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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2015)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2015 4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS Opinion — Editorial — The good, the pretty bad, & the really ugly The Good. This week the Baker City Police Department and Baker County Narcotics Enforcement Team made multiple arrests, taking known drug dealers—meth dealers—off the streets. Now, we realize those arrested are innocent until proven guilty. We also realize the reality is most residents of Baker County either know someone who is dealing, using, has used or has dealt. In most neighborhoods, the resi- dents can point a finger down the street straight at that one house from which they know drugs are coming and going. We’d say meth has become an epidemic in our area, no exaggera- tion. When a meth user starts using, it can be for a myriad of reasons—immatu- rity, poor judgement, ignorance, peer pressure, mental health issues—but once started for any reason, they’re hooked. We have spoken with former meth addicts, and they will describe their old lifestyle as a living hell. Other crimes such as theft increase around them, and they may find themselves participating to pay for their addiction. They lose children. Their children are emotionally scarred. They lose jobs. They lose their self-respect. When they want to seek help, they often can’t—at least not without great difficulty—out of fear of retaliation from the dealer and his/her network of thugs, and by the constant pushing of the substance onto a person whose choices are already significantly i - paired. Dealers are doing the devil’s work, no doubt about it. So when we see the multitude of arrests over the last year, and the effort undertaken to quietly, methodically complete these sting operations, we cheer. Around this same time, yet another alleged Baker City meth dealer was arrested in Wheeler County. The last press release we received said that more arrests are anticipated. We look forward to it. The Pretty Bad. President Obama’s State of the Union address. If ever a sitting president appeared to happily sit cocooned in his own little imaginary land, it would be this one. This year’s SOTU address sounded much like former campaign speeches during which Obama talked about how great he’d done and how much better America is doing because of it. In spite of a clear mandate as demon- strated by the November election, he took the opportunity to decry Repub- licans. He cracked jokes in the face of an $18 trillion debt. He failed to men- tion the current war against extremist Muslim terrorists currently happening all over the globe. And of course he was focused on all the “free” stuff he wants to give the underprivileged. Read: He focused on how much he could pilfer from those who work their bottoms off to make an honest living. In essence, he spewed the core tenant of liberalism once again. The Really Ugly. Two words: Michael Moore. Here is a man who gives new mean- ing to the word “hypocrite.” Moore has made millions making documentaries bashing businesses and executives who have made millions. Now he’s speaking out against military snipers who risk their lives to protect the soldiers who risk their lives to give Moore the right to speak out in the first place. (Whew! Then, when pounced on by main- stream America and fellow Hol- lywoodites (Dean Cain, Rob Lowe, Blake Shelton ...) about his multitude of anti-sniper tweets, which essen- tially called Chris Kyle a coward, he carefully backtracked and said he hadn’t referred to Chris Kyle or the movie “American Sniper” directly. As if indirect inferences make his tweets more acceptable. He then went on to say lovely things about the acting and production of the movie. We’d like to see Mr. Moore dropped down into the middle of an ISIS camp—or even in the middle of the training regimen our Navy SEALS en- dure—and see who’s the coward then. —The Baker County Press Editorial Board — Letters to the Editor — Earth’s resources are essential To the Editor: Access and use of the land are per- haps the most important problems facing America today. The problem is that so few people recognize the problem and how it relates to them, particularly those who live in metropolitan areas. I say most important because no indus- try, no business, and no jobs can continue without the produce and resources that are recovered from the Earth. Another fact that few are aware of is that all new wealth comes from the ground. There is no other source. It is created when farmers, ranchers, and fishermen harvest the food and fibers in their crops and timber men, miners and oil men recover our vital resources. This wealth is expanded when we process and manu- facture more useful products from these resources. All others share this wealth by distribut- ing the products or by providing a service for one another. Thus, the basic industries are the foundation of our entire economy. Our county has serious economic prob- lems and needs more jobs and money. The problem is that agencies that have been charged with administering our lands, the BLM, USFS, EPA, etc., have been so carried away with issuing a never- ending series or regulations and restricting access and use of the land, often disre- garding Congressional Law and decisions of the highest courts in the land, that they are destroying the very industries that sup- ply the wealth and resources that support our country. They have been so carried away by environmental policies and their slogan “Save the Earth” that they have forgotten the basic fact of life—that no life on Earth can survive unless we harvest the food and resources of the Earth. It is a noble thing to save a few special places for the future, but you can’t have them all. The same forces that uplifted our beauti- ful mountains brought the minerals to the surface and change the climate to make timber growth productive. Unless we reassess our access and use of the land policies, we face economic break- down, and your job and all environmental concerns will go out the window. Ken Anderson Baker City Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker County Press reserves the right not to pub- lish letters containing factual falsehoods or incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or detracting from specific for-profit business- es will not be published. Word limit is 375 words per