|
|
|
Opinions January 1, 2009 |
|
|
—Editorial—
When The Smoke Clears
Oregon's new law banning smoking in bars, taverns, restaurant lounge areas, bowling alleys and bingo halls. goes into effect today. The law bans smoking within 10 feet of a door or window, even private and fraternal organizations and work vehicles occupied by more than one person now must become smoke-free.
There are several positive outcomes from this law. Those who want to quit smoking will have more incentive to do so. Those who don't smoke will not be subjected to secondhand smoke. People who did not frequent these places because of the smoky atmosphere may now do so. Also, those who work in these places will not have to endure secondhand smoke either.
This is a great day for nonsmokers, but for those who smoke, there's nowhere to go, but outside. Even outside will be difficult with the 10-feet rule in the downtown area. Since this new law is enforceable with fines, this may put added work on our local law enforcement to respond every time someone is seen lighting up in a smoke-free area.
There's no question now as to whether second-hand smoke, which has been deemed "a serious health hazard" by the Surgeon General is bad for you. The only question is, are we being fair to those who do and want to continue smoking and to those businesses that generate income from smokers who frequent their establishments?
We think it's a fair trade to protect our non-smoker's health. The law doesn’t take away a person's right to smoke, but it protects those who don’t care to smoke from the dangers of secondhand smoke. Smokers can still smoke at home, in their car or outside in appropriate places. In contrast non-smokers have no choice, but to inhale when smokers are around.
Business owners who wish to continue allowing people to smoke can provide adequate outdoor facilities for smokers. Most smokers are already accustomed to having to smoke outside because of previous laws passed regarding smoking in public places. A lot of smokers even choose to smoke outside of their own homes to protect other family members and keep their homes from smelling like smoke, which can hurt the resale value of a home.
When the smoke clears, however, is probably one of those areas like the Hatfields vs. the McCoys (smokers vs. nonsmokers) and will never be completely settled. At some point we may see "smoker's only" establishments that cater exclusively to those who smoke, which is not a bad idea. Or even some type of elaborate indoor ventilation system that sucks up smoke as it leaves the host. Maybe a smoker’s stool equipped with a hood that covers the smoker’s head? Of course, this all depends on how badly people really do want to continue smoking.
We think the new smoking ban law is a good thing for Oregon, but in all honesty, we don’t smoke... (DS)
—Letters To The Editor—
Holiday Greetings From The Sheriff’s Office
To The Record-Courier
From all of us at the Sheriff's Office who work for all of you, we wish you a very happy, safe and secure holiday season!
On Wednesday Dec. 30, 2008, at 2 p.m., I will be sworn in as the Baker County Sheriff for my second term. I would like to invite anyone interested to attend the ceremony at the Courthouse. I would like also to tell the citizens of Baker County how much I have appreciated and enjoyed being your Sheriff. I have been in Law Enforcement since 1972 and over the years have had many different assignments and duties that have all been interesting, challenging and sometimes exciting. Being the Baker County Sheriff has definitely been the highlight of my career and the most interesting. I would just like to thank the voters for again putting their trust in me and voting for me for a second term.
Finally, as the hustle and bustle of the holidays draws you in, I hope you will find time to relax, appreciate your family, friends and community. We are privileged to live in Baker County and have all that we do.
Mitch Southwick
Baker County Sheriff
For The Record
To The Record-Courier:
Once again I feel compelled to respond to an inaccurate letter written by Gary Dielman. As he has no involvement with Mountain Valley Mental Health, or the Advisory Board, he must use a Ouiji board for his “data.”
Although I retired from the Mountain Valley Mental Health Board of Directors in June, I know for a fact that MVMH has paid all of their bills and ended the last fiscal year with a small surplus. Furthermore, the organization continues to do well.
MVMH is currently facing what I believe to be a frivolous law suit by two ex-employees with a primary desire to tear down the organization. MVMH will survive this onslaught and will be here long after the lawsuit and Gary Dielman are history!
Laurence W. Levinger M.D.
Baker City
Travel Management Plan Has Problems
To The Record-Courier:
The Wallowa- Whitman National Forest (WWNF) is currently in the process of writing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to implement a stand-alone Travel Management Plan. Their proposal is to designate a few roads on a map that they will allow the public to travel, and to close around 4,000 miles of National Forest system roads within five counties; Baker, Grant, Union, Umatilla, and Wallowa.
