Heppner considers 2 nd
amendment sanctuary
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 139
NO. 7 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
By David Sykes
The Heppner City
Council Monday began dis-
cussions on making Hep-
pner a second amendment
sanctuary city. The action
follows passage last month
of a new sanctuary law
by the town of Lexington
aimed at protecting resi-
dents second amendment
rights to keep and bear
arms. City Manager Kraig
Cutsforth said he put the
issue on the agenda be-
cause he has been hearing
from “several people” in
Heppner who want the city
to look into similar second
amendment action.
Local men join TimberUnity convoy
to Salem
‘People need to get involved. This is about our future’
The Bailey Heavy Equipment Repair truck joins others in the early morning hours heading to the TimberUnity Rally in
Salem last Thursday.
By David Sykes
Saying rural Oregon
needs to stand up and get in-
volved or lose their way of
life, Heppner resident Ken
Bailey, along with son-in-
law Kolby Golden, joined
a large truck convoy last
Thursday that converged
on Salem to protest a new
global warming law they
say will cost jobs, raise fuel
prices and cripple small
businesses. “I haven’t been
involved with politics like
this before,” says Bailey
who owns an equipment
repair business in Lexing-
ton, “but this will just hurt
everyone in rural Oregon.”
In a show of unity
against a proposed “cap and
trade bill”, Bailey joined
thousands of other loggers,
farmers and working people
in a large convoy of trucks,
tractor trailers and other
vehicles making their way
to Salem to protest the bill.
The convoy was organized
by a group called Timbe-
rUnity which sprang from a
smaller rally held last June
in opposition to a similar
cap-and-trade bill intro-
duced in the last legislative
session. That bill died when
Republican Senators left
the capitol and refused to
participate. The Legislature
is currently back in short
session with the Democrats
trying once again to pass
another cap-and-trade bill.
TimberUnity organized
last week’s rally to again
protest the legislation, and
Bailey was part of it. Start-
ing from Lexington in early
City Attorney Bill
Kuhn warned the council
that enacting an ordinance
such as this could cause
“a boat load of trouble.”
He pointed out that second
amendment sanctuary laws
are difficult to enforce and
would be costly to defend.
“I can research this for one
hour or the rest of my life,”
he said of the city spending
money on legal fees for the
ordinance. “This is very
complex,” he told the coun-
cil adding that Heppner
doesn’t have the resources
like a larger city to litigate
the law if it came to that.
Kuhn also urged the
council to read the letter in
this week’s Gazette-Times
from Law Professor Lance
Tibbles (see page three),
who has been following
the sanctuary movement in
Lexington. Among other
things Tibbles says parts of
Lexington’s recently enact-
ed sanctuary law contains
incorrect legal statements.
“The fact that it is contained
in a city ordinance does not
make it correct,” Tibbles
says. “The US Supreme
Court has clearly stated
that the right secured by
the Second Amendment of
the Constitution is not un-
limited. It is not “a right to
keep and carry any weapon
whatsoever in any manner
whatsoever and for whatev-
er purpose,” he adds.
Heppner councilmem-
bers discussed the sanctu-
ary idea saying they expect
restrictive gun laws to be
coming from the Oregon
Legislature. One proposed
gun-lockup-law would ap-
parently make it almost
impossible to have a weap-
on in your vehicle ready
for use.
After discussion the
council instructed Cutsforth
to do some investigation
thus avoiding any legal
fees from the city attorney.
“I would like to see some
more information on this,”
councilmember Dale Bates
said. Following the meeting
Cutsforth said he would
do some research and see
what’s out there. He said
there is everything from a
full ordinance to proclama-
tions that the city could do.
In other business the
council gave thumbs up to
a permit request allowing
Giselle Moses to keep two
goats in the city limits. The
goats are Nigerian Dwarf,
grow to 19-23 inches tall
and weigh only about 75
pounds, she said. “I want
them not only for pets,
but to provide weed/grass
control, which will also
provide fire prevention,”
Moses said.
G-T travels to
Argentina
(L-R) Kolby Golden and Ken Bailey meet with Representative Greg Smith while in Salem for
the TimberUnity Rally.
morning hours and driving
his large farm service truck,
he and Golden headed to
I84 to join others for the
trip down to Salem. Bai-
ley said he merged with
others rigs along the way
including log trucks, semis
and other vehicles at The
Dalles, Cascade Locks and
on down the freeway. By
the time the convoy hit I205
there were 36 trucks from
Wallowa, Union, Umatilla,
Morrow, Wasco and Gil-
liam counties. The convoy
was eventually joined with
more trucks from all over
central and southern Ore-
gon. “It was quite a sight,”
he said recalling the long
line stretched out on the
freeway. It was estimated
1,100 trucks had eventually
convoyed to Salem. Bailey
said he even met a man who
drove a John Deere tractor
all the way from Lakeview.
Once arriving in Salem
the trucks were directed to
the fairgrounds and other
parking areas and the peo-
ple were picked up by bus-
ses for the trip downtown to
the state capitol. Bailey said
the crowd there was large
and orderly and he said it
was estimated by Channel
2 News there were 9,000 in
attendance. They listened to
a variety of speakers includ-
ing state representatives,
TimberUnity officials and
members of the Oregon
Cattleman’s Association.
Meanwhile inside a dele-
gation from TimberUnity
presented Governor Kate
Brown with the groups
own four-point counter
proposal on how to tack-
le global warming. That
included tax incentives
to encourage businesses
and consumers to invest
in cleaner production and
transportation technology;
using the state’s existing
rights of way to plant trees
and sequester more carbon
dioxide; using the state’s
purchasing power to buy lo-
cal and decrease its carbon
footprint; and increasing
recycling infrastructure in
the state. “Putting trees on
the highway right of ways
will soak up carbon,” said
Bailey. He emphasized that
TimerUnity’s proposals
would help combat global
warming without hurting
Oregon’s rural economy.
While in Salem he and
Golden also met with Rep-
resentative Greg Smith.
Senate Bill 1530 as it
is called, will set limits on
the amount of manmade
carbon released into the
atmosphere, which pro-
-See TIMBERUNITY/PAGE
THREE
Representative Greg and Sherri Smith pose with a copy of the
Heppner Gazette-Times in Argentina.
District 57 Represen-
tative Greg Smith and his
wife Sherri recently took a
trip to Ushuaia, Argentina,
taking along a copy of the
Heppner Gazette-Times.
In Greg’s note to the
Gazette, he said, “Sherri
and I were thinking of our
friends in District 57 during
our recent trip to Ushuaia,
Argentina. It is located on
Tierra del Fuego archipel-
ago, the southernmost tip
of South America, which
is nicknamed ‘End of the
World.’ The Heppner Ga-
zette traveled with us 7,536
miles…. a long way from
home.”
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Silver Creek, from Heppner, also sent a truck in the convoy.
Tickets available at the Lexington and Heppner Locations
Green Feed Store
Lexington Store
242 West Linden Way
350 Main Street
Heppner, OR 97836
Lexington, OR 97839
541-676-9422
800-452-7396 or 541-989-8221