By Don Iler • News Editor • 

E-cigarette advocates oppose ban

The commissioners are considering addition of e-cigarettes to their existing ban on the use of tobacco products in county buildings, including the courthouse. And they drew nothing but opponents Thursday.

Steve Keith said e-cigarettes aren't tobacco products, so shouldn't be covered. He said they produce a harmless vapor, like that of a nebulizer.

Timothy Porter said he felt a ban would deter people from looking to e-cigarettes as an alternative to smoking. He said the vapor contains nothing more than propylene glycol and trace amounts of nicotine. 

Edward Wiggens, who sells e-cigarettes at his Newberg business, said customers of his are using them as a means of quitting smoking. To demonstrate the lack of toxicity, he dropped some of the liquid used in the devices into his mouth and swallowed it. 

Commissioner Mary Starrett, who chaired the meeting in Allen Springer's absence, said the commissioners would take the comments into consideration. She said they planned to make a decision next week's Thursday business meeting. 

In other business, commissioners:

- Approved rate increases for Recology Western Oregon and the Riverbend Landfill, based on the consumer price index. Rates for Recology Western Oregon, which provides trash pickup service in the western part of the county, will increase by 0.9 percent; rates for Riverbend, where the trash is hauled, will increase 0.6 percent. 

- Took testimony from two citizens who objected to the commissioners beginning their meetings with an invocation.

Mike Blalock said he felt the prayers were divisive. He asked if he could provide a secular humanist invocation at a future date. Starrett said the commissioners would accomodate him. 

Dan Hilborn also argued the prayers were "out of bounds." He said he wished the commissioners would reconsider their policy. 

Comments

Mudstump

I hope they get rid of the prayers altogether. Pray in private or at church. They shouldn't make a show of their religion and force the general public to pray at government meetings. While they are at it...stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance. After all, I said it once...how many times do we have to pledge for gosh sake? I would guess that almost all Americans have pledged at one time or another. Isn't one pledge enough?

miketubbs1

"Isn't one pledge enough?" -Mudstump

I tell my wife that I love her no less than three times a day.

miketubbs1

"They shouldn't make a show of their...." -Mudstump
Sexual preferences? Gender identities? Or a plethora of other 'leanings' for lack of a better term?

You, personally, Mudstump, can always choose to remain quietly and respectfully seated, whilst the rest of us choose to pledge our allegiance one more time...oK?

Robert Lee

Matthew 6:5-6 When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.…


Public domain

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
--John Adams

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. ... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding....
--Thomas Jefferson

As with the Constitution, at no time is a god ever mentioned in the Federalist Papers. At no time is Christianity every mentioned. Religion is only discussed in the context of keeping matters of faith separate from concerns of governance, and of keeping religion free from government interference.

Mike, a more adult, mature, and respectful action would be for you to quietly and respectfully stay seated and pledge your allegiance in your heart.

miketubbs1

Robert, not only do I not pray, I don't even 'hope' for lack of a better term. Allege yourself to another mans scribblings if you so choose. You walk your walk and I'll walk mine.

Robert Lee

Mike, the pledge of allegiance is a prayer since the added the line about God during the red menace scare tactics of McCarthyism. Maybe take it back to what it was originally.

Robert Lee

Also accolades for Mike Blalock. Keep fighting for what's right.

Robert Lee

Also accolades for Mike Blalock. Keep fighting for what's right.

miketubbs1

Robert, the last time I'd sworn my allegiance to our flag, it was not a not prayer, it was a promise. Semper Fidelis.

Robert Lee

Well then Mike I sincerely apologize and I entirely misread your comment earlier. Have a great day. Aduentes Fortuna Juvat

miketubbs1

Robert, some of us believe in a something called morality, some of us don't. That's the beautiful thing about our country, as well as the ugliest.

Mudstump

miketubbs1 - What does morality have to do with religious prayer at government meetings or saying the Pledge of Allegiance? If you are saying that those who do not pray openly and display their faith or feel that one pledge is completely enough to be a patriotic American then your prejudice and willingness to judge is showing. Making a show of prayer in a public meeting indicates a prideful believer and I think the Bible takes a stand against haughty behavior by Christians.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

miketubbs1

If. That's a big word.

Lulu

I will never say the Pledge of Allegiance or pray at anyone's behest. And as far as Semper Fi, so far that promise hasn't worked out so well for this country. What have we won?
Until this nation comes to its senses, the only way I'd fly the flag is upside-down.

miketubbs1

"What have we won?" -lulu

The right to print currency, as well as to create law making cannibalism illegal, would be starters. How far do you want to role with your leanings, princess?

Spongebob

I consider a prayer to be an act of worship. As such, it has no more place as part of a public meeting than offering communion would. I used to feel differently about this, but contemplation has led me to a new perspective.

A pledge is an oath, and should not be required - or expected - of participants in the public square. I was a part of a church, years ago, that proscribed any member from joining any organization that required an oath of allegiance. But it always surprised me that some members of that church also considered themselves staunch patriots that considered the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag as an almost necessary act of faith.

Neither prayers nor pledges belong as part of the public's business meetings.

Lulu

To Mike Tubbs--Are you speaking in some weird type of code? What do you mean in regular correctly spelled English?

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