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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2020)
OPINION Blue Mountain Eagle A4 Wednesday, August 5, 2020 Should rules for signature gathering change during COVID-19? T he state of Oregon and the federal courts have not been on the same page when it comes to signature gathering during the pandemic. The case has be- come a clash between the First Amendment and state authority that could set an interesting precedent for the future. Supporters of an initiative that would have an indepen- dent commission decide Ore- gon’s redistricting want to get it on the ballot. Their concept is it would be more sensible to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians, because they have an incentive to gerrymander voting districts. Groups includ- ing the League of Women Vot- ers of Oregon, Common Cause Oregon, the NAACP of Eugene and Springfield, the Oregon Taxpayer Association and more are backing it. The groups needed 149,360 verified signatures by July 2. They didn’t get it. Collect- ing signatures in a pandemic is, at the very least, more complicated. A federal judge ordered Ore- gon Secretary of State Bev Clarno to either accept the sig- natures the campaign gathered or give the groups more time to gather a lower threshold of signatures. Clarno picked the lower threshold. Oregon Attor- ney General Ellen Rosenblum appealed the judge’s decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Gov. Kate Brown’s attor- ney has filed a brief with the court arguing that her execu- tive orders did not specifically prohibit one-on-one petition circulators and Oregon voters. That’s correct. But did those orders make it more difficult to conduct conventional signature gathering in any way? Argu- ably yes. Brown’s attorney also argued that the federal judge’s decision makes policy and that is not the role of the courts. The decision allowed the redistrict- ing petition the ability to qual- ify for the ballot with fewer valid signatures — only 58,789 — than mandated in the Ore- gon Constitution. That’s correct again. But the federal judge’s considerations did acknowl- edge that concern. The judge was trying to find a difficult balance between the core right of Americans to petition their government and state law and the governor’s orders. And Brown’s attorney argued the judge’s decision is an implicit attack on the health-policy considerations in Brown’s executive orders. “When officials make reason- able pandemic-related policy decisions during these times, it is not the role of the fed- eral judiciary to second-guess those choices,” Brown’s brief says. Chief Justice Roberts only recently wrote when state officials “undertake[ ] to act in areas fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties,” their latitude “must be espe- cially broad.” That’s right, too. But the federal judge’s deci- sion on this initiative does not invalidate Brown’s exec- utive orders nor her authority to make critical public health decisions during the pandemic. It, once again, tries to balance state authority against the First Amendment rights of people to shape their government in the midst of a pandemic. Can we say know who is right or what the courts will ultimately decide? Of course not. But is it better if this ini- tiative is on the ballot and Ore- gonians get to decide for them- selves if they want to change the way redistricting works? To that we would say yes. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Contact legislators about term limits ‘Shawna was a great support’ ‘Reach your own conclusion’ To the Editor: Congressional term limits have been an ongoing conversation among Americans since our Consti- tution was conceived. There’ve been term limit bills proposed to federal legislators, but none resulted in a constitutional amendment to halt the rising number of career politicians. This isn’t a “partisan” issue, but an American problem, and it is up to we, the people, to act. Over 80% of Americans favor term limits. So why are incum- bents who’ve been in office for 30-plus years still in office? Possi- ble reasons: • Many Americans believe that Congress will never vote for term limits. However, in 1995, the House passed a constitutional amend- ment limiting terms. It didn’t pass, because any amendment requires a two-thirds supermajority vote. • Some incumbents and special interest groups say that an election is a natural term limit. Unfortunately, when it comes to campaign financ- ing, the incumbent has an edge from special interest groups. The chal- lenger must finance his own cam- paign through donations or grass- roots fundraising. • We need experienced legislators in Washington. While this has been a long-held standard by many Amer- icans, it is also true that new ideas breathe life into a stale organization. I support congressional term lim- its, because I see our Congress for- getting who they really work for: us, the American people. With the com- ing election in November, remem- ber that this is not just a presidential election. How long have your legis- lators been in office? Are you happy with their representation? Email leg- islators in Washington, D.C. If we don’t speak up, who will? Gayle Davis Redmond To the Editor: I just learned yesterday that my care provider at Blue Mountain Hos- pital and Strawberry Wilderness Clinic was terminated about a week ago, and escorted from the build- ing. I don’t know what the source of the problem was, and don’t care. I was so blessed to be able to get my mother in as a patient of Shawna Clark back in 2013 when she came to live with me. Without Shawna, the next 4.5 years would have been impossible, but due to her genu- ine care and tenacity in getting to the root cause of problems, we were able to navigate a difficult time until 2017 when I lost my mom. Even then, Shawna was a great support and, up until this, was still my care provider. I can’t imagine anyone in the administration of the hospital or clinic that could begin to add a drop of anything good to that insti- tution compared to what Shawna has added during her time there. It appears that whomever has an inter- est in the hospital and clinic had bet- ter be reassessing their position on this matter, as there seems to be a mass exit by some of their capable staff, apparently for good reason. On July 20 I went to the clinic for an appointment with Shawna Clark, and was told I had the wrong month and time, hmmm. I had writ- ten the appointment down while talking to the scheduler. The lady in front of me, using a walker, was told that she was two hours early and had to come back. Hmm again. Another woman from Monument told me she had come for an 11:30 appointment and was told to come back at 1:30 when she was scheduled. Three out of three isn’t a coincidence. What a mess! I will make the drive to Redmond or Bend rather than deal with these people, who seem to value their sta- tus more than their patients, and pray that this doesn’t hurt Shawna and her family as much as it