I am responding to those who wish to “quiet the train horns” (whistles). When my husband and I bought our home, we chose a neighborhood close enough to the train tracks to enjoy their sound in the evenings. This town and its residents have survived with the train whistles for 147 years. We d…
Did you hear about the 400 citizens and 51 businesses? They presented their city council with an “all expenses paid” health and safety upgrade to their city. At “no cost to the city” they woul…
Last week’s city council meeting was a bizarre experience. Quiet zone committee members did an excellent job detailing the many health, safety, and economic benefits of establishing a train ho…
I was in attendance at the City Council meeting where they discussed and voted on the quiet zone proposal. I have never seen such a biased meeting. Mayor McQuisten and her two puppets, or thos…
It’s a perverse irony that while technology lavishes society with more information than has ever been available, government officials use specious reasons to deprive the public of data.
Local businesses are vital to Baker City, County
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I was muttering curses at my computer the other evening and it occurred to me that life was slower, but rather less annoying, when the word “megabyte” meant as much to me as the Cyrillic alphabet.
There is no legitimate reason for Baker City, with the aid of a citizens group that has been working on the project for about two years, not to continue pursuing a railroad quiet zone designation.
The last time Oregon voters had a chance to decide whether the state could potentially execute convicted murderers, a majority — 55% — of those who cast ballots not only answered yes to that q…
The National School Boards Association’s definition of what might constitute domestic terrorism and hate crimes is awfully broad.
I’ve been unusually distracted recently.
Why we’re opposed to the state’s vaccine mandate
A group has been distributing fliers in Baker City urging residents to oppose Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers by refusing to pay their property taxes for Oct…
Skin color shouldn’t decide who gets federal farm loans
There is a killer on the loose in Baker County. In the past year and a half he’s killed 25 of our citizens. Yet the average Baker County citizen seems rather unconcerned.
Will somebody please explain why a mandate to stop at a stop sign to greatly reduce the chance that you may injure, maybe even kill someone, is not interfering with your Constitutional rights,…
I am writing to give voice to those who have none, our nonhuman relatives, and many other members of our community who support protections that would be provided by Senator Wyden’s River Democ…
The six members of the Baker City Council have reached an apparent impasse in trying to fill the one vacancy on the Council, created by Lynette Perry’s resignation in August due to health issues.
We were walking in a neighborhood in Ellensburg, Washington, when I waved to the woman who was standing on her front porch.
Thanks to everyone who helped me after my ATV accident
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is giving more than 20,000 state employees, many of whose only contact with the public might involve processing paperwork, an extra six weeks to comply with the COVID-19…
Forest health problems result from mismanagement
There’s a lot of talk by both sides and by some women also who don’t know or believe the truth of God’s word on this subject of abortion. Yes, she has the right over her own body, but the chil…
Every once in a while you meet a person who immediately clicks with you and becomes a good friend, enriching your life and the lives of those around you. As it is with people, so it is with co…
I am a citizen of Baker City and after leaving a few voice messages for the Mayor, I received the following: “This is a private cell phone number that was not given to you. Please don’t call i…
COVID sucks! Seriously. We are currently seeing the surge of COVID respiratory illness those of us in healthcare anticipated seeing in April or May of 2020. Watching younger people with few or…
The potential situation that prompted Baker County Commissioners on Wednesday, Sept. 22 to declare a local emergency is indeed a troubling one.
I never realized how big one acre is until I tried to get across one that was determined to stop me.
As summer fades into fall I see some things unchanged. No one has taken your guns, no one has forced you to wear a mask, you can choose to get vaccinated or not, history is history no matter w…
After reading your editorial in Saturday’s paper, Sept. 18, I am disappointed to see so much disinformation going out to the public as fact. Just because it comes from a media source such as a…
I am a concerned health care worker. I am alarmed by the recent vaccine mandate to all health care workers in Oregon by Gov. Kate Brown. This mandate is unconstitutional.
Senator Wyden deserves a big thank you for initiating and guiding the River Democracy Act through the winding channels towards Congressional approval. As this drought and fire year has made so…
The major rise in COVID-19 cases in Oregon that started in late July appears to have passed its peak, with the case rate declining.
I’ve lived in Baker County 56 years, including 45 years in the communities of Richland and Halfway. One of the things that always made me feel so proud was how these communities rallied around…
There has been a lot of discussion lately about rights. This discussion has centered mainly around the COVID virus and efforts to stem its spread. Rights have been referred to as political rig…
The Sept. 14 front page of this newspaper shows the massive release of sewage on our citizens. The property owners that caused this unsanitary, gooey and expensive disaster should be made to p…
Baker County prevailed in the lawsuit it filed more than two years ago to restore public access to a gated road near Lookout Mountain.
I understand why many people bristle at the notion of the government telling them to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash lays out a convincing case for killing all the wolves in the Lookout Mountain pack in his recent letter to Curt Melcher, director of the Oregon Department of Fi…
It is so frustrating to see the COVID-19 cases surge here in our county. I am concerned with our City Council. Instead of encouraging ways to defeat the virus, they are condemning those who ar…
Government shouldn’t force COVID-19 shots
As anyone who lives in the area knows, it is not uncommon to see “Don’t Tread On Me” flags waving from various pickups and residences. The vast majority of these flags are being displayed by “…
Another sleepless night prompts me to write this letter. I have always believed in speaking and sharing from the heart. Speaking of hearts, I have a heart condition and other health issues tha…
Reason 1: As my dad lay dying on his death bed, his last words to me were, ‘The money, it’s buried under the ...” but at that moment a train passed and blew his whistle. Unfortunately at that …
The boys were high school boys, a distinctive subspecies, and one inclined to moderately obnoxious, but generally good-natured, behavior.
No student attending Baker High School now had yet been born on that sunny September morning that changed America forever.
This letter is in rebuttal to the letter that was published in the Aug. 28 edition of the Baker City Herald. It started out to be a very interesting read. After the first few paragraphs it kin…
Been pondering these “Constitutional” sheriffs’ grandstanding letters to our governor about protecting the people’s rights (Thank you Sheriff Ash for not getting caught up in this circus sides…
Don’t like Governor Brown’s handling the pandemic by mandate? Think it curtails your freedom?
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown welcomed students back to their schools Tuesday, Sept. 7 with the equivalent of scrawling F’s on their report cards and sending them straight to the principal’s office.
The resolution of the criminal case against Shawn Quentin Greenwood in the January 2020 shooting death of Angela Parrish in Baker City might have failed to satisfy anyone, regardless of their …
The City Council’s idea of a lawsuit against Governor Brown’s mandates in her effort to stem the spread of a deadly virus is very disturbing. If it is done for political purposes, it is inexcu…
It seems to me that the quality of education in the field of science has become wholly inadequate in this country. Are we not aware that science is not an alternative belief system? That it is…
I read “obituary” in the email and as always when I come across that lonely word, unattached to any name, I winced slightly, as if anticipating a possible blow.
It was a very bad place for a wildfire.
I want to give a huge Thank You to Mary Tomlinson, Rick Rienks and Ritha Wilcox for their letters to the editor published Aug. 28. Finally a breath of fresh air from three people, only one of …
