Illinois Valley News

(Editor“s Note: Views and commentary, including statements made as fact, are strictly those of the letter-writers.)

Typed, double-spaced letters are considered for publication. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible also can be considered. “Thank you“ submissions are not accepted as letters.

Simon“s national savvy
From Lynne Vanderlinden
Cave Junction

In an all too successful joint assault, the Feds and socalled environmentalists stole our ability to support ourselves through O&C logging and thus ruined Josephine County“s economy.

The O&C Act has never been repealed; instead it was hijacked by presidential and judicial fiat and boiler-plate enviro lawsuits.

To placate us, we have been reduced to evershrinking in lieu of government welfare which our commissioners are forced to grovel for in a beltway world that doesn“t give a hoot about us — only owls.

Simon Hare was born, raised and educated here in the valley and was obviously smart and ambitious enough to work his way to Washington, D.C. and some pretty prestigious government employment.

From some of the letters I“ve been reading, his move and subsequent success are strangely being portrayed as talking points against him, rather than a source of pride.

There are more kinds of “green“ than envy.

The reality is “that guy who worked in D.C.“ is exactly who we need sitting in a commissioner“s chair. I, for one, am grateful to have someone with Simon“s national experience and savvy on the ballot.

“Actual results“
From Anna Stewart
Grants Pass

Last week“s letter from Paul Simon exhibited a desperate campaign that has reached new depths in the gutter of politics being brought to us from Washington, D.C. — candidate Simon Hare.

The offensive caricature of Dave Toler as a dirty hippy was truly pitiful. But not only was the letter totally lacking dignity, it also was full of inaccuracies.

First, Paul Simon claimed that Toler “has no desire to try and work with BLM to create a healthy forest...“

However, the public record shows that Toler authored a BLM forest management plan in 1993 that was called, “head and shoulders above anything I“ve ever seen from the public“ by John Pendergast, head BLM silviculturalist.

As many of us locals remember, Toler came to Illinois Valley in 1989 as a U.S. Forest Service employee, and worked in the forest for seven years.

But I doubt that Hare supporters would want to pollute their slander with truth.

Paul Simon also claims that Toler was “affiliated with“ the Siskiyou Project. Of course he will provide no evidence of this, as there is none.

The truth is that Toler is a moderate on forestry, and for those who want to return to the clear-cut days of the 1980s, they find level-headed moderates unacceptable.

The fact is that Toler“s public record on forestry consistently has been more middle-of-the-road for more than 20 years.

Finally, during how many commissioner elections have we heard candidates say that they are going to get the federal government to start ogging again like they did 25 years ago“ And all those commissioners have failed miserably to deliver on their empty promises.

So here we go again; the candidate from Washington, D.C. will provide more empty promises to get into office, but I assure you that the results will be the same: Zero, zilch, nothing.

For Hare supporters, empty promises are apparently all that they need to hear. For Toler supporters, it“s actual results that we expect — and actual results are what we get from Dave.

Indian Hill good neighbor
From William Reid
Cave Junction

The county road I live on is unmaintained gravel.

The county has never done any maintenance. Some of us living on this road donate money and time to buy gravel and fill in the holes.

Recently, Indian Hill LLC, a timber company, did some logging on property it owns at the end of the road.

At the conclusion of the operation the company brought in gravel and a grader, and brought the road up to a condition not seen in years.

The people of Indian Hill LLC left the road in much better shape than when they found it. That is what I call a good neighbor.

DeFazio fought for Oregon
From Constance Palaia Marr
Grants Pass

Recent letter writers have suggested that Congressman Peter DeFazio sold his vote on health-care reform for a backroom deal.

The truth is that he successfully negotiated a huge victory for Oregon and 16 other small states that experienced low Medicare reimbursement rates for decades. His tireless advocacy is a huge victory and means that our state will have Medicare equity for the first time.

Now Oregon doctors and hospitals will be reimbursed just as larger states for the same services. No longer will doctors in New York or Miami be paid more than three times as much in Medicare reimbursements as Oregon doctors.

Many in rural communities have had trouble finding health-care providers, in part, because these Medicare reimbursement rates cut the number of senior patients health-care providers could see.

DeFazio“s work was not a payoff. Correcting this inequity is something he“s been fighting to fix his entire career.

The ironic aspect is that most of the people criticizing him for this victory will directly benefit from the higher reimbursement rates.

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