City Council needs Aletha Bonebrake

To the editor:

I believe in a living democracy government based on the power and value of citizens’ voices, beginning at the local level.

We need a City Council that demonstrates respect for all voices and is open-minded in its deliberations.

We need Aletha Bonebrake on our City Council.

Aletha served for 22 years as the director of our County Library District. She directed six library construction projects, engaging public support while meeting the requirements of several levels of government. The outstanding library facilities we enjoy today were achieved due to Aletha’s vision and dedication to the public good.

Aletha believes agenda items should not be discussed by councilors outside of the public forum. This would be a welcome change, in my opinion, from Council’s current “unofficial policy” requiring a majority discussion prior to placing an item on the agenda. Aletha has proposed a public input process and advanced disclosure of detailed agenda and staff reports.

I believe that Aletha Bonebrake’s experience and her high personal standards for integrity and public service make her the ideal city councilor!

Kata Bulinski

Baker City

Return Tim Kerns to Commission

To the editor:

Tim Kerns should be returned to the Baker County Board of Commissioners. He is an effective voice for Eastern Oregon.

As many of you know, Tim and his extended family have been farming and ranching in our valley for many years. Tim is a solid-thinking man who uses common sense to tackle Baker County issues.

While working with Tim on joint City Council-County Commission committees such as the Northeast Oregon Economic Development Commission, I found Tim’s direct approach and responsible thinking to be effective for county residents.

We benefit from Tim’s experience. Please join me in voting to keep him in office.

Peter Ellingson

Baker City

Take home pay could be lighter

To the editor:

McCain has said that “He would treat employer-sponsored health benefits as taxable income,” (February 2008, Brookings Institute).

Taxing employer insurance just like wages would be a huge tax increase. Employers would be required to include the value of employer-provided health coverage in wages on each employee’s W-2, and the value of coverage would be subject to income and FICA tax withholdings. Each employer would divide total health plan costs by number of employees in the health plan, and this average cost would be included in the taxable income of each employee.

This method would also apply to health coverage that employers provide to retirees, and the valuation method for such coverage would be the same as for active employees. The average costs would be treated as wages received by the retiree and subject to income and FICA taxes.

The proposal would also repeal the deduction for health insurance expenses of self-employed individuals. Present law provides an itemized deduction for medical expenses (including qualifying long-term care expenses) in excess of 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. The administration’s proposal would repeal the itemized deduction for medical expense (including qualifying long-term care expenses) with respect to individuals not enrolled in Medicare. www.tnr.com/politics/story

The person you vote for November 2008 has more to do with your “take- home pay” than you think. If the wrong person gets in, you may find your take-home pay a little lighter. Will you have enough money to supply a roof over your family, food on the table, a good education for your children and a means to provide decent health care?

Deanna Davis

Baker City

Let’s all support emergency fund

To the editor:

I was impressed by the story and comments in the Tuesday, Oct. 14, paper about the emergency fund for the food banks. As it’s getting closer to the holiday season our food banks are greatly needed as they are needed throughout the years.

I believe that if everyone reading this letter and the news article were to pledge $1 a month – that’s $12 a year, lower than the cost of a magazine subscription – the emergency fund will survive.

I saw one such family that needed gas for their car and I could not afford to give them the money, but I know I can afford $1 a month to help others out.

Heat and electricity will be rising soon to where some unfortunate people cannot pay. Please come together with me and at least donate with a pledge of $1 a month to an emergency fund through Roger Scovil at the Baker City Christian Church, 675 Highway 7.

Tammy Marie

Baker City

Officer’s keen eye prevented crime

To the editor:

Upon leaving my home for several days I failed to shut the door properly. With keen observance, Sharon Bass of the Baker City Police Department took care of the matter.

Had it not been for her, I could have come home to an unhappy occasion. Thank you, Officer Sharon Bass.

Tom Hank

Baker City

Not fooled by Obama’s rhetoric

To the editor:

Let’s not be fooled by the rhetoric that Barack Obama has taken to spouting. Make no mistake about it; Barack Obama is no friend to gun owners or hunters. His comments regarding “common-sense gun laws” are aimed at reeling in voters who may not know about his record on gun control. I promise you, his “common-sense” is a world away from mine. Just a few facts: In a 1996 political questionnaire, Obama declared that he supported a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of all handguns. In 1999, he urged the prohibition of the operation of any gun store within 5 miles of a school or park (so much for buying guns or ammo in Baker City). In 2004, he voted against a measure that allowed handgun carry by persons who had obtained a domestic violence protection order. During a press conference in February 2008, Obama stated, “the right to bear arms is subject to common-sense regulations” Again, whose common-sense? His or mine?

He has also stated his opposition to allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms and supports a national law outlawing the practice. For years he was a board member of the Joyce Foundation, which is the leading funds provider to gun control organizations. The list goes on and on. Do the research and what you learn about Obama and his stance on gun control should scare you.

On the issue of gang members, criminals and the mentally deranged obtaining weapons, consider this: the vast majority of these types of people are not obtaining guns through gun dealers, they are buying them through an underground market and guaranteed, they will still be able to obtain guns and ammunition even with Obama’s radical gun control plans. It is incredibly naive to believe that taking away citizens’ rights to a handgun will somehow cut down on crime. Do you want to be able to protect your family in your own home? I do! Yes, I am a “bitter gun owner who clings to religious principles” – and I vote! I urge you to research the facts for yourself and come election day, make your vote count.

Suzie Hoadley

Baker City

McCain’s candid comments

To the editor:

On Friday, Oct. 10, in the midst of waging an increasingly vicious and negative campaign, Sen. John McCain made some disarmingly candid and honest comments about Sen. Barack Obama. I’d like to recognize McCain and applaud him for making them. They reflect the tone that the seriousness and importance of this election deserves.

According to The Associated Press, McCain rejected the statement of a woman at a rally in Minnesota who said, “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him. He’s an Arab.” McCain shook his head in disagreement, and said, “No, ma’am. He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with.” And he had earlier drawn boos with this comment: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”

I echo John McCain’s disarmingly correct assessment.

And I would go much further and express my wholehearted support for Barack Obama. He is just the person our country needs at this difficult hour, both because of who he is and what he believes. He is a leader for all of us.

I would like to share this stirring passage from the editorial endorsement in the current New Yorker magazine. I couldn’t say it better: “The election of Obama – a man of mixed ethnicity, at once comfortable in the world and utterly representative of 21st-century America – would, at a stroke, reverse our country’s image abroad and refresh its spirit at home … It could not help but say something encouraging, even exhilarating, about the country, about its dedication to tolerance and inclusiveness, about its fidelity, after all, to the values it proclaims in its textbooks. At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader’s name is Barack Obama.”

Donna Landon

Baker City