December 7 the public will have a chance to weigh in on proposed fee increases for the Josephine County Animal Shelter, Assessor’s Office, Community Development, the Fairgrounds and the Adult Jail. A public hearing was set by the Board of Commissioners for the 7^th before action is taken on the fee increase requests. The increases reflect the rise in costs for the departments.

Commissioners questioned the Animal Shelter’s fee increase request, saying if the cost of adopting a kitten gets too high the shelter will become a “cat motel.”

“If our fees are too high nobody’s gonna want these animals,” said Commission Chair Herman Baertschiger, who noted that people can get free kittens from people giving them away in front of Safeway.

“That’s where we’ve always got ours,” he said.

Commissioner Darin Fowler, liaison to the Shelter, countered the adoption fee covers vaccinations, spay or neutering and a medical evaluation to make sure the kittens are healthy enough to adopt out. Finance Officer Sandy Novak said the fee is probably cheaper than getting a kitten from in front of Safeway since going to a veterinarian for vaccinations, spay/neutering and a general checkup would come to more than the shelter fee. Nevertheless, Commissioner Dan DeYoung worried about an overpopulation of dogs and cats in the county if the fees for adoption get too high. In a later contradiction DeYoung said cats at the Industrial Park limit their population themselves but he didn’t say how.

After the cat discussion Novak announced the county would be getting another round of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. This infusion will bring $5.7 million, spread over two years and can be used in the General Fund, Novak said. Commissioners indicated the windfall will help the sheriff but made no mention of their failed attempt to get voters to pass a sales tax earmarked to fund law enforcement. Baertschiger said it’s risky to fund a department with one-time money. Fowler said sometimes you need one-time money and praised Novak for “keeping a lid on the agenda item” with a nod but not an explanation.

Novak also announced a process created by the state’s Finance Officers Association to help municipalities create financial plans with direction, so today’s decisions positively affect the future. She identified this process as “Financial First Aid.” Commissioners didn’t like that terminology. Baertschiger called it “accounting gymnastics.”

Novak said the process involves creating teams in each department to plan how they can become more fiscally sound. Commissioners liked that idea but when she said they should each be on a team, they pulled back, saying the teams can report to them. They agreed the goal for every department is to become independent of the General Fund.

Commissioners were asked to approve a street banner for the Right-to-Life march and wondered why, since that group puts up banners every year for their anti-abortion activity without their approval. It was suggested the group may be asking to add graphic pictures to their signs. After mumbling about whether this was a free speech issue, they decided to postpone approval until they get clarification from someone about what is allowed on banners and what isn’t.

During the November 15 Legal Council Meeting Commissioners saw the long, slow process of abatement finally coming to an end on property near Selma. The junkpile, including 26 vehicles and five boats was shown to Commissioners in photographs, which prompted them to say the neighbors must be happy about the cleanup after the several years it took to get to this point. The Community Development Department will be contracting with a company to haul off the vehicles and trash.

County Clerk Rhiannon Hinkle told Commissioners the Nov. 8 election will be certified Dec. 5. She said she is under a confidential directive from the Secretary of State and County Counsel Wally Hicks to not dispose of any records. This led to a discussion about Oregon’s mail-in balloting, which none of the Commissioners like. DeYoung asked how we could go back to appearing in person and do away with the mail-in process. Baertschiger said elections are the authority of the state legislature and it would have to be changed there.

“Citizens can’t initiate it,” he said.

The next discussion involved warming centers for the homeless. Emergency Services Director Emily Ring and Public Health Director Michael Weber said they needed guidance from the Board on just what they can and can’t do regarding the expenditure of resources to help shelter people during extreme weather events. Baertschiger said he was concerned about drawing down resources to shelter the homeless, then having a cataclysmic event where they would be needed. DeYoung said the majority of the homeless are in Grants Pass so it’s really their responsibility. They said Joseph Rice told them he has access to an “endless supply of tents” and they will check into that. DeYoung said there may be some generators around that were donated to the county a few years ago but didn’t say how they would be used.

