Vote yes on Measure 110: It’s a humane approach

I want your readers to know that I can hold my 230-pound, 6-foot-2 son in the palm of my hand. Why? Because what’s left of him fills half of a ziplock bag. On April 13, 2015, my son, Ryan Culley, was successful in his suicide attempt. He had run out of hope. He had no job, no prospects of finding even a minimal employment, had lost contact with his children, and lived by the grace of his parents and friends.

Many parents in Oregon have children who have lost hope and chosen to make such a drastic decision. I still wonder today if my son would be alive if Oregon had stopped stigmatizing people with mental health and addiction issues and instead had provided better access to services. That’s why I support Measure 110.

Oregon’s drug laws are antiquated. Instead of helping people who struggle with addiction, we punish them, give them criminal records, send them to jail, stigmatize them. It’s cruel, ineffective and expensive. Criminal records and punishments only make it harder for people with serious mental health and addiction issues.

Measure 110 on the November ballot is a way to help address the imbalance of Oregon’s current drug laws. Measure 110 won’t legalize drugs, but it will shift us to a health-based approach, where people are offered treatment instead of jail. Measure 110 doesn’t create a new tax. The money to pay for it will come from existing taxes on marijuana.

Please join me in voting Yes on Measure 110. It’s a more humane and effective approach.

Jorja Culley

Baker City

Voters have a clear choice this year: Use it wisely

It doesn’t make any difference whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent voter in the upcoming presidential election. It all comes down to two options. First, do you want the country to continue to be a capitalist government and enjoy our many freedoms we enjoy, our high standard of living and freedom of worship? Or do you want a socialist state with the many restrictions placed on individual freedoms and eventually end up like another Venzuela, Cuba, Russia, China, etc.? The choice is yours … vote wisely!

Gary McManus

Baker City

Thoughts to consider about racial injustice in U.S.

The following continues on the same theme as my last opinion piece (Sept. 8), in which I wrote about slaves who worked in the households of several antebellum U.S. presidents, and about slaves who helped build the White House and the Capitol building, without receiving any compensation for his/her labor.

One of those presidents was slave-holder James Madison, our fourth president. He told a visitor from Britain that “he could make $257 on every Negro in a year, and spend only $12 or $13 on his keep.” (Howard Zinn, “A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present.” Zinn’s book would be enlightened reading for every person who serves in Congress.)

Another of those presidents was slave-holder Thomas Jefferson, our third president, author of the Declaration of Independence, wherein we find this statement:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

There follows a long list of grievances, many of which would apply to Black slaves. Unlike the successful rebellion of the colonies against Britain, slave rebellions were quickly subdued, frequently with execution of the leaders.

The whole Winter 2019 edition of the “Oregon Historical Quarterly” was devoted to the topic “White Supremacy & Resistance.” On pages 466-467 are reproduced two rough-draft passages from Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia” (1781-1785) written in his own hand. The OHQ editors summarize the passages thus:

“The excerpts below describe Blacks as naturally inferior to Whites, which became the very basis for White supremacy policies underlying ‘manifest destiny’ claims of the pioneer generation. Jefferson goes on to describe Blacks as not feeling grief, at least not for long, allowing him to escape the guilt of enslaving humans, even if he considered them naturally inferior.”

Some things to consider during the present demonstrations taking place about racial justice and equality in America.

Comments welcome at tubingen@eoni.com.

Gary Dielman

Baker City