"surrounded by like minded people" - Isn't that what you are as well? I am trying to understand how you can make that accusation in a negative light, when you obviously do the same.

"I wondered to myself if people that lived in Sweet Home thought that Oregon would be a better place if everywhere was like their town? " So the real judgmental person in the room is you? Pretending to be an open minded liberal or just being the exact person you judge but just being on the other side of the fence?

"majority of the people agree with Kate Brown" - I think you need to revise this to say that a majority of people in Portland and Eugene agree with Kate Brown.

Small towns are governed by what happens in big cities and your big city is basically a flaming dumpster right now. As much as you don't want Oregon to be like Sweet Home, 80% of the land mass of Oregon East of Porland and Eugene don't want to be like Portland - that's why they live there. Having a hard time wanting everyone to respect Portland but not respect places like Sweet Home?

In the end, why should a place like Baker, Burns, Boardman, etc. have to follow guidelines created specifically for places like Portland? You don't want Portland to follow guidelines found in those cities, correct? So why should it be the opposite? Why should the cases in Portland be the deciding factor for Boardman and their 1 hospitalization in 4 months?