Commissioner’s Weekly Business Session was mostly about the new Transportation System Plan presented by Rob Brandes from Community Development. It can be read here: https://cms9files.revize.com/josephinecountyor/11-16-22%20WBS.pdf It contains traffic counts that show when and where the most traffic takes place in the county, the status of some of our most dangerous roads and plans for improving them. Brandes said the plan was financed by an ODOT grant. During the public hearing on the plan only one speaker commented. Judy Aherns rambled on about grants and strings but didn’t say anything about the plan itself.

At a public hearing about a new fencing setback code just one person spoke.  He said the regulation, calling for a 30-foot setback for fencing drivers can’t see through “overreach” by the government and a constraint on the use of his property. Judy Ahrens got up and agreed with him. Fowler pointed out that because the code will obviously not fit every property the Director will have some discretion when applying it. After Baertschiger said he thought the code looked like it was written more for an urban area then rural Josephine County the Board sent it back to Planning “to have another look at it.”

During Public Comments Judy Ahrens spent her three minutes warning about digital currency because she heard on American Family Radio that is being used to control the world. She also said people should write their representatives in Congress about the Defense of Marriage Act because it allows gay marriage “or marrying your dog if you want” and it will be forced on Christian colleges. None of the Board members had a reply to that.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! We can be thankful that Tina Kotek prevailed in the election!

By the way, the date of our Reorganization and Holiday party was left off the notice; it is December13th. Click here for more information.

And now, the latest:

Nov. 14, 15 2022

If you don’t win an election, Republicans blame the process, not their message. Some GOP candidates in Oregon just can’t believe their anti-abortion, chase the homeless off, pro-gun, anti-climate change message didn’t go over well in Oregon during this year’s elections. Now some diehards are going to court with allegations that “overwhelmingly suspicious events” took place during the primary elections last May that carried over into the November elections. About a dozen plaintiffs, including Marc Thielman, who came in 6^th in the Republican gubernatorial primary with 7.9 percent of the vote, and state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, who has made no secret of his disdain for vote-by-mail balloting even though in his East Oregon district it probably helps him, have filed a lawsuit against Oregon’s Secretary of State and about 11 counties challenging the constitutionality of mail-in balloting and computerized tabulation. They say there has been widespread fraud, suppression of the vote and voter disenfranchisement in Oregon but their evidence refers to alleged voting machine fraud in Colorado. They were apparently influenced by the debunked Dinesh D’Souza film 2,000 Mules as well since it is referred to in the lawsuit. https://www.yamhilladvocate.com/2022/11/lawsuit-filed-against-oregon-secretary-of-state-county-officials-alleging-voter-fraud-and-suppression/

Thielman appeared on The Bill Meyer Show Nov. 15 to discuss his lawsuit and ask for donations to his cause. Thielman resigned from his position as superintendent of the Alsea School District during his primary campaign for governor after several complaints were filed against him alleging he created a hostile work environment, tolerated sexual harassment, fired people illegally and showed disregard for anyone with a viewpoint not his own. The now-unemployed Thielman is currently keeping himself busy with a scheme to raise money from election deniers. He told Meyer he went to a Texas meeting on “election integrity” looking for funding for his PAC, Battleground Oregon, declaring he’s the perfect person to lead this mission because he worked in education where he came to understand “the mindset of the left.” According to Thielman “the left” are a sneaky bunch who “through malfeasance and incompetence set up rules that advantage one side.” He didn’t explain, however, how incompetent people could so deftly arrange to win elections.

Thielman said he filed the lawsuit in federal court because he doesn’t trust the liberal Oregon courts. If he loses there he hopes to take it all the way to the Supreme Court where he thinks the right-leaning justices will agree with him. This is why he needs money, he says. If they win, Thielman said, it will force Oregon’s voting system to look more like Texas, Florida and Ohio where Republicans always win.

