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The McKenzie River, nationally renowned as one of Oregon's most beautiful and raftable rivers, is being degraded at an astounding rate. At this very moment the Willamette National Forest, McKenzie Ranger District, has awarded more than 1,200 acres of the upper McKenzie watershed, which could be logged by the end of the year, with more than 600 acres still pending award, and hundreds of acres of proposed timber sales. The McKenzie District employees seem to have blatantly overlooked the fact that thousands of acres of private industrial land are clear-cut every year downriver, that the listed threatened bull trout still tenuously survive in the upper reaches of the river's cold clear waters, and it is the municipal water supply for hundreds of thousands of people in the Eugene/Springfield area. Further, the Willamette National Forest can't even be trusted to comply with federal court orders or the Northwest Forest Plan when it comes to surveying and protecting rare and sensitive species. Last spring in 2002 citizen surveyors discovered, in one McKenzie timber sale alone, three active red tree vole nests (which require 10-acre buffers per active nest) and at least a dozen sites of a very rare lichen (which require a 150-foot buffer per site). Now, the McKenzie Ranger Station and Willamette National Forest state that they are not going to provide those habitat buffers that they are required to by the Northwest Forest Plan. Who and what are these people working for? Shannon Wilson
TAXING CONCERN I just need to let off some steam about city Ordinance 20273 TSMF (Transportation Systems Maintenance Fee), "not a tax," says the city. I disagree and here is the reason: All property taxpayers foot the bill for education. Since no one is exempt, we will be paying more tax to pay this fee for K through 12, while those persons in higher education will have higher tuition. How many jobs will be lost or working hours be cut to pay for this? Churches and organizations such as Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul and FOOD for Lane County are not exempt from this fee; just another way for them to be kicked while down again. City Council should be proud of itself for this ordinance. Does anyone know how much they will pay, and how long they will pay this fee? I just signed a petition to repeal this ordinance and ask all taxpayers who are Eugene registered voters to do the same. How much more for goods and services will we pay? Earl W. Walton
SUB-PAR SUBSIDIES It was very depressing to read Alan Pittman's report that Gov. Kulongoski, Jack Roberts and the Oregon Economic Development Department are still pushing corporate subsidies as an answer to the state's economic woes. None other than international financier George Soros stated, "Perhaps the greatest threat to freedom and democracy in the world today comes from the formation of unholy alliances between government and business. This is not a new phenomenon. It used to be called fascism… The outward appearances of the democratic process are observed, but the powers of the state are diverted to the benefit of private interests." The realization that corporate subsidies actually cost more in the long run and in many areas besides economic has been recognized for some time. Pittman lists many of those sources. Here are a few more. Good Jobs First (www.goodjobsfirst.org/gjf.htm)has been doing analyses of the results of corporate giveaways across the country for years. David Korten, who worked idealistically with USAID for eight years to help poor countries develop economically, finally realized that the methods used were not only doing the opposite in those countries but also in America "as revealed in the growing gap between rich and poor, dependence on foreign debt, deteriorating educational systems, rising infant mortality, economic dependence on the export of primary commodities (forests), indiscriminate dumping of toxic wastes and the breakdown of families and communities." He came back to America to work on people-centered rather than growth-centered economics. To fully understand what corporate power has done to our economy, our society, and our rights, read Thom Hartmann's Unequal Protection," Arianna Huffington's Pigs at the Trough and Marjorie Kelly's The Divine Right of Capital. Check out the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (www.poclad.org)and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom People's Rights Campaign (www.wilpf.org/corp/cintro.htm).But take your blood pressure medicine. Wanda S. Ballentine LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words, keep submissions to once a month, and include your address and phone number for our files. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. |
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