Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated January 16, 2008
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Horsemen not Backwoods
From Terri Sullivan
O’Brien
I’ve been a member of Back Country Horsemen of America for years.
As I ride a mule I’ve been called many things, but never a Backwoods Horsemen. BCH is an organization active in trying to preserve and maintain riding trails throughout the United States.
Even through I’ve only been a member of the Sourdough Chapter for a year, I’ve been impressed by the hard work that this local chapter of only 75 members has accomplished. Work includes setting up the barn display at Kerbyville Museum; maintaining and preserving the horse camp at Sam Brown Campground; helping to rebuild the horse corrals with a horse club in Crescent City; and showing up in force for a U.S. Forest Service public hearing on campground closures.
While I was pleased to see the article about our group on the front page of Illinois Valley News (Dec. 26, 2007) I wish that the newspaper would have called us: The Sourdough Chapter of Back Country Horsemen of Oregon, an Affiliate of Back Country Horsemen of America.
Standing tall (and wet)
From Dorothea Hover-Kramer
Cave Junction
As reported by radio and TV media, the peaceful rally held Tuesday, Jan. 8 in front of BLM’s Medford district office was well attended by more than 100 people despite blinding rain showers.
For an hour, citizens expressed their many concerns about the proposed Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) with speeches, songs, and the handing over hundreds of petition signatures. Throughout, the attendees held the moral high ground with their willing hearts and umbrellas.
Not so for BLM. Although an official, associate district manager, Mary Smelcer, was present, those attending were generally viewed with suspicion and disdain. Despite pounding rain, the building was locked, allowing no access even to a restroom. The tour bus with one group, and which had an available restroom, was relegated to park at a considerable distance from the gathering.
Some attendees seeking shelter under the open breezeway between buildings were summarily evicted; this included a representative of the press (Illinois Valley News). A yellow band was then placed around the breezeway to prevent any further entry. Of course, BLM security and Medford Police stood dry under the breezeway shelter.
The right to assemble, especially when a public comment period is ending, in this case Friday, Jan.11, is a part of American democracy. Policies that affect all of us as neighbors of BLM should indeed be extensively reviewed, studied and discussed.
One might wonder if BLM suspects that its proposals are unpopular and therefore seeks to insulate itself by use of power. One wonders if there is deep dysfunction affecting this public, tax-supported agency.
It is my hope that future rallies can be met with more compassion for the men, women and children standing tall for democracy in torrential rain.
I.V. Airport parameters
From Ray H. Brewer
Cave Junction
I have read a letter or two decrying the forthcoming advent of 747s to the former Siskiyou Smokejumper Base at Illinois Airport with some amusement.
I had a career with the FAA and worked in the N.W. Regional Office as an electrical/general engineer, and was the FAA manager of a commercial airport that couldn’t handle 747s (Boise, Idaho) because of runway height and length restrictions. With that in mind, it would be ludicrous to imagine taking a 4,800-foot asphalt runway (I.V.) and changing it to one 8,000 feet long with several-foot thick high-strength concrete plus a much greater width.
Not to mention the apron area required for an airplane that size and the infrastructure to service it. How about the upgrade in lighting and electronic landing systems? All of this for an unneeded use.
I guess someone with the many millions of dollars required could waste the money, but I doubt if the FAA Airport Division could justify the waste of resources when there are upgrades elsewhere that could really benefit someone.
O&C and recession
From Don J. Smith
Cave Junction
O&C is a bust; prepare for a severe recession.
As I see it, BLM’s plan will not pass muster when it inevitably comes before a judge. BLM wants to increase logging under the Oregon & California Act to generate tax revenues. There are many reasons why I don’t think this plan will overcome a legal challenge.
The most obvious is that protections for endangered species like salmon and for habitat like old-growth forests cover areas far beyond that of the O&C Act. And the laws to restore these species and forests apply to all these areas, including O&C land. To apply different standards to O&C land that are weaker than for the larger protected areas simply isn’t legal. My hunch is that this will have turned out to have been a waste of time that succeeded only in dividing people.