Josephine County Commissioner Herman Baertschiger, on Tuesday Nov. 16, added his distrust of Oregon’s election system and blamed ballot harvesting by the big unions in Oregon for making it impossible for Republicans to win. “Ballot harvesting” is when people’s sealed ballots are collected and taken to collection sites by someone other than the voter, which is not illegal in Oregon. In 2019 then Secretary of State Dennis Richardson did fine a progressive PAC, Defend Oregon, $94,750 after their campaign staff picked up ballots but failed to turn in almost 100 of them. Defend Oregon said it was a staff error, not malfeasance. The fine was reduced to $23,725 after election officials determined Defend Oregon made an honest mistake. However they were required to submit a ballot collecting plan detailing who collects ballots, how they are trained and how ballots are collected, tracked and stored.

Baertschiger did credit Democrats in Oregon with being loyal voters who didn’t abandon Tina Kotek for Betsy Johnson. He said Johnson confided to him that if Drazan won then she wouldn’t consider her campaign a waste of time but “Democrat voters got in line.”

Meyer noted that Democrats also raise more money in Oregon because the donation app Act Blue is “incredibly effective at funneling money to Democrats” while Republicans’ Win Red isn’t because it rakes off too hefty a commission. That led to a discussion about how supporting a candidate doesn’t just mean voting for them. Meyer said “you gotta spend money” while Baertschiger said if you don’t have money at least volunteer for a campaign. They both advised Republicans to give directly to candidates instead of through donation apps.

After their gubernatorial loss, Meyer and Baertschiger discussed how Republicans might yet rise to power, at least in the statehouse. Concentrate on getting more senators elected, said Baertschiger.

“You only gotta get 16 senators and you can stop this agenda,” he said. “You’re missing the boat by not paying attention to the senate.”

After the Nov. 8 election, Republicans went from 11 to 12 state senators with right-leaning Independent Brian Boquist providing the 13^th. A Republican replaced then Democrat state Sen. Betsy Johnson after she stepped down to run for governor.

Democrats should pay attention to right-wing media since most of it is aimed at denigrating Democrats by Rush Limbaugh wannabes who use outrage to sell air. If Democrats knew a tire shop in town advertised on a program that ginned up hatred of them, called them communists and riled up listeners by lying about Democratic politicians and voters, would they do business at that shop? They do if they don’t know. There is a malevolent force running through our community and as distasteful as it is, we need to pay attention and push back or continue as easy marks aiding in the enrichment of unconscionable people.

Homeless people are apparently more fun to denigrate than liberals, according to last week’s conversations on the Bill Meyer Show. Of course, liberal policies are blamed for all the homeless camping along the sidewalks in Portland and in the Grants Pass parks. Eastern Oregon statehouse Rep. Werner Reschke blamed “rampant drugs” caused by the approval of Measure 110, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, making drug screening and treatment available to addicts and removing criminal penalties for low-level drug possession. Callers reacting to the possibility of turning the former Elks Lodge in Grants Pass into a shelter were fairly unanimous in their depiction of the homeless as dirty scum that prey on children who should be kicked out of communities. The only caller suggesting where they should go proposed a camp at the Oregon/California border where they should all be shipped.

When discussing the election it appears Republicans won’t accept their losses in Oregon with grace and dignity. Reschke said the Drazan campaign has attorneys at the ready because the loser could mysteriously come out the winner and alluded to 2020 election mistrust for that preparation. Meyer added that when Democrats are losing magic boxes of ballots tend to show up in Multnomah County. Meyer also said “I’m not a fan of vote by mail. It doesn’t have a real chain of custody and you never really know who fills out the ballots.”

Josephine County Commissioner Herman Baertschiger, during his Tuesday call-in, said he’s been criticized for “my lack of human kindness” then repeated his story about visiting homeless camps and finding people who were perfectly happy living that way. When Meyer said he didn’t understand that Baertschiger replied, “that’s the point. We can’t understand it and trying to make them like us won’t work.”

Meyer swung to another subject saying he still gets a lot of emails asking why Baertschiger supports Betsy Johnson, the former Democrat now running for governor as a non-affiliated candidate. Baertschiger tried to explain that his support for her was part of a scheme to get more Democrats and Independents to vote for Betsy, thus allowing Republican Christine Drazan to win. He said without a drain of Democrats there is no way Drazan can win in Oregon, then recalled trying to get Republicans Dennis Richardson and Knute Buehler elected governor in this state. Buehler even came out as pro-choice but he still lost miserably, Baertschiger lamented.

