Working together, we can solve nation’s problems

In looking back at 2012, I feel relieved and fairly optimistic. Despite ongoing political tensions, enough of us are now coming together to recognize and solve the true problems we face as a community and a nation.

Locally, in June our Baker City Council joined 300 other U.S. cities and seven states in unanimously passing a resolution calling for an end to the corruptive power of money in politics. And last fall, we turned aside an assault on our District 5J public schools by anti-government forces.

Nationally, we re-elected President Barack Obama, despite conventional wisdom that told us he was doomed by slow economic growth. We demonstrated that democracy can really work. We embodied our national motto: “E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One.” We moved toward a unified identity. We can’t do it alone. We’re all in this together.   

Looking forward, We the People can build on this emerging reality, armed with facts to analyze our problems, develop meaningful alternatives, and take action. Yes, a few powerful extremists and their propaganda outlets will continue to spread false information and confusion in attempts to cripple our government, but we can move beyond that. We have the amazing Internet. We can research answers that other countries have developed. We can benefit from their solutions to global warming, lack of good jobs, gun violence, and affordable health care.  

One major anti-government, mis-information campaign is the persistent Republican mantra that ignores our historically low income-tax rates and proclaims, “We have a spending problem.” In fact, our non-military government spending relative to the size of our economy is actually smaller than any other rich nation.

Their calls for spending cuts within our fragile economy violate proven Keynesian economics and disregard the ample evidence now provided by European countries like Greece. Austerity measures are bound to produce a downward spiral, feeding ever-deeper recession and endangering our shared security and vital support.

Again, I urge my fellow readers to read up on critically important issues, and then participate constructively in the national debate. Informed and working together, we can solve the major problems that confront us. 

Marshall McComb

Baker City

Gun restrictions give more power to criminals

Free kill zones keep good law-abiding citizens unarmed, and killers who do not read signs or care to be law-abiding, free to unload until empty, before worrying about someone with badge and gun to extinguish threat. And possibly still face charges from DA for extinguishing threat. Free kill zones only tell threats, no worries about other people, until they want to.

For instance, it takes 15 minutes to go across town, X single shot can be reloaded in approx 10-15 seconds = mega amounts of potential death, before any kind of help to extinguish threat. Gun owners are citizens, non-owners are subjects to be dealt with. Adolf Hitler, another lover, of gun control. Semi auto is one shot per trigger pull. Full auto  — which is almost impossible to get, takes around one year of background checks to get — IS multiple shots per trigger pull. Cosmetics is only thing that civilians can get, without one-year background, and absurd tax that is paid for each. Civilian grade is cosmetics only, semi auto or bolt action only, multiple calibers.

Something to think about: Everything has been military at some time in history, even rope, knife, hands, feet, brain, sticks, on and on. Hope attorney seeking to sue Connecticut for $100 million on behalf of student that survived, wins. Lawful carry would have kept deaths to minimum. Over 90 percent of security, and some cops, trust badge to keep killers from killing them. Also signs to be obeyed by lawless. Like moving, animal crossing signs, and expecting animals to change habits to match signs. 

Carl Koontz

Baker City

Police present makes a parent feel safer

I would like to thank the Baker City Police Department for making a presence at our local schools. As a parent it makes me feel safe and secure knowing that each day we have a police presence making sure our kids are safe. Winter has made the roads icy and slick, and seeing a police care has made more parents aware of the need to slow down and be safe. Living in Baker City makes me feel proud that our community values youth and their protection.

I would like to say thank you to Chief Lohner and staff for making a difference.

Toni Bennett

Baker City

It’s no small feat to get a trail built in the woods these days.

Unless, of course, the trail is pretty much built already.

Just such a situation exists in Baker and Grant counties. And all the heavy work happened more than a century ago.

The Sumpter Valley Railway Mainline Trail is a worthwhile proposal that we hope happens, and as soon as this spring when the snow melts.

