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 any crisis that befell their neighbors. Whether it was clothing, housing, monetary support or any other thing that would alleviate the suffering, it was always there. North Powder, Huntington, Unity, Oxbow and any other collection of people in small locations of Baker County always made headlines in local papers of the support they showed their neighbors in times of need. If you’ve lived here any amount of time you have seen and heard these stories.

Baker County is in a crisis right now and leading the state in COVID case rates. We can’t continue to deny the statistics, vaccinations help! I don’t need to repeat the news you read or see on TV. Hospitals are full of COVID cases and there is now not room for patients who may need urgent medical attention for other causes. These people are our neighbors. Where is the community outreach? Do we continue to let people die or get deathly ill when we can help prevent the catastrophe going on? Have we given up on the values that made Baker County special? It is not a case of individual freedom when it affects all of us.

9/11 reminded me that 3,000 people were killed before we could do anything. 600,000, and rising, have already died in the U.S. — 200 times as many as 9/11! We have the ability to stop this killing. We all just need to do the right thing for all our neighbors. Our community depends on it. Get vaccinated now.

Chuck Peterson

Baker City