Summer is nearly upon us. Toward the end of
this month one of the most notable and (in the
eyes of locals at noted tourist hot spots such as
Cannon Beach and the wine country) dreaded
weekends will arrive, sending people bounding
into their RVs. Memorial Day Weekend. As much
as many of the year-rounders would like folks
from afar to take the safe advice of Mr. Dylan and
"stay home, have a picnic in my bathroom",
those starry eyed wishes will simply not come
true. It is a love-hate relationship. People
"away" for the "season" tend to spend generously
and while, in general, most of us (I speak from
experience, having grown up in the summer
playland of Massachsetters) wish folks would just
send us their Visa card numbers or preferably
some cash, and stay at wherever they already
are, that simply is not the way of the world.
My interest in this and what exactly this topic
has to do with wine stems from an article I read
in Oregon's other paper, The Oregonian, a week
or so back. The article concerned the proposed
construction of a toll highway extending south
from Northern Newberg, through Yamhill
County, and intersecting a few miles later with
Hwy 18 just south of Dundee. You see the thing is
that people can't get from where they are to
where they want to go as quickly as they would
like to these days and, quite frankly, it pisses
them off.
It is a fact that Hwy 99 can become akin to a
parking lot for good stretches on certain days.
The problem has gotten worse as the popularity
of Yamhill County has grown over the past few
years and the increasing population in Portland
has produced more weekend travellers than in
past years. Yes, we have what the Californians
have been fleeing from: Too many people and
not enough space between the white lines to put
them at 55 mph. In modem times few problems
are as tragic or as contested as this dilemma. You
can almost hear the beads of sweat building on
the foreheads of numerous public policists out
there. There's blood in the water, folks.
Several years ago folks in California noticed
that it took them a little longer to get to work in
the morning. So they built a new road. Then
things got a little tight there, so they built
another road and another and, well, you know
the story. Soon enough there was no more land
on which to build roads and they were still really
crowded. Then people started shooting each
other on these roads. Then they moved to
Oregon. One of the problems with roads is that
they somehow manage to breed more vehicles
and congestion rather than less. Funny thing.
So, anyway, someone has proposed a toll
highway that they say will make commuting
shorter, take pressure off of business routes, etc.,
etc. (Having driven on the New Jersey Turnpike
enough times to hate toll roads with a passion, I
could go on for hours but I won't. Suffice it to
say that someones moved west of Ohio and decided
toll roads in vast tracts of land were a silly idea
and they stopped making them. Those someones
had the right idea.) The theory is quite elegant,
but has basically been discredited so many times
that one wonders at how people can still bring it
up without cracking a least a bit of a grin.
I still have a driver's license, much to the
chagrin of my esteemed editor, so I am certainly
a part of this nationwide problem. I believe, as
everyone does, that when I am driving I am most
certainly the greatest driver who has ever lived
and everyone else is a moron. Fortunately I am
not in my car while writing this column so my
brain can be engaged. Driving is highly
overrated and will no doubt be the downfall of
humans. It is imperative that we not worship at
the altar of "The Car" at every slight traffic jam.
When we devise plans to further convenience
the almighty automobile we are taking a gigantic
step backward. The crazy scientist in the movie
Repo Man' said it most eloquently: "The more
you drive, the less intelligent you are."
There are two other problems wrapped up in
this babble other than the somewhat
philosphical issue of people, cars and roads.
There are even more esoteric issues than this at
stake. They involve the concepts of land use
planning and what the government should and
should not be able to do. As confused as this
surely must read, let us begin with the latter
first.
I have very strange ideas about our
government. Building roads is not a business I
am happy our government is the monopolist in.
To build the proposed Yamhill County
Superhighway, the government would have to
first purchase the land on which the road itself
will lie. The strange thing is that when the
government decides to build a road and all the
wheels are in motion and YOU own the land on
which the road is going to be paved, the odds of
you not selling your land are not so good. Now
before all you Dittoheads (whom I am sure are
real big readers of this paper) get all excited
about my views on property rights, check this
out: If you are a big timber company and you
own a bunch of forested land, especially old
growth forest or forests critical to a watershed, I
think the government not only has the right,
but the responsibility to take that land from you.
And if you don't get a dime in the bank from it,
too bad, because you're getting what they call a
"Societal benefit", even if you don't like it. You
see, I think we have enough paved-over cow
fields and not enough other things like truly
wild areas and clean drinking water. I believe
government has a duty to contradict its own
policies when there is a need. Traffic does not
qualify as one of these needs.
The other issue, land use planning, is all tied
up in this somehow. I'm not exactly an
investigative reporter so it's not like I did any
research but I think I have a decent grasp of the
issues I am inclined to give a damn about.
Oregon has fairly reasonable land use planning
laws. Actually, we have some great ones. "If it's
sand, it's public property" is one of the best.