The project’s main advantage, as we alluded to, is that the 42-mile route connecting the Sumpter Valley Dredge and Bates state parks is no mere concept, existing only on paper.

Rather, the proposed route follows the grade built for the Sumpter Valley Railroad, the famous “Stump Dodger” narrow-gauge line that hauled gold ore and ponderosa pine logs from the Blue Mountains to Baker City.

The 42-mile section was built between 1896, when the railroad reached Sumpter, and 1910, when the rails got to their final terminus at Prairie City.

Karen Spencer, director of the Baker County Parks Department and one of the trail’s proponents, said that relatively little trail building would be needed, as the grade remains in remarkably good shape considering its age.

The biggest task, she said, would be to clear trees and brush, and to install signs.

Spencer said the Powder River Correctional Facility has offered the use of inmate crews at the rate of $70 per crew per day, a significant savings over the regular charge of $590 per day.

About 90 percent of the proposed route is on public land, including parts of the Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests.

As for the 10 percent that’s privately owned, Spencer said trail promoters intend to try to negotiate easements or other agreements with landowners that would allow the trail to cross their properties.

However, if any property owners decline to participate, the trail would be re-routed around their land, probably by way of one of the many spur lines that branched off the Sumpter Valley Railroad mainline.

Some sections of that mainline were turned into roads many decades ago.

Those roads would remain as they are, with motor vehicles allowed on sections that are open now, Spencer said.

Other sections, where the original railroad grade remains, would be open for non-motorized travel, including hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and, in the winter, cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

Besides adding to the recreational opportunities in the area, the Sumpter Valley Railroad trail would draw attention to a fascinating part of the region’s history.

That these two goals can be accomplished for relatively little cost, and without displacing existing recreationists or affecting private property, adds to our enthusiasm for this project. Finally, the trail will be a fitting tribute to the men who toiled to build the railroad, all of them decades in their graves.

Americans are giving away their freedoms

I am a lifetime Oregonian of 82 years and I am witnessing our constitutional republic die. No more is our country made up of proud men and women who believe in freedom to choose and live as enterprising individuals. A new country is merging, run by “secular progressives” who have rejected our Constitution. Our Supreme Court will be forever altered after the last conservative members have been replaced by liberal academics who call themselves progressives. The rule of law will and is now being replaced by executive order, making Congress irrelevant.

The welfare-dependent Americans, unions and illegals have chosen for the rest of us the dark path of serfdom to big government and socialist utopia. Our children have bowed down to mediocrity. There are 11 states that now have more people on welfare than they do employed. They all have one thing in common: They all have Democrat governors and Democratic-controlled legislatures and, surprise surprise, the majority voted for Obama.

Most Americans have no intentions of making a better life for themselves and their families. They are intent on living on the taxpayers’ dime. Not all of us have yet bowed but you who relish feeding at the trough will never realize the freedom you gave away until the swill you now consume turns to gravel in your mouth.

George Wilder

Baker City

Donations to Christmas display will go to food bank

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to everyone who donated food or cash in response to our Christmas decorations at 1100 D St. The 50 pounds of canned food and all the cash will be donated to St. Francis Catholic Church food bank.

Donald R. Tholen

Michaela Tholen

Baker City

By Jayson Jacoby

Baker City Herald Editor

There is no subject which could conceivably interest me less than the exploits of French pastry chefs.

Pastry chefs from any country, come to that.

And so it is a testament to the skill of documentary filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus that I recently sat for nearly an hour and a half and watched.... the exploits of French pastry chefs.

But I didn’t just sit there, fuming about the time I had wasted and would never recoup, and wishing instead that I were watching “The Hobbit,” a film which, I suspect, doesn’t mention chefs of any sort.

I was in fact captivated by the stories that unfolded on the big screen at the Eltrym during a New Year’s Eve showing of “Kings of Pastry” sponsored by the Baker Art Guild.

I laughed.

I cringed.

I didn’t cry.

But it was a near thing.

Mainly, though, I cared.

