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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2022)
A10 STATE Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, January 5, 2022 Farm, timber issues on agenda By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Community Health Beat What's new at BMHD? Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Strawberry Wilderness Community Clinic continues to offer COVID-19 monoclonal antibody administration to high-risk individuals who qualify. If you have mild to moderate symptoms, have tested positive for COVID-19, are presumptively positive, or have a known exposure and are a high risk individual, please contact your local Primary Care Provider's office to discuss as you may be a good candidate for these. Monoclonal antibodies are only authorized for non-hospitalized, high-risk individuals, with mild to moderate symptoms. These antibodies can help prevent progression to severe COVID-19 symptoms and complications. It is best to receive treatment as soon as possible after onset of illness. Qualifications for monoclonal antibody treatment include: age 65 or older elevated body mass index pregnant chronic kidney disease diabetes immunosuppression cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure chronic lung disease such as COPD or asthma sickle cell disease neurodevelopment disorders having a permanent medical device in place Contact your Primary Care Provider to see if you qualify. Timber compromise Another major natural resource proposal before Ore- gon lawmakers will be the com- promise deal between environ- mental groups and the timber industry, under which logging buff ers near streams would be expanded. The agreement would also Saturday may have been New Year’s Day, but for hard- core political watchers, the fi rst toot of a 2022 party horn also sounds the dawn of an election year full of numbers to remem- ber and crunch. A few key counts: It’s 69 days until the March 8 deadline to fi le to run for most political offi ces. And 139 days until the May 17 primary election day. Plus 311 days until the big- gest day of all: the Nov. 8 gen- eral election. Just 447,840 min- utes away. We're Hiring! Certified Dietary Manager - (Full Time) Tally on top job Certified Nursing Assistant | Care Center - (Full Time) Dietary Services Cook w/CDM Duties - (Full Time) Environmental Services Technician - (Full Time) Help Desk Support Technician - (Full Time) Patient Access Registrar | Emergency Dept. - (Full Time) Many other full-time, part-time & casual positions available, visit our website for more information & to apply. With more than two months until the deadline to jump into the fray, 28 people have already fi led to run for governor. The fi eld so far includes 13 Republicans, 12 Democrats, two unaffi liated candidates and one Independent Party candidate. After the primary, there will be one Republican and one Democrat who’ll move on to the general election. The three others are all trying to qualify for the Nov. 8 general election. Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap- poose, says she will shed the party label to run without a political party. Governor candidates: What and where pcoming walks: Walk with a Teacher aturday November 20th 8:00am rant Union High School Gym S275607-1 Climate legislation There’s likely to be action on climate legislation, if Demo- cratic lawmakers try to enshrine an emissions reduction plan from the state’s Department of Environmental Quality in law, Stone said. “I expect there will be a bill to codify whatever the Cli- mate Protection Plan rules say,” he said. “I’d be sur- prised if the majority did not try to push something through legislatively.” Oregon politics by the numbers going into election year By GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau Our pediatric gym is up and running in Rehabilitation Services! www.bluemountainhospital.org SALEM — Farm groups and labor advocates are expected to be preoccupied with agricul- tural overtime wages during Oregon’s monthlong legislative session that begins on Feb. 1. The prospect of eliminat- ing the agriculture industry’s exemption from higher over- time wages got a lot of attention from lawmakers last year, but attempts to negotiate a compro- mise have been complicated by litigation over the issue. A lawsuit alleges the exemp- tion lacks an underpinning in state law and isn’t constitu- tional because farmworkers are excluded from “privileges” enjoyed by other employees. It’s been an unsettling expe- rience for farm representatives, who were negotiating in “good faith” with labor advocates who were “looking at us in the eye” while planning the legal attack, said Mary Anne Cooper, vice president of public policy for the Oregon Farm Bureau. The overtime issue has been presented as a “racial equity agenda item,” but in reality, end- ing the exemption wouldn’t put more money into farmworkers’ pockets, she said. “It’s just not going to be the result because our members can’t aff ord to pay more wages.” Proponents of ending the overtime exemption seem to believe farmers can just raise their prices, when they’d actu- ally be forced to limit employee hours to contain labor costs, said Jeff Stone, executive direc- tor of the Oregon Association of Nurseries. “Clearly, we need to use dif- ferent words because they don’t understand the price-taking side of ag,” he said. restrict log- ging below steep slopes to prevent sediment from reaching streams and Jeff Stone implement other changes in the forest practices law. The “private timber accord” was negotiated with help from Gov. Kate Brown’s offi ce. It is anticipated to receive a “rub- ber stamp” from lawmakers in 2022. “This is a legislative prior- ity and has all the ingredients to pass,” said Cooper, adding that the Oregon Farm Bureau is still studying the proposal. “I have a hard time seeing a situation where it doesn’t go forward.” Certain aspects of the accord, such as increased reg- ulations for beaver removal in forests, have made the Farm Bureau nervous about the impli- cations for agriculture. “It could be a reason to adapt that policy to other lands,” said Lauren Smith, the group’s director of government aff airs. The Farm Bureau also plans to advocate for the resumption of a program under which pri- vate landowners pay an assess- ment to raise money for preda- tor control by USDA’s Wildlife Services. The program was allowed to sunset during the previous legislative session after animal advocates opposed extending it. “There doesn’t seem to be an avenue for our communities to manage predators,” Smith said. Filings with the Secretary of State’s Offi ce show the can- didates for governor holding a cross-section of political offi ces and private jobs. Among the candidates is the state treasurer, House speaker, House minority leader, a county commissioner, two mayors, a school superintendent, two art- ists, a journalist, an oncologist, a chiropractor, a cabinetmaker, a software designer, a public policy adviser and one person who listed only “unemployed.” Five candidates live in Port- land, four are from Salem, three from Bend and two each from Baker, Clackamas, Jackson, Lane, and Yamhill counties. Two have previously made it to the fi nal round of voting for governor before. Bud Pierce of Salem was the 2016 Republican nominee in the special election for governor. Patrick Starnes was the Independent Party nominee in the 2018 election. Both Pierce and Starnes were defeated by Gov. Kate Brown, who can’t run again this year because of term limits. Starnes endorsed Brown in the late stages of the 2018 campaign. This time around, he’s running as a Democrat. In the end, it will come down to voters. According to the latest count by the secretary of state, in September 2021, there are 2,947,391 registered voters. The big question mark is the 991,360 “non-affi liated” voters. Most were automatically reg- istered to vote while getting a new driver’s license at the Ore- gon Driver and Motor Vehicles Division, then didn’t mail in the card asking for their political party preference. Currently, Democrats and Republicans only allow regis- tered party members to vote in the primary. The reality of closed prima- ries is that they leave nearly 1 million people out of the process of choosing who is most likely to make it to the general election ballot. Everybody, regardless of party registration, gets to vote in the general election. Of those who have registered with a party, the totals: Democrats: 1,026,313 Republicans: 729,676 Independent Party: 138,489 Libertarian: 21,640 Working Families: 8,648 Pacifi c Green: 8,002 Constitution: 3,841 Progressive: 3,016 Other parties: 16,406