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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2019)
A4 OPINION Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, October 23, 2019 Public records should be affordable to the public G inger McCall, Or- egon’s first public records advocate, left office Oct. 11 with some suggestions for her successor, the Public Re- cords Advisory Council she headed and lawmakers and other officials in Oregon. Public records, she says, should be obtainable at prices the public can afford. She’s right. Most of her proposals are right on the money. As she makes clear, the high cost of records requests can keep the public and the press from informa- tion they’re entitled to have. McCall would create two classes of records request- ers. The first, including news organizations, nonprofit organizations and educa- tional requesters, would pay only for the cost of dupli- cating requested records. All others would pay that charge, plus the cost of searching for requested records. As McCall points out, state law allows public bod- ies to set their own charges, which vary wildly from agency to agency. Worse, she says, they also can charge attorney fees, some- times $180 per hour or more, to have those records reviewed. The result is a price tag that is beyond the reach not only of the pub- lic and media — it may well be beyond the grasp of many of the lawmakers who write public records bills in the state. She’s right to suggest that the state scrap the allowance for attorney’s fees, then set specific, low fees, perhaps $15 per hour or 5 cents per page, to fulfill all requests. In addition, McCall writes, Oregon should emu- late the federal government when it comes to first-party requests for records related to themselves or a deceased family member, and charge lower fees to that group, par- ticularly if they’ve been vic- tims of crimes. She says charging those people exor- bitant fees for records “is a clear and uncompassionate miscarriage of justice.” McCall’s suggestions would bring order and uni- formity to a system that lacks both. Lawmakers should take them to heart, preferably during the 2020 short legislative session. GUEST COMMENT Hands-on experience O ver the course of the last two years, I have grown an interest in writing and journalism. I recently became involved in activities that will help strengthen my abilities, such as being a school newsletter author and participating in an essay class and English class. In order to verify my inter- est in this field, I was given the opportunity to job shadow Angel Carpenter, a reporter for the Blue Mountain Eagle. On Oct. 3, Angel met me at Prairie City High School to give some hands-on experience of what it’s like to interview and I learned the importance of an aligned photo, how to edit the photo color to make it more eye appealing and the proper image description. We then had time to chit chat, and I was able to get a little past the professional talk and asked about how she got where she is and what her schedule looks like. Overall, the job shadow expe- rience was very helpful, and gave me clarification that I indeed would like to pursue this career in the future. Emily Ennis is a senior at Prairie City High School. photograph. We had the chance to follow around some lunch bud- dies at the school cafeteria and par- take in the fun! Emily Ennis How special it was to hear the responses from both older and younger lunch buddies on what their objective was for the program. She allowed me to take over the camera for awhile and take some snapshots myself, while giving many tips on how to get the perfect image. From there, we traveled back to her office to edit and discuss. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ‘Stuttering is the only disability people still laugh at’ WHERE TO WRITE 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@ centurylink.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: info@ cityoflongcreek.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: governor.state.or.us/governor.html. • Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180. Website: leg.state.or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised Statutes). • Oregon Legislative Information — (For updates on bills, services, capitol or messages for legislators) — 800- 332-2313. • Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario – 900 Court St. NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-1730. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/Bentz. Email: Sen.CliffBentz@oregonlegislature.gov. • Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503- 986-1460. Website: oregonlegislature. gov/findley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@ oregonlegislature.gov. WASHINGTON, D.C. • The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-comments: 202- 456-1111; Switchboard: 202-456- 1414. Blue Mountain EAGLE Published every Wednesday by To the Editor: Oct. 22 is International Stutter- ing Awareness Day. Stuttering is the only disability people still laugh at, but we’re working to change that. Just over 70 million people around the world stutter, includ- ing more than 3 million Ameri- cans. Most people know someone who stutters, but few understand the condition, what causes it and how it is treated. Many famous people, including actors, singers, statesmen and athletes are among those who stutter. One in five children stutter for a time during their development. For more than 70 years, the Stuttering Foundation has offered trusted information and help for those who stutter. For more infor- mation, visit stutteringhelp.org or call 800-992-9392. Jane Fraser President, the Stuttering Foundation Memphis, Tennessee To the Editor: Lawlessness has become the norm! No longer enforced are the common ordinances enacted to prevent otherwise neglectful property owners from practices that threaten public safety, health, neighboring property value and community quality of life. Facing lowered tax revenues federal, state, county and city agencies are having to focus more on matters of urgency. Predict- ably, behavior by those having the lowest civic regard becomes normative. Prairie City is evidence of this downward spin. The obvi- ous question is this: Deprived of administrative enforcement of legally enacted ordinances, how do the civically responsible citi- zens counter the festering decline by neighbors who demonstrate no regard for the community? Storie Mooser Prairie City Mala mutatio To the Editor: Skippy was a lady in the valley of the strange. There was something very shady in her home there on the range. A macabre grotesquerie, specific and precise. “Who,” would be the query, by what reason or device? Specific organs taken? No blood at scene was found? You’re sure you’re not mistaken? No tracks upon the ground? All sorts of holy creatures sacrificed by whom? So many common features, these crimes of fear and doom. By thousands we can count them. No one has yet been caught. Do anything but doubt them. The answer we have naught. Calvin Weaver Boise L ETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. We must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244. Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com Reporter ...................................................Rudy Diaz, rudy@bmeagle.com Community News .................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Sports ........................................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Marketing Rep .......................................Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com Administrative Assistant ..................Makenna Adair, office@bmeagle.com Office Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, office@bmeagle.com MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION ‘Lawlessness has become the norm’ Online: MyEagleNews.com 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County .........................................$45 Everywhere else in U.S. .......................$57 Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery Periodicals Postage Paid at John Day and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER send address changes to: Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 USPS 226-340 Phone: 541-575-0710 Copyright © 2019 Blue Mountain Eagle All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher. facebook.com/MyEagleNews @MyEagleNews
