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