I truly cared about a bunch of Frenchmen who whine because the sugar is too dry and because the egg yolks are too yellow and who grouse about the consistency of nougatine.

Whatever that is.

The reason I cared is that Pennebaker and Hegedus conveyed, with the almost voyeuristic intimacy that marks the finest documentaries, the absolute obsession that drives people to ascend to the pinnacle of their profession.

That obsession, and the ways it reveals itself, is so compelling that it renders the profession itself of only passing interest.

Well, maybe not precisely passing.

Watching people turn a substance as simple as sugar into sculptures that could easily pass for bouquets of tropical flowers is fascinating in itself.

Even for a person who considers a well-executed maple bar a major culinary achievement — that’s me — there is a strong element of “how in the heck do they do that?” in “Kings of Pastry.”

I’ve been similarly entranced watching master mechanics slip pushrods into a V-8.

The film’s focus is a competition that takes place every four years in France to determine which handful of pastry chefs deserve to wear a special blue, white and red collar.

There is, so far as I can tell, no equivalent event in the U.S.

Indeed, most food-related programming on our TV networks or cinema emphasize gluttony rather than artistry — how many pounds of bacon can you cram into that sandwich?

(Never enough, apparently.)

The obvious comparison with the French pastry chef contest, given the once-every-four-years interval, are the Olympic games.

And there are similarities — intense practice sessions interspersed with bouts of self-doubt, hugs with wives and children, a considerable amount of sweating.

The defining characteristic for me, though, about “Kings of Pastry” is how effectively it shows how vast the gulf is between the average practitioner of some pursuit — any pursuit — and the truly elite.

I know nothing of pastry, to be sure.

I could no more construct the sugar sculptures these chefs assembled than I could unclog a calcified aorta.

But now at least I understand that these Frenchmen have distilled their natural talents, through sweat and tears — and, given all the knives involved, probably blood too — into a skill every bit as formidable as that displayed by a surgeon in the operating room, or by a quarterback in an NFL stadium.

There is, it seems to me, a unique beauty to watching people who have honed a particular attribute, whether it be work or play, to the finest point achievable by human hands.

By the end of “Kings of Pastry,” as you watch the 16 chefs emerge from the ultimate competitive crucible of their lives, the likes of which hardly any of us will ever experience, I expect that you’ll understand why grown men would cry over matters as seemingly trivial as whether they get to wear a corny-looking collar.

You might even shed a tear yourself.

It doesn’t matter that you burn toast as often as you get it nicely browned, or that you consider the Pop Tart a landmark achievement in pastry history.

When the toil of four years and the dream of a lifetime can be rendered, in effect, worthless by a minor slip of a hand and the fragility of spun sugar, drama is guaranteed.

And emotion.

Baker City Herald Editorial Board

The debate spawned by a White Plains, N.Y., newspaper’s decision to publish an interactive map showing the addresses and names of people who have permits to own handguns couldn’t happen in Oregon.

There are two reasons.

First, Oregon law doesn’t require residents to get a permit merely to own a handgun.

Second, although Oregon law does require people to obtain a license if they want to carry a handgun in a concealed manner, the Legislature passed a bill last year — HB 4045 — that exempts permit records from the state’s public records law except in certain cases.

Put simply, if the Baker City Herald wanted to create a similar map of Baker County residents who have a concealed-carry permit, we couldn’t get the information.

We don’t much like HB 4045.

We think public records should be accessible by the public.

That said, we don’t consider the White Plains newspaper’s decision a sterling example of community-minded journalism.

Frankly we don’t see what purpose the interactive map serves other than to advance the misguided notion that pinpointing the location of legally owned handguns will somehow protect the public.

We’ve seen no compelling evidence to support this idea.

If a media outlet truly intends to help safeguard people, then its resources would be better spent putting together a map showing, to name two examples, the addresses of registered sex offenders and people who have been convicted of driving while intoxicated.

