(AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)
Here’s an example of some outside the COVID box thinking that might start catching on in other parts of the country. Out in the eastern part of Oregon, many of the residents and business owners of Baker City (population: 9,752) have long since grown tired of the lockdowns and mask mandates being kept in place by Governor Kate Brown. Mayor Kerry McQuisten, who was just sworn in this January, listened to the complaints of her constituents and began a process to determine if there was anything that could be done about the situation. The result was a proposal to declare Baker City to be a “Common Sense Sanctuary” dedicated to ending the harm being caused to businesses and residents by the mandates. To implement the plan, the City Council voted to declare a state of emergency and notified the Governor that they were leaving compliance with the COVID mandates up to the individual employers and residents. Our colleagues at PJ Media interviewed the Mayor and
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
In the small-ish burg of Baker City, way out in Eastern Oregon, far away from the capital city, a proposal among business leaders has ignited a movement. Now, the mayor says other towns across Oregon are looking to her city as a model to fight back against an out-of-control governor.
In an interview with PJ Media, Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuisten says the proposal began as an attempt to make their town a Common Sense Sanctuary. Serving in her first term, business leaders approached her the day after her swearing-in took place in January. “It was quite a process,” she says. “After we were all sworn in back on January 12th, local businesses brought forth to [city] council an idea of a Common Sense Sanctuary City. The idea was pretty funny, actually. It was a good idea. They were asking for local businesses to be able to adhere, or not adhere to the mask mandates, the OSHA [Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division] restrictions, as they saw fit indiv