FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
— Guest Opinion —
Bravery and heartache Time to act
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“It was fun watching
Noodle run the dozer. He
really made a believer out
of those guys,” Justus said
of the extraordinary efforts
demonstrated by Perkins.
Justus describes the
sites and sounds of the
approaching fire as an
awe inspiring experience.
“The fire sounded like a jet
engine as it came toward
us,” he said.
Justus and others spent
two days working cows
down out of the timber in
the Beaver Creek area.
“I think we lost some
cows but I don’t how many
yet,” he said. “I could hear
them bawling up in the
timber.”
Justus said that gathering
cattle this time of year is a
difficult task because the
cows are used to staying
up in the higher eleva-
tion timber lands to graze.
Complicating matters
further was the inability
to ride in on horseback to
some areas of the Dooley
Mountain toward Black
Mountain due to a large
buildup of forest under-
story that has turned tinder
dry by the drought condi-
tions.
Justus reported that most
of the grazing resources
have been burned up from
Highway 7 to the freeway,
all the way to the Burnt
River Road and up Beaver
Creek Road.
When Dry Creek area
resident Dan Lees saw
charred sage-brush thrown
into the air and bouncing
off the side of his house
he figured he was in for a
battle. And battle he did,
single-handedly saving his
residence from becoming
fuel for the Windy Ridge
Fire burning south of
Baker City. Lees had been
issued an evacuation notice
but decided to stay and
save his home.
“I’m too old to start
over,” Lees said during an
interview August 17. “I
kept expecting the Calvary
to show up but it turned
into a one-man show.”
Lees, who in his past has
about seven experiences as
a wildfire fight , figures
the wind was whipping
about 35 mph as the fire
approached.
He said he saw the fire
coming toward him at
about 15 to 20 mph and
spanning about a half-mile
wide.
SEE BRAVERY AND
HEARTACHE PAGE 7
— Letters to the Editor —
Vote no on mayor recall, yes on
others
To the Editor:
We are truly blessed in this country that
there is no penalty for ignorance or being
uninformed. Otherwise our jails would
be full.
Of late there have been letters and blogs
bombarding the citizens of Sumpter with
lies. Uninformed individuals choose to
take worn out gossip as gospel, instead of
attending meetings. Many of these letters
and blogs are being written by people who
have never attended Council, Planning
Commission or workshop meetings since
I have been Mayor. All they can rely on is
the gossip distributed by their cronies.
Last Tuesday’s Council meeting was at-
tended by a group of people, including an
employee of the City, wearing matching
T-shirts with assault rifles imprinted on
the back with “tight knit redneck group”
written below. These ten or so individu-
als came to harass and threaten those they
disagree with. Shameful when our own
City employees participate in this type
of mob mentality and write on Facebook
how they wish they could have smashed
in some teeth.
I don’t dispute anyone’s right to at-
tempt a recall or have free speech, but to
blatantly lie to those from whom you are
attempting to gain signatures is disgust-
ing. There are even rumors that some are
trying to gain votes against me by offering
financial gain. That goes well beyond the
pale.
There is much misinformation surround-
ing the lawsuit. If the lawsuit causes the
City to go broke, we will deal with the
aftermath—with a new and better Coun-
cil! And by the way, if too many of the
Council are recalled to make a quorum,
the County will appoint one (or more)
Councilors to form a quorum, and the
Council can then fill the other vacancies
by appointment. Don’t let the rumors
frighten you. Baker County is not going
to take us over.
I could spend weeks commenting on
the false or truly trivial allegations of the
Brownes, the Pattons, the Lukers and oth-
ers. However, why dignify their school
ground childishness by commenting
further?
I want only one thing, and many of you
have never experienced it in Sumpter:
honesty in our City government. Please
vote no on my recall and yes to recall
Oakley and Myers-Woolf. Together we
can do what needs to be done.
Melissa Findly,
Mayor, Sumpter
Thank you for evacuation help
To the Editor:
Because of the multiple wildfires in our
area we were evacuated from our home,
like so many of you were. Friends called
with offers to move our belongings to
safety. We decided to wait until “Level
3” was called. Three sheriff’s deputies
came to our rural home on Friday to alert
us that indeed our area was now Level
3 and it was “Go Time.” Steve (Cindy)
and Greg McLean (Four Seasons Insula-
tion), came almost immediately and towed
our fishing boat. Hoss and Pat Reynolds
(Arros Electic), were right behind them
to tow a second boat. Judy Endicott (Vic
was out of town working on an environ-
mental spill clean up), and Gilbert “Gib”
Marvin, came in Vic’s pickup truck and
helped pack fragile and sentimental items
from the house. Vic and Judy volunteered
to store our possessions for as long as we
need to keep them out of harm’s way.
After this quick and amazingly efficient
evacuation, all of them and more offered
us open-ended accommodations. We
decided not to inconvenience friends any
more than we already had and stayed in a
hotel for the night.
The following day we came back to
check on the house and the fire level was
lowered to “Level 2” and could stay the
night. We were treated to cold showers
that evening and thought, ”Great, what
next? A broken water heater!” We called
Ed Staub & Sons Monday morning for
advice on our propane heater. Jack, from
Ed Staub’s was there in under an hour to
diagnose the problem. Jack was correct in
his suspicions that our propane had been
shut off at the tank. Bingo! Hot water.
