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
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@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