cer- tainly could. A disappointed resident of Grant County. Mary Brown Prairie City To the Editor: I figured the worse had hap- pened to me today when at first light I was semi defeated with a roll of toilet paper. Did you know that the manufacturers of the darn stuff glue down the first sheet so that, if you can just find it, you have to tear it loose, end up with two lay- ers, then wonder which direction the unwind goes. In case you don’t know the rule, the wind goes over the top of the roll. Then I listened to a presenta- tion on the Glenn Beck broadcast with doctor/lawyer Simone Gold on the subject of hydroxychloroquine and realized that things could get worse. In short, she pointed out the scheme of politicians and the phar- maceutical forces (and Mark Zuck- erberg, who we know is a medi- cal expert—snicker) who refute the benefits, declare the harmful effects of a drug that has been used suc- cessfully for over half a century and virtually removed it from the market. Ask yourselves who ben- efits from all this. This is not only a United States issue. World lead- ers are onboard. Does anyone else follow the trail that leads directly to goals set by the United Nation directives in Agenda 21 and 2030 to deplete the population, enact a world order and world bank. I also wonder what the UN has prom- ised their minions (politicians and world leaders). Eternal life, wealth untold? Does anyone remember how quinine was used to control such diseases as malaria during and after World War II? Quinine was replaced with a more effective ver- sion such as chloroquine and chlo- roguanide. Also note that other forms of quinine, primaquine and pyrimethamine, act on blood and tissue to cure and prevent a relapse of certain diseases. Reread the spelling of the COVID-19 drug — hydroxychloroquine — and reach your own conclusion. Judy Kerr Canyon City Editor’s note: On June 15, the Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency use autho- rization to use hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID- 19 in certain hospitalized patients when a clinical trial is unavail- able or participation is not feasi- ble, based on results from a large, randomized clinical trial in hos- pitalized patients that found these medicines showed no benefit for decreasing the likelihood of death or speeding recovery. On July 1, a summary of the FDA review was released including reports of seri- ous heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kid- ney injuries and liver problems and failure. ‘Policies are more important than practices’ Blue Mountain EAGLE USPS 226-340 Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper Email: www.MyEagleNews.com Phone: 541-575-0710 John Day, Oregon MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION E DITOR & G ENERAL M ANAGER R EPORTER R EPORTER S PORTS M ARKETING R EP O FFICE A SSISTANT Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com Rudy Diaz, rudy@bmeagle.com Steven Mitchell, steven@bmeagle.com sports@bmeagle.com Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com Alixandra Hand, office@bmeagle.com PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY EO Media Group Periodicals Postage Paid at John Day and additional mailing offices. 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County .....................................$45 Everywhere else in U.S. .....................$57 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery POSTMASTER — send address changes to Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 Copyright © 2020 Blue Mountain Eagle All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be repro- duced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including pho- tocopying, taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher. www.facebook.com/ @MyEagleNews To the Editor: In response to the letter “Trump lies, contradicts himself” in the July 22 Blue Mountain Eagle, I find it interesting that when people call President Trump a liar they never seem to offer an example. So, I will suggest one: During his interview with Chris Wallace, President Trump asserted that Joe Biden supported defunding police departments. Joe Biden had not personally affirmed his support for that political position — yet. But within a week Joe Biden had turned President Trump from mistaken to a prophet by affirm- ing his support for defunding police departments. Please understand that “defunding” is different from “unfunding” that the radicals on the left are demanding. So, Elberta Miller prefers social- ism to capitalism and all the enor- mous benefits of President Trump’s policies simply because he doesn’t always get his facts straight. And she prefers Joe Biden’s socialist policies to “fundamentally transform Amer- ica” into a socialist country even though he is most often unable to get his sentences straight. “Policies” are more important than “practices.” Be very careful what you wish for! Reg LeQuieu Mt. Vernon Editor’s note: Joe Biden has said he does not support defunding the police but that some police funding could be diverted to community pro- grams such as social services, men- tal health counseling and affordable housing. He has proposed more fed- eral aid for police through commu- nity-policing grant programs, con- ditioned on departments meeting certain standards. Unanswered questions about emergency management To the Editor: Lest we forget, don’t we have several unanswered questions about Grant County’s esteemed emergency operations command? Why suggested by Sher- iff Palmer? Why person in place passed over without discussion? Why highest paid deputy sher- iff in charge who had no health- care qualifications? Government money went where? Where is pur- chased equipment (by overrun) gone? Why are we putting up with the most inane excuses from the information designee and the liai- son to the sheriff’s department for what took place? What really did take place? I want some answers from these government hating libertari- ans who have fleeced our taxpayer money in the name of constitu- tional liberty. Anybody who believes what just transpired in Grant County by these “no comment-ers” is a patriotic duty upheld by elected officials is so ill-informed that they should not be allowed to vote — just like all the other voter suppression carried out by their “heroes.” This is BS folks. We as taxpay- ers paid for it — they stole it! Mark Murray Prairie City It’s the people that are important To the Editor: On July 1, my home and all my personal belongings burned in a house fire, the property surround- ing the home along with it. The amount of damage, I can- not surmise what that might be. One thing for sure, most can be replaced in time. Except for the loss of family heritage — photos, diaries and hand me downs from generations. Upon losing most of my life, I finally discovered that the mate- rial things were not that important. What was important were the fine people who came to help me when I was down. You know who you are and are appreciated. Tim Jewell Kimberly