We’re not advocating such an effort. But it could at least be justified, in that drunk drivers and sex offenders have shown that they present a threat to the public. And that threat is more mobile, as it were, than an inanimate handgun.

Drunk drivers can kill you on the highway or on your own street or in the parking lot at the grocery store. Some sex offenders are literally predators, stalking victims wherever they can be found.

Reporting the number of handgun permits issued in a particular jurisdiction is a worthwhile enterprise that puts an important topic — the prevalence of certain guns — into geographic perspective.

But publishing the likely locations of those guns, as though they were landmines, seems to us an act of sensationalism rather than of well-considered journalism.

Many of you probably saw Santa and his Elf during December. We were hard to miss! We were very busy this year, with many places to go and people to visit with. I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people.

Rick Forrester is the best Santa anyone could ask for. He truly embodies the spirit behind the season. I have been blessed beyond measure by his friendship and partnership in our efforts to bring joy and happiness to others at Christmas time.

We started out the month at the Kiwanis fundraiser at the Festival of Trees Family Day. We enjoyed a full day of visits and photos with little ones. We love our Kiwanis members here, smiling faces, and dedicated people, always ready to lend a hand. Later that evening, Santa and I were in the Twilight Christmas Parade and we rode in Ron Colton’s carriage being pulled by his team of Percherons, Duke and Diamond. Many thanks to Ron for being such a great asset to this community and an incredibly generous and kind man.

The following weekend, the folks at Ryder Bros. and Tawny’s Toy Box invited us for an afternoon of photos, crafts and visits with happy children. Thank you for making us feel so welcome and for giving so much to this community. We appreciate you.

Santa had a long career in law enforcement and believes very strongly that we, as citizens, need to thank our public officers and employees. We spent several hours visiting the courthouse, city hall and sheriff’s station. I loved seeing grown ups smile as if Santa really did exist. We passed out candy canes, smiles and hugs to each person working that day and thanked them for the work they do to keep this city running. Santa gave me a true lesson in gratitude that day.

One of our most treasured visits each year is the Foster Family Christmas Party. Sandy and the crew at DHS are incredible. To spend a few hours listening to the Christmas wishes of foster children is something I hold close to my heart. It is an honor and privilege to be a part of their celebration.

This year, we had a new event on our schedule. Stephanie Kinzel organized a fabulous Christmas Bazaar and fundraiser for the Veteran’s Advocates of Oregon-Idaho. For every person that attended, she agreed to volunteer one hour at a place of their choosing. Amazing. We were more than happy to be a part of this event. I know it will continue to grow year after year.

Sharon and her crew at Country Cottage requested that Santa and I attend their annual Christmas party. A great time was had by all and we were both sent home with her fantastic homemade apple pie. They are such a great group of people.

On a chilly Thursday, Santa and I made our rounds to all of the classrooms at Brooklyn Elementary and the kindergarten classes as well. This was the day after the tragedy in Connecticut and it was a bittersweet time for Santa and the Elf. Special thanks go out to Principal Troy Fisher and his lovely wife Megan for inviting us and organizing our visits with each class. We are grateful to the teachers in our community, for the guidance and care they provide to our children.

We also took a little time to visit the businesses along Main Street and spread Christmas joy to our small business owners. They give so much to this town; they needed a special visit from Santa too!

Our assisted living facilities in Baker City are amazing places. It truly is as much fun visiting seniors as it is visiting children. They bless us each year with their smiles and sweet hugs. We attended Christmas parties at Meadowbrook Place and Settler’s Park. To be able to pass out presents and pose for photos with those lovely people is something Santa and I truly cherish.

Our last appearance of the season was at our local library. Extra special thanks go to our dedicated library director, Perry Stokes. He organized this event, advertised it and provided some really great books for Santa to read to the children. What a special afternoon that was.

We have an exceptional community here. As Santa’s merriest elf, I am thankful for many things this year, for the lives that we touched, for the opportunity to volunteer and give back, and for being welcomed by so many. Santa and I gave of our time during the month of December. It is my greatest hope that this will inspire each of you to give of your time and talents in the coming year. Look at what a few hours can do. Pay it forward.