The WWNF’s proposal to close all these roads on the National Forest is their way of implementing the 2005 National Travel Management Rule. This Rule didn’t tell the Forests they had to close roads. In fact, the Malheur National Forest chose to meet the intent of the Rule by simply issuing a map to the public showing the existing open roads on that Forest.
But the Wallowa-Whitman took the complete opposite tact. They decided to write an EIS, which proposes to close almost every road on the Forest except for a few main roads. A Draft EIS is in the works, and the WWNF says the EIS will be released for public comment sometime in January 2009. Every citizen who is concerned about his or her right to access within the National Forest needs to make comments on this Plan. If you use the National Forest for any purpose, whether it is for recreation, ATV riding, snowmobiling, logging, wood cutting, mining, grazing, hunting, fishing, mushrooming, camping, berry picking or just disabled, you are the one who will suffer. You are the one who will lose your use of the National Forests if the WWNF proposed action goes through.
The Wallowa-Whitman proposal is not even legal. The current 1990 Forest Management Plan is very access friendly. The current Forest Plan encourages use of the roads within the Forest, and allows for cross country travel, as long as resource damage is not occurring. Because the Forest Service is required to operate, right now, under the 1990 Forest Plan, they are bound by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to tier any new EIS to the parent Land Use Plan. This simply is not possible with the proposed Travel Management Plan, since closing all the roads is 180 degrees in the opposite direction from the access friendly 1990 Forest Plan.
The WWNF is trying to convince the public that their road closure proposal is not a significant amendment to the 1990 Forest Plan. But the facts speak for themselves; the WWNF Travel Management Plan proposal is a significant change to the 1990 Forest Plan.
The Forest claims it has old NEPA decisions that entitle it to close a lot of these roads. However, the Forest Service has been unable to provide an accurate map of the existing forest roads, and under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Eastern Oregon Mining Association, 19 NEPA documents for closing miles and miles of roads didn’t even list which roads these pertained to. The Forest Service was busy closing roads on Dooley Mountain two months ago, but when asked about their authority to close those roads (one of which was a county road) they couldn’t provide the NEPA document that gave them the authority.
The only legal EIS road closure alternative that the Forest Service can choose now is the No Action Alterative (no additional road closures). They have wasted hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars writing an EIS with a proposed action that is not even legal, since it represents a significant amendment to the access friendly 1990 Land Use Plan.
The WWNF should drop the EIS, and can do one of two things; (1) rewrite every reference to user friendly access within the 1990 Forest Plan, or (2) rewrite the entire Forest Plan, and bring it up to date, since that Plan is 19 years old. Either of these scenarios will take many years, and there will be much public input. Only after the Forest Plan is revised, with complete public and county input on what the road system should look like in the Forest, can the WWNF legally rewrite the travel portion of the Land Use Plan.
Guy Michael
Durkee, Ore.
Back In Business
To The Record-Courier:
Bronson Lumber Company is proud to announce that we will be opening our new store on the week of Jan. 12. This will be a soft opening, and will be followed by a grand opening celebration in April.
The support from the community during our tragic fire and rebuilding has been overwhelming. The construction crews involved in our new building have been instrumental in getting our building ready in record time. We owe them a huge thank you. We also want to thank all of the local newspapers and radio station for their support and for getting the word out to our customers that we were still standing.
We also want to thank all of our customers for their loyalty and support. We want them to know that not rain, nor wind, nor fire will ever stop the Bronson Lumber Company from providing the service that our customers deserve. Our doors will always remain open to all of our customers, even if all we have to open is an empty door frame. The communities of Union, Baker, and Wallowa Counties have been behind us 110% and we are proud to serve as Eastern Oregon’s lumber supplier.
Mace, Sherry and the entire crew from Bronson Lumber Co.
Island City
In God’s Words
To The Record-Courier:
First, let me inform those who attack the Christian who is speaking or posting God’s Word from the Bible are in great error and danger of God’s judgement. The true believer is protected by God, and against His enemies. Why? Because the attack is on God and His Word not the believer! I can tell you from personal experience it’s a battle you cannot and never will win! NO OTHER book on ANY other belief or religion has stood the test of time, not one of them! The proof is in the Bible, past, present and future! As I said before, no other religion or belief can pass this test! It’s been said, “a loving God would never send anyone to HELL! That’s right, the choice is yours! “Well, there’s more then one way to Heaven.” Not according to God’s own Word! Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth, no man (or woman) comes to the father (God, Heaven) except through me.” The Bible says NO other way! The views of the world may and do change, but God and His ways do not! Sin is still sin, good and bad are still good and bad, and God will still be our judge. Being “BORN-AGAIN” is not just a saying it’s what Jesus said in John 3 to be saved, to inhered Heaven and miss Hell! It doesn’t matter if you are straight, gay, good or bad, you must come to Jesus, for He said He desired that none should perish. It’s also time for all ministers to proclaim the Word of God without compromise as so many do! God created Adam and Eve for marriage, male and female, not Adam and Steve or Eve and Eve. Does not take a rocket scientist to reason why! God loves the homosexual, but their deeds without a change will destroy them and lose them heaven. Again, this is God’s own Word, not the Christians. Christians should be praying “the blindness of the sinner be removed so they can be set free and saved. This is the calling of every born-again believer! I don’t understand why anyone would turn down a God who has provided complete healing of our body (no sickness of any kind). Deliverance from any and all kinds of devil possession or oppression. Protection from enemies, and peace of mind.
