿ ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510?. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email:
senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-
228-3997. Oregon of¿ ces include One
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St.,
Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310
S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendleton, OR
97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278-
1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
• U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Second
District) 1404 Longworth Building, Wash-
ington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730.
No direct email because of spam. Website:
www.walden.house.gov Fax: 202-225-5774.
Medford of¿ ce: 14 North Central, Suite 112,
Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541-776-4646.
Fax: 541-779-0204.
To the Editor:
I am writing to support Boyd
Britton as our county commissioner.
I have worked with and around Boyd
for years and have found him to be a
die-hard advocate for the people of
Grant County. Boyd works hard at
his commissioner role, putting much
needed heart and soul into the posi-
tion. I will be the ¿ rst to admit that I
have not always agreed with Boyd,
however have always found him to
be gracious in disagreement. In spite
of not always being in agreement
with Boyd, I can say he has always
been doing all he can to put his best
foot forward. I appreciate and ad-
mire that about Mr. Britton. Let’s
keep him around.
Mike Billman
Canyon City
‘How about we look at
the man, the position
and the whole record’
To The Editor:
We all should try to ¿ nd positive
ways to deal with life’s problems.
Giving employees encourage-
ment coupled with constructive
criticism rather than a good old butt
chewing seems to get better results.
Exchanging ideas with a spouse
and working through differences
rather than being hardheaded and
stubborn seems to make life so
much more ful¿ lling and enjoyable.
Asking ourselves how can we
constructively build a better commu-
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM
E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT ........ K RISTINA K REGER , KRISTINA @ BMEAGLE . COM
C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
S PORTS ................................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
M ARKETING R EP ....................... K IM K ELL , ADS @ BMEAGLE . COM
O FFICE M ANAGER ..................... L INDSAY B ULLOCK , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
nity and make positive contributions
instead of tearing at the very fabric
of what makes this country great. We
all have a voice and a vote.
Perhaps some of the folks in
Grant County should reevaluate
their motives directed toward get-
ting rid of things or people they
don’t like and agree with. That’s the
morally cheap and easy way.
Get rid of the commissioner. After
all, he works his butt off for all of us
and can’t please everybody, so let’s
give the sel¿ sh few their way, be-
cause Boyd didn’t vote the way they
wanted on some very tough issues.
Boyd Britton puts in long hours
trying to live the dream. He also
puts in countless hours doing his
best to improve this county and the
livelihood of its citizens. Unlike the
petitioners, he doesn’t have a lot of
spare time on his hands to make his
case. As far as I’m concerned, he al-
ready has. Common sense decisions
in the face of some pretty hostile in-
put from disgruntled citizens.
How about we look at the man,
the position and the whole record.
I’m voting no recall. Simple as that.
Dan Maynard
John Day
Recall petitioners
should provide facts
To the Editor:
Recall elections take money out
of taxpayers’ pockets, and that’s a
big responsibility. A public peti-
tion to recall a duly elected of¿ cial
should be backed by clear, speci¿ c,
detailed, publicly available facts.
As the Eagle’s reporting shows, the
people who ¿ led the petition against
County Commissioner Boyd Brit-
ton are not providing those facts.
It’s way past time for the people
who ¿ led the petition to explain ex-
actly what they mean by each point
of it. Vague charges that petitioners
“can’t explain at this time” aren’t
enough. If they can’t explain them-
selves a few days before ballots
come out, when are they going to
explain? There should be time for
their evidence to be seen, exam-
ined and discussed in public before
people vote. This is serious public
business, yet the people who set it
in motion offer nothing to back up
their claims.
Full details for each of those
charges should have been available
to citizens and reporters the minute
the petition started circulating, if
not sooner. Where are those details?
They should: Show us dates. Show
us times. Show us votes by date.
Show us how they can prove a ma-
jority of the county’s residents want
another expensive investigation.
Show the exact dates upon which
the commissioner failed to recuse
himself, with reference to the court
minutes. Show us exactly what they
mean by “misrepresentation.”
If the petitioners show no evi-
dence, wise voters will assume they
have none. Since they are already
disrespecting the First Amendment
by stonewalling the newspaper of
record for Grant County and then
¿ ling a baseless complaint against
a reporter for the state’s most re-
spected newspaper for the crime of
politely requesting facts, they are
making a good case for the argu-
ment that they are wasting our time
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MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Email: www.MyEagleNews.com Phone: 541-575-0710
and money without cause.
I urge Grant County’s citizens to
vote no on this recall.
Janine Goodwin
Prairie City
‘Vote no on the recall’
To the Editor:
We would like to voice our
support for County Commissioner
Boyd Britton and encourage a no
vote on the recall. Boyd has prov-
en to be a positive and productive
part of the county court and our
community as a whole for many
years. This recall effort is being
spearheaded by a vocal minority of
Grant County residents who would
like it to appear as though they are
representing the majority, which is
simply not true.
As an elected of¿ cial, a county
commissioner will never be able
to please everyone all the time, but
Boyd is a good man to have on the
county court. His decisions and
actions have the best community
and county interests in mind. He
is not divisive and he has tried and
succeeded many times in bringing
diverse and sometimes opposing
interests together. He is fair in his
business and supports many pro-
grams and projects in the county
with generous donations of time,
money and expertise.
Again, we support Boyd Britton
as county commissioner. It’s time to
move toward healing and reconcil-
iation in Grant County and Eastern
Oregon. Vote no on the recall.
Mat and Jennifer Carter
Seneca
Emry supporters
use faulty logic
To the Editor:
An open letter to those who still
support Michael Emry:
You could be a misled person who
is rightfully angry about the ¿ re in
Canyon City or a small business own-
er in Dayville or even a recently elect-
ed low-level of¿ cial in Grant Coun-
ty. I had hoped that with the killing
of police of¿ cers in several different
states you would realize the danger
to police. A small business owner in
Dayville said, “I will have to wait un-
til I hear his side of it,” ignoring the
fact he confessed to wanting to use a
.50-caliber Ma Deuce (Browning M2
machine gun) on police here in Grant
County. The recently elected of¿ cial
said in a meeting he “did nothing to
hurt me” and — polling each attendee
to get the same result, save from two
people there — was using the same
logic as: “A person committing sex
crimes had done nothing to him or
his family, so why is he such a bad
guy?”
This guy is right where he be-
longs and hopefully will stay for
a long while. He threatened to use
that weapon at the standoff but
could not smuggle it in. He tried to
sell it here, not telling anyone it was
stolen. If you support this guy, you
deserve neither respect, business or
to hold an elected position in this
county.
Marc O’Dell
Dayville
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