Illinois Valley News Vol. 73 No. 31 Dated: October 13, 2010

Letters to the Editor

From our weekly issue dated October 13, 2010

Illinois Valley News welcomes Letters to the Editor. Please e-mail them to dan@illinois-valley-news.com.

POLICY ON LETTERS: ‘Illinois Valley News’ encourages letters to the editor provided they are legible and not libelous or scurrilous. All letters must be signed, including name, address and telephone number. The latter need not be published, but will be used to verify authenticity. The “News’ reserves the right to edit letters. Letters are used at the discretion of the publisher.

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

Mr. Smith, Please Call
Jennifer Krauss Phillippi
Cave Junction

I suspect that the public has grown weary of our series of letters-to-the-editor initiated by the former environmental executive director, Donald Smith, but it’s necessary to clear up one last, especially inaccurate, suggestion he makes.

Though we at Rough & Ready are pleased to have recently bought our first BLM timber sale in 12 years, Mr. Smith is right that there were several BLM offerings that we did not purchase, but again, this issue is much more complex than he presumes.

No matter how desperate Rough & Ready, and Swanson in Glendale, might be for local logs off the federal forests, it would be foolish to buy timber sales that would cause us to lose money. We need logs that fit our mills, at a price that would provide even the smallest profit.

Hypothetically, if the BLM offers timber at $1,000 and Rough & Ready’s break-even on those logs is $500, we’re not going to purchase the sale. And if the average log diameter being offered is five-to-six inches and our mills can use a 12-20” second-growth log, again we can’t buy the sale. A baker isn’t going to buy chaff instead of wheat when the customer wants a loaf of bread.

The BLM has an obligation to sell wood that fits the local manufacturing capacity and supports surrounding communities. For many years their program has been stymied by litigation, but a recent recognition of a crisis in forest health has highlighted the need for forest management and maintenance of the existing manufacturing infrastructure that assists restoration efforts. We hope that the unifying goal of a healthy, vibrant forest, along with the public’s urgent need for a strong economy, will enable the BLM to achieve the full scope of their responsibilities.

If Mr. Smith has further questions about how we run our business, I invite him to call me.

If I Were Sheriff
Raymond Ronald Karczewski�
Cave Junction

If I were Sheriff of Josephine County Oregon. I WOULD:

Return to the Constitution and Common Law, an age old derivation of God’s Law. DO NO HARM. DO NOT HARM ANOTHER. DO NOT HARM ANOTHER’S PROPERTY. DO NOT INFRINGE UPON ANOTHER’S RIGHTS.

Lift the UNLAWFUL CORPORATE BAN on living, breathing, flesh-and-blood, sentient, natural men and women travelers using their automobiles for non commercial purposes in doing daily errands, duties, etc for that has never been the intent of the States Police Powers dealing with licensing commerce.

Not enforce municipal ordinances that have no other real purpose other than to generate revenue. The people would no longer be “customers” now depicted in the parking lot sign at Cave Junction City Hall.

Do away with Bogus, Corporate money making programs such as the WAR ON DRUGS.

NO LONGER, suck off the teat of the Federal Government by accepting grants and gifts with STRINGS ATTACHED, thereby compromising Josephine County Law Enforcement.

Get rid of every thug now wearing a uniform. Those who’ve consistently used unnecessary force upon people just because they can.

Remove top heavy, high-paying specialists positions, retrain all presently employed deputies from “specialists” to “generalists” and return them to the Street, where True Crime is faced and dealt with.

Would People of Josephine County Oregon be FREER knowing they are not being targeted for “VICTIMLESS CRIMES“” THAT’S A NO BRAINER.

Let’s hear it from the People of Josephine County. Does such REVOLUTIONARY form of Law Enforcement INTEREST you“

Get Up and Vote
Carl Jacobson
Cave Junction

OK people, it’s that time of the year again. Those of you that know what I’m talking about. It’s time to vote.

Here in Oregon we vote in the privacy of our home and all you have to do is either take it to the city hall in Cave Junction or mail it to the county clerks office in Grants Pass. It’s that simple.

If you vote you have every right to complain, but if you don’t vote then you are actually stealing from the rest of us that do vote.

I have heard more people in town here say “Oh, I’m not registered to vote,” but you live here. That’s part of the problem with the way America thinks today. They have their hands out for all the free giveaways and usually are the ones who complain the loudest.

Trying to get people to volunteer to do anything, it doesn’t matter if it’s school or a cause, people just don’t see to care or take pride in what or who they are, just as long as I can let somebody else do it for me.

So much for the soap opera. But if nothing else maybe this will help motivate you to get up and vote. One can make a difference in who wins or loses.

Another CJ Fan
Mike Hobson
Cave Junction

As a long-time fellow resident of our great valley, I wholeheartedly agree with last week’s letter under the headline “Tour of Cave Junction.”

I wouldn’t live anywhere else, and wouldn’t want to see it change. I love our community.

Addressing the marijuana issue, it seems to me it is farming after a fashion. Why not allow for people to make an honest living at it“ There is a great sense of pride being able to support your family. It makes sense that it would increase revenue for our local businesses and the eradication of meth and the cartels too. To me, there is a certain logic to treating it with the same laws tobacco and alcohol fall under.

We are blessed to live in the State of Jefferson!

Keep the tax cuts
Anita R. Savio
O’Brien

The issue of repealing the Bush tax cuts for those making over $200,000 a year ($250,000 for couples) has been put on the back burner for now, but will come up again for Congressional consideration after the November elections.

Many have argued that increasing taxes on the top two percent of all earners will hurt small businesses. But, according to the Small Business Administration, more than 97 percent of small business owners earn too little to be affected by the proposed tax increase.

That leaves only three percent of owners, and most of those are partners in law firms, high-powered consultants, etc. These are not mom and pop businesses. In addition, according to economist Roberton Williams, with the Tax Policy Center in Washington, raising their top income tax level from 35 percent to 39.6 percent would probably have little impact on hiring. The decision to hire a new worker depends far more on demand for a business’ products than on taxes.

It’s even possible that not raising taxes on the top two percent would hurt small businesses in the long run. Keeping all the Bush cuts, as proposed by Republicans, would contribute $3.7 trillion to the budget deficit over the next ten years. This could result in higher interest rates, making it harder and more expensive for small businesses to borrow.

On the other hand, repealing the tax cuts for the top two percent of all earners would bring in $700 billion over the next ten years.

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz also points out that tax cuts for the very wealthy do very little to stimulate the economy, because those in the highest income brackets tend to save rather than spend their extra income.

It is good economic policy to keep the tax cuts for the middle class and 97 percent of small businesses. But they should be repealed for the very wealthy.