“My attitude was by legitimizing Johnson’s campaign by having a few high profile Republicans support her Democrats might say ‘hey, maybe she can win so we’ll vote for her.’”

Meyer seemed a bit skeptical of this story.

Baertschiger went on to say at this point he doesn’t know who will win, but as commissioner he can work with either Drazan or Johnson. He isn’t looking forward to working with Tina Kotek if she becomes governor, however.

Bringing up Measure 114, Baertschiger said supporters are trying to say the gun safety proposal will help prevent suicides. (He equates supporters of 114 with Democrats but this was a non-partisan effort with several churches involved in getting enough signatures to qualify for the ballot) Baertschiger claimed Japan has a high rate of suicide and they don’t have guns. Bill asked why Democrats were worried about suicides when they love death? “So what if you kill yourself and you’re not using the doctor than something’s wrong with you? he asked, referring to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act which is also non-partisan. “But if you do it with the medical system and an MD prescribing you the pills then it’s a morally superior way! I love it!” he added.

Advertisers during Meyer’s show all seem to target men. They include construction companies, auto repair shops, heating and cooling businesses, some prostate pill pusher, a Jonathon Knapp for Sheriff ad and a whispery Drazan ad.

So just who is Winnie?

“Winnie,” no last name given, is listed as the petitioner trying to recall Grants Pass Mayor Sarah Bristol and Councilors Vanessa Ogier, Rob Pell, Brian DeLaGrange and Curt Collins. Winnie is upset the Councilors, who all ran on addressing the city’s homeless problem, are trying to address the city’s homeless problem. Other than that, the recall appears to be nothing more than a poorly disguised attempt to win an election through stealth. One of the people named in the recall, Brian DeLaGrange, just happens to be running for county commissioner. The recall bunch, who lists their email title as “Voters4ConservativeLeadership” apparently believes no one should be allowed to run for any elected office in Josephine County unless they’re to the right of Tucker Carlson.

This is a dirty tricks operation if there ever was one. Ads have been run warning voters not to vote for DeLaGrange because he’s under recall. Ironically, his opponent, John West, has been saying things in his campaign that could get him recalled for good reason. West says he can make the sheriff’s department solvent again just by shifting money around in the county’s budget. He’d have to do things that are clearly illegal to accomplish that. In addition, Pell and Collins are up for election anyway. Why recall them? Are the characters running against Pell and Collins so unelectable they need a smear campaign to get them in office? People of integrity don’t do this kind of thing.

Recalls are expensive and recalling five officeholders would entail gathering about 10,000 signatures so the effort is clearly a fake. Whoever thought this up as a way to get their candidates elected might be a hero to the Republican Party here, which carries a “Sign the Recall, Remove the Liberal Counselors” sign on their website but this shameless sham is something no one should be proud of in a Democracy. This is called lying to get your guy elected. This should be called out by all elected officials and political party leaders in our county or it will just get worse. What’s next? Criminal accusations? A phony court case?

Interestingly, the only member of the Grants Pass City Council who actually has been accused of criminality, Republican DJ Faszer, isn’t mentioned in the recall. Earlier this fall he was arrested on an assault charge and taken to jail.

The main reason given for recalling each of the councilors and the mayor is they do “not represent the conservative principles of a majority of their constituents.” Apparently they believe the majority of Grants Pass citizens, which voted all these people into office, don’t want them to provide an urban campground so they can finally keep people from sleeping in city parks, don’t want more affordable housing in the city, don’t want their councilors to pass a responsible budget and don’t want people suffering from treatment-resistant PTSD, depression and substance abuse, all contributors to homelessness, to get relief where they can find it.

Good ole’ Winnie also says these councilors defunded the police during the budget passed back in 2021, never mentioning that the city has a levy passed by voters to support public safety in the city. The “defund” allegation on the petition refers to nothing more than “excerpts” from letters to the editor of the Grants Pass Courier for it’s evidence.