Think what this would save you financially. God also said He wants to meet ALL your needs including financial blessings. Anyone who has REALLY studied the Bible knows it’s not just a gook, but a Supernatural book of books. It has been supernatural accurate about the past, it proving itself in accuracy of today. It will be totally accurate in its predictions of the future. Christian it’s time for you and I to stand and be the voice of God to the world. We are the only wall between good and evil. Remember, the ONLY reason for the season is JESUS!
Richard Fox
Baker City
State Control Is Not In Your Interest In These Times
To The Record-Courier:
A recent Sunday Oregonian ran a front page story on the great depression. One thing came across out of the stories of survivors. Those who lived on farms or had relatives on farms made out a lot better than those who were city dwellers. The United States had 121 million people at that time. Today we stand at 305 million and are almost totally urbanized. In the case of Oregon it is forced urbanization. I wrote The Oregonian a letter pointing out the down side of forcing almost everyone behind an urban growth boundary in an attempt to mitigate the resulting problems associated with a rapid population growth due mainly to an insane immigration policy. The letter never appeared because it is an eastern Oregon point of view that doesn’t agree with Oregon’s top down from Salem land use system. You will never be able to point out in a letter to The Oregonian editors that Oregon has become a haven for the newly arrived rich who can afford the huge land blocks mandated by comprehensive plans that are mandated by the state. Small blocks of land where people might be somewhat independent of an uncertain money economy are basically outlawed.
In the last year or so there has been some different attempts to limit governmental powers brought on by the federal government moving to set limits on 4 wheeler use in the forest and Baker County’s attempt to write a new land use ordinance. Probably the most controversial has been the road requirements that the fire chiefs want so they can get their equipment to fires. Many have caught on to the fact that even though the volunteers really are concerned about public safety it is just more of the Oregon way of zoning by money. If you got the bucks to build a road then you can join your privileged class of country dwellers. The old Oregon where in a man could hope to save up some money and after finding a willing seller could build a house or put in a mobile home, doing most of the work himself, start his own small homestead where he might raise a beef or two or have a garden area or an orchard. All of that has been denied by the new utopians who assure us that if we just plan and zone and restrict rights we can continue to import people and export jobs. this is where the world view of the globalist meets the locals.
Some are catching on and trying to fight back in various ways. They would like their property rights back. Oregonians in Action has been the lead force on fighting the state, most recently with measurers 7 and 37 only to have the legislature, Thousands Friends of Oregon, and the Oregonian propaganda machine push measure 49 that basically destroyed the work many contributed to passing grass roots initiatives. Measure 49 has been a failure, the fast track appears to be a rocky road through the wilderness of Salem, and a federal judge is now involved in Jackson County saving that measure 37 claims were valid contracts and the issue is headed to the liberal 9th Court of Appeals where property rights will probably lose. Meanwhile a debate about cooperation and coordination between the counties and the federal government is going on. Personally I see the two different animals.
The counties have a relationship with the federal government and it is OK to try and assert local county rights with them, but the real loss of property rights was the relationship between the counties and the state. It goes back to Senate Bill 100 in 1973 and the creation of a statewide land use law. It only affected privately held land. It does not have anything to do with federal and state land. Loss of personal rights came about with what was early on called LCDC or the Land Conservation and Development Commission and is now DLCD or Department of Land Conservation and Development or some damned thing like that. The monster might have changed its acronym, but it’s the same thing.
