Roberts: Timber plan upsets all WASHINGTON (AIM President Clinton appears to t>e well on Hi's way to finding a North west forest solution that will upset loggers and environmentalists alike. Oregon Gov Barbara Roberts said Monday "At the timber conference, the president said. If we do this right, everyone will lx* mail I think they may have sin i eeded." Roberts said Roberts met with Vn e President Al Core and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in separate ses sums Monday to get an update on the administra tion's efforts to find a Northwest compromise "I think it is t tear the president is involved in the pro< ess at this point in lime I don't think a decision has been made yet. Roberts told reporters after meeting w ith Babbitt Roberts, a first-term Domoi rat. said the loss of limber jobs is unavoidable under any of the man agement alternatives being considered, but that the timber industry is grossly exaggerating the imp«< t One industry estimate put the job loss in excess of HO.D00 if timber harvests fall as low ns 1 2 bil lion Ixwrd feet on federal lands in Western Oregon, western Washington and Northern California "We are not going to lose HO (too jobs in Oregon under any one of the i ompnnents of tins plan. Roberts said "I think we (ould sa\ without reservation there will be jobs lost as a result of the plan I don t Itelieve there is any wav to meet si ientifn i rede bilily and honesty and still protet t all of the |obs that are part of the industry now." she said I'lie governor said timber communities in her state "have a reason to tx> fearful." "We are talking about an industry that has Ihhui a major, and in some < uses the only, employer in some communities This is a very difficult period for those communities," she said Roberts said it is possible to resume some log ging in the region without securing an exemption to environmental lows, whii li is one of the options reportedly under consideration Liter. .1 f?or a meeting with Rep Ron Wyden. D Ore . Roberts told reporters, "There are some pus <*s ! still don't have details on "It will he knowing those details — know ing what the final m lentifu pint es look like, knowing w hat the final ei onornn piei es look like that w ill determine tm final comfort level." she said Wyden and Roberts said they would l>e working to bolster limber-related jobs that don't dejMtnd on such high levels of harvests Wyden said he is not interested solely in retraining workers "We don’t at < ept the idea ol the federal govern ment tolling into timber-dependent < ommnnities ami saving. 'Okay, everybody here is going to liei omt <1 1 ompsiter jockey.'" Wyden said Roberts said the timber harvest levels of the I'tHOs "are < learlv unrealistic. partii ularly with the news lost week that there have been some discrepnn i ics for a numlier of years in the numlwir of avail able acres of harvest in Oregon and Washington." Rolierts was referring a report Oregon State Uni versity forest economist K Norman Johnson pre pared for President (Hinton, which said harvest potential was greatly exaggerated in the 1‘1‘iOs for est plans for 17 national forests in Oregon and Washington Ai i ording to the memo obtained by Hie Ore gonian newspajMir. the Willamette National Forest plan overstated the amount of timtier that could lie sold In 40 pen ent. and the I !mp<|ua National For te,! plait overestnnaUHl its potential limiter yield by 30 percent Leaders of two dozen environmental groups asked Attorney General Janet Reno on Monday to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing by For est Serv ice of fit ia!s in arriving at those estimates "It is i tear that this w as done to justify unsus tainahiy high levels of timber* idling on the forests in violation of the National Forest Management Ai t and other federal laws." said Larry Tuttle, exei utive director of the (Iregon Natural Kesoun es Council. Eugene man looses drug-test appeal WASHINGTON (AIM A Federal Aviation Administrn lion tm hni( inn from Fugone, Ore . who was fired for refusing to lake a drug test, lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday Without comment. the t our! let stand the dismissal of Gerald Watson )r. Watson was an electronics lei him inn at an KAA field office in Kugene that installed and maintained navigation and air traffic control equipment. On Aug. IH, 1‘tHH. he was summoned for a random drug test required under the govern ment's ' drug-free federal work plaie" policy. Watson consulted a lawyer, who told him the was illegal Ix-i ouse n federal appeals court had barred posi-ac< idenl drug lusting of railway employees unless offi< mis had reason to believe a worker was using drugs. Thai ruling later was reversed by the Supreme tanirt Watson refused to take the drug test, although he went to a private clinic and underwent a test that showed no drug use The FAA's regional manager suspended Watson. He was fired thi* following Ik* ember. An administrative judge for the Merit Ns stems Protection Hoard red in