Marna Farney lives near Haines.

I have this pair of winter boots, a stout design made by Sorel, a firm famous for its long-lasting cold-weather footwear.

The breaks of the Snake River killed them.

Limestone fins shredded their thick rubber soles into something resembling the scraps you see strewn about the freeway after a semi trailer blows a tire.

The constantly angled terrain etched fissures in their leather flanks.

Stitches, which probably were sewn by a massive and immensely powerful machine, burst from the constant pressure of uphills and downhills and sidehills and the occasional cliff, simply gave up like the heart of a horse made to haul howitzers across the Somme in 1916.

To describe the eastern fringe of Baker County as rugged country is to indulge in colossal understatement. You might as well call Mount Hood a pretty big hill.

My first real boss was Dick Haynes.

I worked at Maxi Mart department store after school and weekends as a receptionist, answering phones and typing correspondence. I remember typing a letter from Dick to President Jimmy Carter, and wondering if the president would really read it, or respond.

One thing I knew, even then, was that many other people did pay attention to Dick Haynes. He had built the farm store Farmterials into a successful retail business and then developed the adjacent Maxi Mart department store. To boost summer sales and bring visitors in to Baker, he started a July mining competition and street dance in the Maxi Mart parking lot that became Miners Jubilee.

Let’s face it, over the course of 50-plus years in business, there have been a lot of us in Baker that have worked for Dick Haynes. Even more people here owe their jobs to him.

We weren’t naive enough to believe, much less to hope, that the first public statement from the National Rifle Association following the Newtown massacre would elevate the national debate about fatal mass shootings at schools.

Still and all, we are disappointed that this crucial discussion seems to be focusing on issues that not only are inherently polarizing, but that have little chance of making a meaningful difference in preventing future tragedies.

Surely no rational person expected that Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, would stand at a lectern and announce that the organization was in favor of reinstituting the federal gun control laws that were in effect from 1994 until 2004.

Nonetheless, gun control advocates have not only decried LaPierre’s proposal to put armed guards in schools, but they’ve raised the volume on the debate to a shrill screaming match that gives us a collective headache.

Meanwhile, topics about which there is little argument seem to be getting short shrift.

One example is the effort to prevent people with mental health problems — pretty much a universal issue in mass shootings — from getting access to a gun. 

The NRA doesn’t advocate that mentally ill people ought to have unfettered access to any gun, whether a semi-automatic rifle or a single-shot .22.

Nor does the organization oppose the widespread use of locked gun safes — gun safety, in fact, is a point of emphasis with the NRA.

Yet rather than concentrate on these areas of agreement — things that might help us to avoid future Newtowns — the publicity after LaPierre’s statement has much to do with criticizing his organization as tone-deaf on the issue of gun violence.

Yes, LaPierre’s suggestion to assign police to patrol public schools presents major, and possibly insurmountable, challenges, chief among financial ones.

Yet that’s no reason to dismiss the notion outright.

Almost all of us would agree, in a situation such as Sandy Hook Elementary, that having a trained officer with a gun present, were it to have any effect, would likely reduce the death toll rather than add to it.

That said, we would prefer that in future appearances LaPierre talk about ways to keep deranged people from getting guns, in addition to his polished speech about what to do with those people when they show up at school.

Video games send an awful message about violence

I was horrified by the shootings in Newtown, Conn., on 14 December. I cried many times that weekend as I followed the story and listened to the interfaith service on 16 December.

And then I was outraged when I read the “Best of 2012: Games” (Time magazine, Dec. 24, 2012, page 60). The top five games listed were: Guild Wars 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Dishonored, and Assassin’s Creed III. Seriously? Thousands of years of civilization; abundant natural, technical and intellectual resources; and the best our society has to offer are these violence-saturated games?

