Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated November 7, 2007
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County fund solution: Sell unneeded property
From Fred Krauss
Selma
Josephine County is strapped for cash to operate the sheriff’s office.
The county has 30,000 acres of land which was repossessed for nonpayment of taxes in the 1930s. It now has a forestry department with 10 1/2 employees and a budget of $1.6 million.
My recommendation is for Josephine County to do as Jackson County did, and sell all the land not needed for parks and other county activities. I estimate that the timber on 30,000 acres would be worth approximately $30 million. If we sold that land we could also put it back on the tax rolls and generate tax income.
Why should Josephine County be in the land business? The $30 million, if just put in the bank, would make $2 million to $2 1/2 million a year in interest. This money would be well-used for the sheriff’s office to bring it out of financial stress and to help run our jail and sheriff’s office more proficiently.
Bush should obey laws or be convicted by them
From Bill Pfohl
Kerby
Torture should not be tolerated in our form of government. This will allow them to do this to us.
It does not matter where on Earth this government does this torture. It should not be tolerated. If the president knowingly allows this torturous act he should be convicted to the full extent of our real established laws. We convicted the Japanese and Germans for this same torture technique in a time of a very real world war.
It seems that if you convict others for using this torturous sword then you should be convicted by these same twin-edge sword standards that our country has established to be wrong. Convict this president and any president in the future who thumbs his or her nose at our established laws of our lands.
I think that when we convicted these World War II torturers they received 10 years and more in political prisons for this same act that our president is now doing on a continuing basis. This makes him a self-made terrorist in his own twisted right and will let the next presidents think that they can get away with this wrong.
This president does these torturous acts on foreign soil to try to cover his tracks. This act of torture is called water boarding, which does most likely drown the victim at times by our president’s rubber stamp with the CIA these days. President Kennedy once stated on TV that he was going to take apart the CIA, and I think he died soon after as a result.
This is why great presidents like Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Madison stated that the people of the population should always be allowed to own guns, in the case that our government gets totally out of control. Of course, these days it would not be a fair fight, but at least they made it known that we should never be complacent to a very big wrong like this one in our present government.
If we are to progress in this world we must try to stop behavior like this in every nation including ours. We should shine the light of honor and truth to the world as we have done in the past. A change is needed from within this illegal heart of our government. They must do away with torture and murder and the CIA doing these things in our name. I must confess I made a very big mistake when I voted for this now very mediocre why-not-let-the-CIA-run-the-government president.
People should write their representatives about this.
War with Iran said pushed by president
From Crystal Griffin
Cave Junction
De’ja Vu: The drumbeat by this administration is increasing on the issue of going to war with Iran. Here are a few facts:
We are fighting the war in Iraq, Iran on one side and Afghanistan on the other, on borrowed money. Iran has a population of some 63 million people. Iran is a modern country. It is likely we would sink their ships and that they would sink our ships.
The chances of Iran striking America on our homeland may be more plausible. Iran was helping the United States fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. Iran is at least five years away from a nuclear weapon.
America has more nuclear weapons than any country in the world. Read about Hiroshima to understand a nuclear scenario.
Likes Toler approach to timber situation
From Jill (Birmingham) Talise
Kerby
I’m a property owner adjoining BLM land. I support Dave Toler’s position on a diverse solution to our county’s economic crisis.
It is my experience that Dave is highly dedicated to the needs of our community, putting aside any personal opinions. He has good leadership and problem solving skills.
I feel that his “middle-of-the-road” position best reflects the concerns of most of the people I have come in contact with in Josephine County. He is not catering to either the “take-it-all” or “leave-it-all” mentality.
Relying solely on huge increases in logging our heritage forests is a non-sustainable, Band-Aid solution that will ultimately leave us back at “square one” soon, with ravaged public forests and a divided community.
There are great expenses involved in logging, fat profits for a few big companies, lots of money leaving the area, with only a small trickle-down of funds for our local communities.
There are other options besides huge timber cuts or extreme property taxation. For example, a sales tax on goods. It would have a direct route into the county coffers, a diverse populous supporting its public infrastructure and would not affect basic needs such as food or housing.
We should all work together to solve our financial problems in a diverse and sustainable way. Let’s provide some real security and an intact environment for our children and their children to come.
