City Council Meeting
August 11, 2022
6:00 PM
@ Athena City Hall- Miller Family Community Room

A MESSAGE FROM OUR MAYOR:

Does it ever amaze you when a news outlet reports a sensational story on the front page, but when the story is shown to be completely false or full of gross inaccuracies, the correction occurs many pages away from the front? I would say this is a new phenomenon, but honestly deception and deflection have been around at least since the Garden. And the dangers and consequences of it are not any less today than they have been throughout history. I know we are in the thick of summer and harvest. And yet murmurings of the importance of the upcoming November election are bubbling. While the national election will get most of the attention, I am here today to draw your attention to the critical importance of local ballot issues. In addition to electing officials who will represent you at the local, county, and state levels, there will also be issues of critical local consequence on the ballot. Some citizens are currently working on getting a measure on the ballot to end our contract for police services with Umatilla County. The council also approved a measure to place on the ballot whether or not Psilocybin Mushrooms, which are now legal in the state of Oregon, can be sold within our City Limits. They would still be legal to possess and use within city limits, simply not to sell them, if this measure is passed. Many communities are choosing this option to prohibit sales much as was done with Cannabis in recent years (to allow use, but prohibit sales), but it must be passed within each community. When one looks at the statistics for crime nationally, statewide, and in our local area for the last 2 years, and when one considers the epidemic of drug related deaths especially among the young in our communities, it doesn’t take long to realize that these two issues which have such a big voice nationally, are now on our local forefront as well. We may be tempted to minimize the impact of our “one” vote nationally, but every single one matters on this local level. In this last 2 weeks I have had several conversations with citizens on these types of issues, and I was alarmed at the lack of credible facts or just flat-out falsehoods in their information. These were not “we have different points of view on the same set of facts” conversations, but the facts were simply wrong. We cannot afford such aberrations from accuracy on such important issues. I cannot urge you strongly enough to check facts when you hear them – not everything presented as a “fact” is accurate. If you are not sure, please contact a credible first-hand source to check the information. We should be having conversations on these issues – healthy conversations not based in unsupported fears or unverified facts. I welcome such questions and conversations. But please, please, human nature 101 tells us that not every comment will present the whole picture on any issue. Do your homework so you are prepared to place your votes in November.  

Finally, I would like to encourage you to get out and visit the Farmer’s Market each Tuesday in Athena from 4-7 pm. We are fortunate to have our very own Farmer’s Market, and the vendors will only return if they are able to see a return on their investment in being here. It’s fun and the products are great – you are guaranteed to walk away with a good dose of happy Summer Vibes (along with some yummy eats). Cheers!

-Mayor Becky Schroeder