Apparently an official agenc , (not sure
who) makes sure to follow up at evacuee’s
homes to shut off gas lines to help protect
the property.
We want to thank all of the willing and
caring friends and community members
for their support. Also, if you are evacuat-
ed from your home, take a moment to turn
off your gas supply and help to avoid even
worse consequences that could endanger
your lives, property and the lives of the
great folks trying to help you.
Terry and Tammy Girt
Baker City
My personal experiences in
Sumpter
To the Editor:
With all the negative publicity Sumpter
has received on the front page of the local
newspapers of late, I am compelled to tell
you my story of living in Sumpter
Many people have asked me my impres-
sions of Sumpter after eight years of being
retired here. I always tell them that we
have met more kind, caring people here
than any place else we have ever lived.
We have many, many positive-thinking
friends who have enriched our lives and
the lives of others around them. Many of
these people are, for example, volunteers
who have helped to build our beautiful
Volunteer Park, which was constructed
entirely with free labor provided by the
supportive citizens of Sumpter. Other
examples of people giving of their time
and resources in order to make our small
town an even better place to live are too
numerous to list.
On the downside, I also tell people that
we have met some of the most negative,
vindictive people here who I can ever
remember meeting. They never step up to
help with projects that benefit the comm -
nity, yet they are the first to criticize and
complain about people who do. We have
all known people like that during our life-
time. They are less than 10% of the popu-
lation, but because of their inclination to
sue people with whom they disagree, they
still are quite successful at making life
uncomfortable for folks who just want to
live in peace with their neighbors.
Please do not let a few bad apples spoil
your opinion of Sumpter. The vast major-
ity of us are very decent, down-to-earth,
honest folks whom you would love to be
around.
Lila Young
Sumpter
on Resilient
Forest Act
By US Rep. Greg Walden
Around Oregon and throughout
the West, another fire season is well
underway. Overstocked, diseased, and
bug-infested forests are at risk of the
massive and catastrophic wildfire that
clog our air with smoke and threaten
our streams. All this while our mills are
starving for a reliable supply of timber
and people need jobs. It’s clear the sta-
tus quo isn’t working for our forests, our
communities, or our environment. We
can do better.
The U.S. House has passed a biparti-
san bill—the Resilient Federal Forests
Act— that would help reduce the threat
of catastrophic wildfires and bring a -
tive management back to our federal
forests. Through active management,
we can clean up our forests, prevent
these unnaturally large fires, protect our
air, and put people back to work in our
forested communities.
Our bill puts into place much needed
reforms to federal forest policy. For ex-
ample, the bill repeals the arbitrary and
outdated prohibition on harvesting trees
over 21 inches in diameter on national
forests in eastern Oregon. “Temporar-
ily” put in place in 1997, this rule still
hasn’t been removed 20 years later! This
flawed, one-size-fits-all rule illustrate
just how broken federal forest man-
agement has become. The restriction
greatly limits forest managers’ ability to
address site specific needs of the forest
on the ground and has only served to
further tie up projects in endless appeals
and litigation.
Our plan also gives the Forest Ser-
vice greater flexibility to move quickly
on projects to reduce the threat of fire
around our rural communities, stream-
lining projects developed through local
counties’ community wildfire protection
plans.
Right now, after a fire, the Forest
Service is able to reforest less than
three percent of areas burned. This plan
would accelerate the removal of timber
after a fire (to help pay for replanting),
and requires a large percent of the area
impacted be reforested within five years.
Just like we do after other natural disas-
ters, we ought to clean up and rebuild
after wildfires. As we saw earlier this
summer on the Buckskin Fire in south-
ern Oregon, failing to clean up only
leads to future fires in old burn scars full
of fallen trees and snag that prove dif-
ficult and too dangerous for firefighte
This bill also cuts costs and stream-
lines rules for timber production on leg-
islation pertaining to Oregon’s unique
O&C Lands. The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) recently unveiled
new management plans for these lands
that would fall short of the needs of
local communities for a reliable supply
of timber to fund essential local services
like schools, roads, and law enforce-
ment. The bill tells the BLM to go back
to the drawing board, and propose new
plans to actually provide sustainable
timber production for Oregon’s rural
communities as required by law.
Finally, the endless cycle of “fire bo -
rowing”—forcing the federal govern-
ment to use wildfire prevention funds
to pay for fighting fire—is ended unde
this bill. It fixes how we pay to figh
fire by allowing the Forest Service to
apply for FEMA disaster funds to pay
for firefighting This treats wildfire as
the natural disasters they are, similar to
hurricanes or tornados.
The Resilient Federal Forests Act will
improve the health of our forests and
our rural economies. During the last
session of Congress, the House twice
passed bipartisan legislation I worked
on to reform federal forest policy.
The Senate failed to take up forestry
legislation.
However, with new leadership in that
body I’m hopeful that the Senate will
take meaningful action on forestry leg-
islation. We cannot let this opportunity
pass us by again. Our forested com-
munities have already waited too long.
Now is the time to act.
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Submitted Photo
Greg Walden represents Oregon’s
Second Congressional District,
which covers 20 counties in south-
ern, central, and eastern Oregon.
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YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
President Barack Obama
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Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
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503.326.2900 fax
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US Sen. Ron Wyden
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US Rep. Greg Walden
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541.624.2402 fax
Walden.House.gov
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Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
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Commissioners Bill Harvey;
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