I feel that the people of our county will support their communities with reasonable, “middle-of-the-road,” long-term solutions.
BLM’s WOPR gets her dander up
From Elaine Wood
Selma
Commissioner Jim Raffenburg says that the “environmentalist industry” is to blame for Josephine County poverty.
Realtor Jim Frick appears to be more interested in his own pocketbook than tourism dollars for our community. BLM’s Tim Reuwsaat says that we’ll run out of timber in three years if they don’t cut old-growth.
The voters say “No” to libraries or police and fire protection. Common sense is apparently nowhere to be found. And it definitely isn’t in BLM’s Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR), BLM’s bid to change regulations, continue dangerous county dependence on timber, bring back clear-cutting to public lands and further bloat egregious corporate welfare.
Even if some forested areas (tree farms) are left standing, BLM’s WOPR proposes 13 new areas for exploitation by all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and four-wheel-drive vehicles, thereby further degrading forest health, water and air quality while shamelessly instituting noise pollution near homes.
What do people do now; having bought their homes believing that BLM land bordering theirs was a good thing, protecting property values and quiet solitude?
WOPR, a 10-pound, three-volume, 1,600+ page paper monster, is padded with ignorant conclusions using inadequate and bad science designed to replace the Northwest Forest Plan (NFP). The public is given 120 days to substantively comment. WOPR is designed to overwhelm the public.
Get a copy now from BLM. Read the fine print and comment. This decision will affect our children and grandchildren and bring little money to local communities and not much more to county coffers for at least five years. There is no long-term plan. Like the playground bully, when BLM management can’t win the game, it changes the rules.
WOPR will not protect our homes from fire, but it will extract remaining old-growth forests and “clear-cut” BLM land in order to make money for the timber corporations (who don’t pay their share of taxes) and to pay for Raffenburg’s campaign-promise-breaking salary and Washington jaunts.
Thinning is a ruse. Our desperate Northwest counties are held hostage by arrogant, manipulative shysters: Bush, BLM management and corporations. Their plan will not save us. Only we can save ourselves by stopping WOPR, ending corporate welfare and paying our own way.
Timber realities need Recognition, she feels
From Dorothea
Hover-Kramer
Cave Junction
It is time to wake up to the realities: One county commissioner appreciates our surroundings and opposes the massive tripling of logging that the BLM Western Oregon Plan Revision proposes; another says our county financial problems will be solved if we support logging.
In an effort to confuse and distract us he states that we should return to the harvest levels of the ’80s although not so many trees remain. It is certainly not a black-and-white issues of trees or taxes. Yes, we need trees to support the local economies and the influx of new residents to broaden our tax base.
We also need services such as police and fire protection to continue to attract business and growth of our area. It is quite unlikely that the county would get the substantial funding it needs from federal agency BLM’s projects which have never been financially successful except for timber industry pockets.
A realistic view at our financial situation was offered to us by the commissioners. Cutting trees is at best a temporary and short- sighted solution. We must transition into the 21st century and face the reality of other forms of taxation so that everyone will benefit.
We must establish self-sufficiency and stop depending on O&C funds. We must have a plan that is realistic for selective logging of some trees to provide adequate fire protection, local income, and well-planned, implemented replanting. Other pristine old-growth areas must be left for future generations, tourism, and quality of life for each of us.
People need to know that Illinois Valley is especially targeted for BLM’s WOPR because we have some of the remaining old-growth. Right now while the public comment period is still available until Dec. 9, we each have a voice to speak to the county commissioners, BLM, and make copies to send our congressional representatives.
If the trees fall and we have resulting significant climate change and economic depression in the valley, it will be too late.
WOPR’s chipmunks, bunnies and birds
From Roger Brandt
Cave Junction
Some may think that this is crazy, but does anyone think a motel is a chipmunk? Does anyone think that gas stations are rabbits and stores are birds, raccoons and skunks?
If this is what can be seen, then those with that view can join BLM in the belief of “timber industry dominance,” the fantasy that only the timber industry is allowed to make a profit from our O&C lands.
The notion of “timber dominance” comes from a court case that decided timber production could be dominant over preservation of wildlife habitat. The court case never said that timber was dominant over humans and businesses.
We should all chip in and get some clinical help for BLM so that it can start seeing us as businesses and people rather than chipmunks, bunnies and birds. We have just as much right as the timber industry to enjoy and make a living from our O&C lands.
