Baker City’s attempt to decide which residents ought to meet the four candidates for city manager leaves us with an unpleasant taste in our mouths.

The bitter flavor of elitism.

We don’t object to city officials, including city councilors, inviting people to introduce themselves to, and chat with, the four finalists.

But by designating the series of gatherings earlier this week as by invitation only, the city strongly implied that everyone else was, if not specifically excluded, then certainly was not equally welcome.

That latter group, by the way, includes more than 99 percent of the city’s residents.

The results of a scientific study released a couple weeks ago suggest that on the ornithological intelligence scale, sage grouse are closer to the dodo bird than to the parrot.

The sage grouse in Western Wyoming are, anyway.

We feel no sympathy for poachers.

But if anything were capable of eliciting from us even a smidgen of pity for these scofflaws, it would be Robo-Elk.

This decoy, deployed for the first time this fall by the Oregon State Police, is the most irresistible lure yet set to catch wildlife thieves.

The Oregon Lottery Commission was wise to resist the public school lobby’s latest demand for more money.

By rejecting a proposal for the state to keep a larger percentage of video poker and electronic slot machine revenue, the Commission might have helped rather than hurt schools.

Now, the 2,600 or so bars and taverns that have video gambling keep an average of 24 percent of the money. The state gets the rest, and two-thirds of that money — $680 million last year — goes to K-12 education.

The education lobby urged the Commission to trim retailers’ cut to 16 percent.

It turns out that a warmer climate might not be a universal disaster.

Turning up nature’s thermostat could help trees in some Northwest forests grow faster, according to researchers from Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service.

The American economy has survived the emergency room, but it’s not ready to walk out of the hospital under its own power.

Yet one of the things that has helped nurse the economy back to a semblance of health might soon be taken away.

The $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is set to end Nov. 30.

It turns out that committing a felony is easier than a lot of people knew.

All you need is a pen.

We include ourselves on the list of those unaware.

The Baker City Council has been a dysfunctional group the past 4 1/2  months.

But now that voters have decided not to recall Mayor Dennis Dorrah and Councilor Beverly Calder, those two, along with their five colleagues, have an ideal chance to prove something important to their constituents.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski tried out his Tom McCall impersonation recently, but it just didn’t come off.

McCall, who served as governor from 1967-75, uttered his most famous pronouncement in 1971. During an interview with a CBS television reporter, McCall, talking about conservation and tourism, said: “Come visit us again and again. But for heaven’s sake, don’t come here to live.”

At least McCall invited people to come to Oregon and spend their money here.

Kulongoski just tells people to stay out.

Baker County’s Planning Commission acted wisely in rejecting a proposed ordinance that would have outlawed mercury vapor lights in areas of the county outside city boundaries.

Although its putative goal is valid — reducing light pollution — the ordinance is so draconian in its details that planning commissioners could not in good faith have endorsed it.