I am not so naive to believe that violent video games are THE cause of real-world violence, but I do believe that they contribute to the problem. Studies show a link between playing violent video games and subsequent aggressive behavior.

I believe that all of us, on some level, accept that video games can influence behavior. I assume that is the reason there are no commercially available games called “Rapist” or “Prostitute” or “Child Abuser.” Moral revulsion prevents us from allowing these role-playing games to exist. Why do we have a different standard for murder?

Killing is not a game.

Shoot a person and he bleeds. He is maimed or dies. His family grieves. First responders are haunted by memories. Lives are shattered. There is no reset button.

Killing is not a game.

We don’t need legislation to lessen the effect of violent video games. Do not buy these games. Do not rent them. Do not play them. Talk with family and friends about using these games.

Because, killing is not a game.

Barbara Tylka

Baker City

Spend school money on schools, not legal advice

With the election over, we had hope that we could all move on.

Unfortunately, during the District’s December meeting, Walt Wegener orchestrated another maneuver.  He contacted the Secretary of State’s Office and instructed the board to authorize the use of School District funds to consult with legal counsel.  This would allow them to start the proceedings of a civil suit against the petitioner in an effort to recover the costs of the election.

You’d think that with all of the challenges and problems we’re facing with educating our children they could find better things to do with their time and our money?  Maybe they could start by changing the budgeting process that currently “allows” the administration to negotiate contracts prior to having an approved budget, AND one that does not allow public comment until AFTER the budget has been approved.

Perhaps they could figure out how to improve our District’s performance in a state whose overall grades and scores rank 42nd and whose K-12 achievement ranks 45th in the nation. Oregon’s high school graduation rate is fourth worst in the nation!  It wouldn’t hurt to discuss ways to improve that.  Why do we rank near the bottom in all of these categories yet rank near the top in average salaries?

Five states recently announced that they will be adding at least 300 hours of instructional time to their school calendars.  These states are already near the top and are all currently operating on a longer school year than the State of Oregon whose school year ranks second to last in the nation.

Only South Dakota has a shorter school year and, coincidentally, ranks dead last in overall grades and scores.  To compound the issue, the administrators and school board have saddled our District with arguably the shortest school year in the nation with a 147 day school year.

We have some of the best teachers, principals, and classified staff around.

However, we have severely handicapped them with bad policy.  Now, they’re after revenge and pursuing personal vendettas.  Advocating for a better educational future for our children will have to wait.   

Mike Ogan

Baker City

On the road to Lexington and Concord

We are living in historic times. The country is divided like the period of the American Revolution and the Civil War. The school shooting in Connecticut has brought things to a head. In times like these it is important for Americans to be able to express an opinion, but it’s not to be. The only opinions that get a lot of play from the major media come from the talking heads and those in government who have zero experience with firearms. The biggest fool and biggest threat comes from CNN’s Peirs Morgan, a foreigner from England who is pushing an English and Australian type of gun control. On the off chance that there are some from the has-been British empire visiting my country I would like you to take this message home. 

Mr. Morgan, the Brits underestimated us in 1775 and you are doing it again. Your disarmament agenda is setting us on a road to another Lexington and Concord. You are right, I don’t need a so-called assault weapon to hunt. I have one but don’t hunt with it. The reason I have one is precisely because the military and police have them. It might sound quaint to you but an armed populace is a barrier to tyranny. Our founders believed it and things have not changed. Human nature is the same as at the time of the revolution and the centuries before. I would offer recent history as proof, the massacre in Tiananmen square, and the massacre of unarmed civilians in Syria right now. Places that could use a Second Amendment. I have no desire to become like England where you can go to jail for life for shooting an intruder in your own home. The Martin case comes to mind. We gun owners were appalled when Australia destroyed 700,000 rifles and shotguns and we know that is your agenda here.

Go back to extolling the virtues of your idiot royalty and keep your British nose out of my business. Better yet go home. 

P.S. I would like to thank you for waking up so many gun owners, they are arming themselves at an incredible rate.

Steve Culley

Richland