Past Cougar thinks IVHS grid team great
From Mike Modrich
Cave Junction
A voice from the past would like say congrats to Illinois Valley High School and its football team for the tremendous year they have given us all.
As an alumnus, previous Cougar basketball coach and fan I realize the amount of energy, time and effort that goes into a single season. Coach Bob Thornhill and his staff have paid their dues many times over competing in the always-tough Skyline Conference.
I recall a Booster Club meeting from long ago in which the football coaches at the time said IVHS will never be able to compete in this conference and that an independent schedule was the only way to make things fair. I remember this meeting well, mostly due to the fact that my decision to take over the basketball program would hinge on this vote.
The administration and Booster Club agreed to give us a shot at competing -- and look at IVHS now. Not just winning the Skyline title, but being ranked one of the top four teams in the state.
My years as a coach at IVHS were trying, but also exciting, as I am sure that Thornhill will recall in his after-coaching life. The football season will end for the players soon, as they move into wrestling or basketball, but as this great year ends, the next even-better one starts.
There’s no rest for the wicked so Thornhill should not rest on his success of this year, but take a couple days and jump back in preparing for the next great season. Go Cougars.
He wonders about prices of gasoline
From Gary Luerding
O’Brien
I’ve lived in Cave Junction for more than 30 years and have never seen such a
disparity in the price of gasoline between the Chevron station here in town and
others in the area.
For the most part, the Chevron brand always has been the most expensive, but it’s now bordering on the absurd. At this writing the 76 station in CJ is $3.09 and the one in Selma is $3.04. Even O’Brien advertises its prices at $3.19 and it is just a few miles from California.
But the CJ Chevron is charging $3.34 per gallon for regular gas. I won’t even comment on the other grades. I write this because I’ve been a Chevron customer for more years than I care to remember, but I’m at the point where I plan to cut up my credit card into tiny pieces and mail them to Chevron’s corporate offices with a copy of this letter as
explanation.
If the high price of gas were reasonably uniform throughout our area I wouldn’t complain (at least not much). But driving to Grants Pass I find the
Chevron stations on the north and south side of town are selling regular gas
at $3.09 per gallon. (I just filled my tank this morning).
At any rate, I would certainly like an explanation as to why there is such a substantial gap in prices between CJ and Grants Pass
I hope that the justification isn’t because of the trucking charges between California and here. That excuse doesn’t ring true because gas at the Hiouchi Chevron station is significantly more than even the one in CJ.
But, even if the cost of transporting gas over the mountain raises the price that appreciably, why on Earth doesn't CJ Chevron use the same vendor as those Chevron stations in Grants Pass? Certainly the additional 30 miles wouldn’t tack on an extra 25-cents per gallon. (Difference in GP Chevrons and the one here in CJ).
Commentary about digging up ground
From Larry Herman
Cave Junction
Copeland Sand and Gravel: Destroying the Earth; destroying the valley; destroying our lives the old-fashion way -- one truckload at a time.
Obama for president? No way, says observer
From Stan Smith
Cave Junction
Recently, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill., New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Ruth Harkin, wife of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) stood during the playing of the National Anthem during a public gathering.
A photo shows Barack Hussein Obama (that’s his real name) standing, but lacking respect. An article with the photo states that he refused to not only place his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance, but refused to recite it.
How can a man like this expect to be our next commander-in-chief? I find this scary.
For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11-12, NKV version.)
Regarding Tony Paulson, mayor of Cave Junction
From Sharon Elston
Cave Junction
The U.S. government theoretically functions by representation -- a government of, for, and by the people. When our city’s officials fail to represent the will of the people, they are not acting as concerned members of the community, but are merely mouthpieces for the rules established by the state.
Mayor Paulson should stand up. We escaped the talons of a topless bar in town by the skin of our teeth, and the issue may yet raise its ugly head again. Now the city’s water supply is being threatened by a mining operation immediately upstream. Mining turbulence stirs up organic compounds which, when combined with disinfectant measures, create carcinogenic trihalomethanes.
The health of those who consume this water, who include our precious children, needs to be protected.
I appreciate Paulson for sitting in the hot seat. But instead of being the fall guy, how about him being the stand-up guy for the city of Cave Junction?
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