The allegations for the recall, posted on their Grants Pass Recall website, are a poor attempt to disguise the fact they have a lousy candidate running for commissioner who can’t compete with DeLaGrange’s record of public service so they have to use smear tactics to get him elected. This recall will most likely evaporate after Nov. 8. Hopefully, voters will see through this and realize if a candidate goes along with this to get elected he isn’t worthy of holding any elected office in Josephine County.

Democrats should pay attention to right-wing media since most of it is aimed at denigrating Democrats by Rush Limbaugh wannabes who use outrage to sell air. If Democrats knew a tire shop in town advertised on a program that ginned up hatred of them, called them communists and riled up listeners by lying about Democratic politicians and voters, would they do business at that shop? They do if they don’t know. There is a malevolent force running through our community and as distasteful as it is, we need to pay attention and push back or continue as easy marks for bloviating talk show hosts endangering a third of the population here for the sole purpose of enriching unconscionable people.

A sample of this week’s pernicious propaganda on KMED
There’s a reason why Measure 113 was put on the ballot. That’s the one the Democratic majority in Oregon’s state legislature believes is necessary because the minority party’s base doesn’t exactly operate within the boundaries of how most people define sanity.

Measure 113 says legislators who have 10 unexcused absences during a legislative session disqualifies them from running for another term. The legislation is aimed at the use of the walkout as a way of denying a quorum and ending the vote on key legislation. District 28 (Klamath Falls and southeastern Oregon) Senator Dennis Linthicum called the legislation “evil” on KMED’s Bill Meyer Show last week. For some reason, Meyer believes Linthicum is an expert on ballot measures. Meyer had Linthicum on to explain the state measures after telling his listeners to vote no on all of them. Linthicum said 113 is supported by Democratic “useful idiots” like the teachers’ unions, then interrupted his review of the measure to berate public school teachers saying, “they aren’t teaching reading, writing and arithmetic anymore, they are teaching our kids to be drag queens.”

On 112, which takes the word “slavery” out of Oregon’s Constitution and the use of involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment, Linthicum was outraged. He said this would lead to paying crooks for being on a work detail. He didn’t mention that prison work crews are sometimes used to help fight fires. In 2019 Linthicum got in trouble for saying that designating slaves as three-fifths of a person wasn’t racist. According to the latest Census, Klamath County has .09 percent Black people so he probably didn’t think he’d lose voters with that remark, but his Black colleagues in the Senate were upset.

Of course both Linthicum and Meyer slammed Measure 114 which proposes a more detailed permit process and longer waiting period to take possession of a gun after purchase. Linthicum revealed that he believes if this passes George Soros will fund candidates to run against every sheriff in the state who says he won’t enforce the measure. He also believes Measure 114 is part of a Democratic plot to close down small businesses such as gun shops and transfer all the wealth to “the big boys” so the economy will collapse making it easier to take the country into socialism.

On Measure 111 Linthicum really went nuts. This is the Measure that calls for an amendment to the state’s constitution that says affordable healthcare is a fundamental right and obligation of the state. Linthicum says healthcare is an individual’s responsibility and the government should stay out of it because universal healthcare just makes it easier to sell more “junk” to people like COVID vaccines and makes it impossible for people to get what really cures COVID such as Ivermectin. If you go to the hospital you’ll have to follow “Fauci protocols” he said without explaining what those are and added that if this measure passes it will aid in creating transgender babies. It is not a right to have healthcare, Linthicum says, and the government shouldn’t be responsible for providing it. Meyer added people just want the “free candy” Democrats offer in these measures.

On October 25 Josephine County Commissioner Herman Baertschiger returned to Meyer’s Tuesday morning lineup with his take on the ballot measures. He’s against all the state measures but indicated he wouldn’t object to the local Measure 17-110, legalizing psilocybin locally, but it should be prescribed by a doctor and used under medical supervision, not just assistants.