Proponents of O&C rules over national laws think that by pushing the issue they can get more logging and more taxes. They are not paying attention to economic realities. Wholesale lumber prices are now half what they were a year ago. There simply is little market demand for lumber. That’s why area sawmills are lengthening their temporary winter closures, and one should expect more closures in the future, some permanent.
Demand for more logging doesn’t exist because the housing construction bust has taken hold and will continue for years. Way too many houses have been built, and housing prices will have to drop considerably to reduce the glut.
Many are hoping that economic development in the valley can turn to tourism and recreation to replace resource extraction. They argue that while our nation is going into an economic slowdown, this is just a part of the business cycle and things will rebound, bringing in money to the valley from the leisure industry, if we only prepare for it.
I’m afraid they are mistaken.
Our nation is likely going into a severe and long recession. This is no typical business cycle. Not only are housing foreclosures reaching a level not seen since the Great Depression, but credit card and auto loan delinquencies are rising. Commercial real estate is starting to slam against the wall, leaving one wondering what building speculators like Larry Osborn were thinking when starting a massive building project north of town at a time when the bust is just now beginning to dig deep.
Even recreation vehicle producers and retailers are seeing less demand, as more and more of us are forced to cut back. We also should expect increasing corporate defaults as things worsen, unless the reputable Moody’s rating service doesn’t know what it is talking about.
The chickens are coming home to roost for Wall Street. Losses for investors and banks are just now showing up, and the picture will get more ugly by the month as speculators unwind their over-leveraged bets.
Clearly, this is no ordinary credit bust. The United States will be forced, in an increasingly global economy, to adjust downward its consumer and debt-driven standard of living, and it will be permanent. The days when we can consume based on growing debt (while incomes stagnate) are over.
No longer should we expect foreign central banks to bankroll our debt. And as the dollar weakens over time, their incentive to do so will only decrease, further weakening the dollar and forcing up inflation.
It is no longer a matter of debate as to whether we are going into a recession, but how severe and long it will be.
Our actions are to pay off as much debt as possible and save. Yet ironically, as more people save, there will be less buying which will only worsen a recession. But what choice do working and middle class citizens have but to save as much as possible, as the cost of items we need, like food and energy, are rising.
It is time to get serious, for these are serious times.
Mackin looks good
From Roger Brandt
Cave Junction
I recently visited with Harry Mackin, the person running for Jim Raffenburg’s county commissioner position this spring, to discuss his election plans. I thought people might like to know what I found.
Mackin has a son who is a police officer in Anchorage; and a daughter who teaches at Grants Pass High School. His granddaughter is into gymnastics, dance and ice skating.
His wife, Sue, has a real love of plants and, for that reason, every room of the house has three to five large potted plants. She is well versed in county political issues.
I learn a lot about people by seeing what they read. In this household I found Discovery magazine, National Geographic, Sunset, and home improvement journals. They have a room dedicated for their library, much of which is on history, reference books, garden books, do-it-yourself books, and classics.
I also learn a lot about people by the way their pets react to them: Both cats wanted to be close to Harry, and one followed us everywhere. I understand that they feed a lot of strays dumped in their neighborhood.
In two rooms of the house there were binoculars kept handy next to the windows for bird and wildlife watching.
Harry Mackin has a long history of community involvement including being president of the GP Growers Market, president of the Boys & Girls Club, president of Grants Pass Rotary Club, chairman of the GP Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Three Rivers School District Board, and other similar positions.
Mackin and his wife are outdoor-oriented people, and their landscaping projects reflect an interest in enriching the time they spend outside. They have no problem getting their hands into the dirt to get the job done.
We visited for some two hours. Although this generally isn’t enough time to draw firm conclusions about a person, the impressions were good. There is nothing like hope to put a little sunshine in the future.
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