I am a property owner in Joseph who is interested in making a property into a nightly rental. I have earned a master’s degree in health administration and a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in agriculture.

I am going to give you my beliefs so you understand my position: I am a Christian; I am a believer in the U.S. Constitution; I am a strong believer in personal property rights; and I believe in the U.S. democratic system of government. From these beliefs I accept the decision of the City Council to ban nightly rentals but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with the decision.

From The Chieftain’s July 5 Out of the Past column: “70 years ago, July 11, 1946. Rooms will be needed to accommodate a large number of visitors during the celebration of Chief Joseph Days. Anyone who can make available an extra room is asked to list it at the Caton Hotel in Enterprise or the Chief Joseph Hotel in Joseph. A rate of $3 for a room with a double bed has been recommended.”

I imagine Wallowa County gearing up for the Chief Joseph Days celebration and the hotel or inn owners saying, “We are all filled up; we have no more room at the inn.”

Rather than put a damper on those travelers coming to the area, the business owners did the following: 1) solicited people who may have extra rooms; 2) did the marketing for them by making a list at the inn; and 3) even recommended what to charge.

Wow. Can you imagine that happening today? The common sense of it all, allowing people to live in a home that isn’t even theirs for money. This was just 70 years ago.

So let us go back a little farther in history with a couple named Joseph and Mary who were traveling to a town named Bethlehem.

“The inn was overcrowded, and Joseph accordingly sought lodgings with distant relatives, but every room in Bethlehem was filled to overflowing. On returning to the courtyard of the inn, he was informed that the caravan stables, hewn out of the side of the rock and situated just below the inn, had been cleared of animals and cleaned up for the reception of lodgers. Leaving the donkey in the courtyard, Joseph shouldered their bags of clothing and provisions and with Mary descended the stone steps to their lodgings below. They found themselves located in what had been a grain storage room to the front of the stalls and mangers. Tent curtains had been hung, and they counted themselves fortunate to have such comfortable quarters.”

So another story where the inn was full and Bethlehem was filled to overflowing. The story doesn’t state what the fee was to stay at the inn or whether the inn was in a residential zone or commercial zone, but I am sure there was a charge. Doesn’t this sound very similar to modern day Chief Joseph Days?

So the City Council voted to ban short-term rentals within the city’s residential zones on a 4-3 vote. According to Mayor Dennis Sands, 99 percent of the people he queried favored a ban of nightly rentals in Joseph. Given the same scenario as Jesus’ parents today, Mayor Denis Sands would tell Joseph and Mary that there is no room at the inn, no room in Joseph, they must leave. Does anyone feel punched in the gut that the council members and mayor would give the boot to Jesus’ parents? People did what they could to help people out, even 2,000 years ago. I know the council got the current nightly rentals who have been collecting the bed tax grandfathered in following the ban. I have to give the credit here to the city attorney and not the council.

Regardless, history is not aligning with the council’s decision to ban.

Jeff Whitaker resides in Joseph.