letter. Letters are limited to one every other week per author. Letters should be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty- Press.com. Advertising and Opinion Page Dis- claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest Opinions or Letters to the Editor express the opinions of their authors, and have not been authored by and are not necessarily the opinions of The Baker County Press, any of our staff, management, independent contractors or affiliates. Advertisements placed by political groups, candidates, businesses, etc., are printed as a paid service, which does not constitute an endorsement of or fulfillment obligation by this newspaper for the products or services advertised. — Guest Opinion — New ODFW director must give new direction By Ty Stubblefiel Submitted Photo The management of Oregon’s fish and wildlife has never been in a more compromising position than it is today. ODFW faces a $32 million bud- get shortfall. Plagued with depressed deer and elk numbers and increasing predator populations, coupled with a decline in hunter numbers, it seems the plight couldn’t get much worse. That’s unless you consider the severe decline in managed habitat on much of the state’s federally managed lands, over which ODFW has no control. Now the agency is looking for a new leader to right this listing ship. Then add pressure from non-hunt- ing groups who recently wrote a letter to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Com- mission and the Governor asking that the new director reform the agency to be less dependent on license and tag dollars and be more “conservation minded.” Excuse us? Hunting and fishing have been the funding source of conservation since the 1930s. In fact, of ODFW’s 2013- 15 projected revenues, $131.9 mil- lion comes from Pittman-Robertson funds (a federal excise tax on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and firearm-related accessories). Another $103.8 million of the agency’s bud- get comes from license and tag fees. That’s $235.7 million of ODFW’s budget—the vast majority—derived from hunter and angler dollars. Hunt- ers and anglers are on the forefront of wildlife conservation. Success stories abound, including the return of elk herds in the early 1930s, reintroduc- tion of mountain goats in the 1950s, and reintroduction of California bighorn sheep in the 1950s and Rocky Mountain bighorns in the 1970s. These efforts were all funded by sportsmen. The real question is: what should we expect of the new director? First and foremost, the new director should be a true hunter and fisherman. His or her focus should be fish and wildlife, not politics and people. Too often politics steer the management of the department rather than sound science. The director should also manage the agency within its budgetary means, but that doesn’t have to be the Hercu- lean task it’s often made to resemble. Taking seriously ODFW’s mandate to optimize wildlife populations will also address the need to optimize the agency’s revenue. Build better deer Ty Stubblefield is the Field Adminis- trator for Oregon Hunters Associa- tion and lives in Roseburg, Oregon, he can be contacted at ty@oregon- hunters.org and elk herds, and hunters will beat a path to the point of sale machines. Conversely, if hunters are unsuccess- ful year after year, eventually they will find somewhere else to devote their time and money. The downward trend in hunting license and tag sales that parallels the decline in deer and elk numbers leaves little doubt. A serious look at predator popula- tion control is a key part of the simple equation: more unmanaged predators prowling the landscape = fewer deer and elk available to hunters = fewer license and tag dollars. ODFW has a choice to make: restore our big game resources and reestablish the department’s traditional funding base, or become a non-game wildlife agency with a skeleton staff dependent on elusive and unpredict- able general funds. Which choice will the agency make? Its new director will exert considerable influence on that decision, and that’s why OHA will work diligently to ensure the new director embraces a hunter’s vision of conservation. Fiscal Facts • 1961: 670,000 hunting and angling licenses sold. Game Commis- sion operated on $7.5 million biennial budget. Fish Commission operated on $5 million biennial budget. • 1975: 766,000 anglers and 390,000 hunters contributed to a bien- nial budget of $40 million, of which 50 percent was provided from user fees, 33 percent by the federal govern- ment, and 17 percent from the state general fund. • 2013: 269,000 licensed hunters and 617,00 licensed anglers. Pro- jected revenues are $361.2 million: 36 percent federal funds (Pittman-Robert- son), 29 percent from license fees, 5 percent from the general fund, and the balance from other sources. The Oregon Hunters Association (oregonhunters.org) is the state’s larg- est Oregon-based pro-hunting organi- zation, with 10,000 members and 27 chapters statewide. Its mission is “to provide abundant huntable wildlife resources in Oregon for present and future generations, enhancement of wildlife habitat and protection of hunt- ers rights.” — Contact Us — The Baker County Press PO Box 567 Baker City, Ore. 97814 Open Monday-Thursday for calls 9 AM - 4 PM Open 24/7 for emails Office location: TBA Phone: 541.519.0572 TheBakerCountyPress.com Kerry McQuisten, Publisher Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com David Conn, Advertising and Sales David@TheBakerCountyPress.com Published weekly every Friday. Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas, e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery, Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue, mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only. Payment in advance. A division of Black Lyon Publishing, LLC Copyright © 2014 YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS President Barack Obama 202.456.1414 202.456.2461 fax Whitehouse.gov/contact US Sen. Jeff Merkley 503.326.3386 503.326.2900 fax Merkley.Senate.gov US Sen. Ron Wyden 541.962.7691 Wyden.Senate.gov US Rep. Greg Walden 541.624.2400 541.624.2402 fax Walden.House.gov Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber 503.378.3111 Governor.Oregon.gov State Rep. Cliff Bentz 503.986.1460 State Sen. Ted Ferrioli 541.490.6528 Baker County Commissioners Bill Harvey; Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns 541.523.8200 541.523.8201
