On this day, May 5, 1903, James Beard, US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices), was born in Portland, Ore.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children after they attempted to drag it out the woods in Lakeview, Oregon. The balloon was armed, and exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They became the 1st and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental US during World War II.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, Bly minister Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife Elsie, and five children from Mitchell's Sunday school class were on a Saturday morning picnic. Thirteen miles northeast of Bly, or about sixty miles northeast of Klamath Falls, Mitchell parked the car, and Elsie and the children headed to Leonard Creek. Mitchell later remembered: "As I got out of the car to bring the lunch, the others were not far away and called to me they had found something that looked like a balloon. I heard of Japanese balloons so I shouted a warning not to touch it. But just then there was a big explosion. I ran up there--and they were all dead." It was a Japanese balloon bomb. They were 70 feet tall with a 33-foot diameter paper canopy connected to the main device by shroud lines. Balloons inflated with hydrogen followed the jet stream at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
This should be easy. Spoiler alert: It’s not
If you were taught any civics, probably the most basic thing you were taught is the three branches of government. You can probably still name them: The Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial Branches. Well, Oregon's founders didn't want you to rest on your laurels after 10th grade, so they created an appendage to the Executive. Article III, Section 1 of the
Oregon Constitution spells it out.
Separation of powers. The powers of the Government shall be divided into three separate branches, the Legislative, the Executive, including the administrative, and the Judicial; and no person charged with official duties under one of these branches, shall exercise any of the functions of another, except as in this Constitution expressly provided.
Article III, Section 2 says it all starts with Legislative action:
Budgetary control over executive and administrative officers and agencies. The Legislative Assembly shall have power to establish an agency to exercise budgetary control over all executive and administrative state officers, departments, boards, commissions and agencies of the State Government.
Once the legislature has created executive agencies and given them a budget and a mission, they are under day-to-day control of the executive -- The Governor.
The Administrative Department is described in Article VI. Because the Secretary of State and the State Treasurer are elected officials in addition to the Governor, who is the head of the Executive Branch, they are deemed part of the Executive Branch, but not really. Get it? The fact that they are called out on the Oregon Constitution gives them a measure of independence from the Governor.
To further complicate things, there are two other agencies within the Executive Branch, which are not named as part of the administrative branch, but are separate elected officials. The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries as head of that agency and the Attorney General as head of the Oregon Justice Department are statewide elected officials in the Executive branch.
The Governor is in charge of all other agencies in state government. Most agencies have a board of commissioners, appointed by the Governor and in some cases, confirmed by the State Senate, to direct policy for the agency.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2020-12-02 19:50:38 | Last Update: 2020-12-03 10:23:17 |
