Oregon’s excellent public records law allows us to find out, among many other matters, when our neighbors get a marriage license, or register to vote, or apply for a permit to build a fence.

But now many of Oregon’s 36 county sheriffs — including Baker County’s Mitch Southwick — argue that we’re not necessarily entitled to know which of our neighbors have a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

It seems to us that on the roster of government records that citizens ought to have access to, concealed weapons permits rank quite a lot higher than, say, marriage licenses.

Think of it this way: If the government issues a marriage license to a couple who aren’t ready to be married, no one besides the unfortunate pair is likely to be harmed.

Forgive us a brief excursion into exaggeration, but compared to Baker County’s draft zoning ordinance, “War and Peace” is a pamphlet.

Which is to say the ordinance — all 45 chapters — is long and complicated.

County officials have been putting the thing together for five years, after all.

They shouldn’t be in a rush now to make the ordinance official.

We don’t fault the county’s efforts thus far to explain to residents and property owners what’s going on.

We don’t as a rule subscribe to the notion that a nation or a state can tax itself out of recession and into prosperity.

But we think Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is onto something with the tax-hike proposal he unveiled last week.

We endorse much of Kulongoski’s plan because he wants to use the extra money for a specific, and necessary, purpose: Replacing dilapidated bridges and repairing rough highways.

And unlike many tax-raising schemes that politicians devise, Kulongoski’s concept would benefit private businesses far more than it would enrich state bureaucracies.

The governor told legislators last week that his plan would put almost $500 million per year into the state’s coffers, and result in about 2,100 new jobs per year over the next five years.

Most of those jobs would be in the construction sector.

The tax and fee increases Kulongoski proposes are modest.