Posted inOregon politics

GOP having Oregon legislature temper tantrums

Long ago, I was the parent of a child who went though the "terrible two's." Temper tantrums were common. Crying fits happened routinely. So I feel for Democratic leaders in the Oregon legislature. They have to deal with Republicans who are the adult equivalent of immature children. The worst thing is, my daughter grew out of her terrible two'ness, while Oregon Republicans show no sign of acting responsibly. Almost certainly they're going to do the walkout thing again in this legislative session, thereby denying the 2/3 quorum that the Oregon constitution insanely requires for doing the people's business in the…
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Posted inNational politics

U.S. has most mass shootings because we have most guns

Atlanta, Georgia -- eight dead. Boulder, Colorado -- ten dead.  It's an all-too-familiar ritual, counting how many have been killed in the latest round of mass shootings that are unique to the United States. There's no doubt why our country has so many more mass shootings than comparable countries. We have way more guns than they do.  A 2017 New York Times story tallied up the mass shooting death toll in various countries from 1966 to 2012. When the world looks at the United States, it sees a land of exceptions: a time-tested if noisy democracy, a crusader in foreign…
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Posted inPolice reform Salem Police Department

Salem Police performance audit has weaknesses

Tomorrow night, March 15, the Salem City Council will have a work session on the draft performance audit of the Salem Police Department (SPD) that was prepared by a consulting firm. Here's the PDF file.Download Hillard Heintze Report for the City of Salem Oregon - 03-08-21 copy The consultants' report is nicely written and clearly laid out. But I've got some problems with it.  My main concern is on page 9: Although a formal, detailed staffing analysis was not part of the scope of our assessment, we noted the number of sworn officers and the total number of SPD employees…
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Posted inPolice reform Salem-Keizer school district

Latinos Unidos Siempre wins school resource officer fight

Congratulations to Latinos Unidos Siempre (Latinos United Always) for succeeding in their battle to have School Resource Officers -- police -- removed from Salem-Keizer schools. They're celebrating on their Facebook page. We have won!! After 25 years of resisting the school to prison and deportation pipeline today we have made a huge stride into being closer to abolishing it. The School Resource Officer contract will not be renewed thanks to the work of youth leaders in Latinos Unidos Siempre and to the many community members who have supported and fought alongside us.   During the March 9th Salem-Keizer School Board…
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Posted inSalem-Keizer school district

Jesse Lippold and Kathy Goss are school board hypocrites

Don't be fooled by what school board members Jesse Lippold and Kathy Goss said in today's front page Statesman Journal story, "Salem-Keizer School Board election process considered discriminatory by some." The story is about a proposal to have school board members elected by people who live in one of seven zones, rather than by everyone in the Salem-Keizer school district.  This would make school board elections similar to Salem City Council elections. The person running for office would have to live in the zone they are seeking to represent, and only residents of the zone could vote for that person.…
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Posted inSalem Police Department

New Salem police chief says right things in City Club talk

Trevor Womack is the new chief of police in Salem, succeeding Jerry Moore, who retired. Today Chief Womack talked about his plans for the police department in a Salem City Club Zoom meeting. I came away impressed.  There was little, if anything, that I could criticize abut what Womack said either in his initial presentation or in the following lengthy Q&A period. And believe me, I'm not shy about criticizing City of Salem officials when I feel like they deserve it. Right off the bat, I liked Womack's openness when he spoke about his background and family life. He said…
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Posted inCoronavirus

Risky business: Salem companies that politicize Covid

The Salem Reporter has a story about the Glamour Salon owner deciding to call it quits. Glamour Salon, owned by Lindsey Graham, has reached out to the city of Salem about terminating the lease at its current location at 195 Liberty St S.E., according to Clint Dameron, the city’s real property services manager. ...In May last year, Graham publicly reopened her salon in violation of Gov. Kate Brown’s orders intended to slow the spread of Covid. Following the move, Graham was lionized by business owners and others who’ve argued the governor’s orders went too far, making appearances on right-leaning media,…
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Posted inCoronavirus

Oregon is failing seniors with flawed vaccine rollout

I'm 72. My wife is 71. We've fortunate to be fully vaccinated with two Pfizer shots owing to some unusually lucky circumstances.  It irks me, big time, that Governor Brown and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) have decided to make our state a leader in failing to prioritize seniors for immunization.  Oregon is one of only a few states that decided to vaccinate teachers before seniors. Back on January 16, I wrote about this stupid decision in "Outrage: Oregon seniors to get Covid vaccine after teachers." This is a hugely irresponsible decision that is going to cause many old people…
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