Good old Tom McCall came up with that one
(anyone at the GOP listening?). There are all
sorts of them and some are sort of stupid and
convoluted, but by and large laws have been
established to keep the Metro area from
completely over-running outlying areas
willie-nillie. Amazingly enough, these laws
have worked fairly well and it drives some
people crazy (which is part of the benefit).
Building roads because there are too many cars
flies in the face of solid land use ideas and,
essentially, puts the cart before the horse.
One of my jobs is at a winery in Newberg. It
seems like I would be crazy to not want to bring
more people out to the area, and, theoretically,
into the tasting room in which I work. I say
business is fine and that what would be gained
from additional business would be lost in overall
quality of everything. I don't even live out there
and I can tell that. The good people of Cannon
Beach, formerly a residential community,
certainly would be willing to testify to that.
So, in summary, this toll road concept is simply
a tremendously bad idea. Extra roads are
certainly not the direction we need to be going
in this world, especially roads that you have to
pay money to drive on. If you own a cow pasture
you should be able to feel confident that the
government will not take or offer to purchase
your land from you for purposes other than
growing experimental hemp fields. If you own
large tracts of land that more that 30% of the
population would consider scenic then, well,
tough.
Currently I have about 60 bottles of wine and a
couple of cases of homemade beer lying about
the house. Other than to support these two habits
via working I feel I have few reasons to go
anywhere. If you have to drive, go late at night
when there aren't many people around so you
will feel less inclined to think that public policy
and automobiles should have a cozy relationship.
To the people of Yamhill County, good luck.
Cannon Beach
In Coaster Theater Courtyard
Established 1977
Featuring Northwest, California
& Imported Wines
Collector Wines From 1875
Through Current Vintages
Featuring Over 1000 Wines
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1117 S H t« I .e k
P.O.Box 41
Ceaaen loach , OB 97111
ic a t i x x a .f l i e
436-1100
124 N Hemlock
P O . Box 6S2, Cannon Beach O R 97110
IN STO C K : T to m y b*M o i On»oa WtaM,
fancy u n o m d t e n u p tw te j cad i n n te te
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Laurel's
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Beach
W ine Shop
263 N . Hem lock
(5 0 3 ) 4 3 6 -1 6 6 6
S&Z'
Recommended Wines for the Month: While
you are staying sedately at your present location
and not even thinking about driving I suggest
popping open a bottle of wine. I've been hard at
work researching the new vintages and as many
of the older ones as I can to keep you in good
tastes. Some standouts of late are:
Cooper Mountain 1994 Pinot Gris: Oregon’s
new cash cow wine can be deadly dull sometimes.
However, some places are getting the hang of
making Pinot gris. One of them is Cooper
Mountain (who probably would have lots to say
about land use as there is a large housing
development spilling into their vineyard ).
Their '94 Pinot gris is an outstanding example of
the potential locked up in this white wine. It is
bursting with soft tropical fruit flavors. Unlike
many Pinot gris it simply fills your mouth with
flavor and lingers with a nice spicy finish. Just
released at about $ 10-$ 11, this is one to find for
sure.
Autumn Wind Vineyards 1993 Sauvignon
Blanc: Good Oregon Sauvignon blanc is a rare
beast. Autumn Wind had the second highest
rated one in Oregon last year and the 93, while
different from the '92, is still quite good. The
grapes come from The Dalles so they have
excellent hot weather growing conditions. The
wine is still smoothing out but is well balanced,
has a nice herbal quality and is spicy
throughout. At $8 it is quite a buy.
Broadley Vineyards 1993 Pinot Noir
Reserve: This is a wine to buy now and save for
later. Broadley makes deep, Burgundian style
Pinot that needs lots of bottle aging. This has not
received its allotted share as of yet. It is a
brooding wine currently that is very closed but
has hints of what it will be. Broadley wines have
a fine history of aging well in the bottle. They
are also very small and very popular. The wine
is on the shelves now and it will be gone soon.
Get it now, drink it later.
0UZ6 dO ‘HOV38 NONNVO
S06 XO8 O d • MOOinaH N 6EZ
—
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2C82-9CV (COS)
Take Time to Travel in
Oregon's Scenic Wine Country!
Experience the beauty, peace and
fantastic wine o f Oregon's wine regions
For in f o r m a t io n on and r e s e r v a t io n s a t
The best bed & breakfasts, hotels and restaurants
as well as the most interesting winery tours
North Coast Pride Network
P.O. Box 2798
Gearhart, OR 97138
(503) 738-0215
Oregon Màne ‘Travef Connection
Famous since 1993
1-800 946-3885
The Columbia Pacific Region’s lesbian, gay,
transgendered, bisexual group standing firm
against hate. N C P N now presents...
1 the Gay Film Festival Galore.
UÏVLR LtfT E.W& MKT IW5
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