Gaza violence, fentanyl overdoses, cost of housing, forest fires and more brought up at town hall

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news

Nearly 200 Ashland residents turned out to ask questions of U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley during a town hall meeting Sunday afternoon in the Ashland High School gym, pressing him on international crises in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as local issues including the epidemic of substance abuse, the housing shortage and funding for education. 

Since the gathering was at the high school, the first question was given to a student. Owen Taylor, a senior at Ashland High School, asked what is being done about the regional crisis of drug use. 

Merkley asked the audience of over 100 Southern Oregon residents to raise their hands if they have been affected by the drug crisis and, particularly, fentanyl. Around a third of those seated raised their hands. 

Merkley described the issue as “a real scourge” and one that is being attacked on all sides. There has been success, he said, in stopping the supply of pure fentanyl from China. There is work being done now to prevent its chemical components coming from China into Mexico, he added, and there is also an effort to catch fentanyl coming over the border from Mexico, but that is hard to do.

“Because a very tiny amount is a very big deal — just enough on the tip of a pencil can be an overdose death — so we also have to fight it through other means, including public education programs so people do not become addicted and the doses of naloxone that counter the effects of an overdose and might save someone’s life,” he said.

Ashland resident Ed Walsh asked if the senator would support putting conditions on aid to Israel to deter the violence in Gaza. Merkley first asked the audience to keep a framework in mind that the highest goal locally is to fight anti-semitism, Islamophobia and any other form of hate, to remain good neighbors to each other. 

“Israel has been a close partner to the United States. It suffered a horrific assault on Oct. 7 and I supported and continue to support Israel’s ability to go after Hamas,” he said. “But I also believe the strategy employed by the Netanyahu government to go after Hamas has not been targeted in the appropriate way, and it produced a tremendous number of civilian casualties.”

The cascading tragedies of shortages of basic needs such as access to food, water, and power in Gaza were starkly visible when Merekly visited the region, he said. Aid workers told him the situation in Gaza was the worst humanitarian crisis they had seen. 

“I supported defensive aid to Israel, but I did not support additional offensive aid of shells and bombs until the Netanyahu government changes its tactics,” he said. 

In response to additional questions about Israel, Gaza, and how to achieve peace there, Merkley stated support for a two-state system for Isrealis and Palestinians and the creation of a kind of “Middle East NATO” — an organization that would involve security support agreements between Israel and its neighbors. 

An Ashland resident who did not identify himself asked why the senator did not support the most recent aid bill for Ukraine. Merkley said that was a “deep dilemma” for him. The aid for Ukraine was combined in a bill with aid to Israel, leading to his opposition, even as he described himself as a fierce advocate for aid to Ukraine. 

Ashland School Board member Jill Franko asked Merkley how he plans to support public education as it struggles through a variety of issues, including declining enrollment. 

Merkley reminded the audience he was the first member of his family to go to college but, despite his own intrinsic support for education, struggles between Democrats and Republicans to pass spending bills and avoid government shutdowns have had the consequence of a “flat funding” phenomenon where there is less spending available overall, he said. One way to source money for education could come from what he called “massive waste” he has observed at the defense department. 

“When you look around the world, there’s a lot of security issues,” he said. “There’s always a big, arching framework that can justify spending a lot of money. If you look at the details, you’ll see a massive amount of overspending. I’d rather see those wasted funds moved into the education enterprise.” 

Re-appropriated funds could support not only K-12 education, but a future where a debt-free college strategy replaces the reality where student loan debt, “becomes a huge millstone around the necks of our students,” he said. 

Caryn Wheeler-Clay, executive director of the Jackson County Long Term Recovery Group, asked what the senator is doing to help solve the shortage of middle income housing. 

“Housing is almost out of reach,” Merkley said. 

To try to increase availability and feasibility of home ownership, Merkley pointed to legislation he helped introduce last year, the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023. The bill would require hedge funds to sell 10% of their residential home holdings annually until they hold no further properties of that kind. Removing hedge fund ownership from residential homes would increase the availability of homes for sale and help stabilize costs. 

As he ran out of time for questions and was reminded by his aides of his fast approaching town hall in Grants Pass later Sunday afternoon, Merkley thanked the audience for being the kind of engaged citizens America’s struggling democracy needs. The end of the event was met with applause and a standing ovation. 

Reached by phone for follow-up questions from Ashland.news, Merkley expanded on his work on other Southern Oregon priorities, especially to strategically attack the threat of wildfire with both prevention and fire-fighting resources.

“We invest a lot more upfront in forest management — prescribed burns, mowing, thinning where appropriate in the right type of forests,” he said. “I’m working to get funds to train our Oregon National Guard to have additional crews and also to sustain the pay increases for our federal firefighters. They were paid so little that we couldn’t recruit enough people to fight the fires.”

Merkley said he is also seeking to create a stable, year-round workforce of firefighters who would not only work through fire season, but spend the off season doing preventative forest treatments. 

The “flat funding” this year has some holding their breath, he said. There is enough money for a bad fire season, even the worst fire season. But if the coming fire season exceeds previous expectations, the senator said he was concerned. Eventually, he said he hoped to see wildfires treated like other natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. But few other states experience the threat of wildfire the way Oregon does, making building support for the change a challenge. 

Merkley also stated he is focused on housing, mental health and the rising cost of living. At town halls throughout the state, Oregon residents have shown they feel the press of all these issues and he remains committed, he said, to using his position to seek solutions. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.

March 5: Added name in caption.