Ambulance crew gets an assist

To the editor:

Earlier this month the Eagle Valley Ambulance transported a patient from Richland to St. Al’s Hospital in Baker City. After we were done in the hospital, we got in the ambulance to return home to Richland. But, when the ambulance was started, the air was not filling the suspension.  We drove very slow to two businesses in Baker City who had done prior work for us on the ambulance. But neither had the time or would have the time to help us on that day.

So we went over to Grumpy’s — JR Streifel came out to the ambulance to see what we needed. It was explained and without hesitation JR stopped what he was doing and immediately went to work to trace down the problem. JR had the ambulance fixed and the ambulance was back on the road in service in less than an hour. 

JR: Thank you for your time, your commitment and we just could not be more grateful for your expertise and care that we could continue to provide service in our area without delay.

Tami Waldron, on behalf of the Eagle Valley Ambulance EMTs

We don’t much care that President Obama has publicly expressed his support for gay marriage. Or that Mitt Romney has publicly denounced it.

Our response to Obama’s announcement last week is tepid because the issue of gay marriage, though a contentious social issue and one worthy of respectful debate, is neither vital to the nation’s future nor a matter under Obama’s (or Romney’s) bailiwick.

Whether same-sex couples can legally marry is a question rightfully reserved for the voters in each state.

I’m all for eating local food, but the trouble is nobody around here makes Milk Duds or licorice whips.

Not that I know of, anyway.

I do on occasion consume things that contain actual nutrition. And certain of these foods — unlike sugar, cacao beans and high-fructose corn syrup, all of which I relish — are grown in abundance hereabouts.

Beef, of course.

But also potatoes and wheat and peaches and apples and much else besides.

Board misses teachers’ reception

To the editor:

May 6, 2012, Sunday at Crossroads Art Center, was a time set aside to honor seven retiring 5J school teachers. Their combined experience must surely exceed 125 years. It was a lovely reception. The attributes and contributions of each teacher were highlighted and appreciated.

The dysfunctional Baker School Board has compounded one recent mistake — censuring director Kyle Knight — by making another.

And this latest blunder could affect all of us, by compromising the public’s ability to keep tabs on its elected officials.

Moreover, this new mistake is based on illogical reasoning, about which more later.

On Tuesday a majority of the five-member board — chair Lynne Burroughs and directors Mark Henderson and Andrew Bryan — didn’t object when Dan Van Thiel, a local attorney who does legal work for the school district, recommended a policy that eviscerates the spirit of Oregon’s public meetings law.

Bogart has my vote for Justice of Peace

To the editor:

Steve Bogart has my vote for Justice Court Judge.

Steve is the best man for Justice Court Judge. His experience is vast. Steve has served on State Boards, Baker County Judge in the nineties, City Manager. During his tenure as Judge Bogart, he and the other County Commissioners put into place Resolution 94 1003 that recognizes RS 2477 roads under County authority.

We applaud the Baker City Council for making street maintenance a high priority for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

But the proposed street user fee that councilors discussed Tuesday (no action was taken) — $5 per month for homeowners, $10 per month for businesses — would be too heavy of a burden on too many city residents.

That fee would bring add an estimated $250,000 per year to the city’s street-maintenance budget. Those dollars could be put to good use. City officials say it would take at least twice that much new money each year to reverse the decade-long downward trend in the condition of city streets.

But in a city with a significant number of residents living on Social Security or other fixed sources of income, an extra $5 per month can be painful.

We suggest a more moderate fee — say $2 per month for everyone — which could be increased by modest increments in the future. That would help smooth the streets without making for too bumpy of a financial ride for residents.

Herald misses point on coal

To the editor:

It was disappointing to read the Herald’s recent editorial which ignored the dangers of accelerated burning of U.S. coal (April 27). Coal and other fossil fuels (carbon-intensive fuels) are the cause of undeniable and devastating impacts around the world through the mechanism of global warming. 

By Baker City Herald Editorial Board

So much for the old adage about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

A quartet of environmental groups thinks it’s unseemly, and maybe worse, for officials from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to even be seen in public with people who don’t much like the gray wolves that that agency is responsible for managing in Northeastern Oregon.

I have, it seems, been misled into believing that a 12-gauge shotgun is an especially effective weapon for killing birds.

Turns out I should be lugging around lengths of PVC pipe instead.

Which, besides being comparatively light, aren’t likely to cause grievous wounds should you drop one while trying to climb over a barbed wire fence.

I bring up the slaying of birds not to poke fun at my ineptitude as a hunter, a trait which surely needs no embellishment.

(I am to upland birds what lightning is to the general public; a threat so remote that it can be rationally dismissed.)

In fact the topic is quite a serious one.