We’re at a critical time right now. The 2007 legislature realized that revolution was brewing because of Oregon’s top down from Salem land use dictatorship and in response to measure 7 and 37 created the Big Look task force to take a look at what Oregon’s 34 years of state control of land has actually done to or for Oregon and report to the 2009 legislature. I attended meetings and put in a lot of testimony, as did Carl Stiff, a county commissioner, at La Grande and I think Tim and Fred came to the Baker City meeting with the head of the DLCD. A recommendation from the Big Look is for a return meeting with the head of the DLCD. A recommendation from the Big Look is for a return to County control or at least partial control. Thousands Friends and The Oregonian have a back up plan if it looks like the legislature might get smart and let us handle our own business. They want a regional LCDC. I say don’t fall for this one. It is just more of the same. Salem will still have final say on all land use decisions. What we need now is a coordinated effort between the county commissioners and our state legislators. The commission needs to tell the state we are taking back our land use rights, right now. All land use decisions start and end with the county. No more state mandated ordinances. The state will threaten us but eastern Oregon is eastern Oregon. I predict that the counties east of the Cascades will join the rebellion and we will see the LCDC is a house of cards. Control of our lives could be back. We can still fight over land use if we choose, but it will be a Baker or Grant or Wallowa County decision. The lefties in Portland will scream, but who cares.
Ferrioli and Bentz need to represent us on this issue and the next legislative session starts in January. An open revolt would give them ammunition for returning power where it belongs, at the county level. In uncertain times having control over your lives is important. A top down slow moving dictatorship in Salem is not in your best interest. Now is the time to call your legislator, the legislature in Salem or write a letter to the editor. Sleep through this opportunity and it will be years more of the same.
Steve Culley
Baker City
TVs To Go Digital — So Much For The Good Old Days
To The Record-Courier:
Well wouldn't you know it, everything seems to be going digital these days even our TVs.
So much for the good old days when TVs used to really be in their time — all the TV series we used to watch. We have nothing to say on the issue of what we watch these days. They seem to do it for us then they wonder why we have violence etc., on the increase.
So now they are saying unless you do it their way you will have no TV at all.
I admit we went to Direct TV because cable was going up in price all the time and taking a lot of the shows off that we liked and enjoyed watching. Now you have to buy the series in DVDs etc. Awk!
I hope with this new digital system they will make all the remote controls etc., easy to use. A lot of people that I know are not accustomed to doing anything other than turning on their TV, and bingo you have it!
Maybe we should all protest and do away with our TVs and see what can really happen business wise. But not many are willing to do that let alone ourselves even if we have to watch the same oh programs, and have to put in a DVD of Hogan's Heroes just to see something different.
We can still watch Tom and Jerry, and Popeye, etc. on 298 channel.
Whatever happen to Gilligan's Island series — they are all on DVDs now. So many changes, historically speaking, the list goes on.
Coffee anyone?
Brenda Dickison
Baker City, Ore.
Working Together Works!
To The Record-Courier:
Winter has arrived in Baker City! The Baker City Public Works Department motto is “Working Together Works” and the men and women of the department are committed to that philosophy. We are proud to serve the citizens of Baker City each and every day of the year.
This time of year cooperation among the crews and citizens is so important. Snow removal is a challenge in any community and Baker City is no exception, but we are prepared.
To serve the community better the City has invested in a new 7yd Sterling Dump Truck with an underbody scraper. This piece of equipment, along with the 1982 CAT grader, a rental grader, the O.D.O.T. Grader (when available for use), backhoes, one loader and two older 5 yard dump trucks with plows, remove an enormous amount of snow from the nearly 70 miles of city streets and State Highway routes within Baker City. The salt truck and sander also make daily trips through town and attack major intersections. Three 10 yard dump trucks also haul hundreds of loads of snow from downtown areas each winter.
The Snow Phone (524-2021) is updated regularly with a description of snow plowing activities for the day. The snow plow priority route map is available online at www.bakercity. com.
Elderly and disabled citizens may be eligible for the Driveway Stake Program. This program provides a stake to mark driveways the crews will clear with after the grader goes by. View the website www.bakercity.com for more information.
You can “Work Together” with us by:
*parking cars in driveways when possible until snow is cleared from the street,
*moving vehicles from north-south streets to east-west streets and then back again when the streets have been cleared on Priority 4 residential neighborhood streets
*keeping a safe distance from snow removal equipment
*allowing plenty of time to get to your destination
*traveling at a safe speed
*enjoying winter
The Public Works Department works hard to clear as much snow as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. The budget is a fixed dollar amount of just over $68,000 this year and needs to last through the last snowflake sometime next spring. Let’s work together to make this year a success.
Michelle Owen
Director of Public Works
City of Baker City
|
|
|
