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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1981)
opinion _ I Mhk wasson I jOl a quorum of one "Price increases will put the forest products industry in this region at a competitive disadvan tage with the rest of North America, particularly with the South and Canada. It will be a time of traumatic readjustment and some producers in the Northwest gradually will go out of business." Darius Adams, forestry professor, OSU. March, 1981. "It was industry actions, decisions and prac tices that brought us to this serious stage. That point, it seems to me, is rather beyond debate. It is a painful fact of life." Sen. Charles Hanlon, D-Cornelious. April, 1981. Given this mindset, Hanlon, head of the Sen ate Agriculture Committee, is determined to reduce the voice of the industry has in the cutting of Oregon’s 700,000-acre public timberland hold ings. Hanlon is convinced, justifiably so, that the present Board of Forestry is industry dominated and unable, or unwilling, to consider the needs of the public. Big timber can’t seem to look past the dollar sign when deciding how badly to rape the moun tains. Like the utilities, Georgia-Pacific, Interna tional Paper and the rest have blindly satisfied demand without concern for the long term costs. Now, 30 percent of the Oakridge workforce is unemployed. And the numbers are comparable in Coos County and Astoria. The corporations have translated the fiber into cash and are saying “see you later.” Never mind that they've depleted the hills to the point that economies are strangling, mills are closing and jobs are disappearing. Against that backdrop, Hanlon’s efforts take on added importance and drama. Having drast ically over-cut their own lands, the industry is looking to government for help (the free enterprise system at work). Presently, the forest service purports to man age the federal forests on an even-flow, sus tained-yield basis — annual harvest are not to exceed annual growth. With most of the old growth on private lands gone and the second growth 20 years for harvest. The annual cut threatens to decrease. But, the industry has a plan: let us cut the public lands ahead of schedule until our second crop matures and we’ll take less timber in the future. Right, and the check’s in the mail. Hanlon’s plan is to reduce the size of the board to nine with three members coming from industry and six from the general public. Addi tionally, Hanlon wants to statutorily adopt the even-flow concept of Oregon’s state forests. The vehicle for the change is SB 500 and the fight promises to be intense. Industry has a habit of opposing efforts to give it a conscience. • • • As a postscript, I offer Prof. Adams’ prediction for the one bright spot in the forestry outlook of the next two decades: the pine regions of eastern Oregon and Washington. According to Adams, most of the timber on the east side of the hills is in public ownership “so it hasn’t been exploited like timber west of the Cascades, where most of the land is in private ownership.” va r ,s Miller’s diatribe This is in response to James D. Miller’s rambling diatribe of April 8 against David Isenberg et al: Point One: Mr. Miller refers to "commie sissies" who seek to avoid "service to their country.” Mr. Miller is obviously not aware of the fact that during WW II twenty million "commie sissies” of the USSR died to stop fascism. Tens of thousands of other "commie sissies" fought and died in the European resis tance movement, and, yes, the American armed forces. Were it not for all those "commie sissies,” Mr. Miller might well have grown up under a swastika instead of the Stars and Stripes . . On the other hand, maybe he would have preferred that. Point Two: Mr. Miller states that "We live better than people anywhere in the world..." Mr. Miller apparently does not understand that to the degree that the American working people have anything at all, it is as a result of the many militant organizations by means of which we have fought tooth-and-nail — literally for generations — against the rip-off artists that run this system (But then, Mr. Miller is obviously not from a working class background or he would not be prating about how wonderful things are for us. In the thirty-five years of my life in the working class community — white, black, Hispanic, et al — I have yet to see how damned well-off we are. Most of what I’ve seen has been more exploitation and suffering than I care to think about) I do agree, however, that it is time that we, the people, get behind America “100 percent.” We should get behind our country, dethrone the neo-fascists cur rently running the show, and hang a hard left — before it’s too late. Cathi Beavers Sophomore, anthropology Domino theory I’m glad that Gordon Brown has raised the issue of Squirrel Arrogance before the community. This issue is even more important than it seems at first glance. After all, Squirrels are only Rodents in drag and have allies in the Rat, Mouse and Hamster populations. If squirrels get away with challenging humans so bla tantly, the rebellion will soon spread. I call this the Domino Theory of Rodent Arrogance. I personally saw a Squirrel in Skinner’s Butte Park trying to entice some little children away from their mother by beg ging for crumbs and then running away before they could feed it. Luckily, the children's mother prevented them from following the Squirrel; who knows what would have happened to them had they done so. This incident shows how Squir rels are responsible for the breakup of the nuclear family. I don't have space to more than men tion the increasing Rodent domination of the media Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mickey Mouse, Chip and Dale, these are only a few of the Rodents that have begun invading our very living rooms. These dirty rats don't even work! Will we let them kill our brothers? WAKE UP, FELLOW HUMANS! Mr. Brown has sounded the alert and it is up to us to respond. If merely beating up these atheistic little puffballs doesn't intimidate them, we may have to es calate. BB guns and tactical M-80s are our next options. Let us pray for victory. Dean R. Domino Senior, political science Ignorance is bliss I was very pleased to see that James D. Miller chose to exercise his First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech in his letter to the editor on April 8. After all, that was one of the reasons I served four years active duty in the U S. Navy; to defend freedom of expression, or so I’ve been told. During that four years of which 3 years, 6 months, and 27 days were sea time I was an American fighting man in the course of which I _J participated in the evacuation of Saigon and the Mayaguez campaign. It would be interesting to know if Mr. Miller has similar military experience. If I understand him correctly I should be feeling guilty because I didn’t fight in places such as A Shau valley, Khe Sahn, or Danang and remorseful because I didn’t get to kill a Commie for Christ as part of a “well-intentioned” government intervention. Well, I’m not guilty or remorseful but I am ashamed to read a letter in which the writer is so ignorant as to believe that patriotism is defined as unswerving, blind obedience to government policies. I’ve been told that ignorance is bliss and therefore Mr. Miller must be feeling quite serene and tranquil but in the eloquent words of the Emerald give us a, well, you know, A BREAK. David Isenberg Junior, international studies