When Meyer said, “the sales tax is going down isn’t it,” Baertschiger said that puts funding for law enforcement in a “difficult spot.” He defended the 3 percent seasonal sales tax as the solution that “rose to the top” during town hall meetings. A lot of Republicans attended those meetings and appeared to support the sales tax over a property tax levy. However the Josephine County Republican Party pulled the rug out from under the Commissioners by recently announcing they were against it. Baertschiger didn’t indicate he had any other plan for funding the sheriff. He just repeated his old stories about how the timber receipts that used to fund the county disappeared and that there are no “magic piles of missing money” in the budget that some people think are there, including sheriff candidate Jonathon Knapp. He invited Knapp to sit down with him in his office and go through the budget and see for himself how lean it is.

Before concluding the timber receipts conversation Baertschiger took the opportunity to bash retiring Congressman Peter DeFazio for pushing a bill that would divide timber receipts up with some of the money going to environmental preservation. Meyer and Baertschiger decried the “ganggreens” for funneling money into environmental projects because they don’t work anyway.

Baertschiger and Meyer concluded Tina Kotek will probably win the race for governor because it’s hard to beat the fact that Democrats have 280,000 more registered voters in the state than Republicans have. He tried to gloss over his endorsement of Betsy Johnson by saying he thought that would get Democrats to vote for her but both admitted at this point in the election Johnson is losing support because “everybody is running to their corners now and that’s not good for people with conservative thinking.”

Both Meyer and Baertschiger did hint at trouble to come if the Republican Christine Drazan loses by a narrow margin. Baertschiger blamed “ballot harvesting” for Democrats’ dominance in the state, while Meyer allowed that Democrats go through nursing homes getting ballots to “harvest.” In Oregon “ballot harvesting” simply means that someone other than the voter can take ballots to a drop-off site and it is legal. They both hinted that a narrow win by the Democrat will go to the courts and there will be recount after recount.

Ballots are rolling in. In-Person observation of ballot handling is being re-started.

Originally, observation was only online. That will continue, but in-person will also happen starting 11/1 at 10AM. That’s Tuesday — Dorothy will be there to observe the testing of the equipment at 9:00AM… then it is your turn.

WE NEED IN-PERSON OBSERVERS! Please volunteer for at least 1 hour during these time slots . Contact Brian today to get your name on the schedule. Only 1 person is allowed from each party.

If you wish to observe online, here is the link.

There are two measures in Josephine County, impacting all areas outside of Grants Pass. One we are recommending VOTE YES, is allowing service centers.

The other is to allow psilocybin product manufacturing in Josephine County. We had considerable discussion regarding this measure coming to no definitive conclusion.

Here is a summary of the pros/cons.

VOTE YES (that is do NOT prohibit it):

• It’s a business, and only a few companies are manufacturing it
• Because it’s legal, if there are not enough legitimate manufacturers, the vacuum could invite in cartels
• There are no known environmental issues (e.g., requiring high amounts of water, as marijuana requires)
• Anecdotal: doctor for 30 years has never seen or heard of anyone coming in to the hospital for overuse of psilocybin
• Use of psilocybin has been carefully researched with positive results, especially for those with PTSD
• The Democratic Party platform supports alternative medicine. It also supports allowing people to make their own decisions about their bodies and health issues.
• The reason it is not FDA approved is that the process is extremely expensive. Pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of money to get drugs approved and in return get patents and exclusive rights to sell them. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring substance, so cannot be patented. Hence, it is unprofitable for drug companies to go through the expensive process of getting FDA approval.

VOTE NO (that is, DO prohibit it):

• Sheriff Dave Daniel is against it
• Those growing it could produce more than their licenses permit, creating a black market for recreational psilocybin

See our full slate here.

If you see any suspicious activity near an Official Ballot Drop Box location, text a report to (503) 239-VOTE(8683), and then report the incident to the clerk at: Clerk clerk@josephinecounty.gov  or call 541-474-5221. Provide your name, your county, the location of the Official Ballot Drop Box and a description of the incident in your text.

What are suspicious activities?

• Groups of folks demonstrating at drop box sites
• People video recording voters placing their ballots in drop boxes
• People blocking access to voters attempting to vote
• Convoys of motor vehicles blocking access to voters attempting to vote

It is happening already in other counties. Let’s nip it in the bud if it starts happening here.