VIEWPOINTS
. ' " ' 1
Big bucks won’t solve
law enforcement crisis
■ OUR OPINION f txing
management problems
may correct sheriff s
budget woes
Th® moon is made of
chons®. she earth is flat, and
lane County voter* will
|>«»s th® $64 million proper
ty la* levy to boost th® sher
iff* s patrol feme, increase
the number of detectives,
put mor® laid* in th® pul
and reo|>®n a forest work
camp to house mm®
inmates,
Novnr mind that this
stealth ballot was apparent
ly drafted with th® help of
th® same Atr For* ® mission
coordinators who planned
th® atr war against Iraq
Measure 20 56. th® "Shor
iir» Levy*- appear™! sud
denly — almost out of
nowhere, and it has all th®
appearance of a sneak
attack In th® words of on®
opponent, th® measure “is
far too nxpertsiv®, and is the
prod in t of a flawed plan
ning pro* ess that included
no meaningful public
input."
The issue isn't whether
w® need badge* patrolling
our streets and highways,
because unfortunately, w®
do.
It's just dial tan® County
.Sheriff Hob McManus and
the county are knocking on
the wrong door This is
es|*m:ially baffling because
voters just got through slam
ming that same door right in
the stale's face with the
property tax-limitation law
of 1990 — the law that stu
dents love to hat®. Measure
S.
With Measure 20-56. Ian®
County residents are laced
with to® unfortunate dilem
ma of needing mm® police
on the streets, but not wanti
ng to go bankrupt to put
them there,
Recent revelations of bud
get mismanagement and
program failures within the
county's justice services
• ould very well point to
other ways to keep law
enforcement costs down
while keeping criminals
locked up.
In 19W), voters passed a
law enforcement levy to
fund the operation of the
Purest Work Camp, the
Community Corn*lion*
Onter (a work-release pro
gram) and electronic sur
veillance (or house arrest
programs
These viable programs
were supposed to provide
rebel lor «nrwciuwded jails
and avoid the kind of pris
oner release* that are "now
being cited as a primary’ jus
tification for passage of this
tax increase." said harry
Salmony. a former Coordi
nator of lustice Sorvica* for
lame County.
Salmony went on to say
that during the past three
years, none of these correc
tions programs has been
properly managed or fully
utilised.
Salmony cited other
example* of program mis
management and broken
promises from a levy passed
by vigors in 1993 Voter*
approv ed a 120-bed work
camp that was populated fry
lower than 50 inmates dur
ing the next two years At
the same time, nearly half of
the county's electronic sur
veillance units sat unused
cm a shelf while more than
10 pen ent of the beds in the
Community Corrections
Center sat unoccupied.
As this "underutdilation*"
occurred. more than 5.(KM)
inmate* were released
because of the overcrowded
tail.
Hut don't worry None of
them was guilty in the first
plac «.
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Forest conflict won’t yield livable result
The Pirife Northwest forest ronflnt will
not l» solved by the timber industry or
the environmental movement
Nor will it be solved by management
agencies such as the Forest Service or the Fish
and Wildlife Service
The solution will not be proposed by Con
gro*». it will not be i«k luded in a court ol Law.
and it will rug com* from ihe general public.
U‘s entirety possible that there is no solution
Experts concluded 30 years ago that a nuclear
arm* rat# had “no technical solution " Because
both side* far ed tin (easing military power and
decreasing national set untv. there could be no
winner. Similarly, all “sides" in the forest con
flict face increasing demand* on decreasing
resource*, and no one group is likely to give up
it* dwindling share to benefit the others
The “tragedy «»f the commons. * a concept first
outlined in 1833. holds that users of a public
resource will demand an tor mating share ol Ihe
common good to the detriment and eventual
Ins* of the resource
The timber Industry is motivated not by
jpwwd, but by profit
Fat «*d with a dwindling supply of public urn
l»es the industry l* not likely to cut production
by forgoing any supply it * able to "win* in
court It's even more unlikely that environmen
tal groups wilt cede any of what they tee as
their share
On* of the u .enlist* who helped draft Clin
ton's forest plan was astounded when leading
environmentalists criticized it "If I could have
whispered to Andy Kerr Sol the Oregon Natural
Resource* Count ill throe years ago what would
lie in thi» plan ~ be «aid. “Andy would have
thought he'd dietl and gone to heaven “
Any plan that make* environmentalists that
happy won't ever be designed, because their
motivation includes not only profit hut a zeal
ous commitment to preserving the forest* for
future generations
What? you say. Environmentalists motivated
by profit? Well, of course they are. Group* from
Earth First! to the Audubon Society require
funding tor publication*, staff, legal costs and
office expense* just like any other group
Beyond that, environmental group* will not
cense their protest or lawsuits, because they are
a conflict industry If ihere were no conflict,
they'd have no mason to exist.
Conflict and crises generate membership
funding and continued existence.
The forest issue is a “no-technical -solution
problem' partly because neither group will vol
untarily cede any of its share to the other side
Beyond that, consideration of the management
functions of the Forest Service and Congress
reveals that no solution can be forthcoming from
either source.
The Foro*! Service receive# its budget from
(aingrwts. and members of Cxingress decide how
II will be spent The agency's historic focus on
limber is best explained by Jack Ward Thomas
"When Congress funds my wildlife budget at
half of what I ask for. and research at one quar
ter what I ask for. but the timber sale program al
two and a half times what I ask for. what do you
think is going to happen?”
Member* of (Vingrass are motivated by their
financial resource*. After all, if you can't afford
a successful re election campaign, you're no
longer in Washington Major contributors to
those who fund the Forest Service are the
LJ
resource-dependent members
of the timber industry,
Forest management plans
are repeatedly sabotaged by
both the timber industry* and
the environmental groups that
manipulate the administrative
and |udit ial systems for their
own gain Each “victory* is
really a loss, not only for the
• tUfe but lot every share
holder and ultimately, the
And what of the Aitwru an public? Both side*
claim to s|M*ak for ail the citizen* who "own"
the national limits, and the A morn an public is
increasingly cone anted about forest issues
But tin* public's motivation toward a solution
is -nulled by the t umph-yity of tho*<- issue* The
public ha* no affective means of input into the
industry /Congress/agency system, and public
understanding tv limited by the media’s simpli
fication and misrepresentation of the issue*
Tlie solution if there is one — will not
come of conscience, responsibility, compromise
or management plan
Tlie solution can only come of mutual coer
cion bom of leadership And that leadership,
should it appear on the horizon, must come
from outside the current loop. The motivations
of the affected groups dictate that no solution
will lie proposed by one side nor ac cepted by
die other
Philosopher A N Whitehead wrote that the
"essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappi
ness It resides in the solemnity of the remorse
less working of things .*
The tragedy of the forests in the Pacific North
west, similarly, lies not in the loss of jobs, eco
nomic base. owls, family tradition, community
cohesion, salmon or oven biological diversity;
the tragedy is the remorseless working of thing*
and the absence of a leader who might avert a
tragic destiny.
Baity Andaman, a /umor mu/onng in /oumalism
is a columnist for tha Emerald B mail
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