Under the Microscope

By Andy Kober

Judges have been spotlighting the news recently and not for the best of reasons.
It has been a personal pleasure over the years to know a few judges and I would define them all as good people. Most of them had one thing in common – they were elected by the voters. Some were initially appointed but had to be elected – or not — to the position at some point.
Then there are judges appointed by politicians that, for the most part, do not answer to voters. These are the judges appearing in the news lately. Having judges appointed by politicians, and not answerable to the voters, can result in the scales of justice not being exactly balanced.
No, this column is not a discourse on Federal District Judge James Boasberg, who incidentally was appointed by a Democrat President, but rather a different judge and different situation.
LIKE many other cities, Grants Pass, Oregon, with a resident population of less than 40,000 people, has a problem with homeless people.
The homeless population in Grants Pass has apparently grown beyond nuisance level with city parks having become campgrounds for the homeless. This has created issues of crime, public drug use, and drug paraphernalia littering the parks. One can gather the issue has become so bad that actual taxpaying residents, whose tax dollars pay for those parks, can no longer enjoy them and the leadership of Grants Pass sought to take action that included no camping in the public parks. Grants Pass did this based on similar action by a city in California, which led to legal challenges and was eventually upheld by the US Supreme Court. Reports indicate the action could be taken even if there were not enough shelter beds for the homeless.
So the local government of Grants Pass moved to deal with the rampant homeless population – until what might be another case of an activist judge becoming involved happened.
Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Sarah McGlaughlin issued a preliminary injunction against the action. In her injunction, McGlaughlin said the city had to increase capacity at locations approved by the city for camping and had to make sure these facilities were handicap accessible. Until that could be done, the judge’s order “prohibits the city from citing, arresting or fining people for camping on public property. It also prevents the city from forcing people to leave campsites, from removing campsites that are not clearly abandoned or from prohibiting camping in most city parks.”
Nowhere does the esteemed judge mention the homeless population or the problems often associated with the homeless population, but reported among the homeless population were five people with disabilities, which is being used to circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision and stop Grants Pass from dealing with the homeless population.
McGlaughlin’s action should come as no surprise as she was appointed as a judge by former Oregon Governor Kate Brown, an ultra liberal Democrat.
With both being appointed by liberal Democrats, Boasberg and McGlaughlin appear to have something in common which could tip the scales of justice.
NO doubt this will become yet another legal mess and whatever the leaders of Grants Pass decide to do, it will inevitably cost the taxpayers more money, though neither Boasberg or McGlaughlin appear to care about those who actually contribute to society.
Should the city decide to establish an area for a homeless campground, perhaps somewhere very, very close to either judge’s home would do quite well.
That’s my opinion.
Andy Kober can be reached at andykober@hotmail.com