TO THE EDITOR
ABUSING MCKENZIE
The McKenzie River, nationally renowned
as one of Oregon’s most beautiful and raftable
rivers, is being degraded at an astounding rate.
At this very moment the Willamette National
Forest, McKenzie Ranger District, has
awarded more than 1,200 acres of the upper
McKenzie watershed, which could be logged
by the end of the year, with more than 600
acres still pending award, and hundreds of
acres of proposed timber sales.
The McKenzie District employees seem
to have blatantly overlooked the fact that
thousands of acres of private industrial land
are clear-cut every year downriver, that the
listed threatened bull trout still tenuously sur-
vive in the upper reaches of the river’s cold
clear waters, and it is the municipal water
supply for hundreds of thousands of people in
the Eugene/Springfield area.
Further, the Willamette National Forest
can’t even be trusted to comply with federal
court orders or the Northwest Forest Plan
when it comes to surveying and protecting
rare and sensitive species. Last spring in 2002
citizen surveyors discovered, in one
McKenzie timber sale alone, three active red
tree vole nests (which require 10-acre buffers
per active nest) and at least a dozen sites of a
very rare lichen (which require a 150-foot
buffer per site). Now, the McKenzie Ranger
Station and Willamette National Forest state
that they are not going to provide those habi-
tat buffers that they are required to by the
Northwest Forest Plan. Who and what are
these people working for?
Shannon Wilson
Eugene
TAXING CONCERN
I just need to let off some steam about city
Ordinance 20273 TSMF (Transportation
Systems Maintenance Fee), “not a tax,” says
the city. I disagree and here is the reason: All
property taxpayers foot the bill for education.
Since no one is exempt, we will be paying
more tax to pay this fee for K through 12,
while those persons in higher education will
have higher tuition.
How many jobs will be lost or working
hours be cut to pay for this? Churches and or-
ganizations such as Goodwill, St. Vincent de
Paul and FOOD for Lane County are not ex-
empt from this fee; just another way for them
to be kicked while down again. City Council
should be proud of itself for this ordinance.
Does anyone know how much they will pay,
and how long they will pay this fee?
I just signed a petition to repeal this ordi-
nance and ask all taxpayers who are Eugene
registered voters to do the same. How much
more for goods and services will we pay?
Earl W. Walton
Eugene
SUB-PAR SUBSIDIES
It was very depressing to read Alan
Pittman’s report that Gov. Kulongoski, Jack
Roberts and the Oregon Economic
Development Department are still pushing
corporate subsidies as an answer to the state’s
economic woes.
None other than international financier
George Soros stated, “Perhaps the greatest
threat to freedom and democracy in the world
today comes from the formation of unholy al-
liances between government and business.
This is not a new phenomenon. It used to be
called fascism… The outward appearances of
the democratic process are observed, but the
powers of the state are diverted to the benefit
of private interests.”
The realization that corporate subsidies
actually cost more in the long run and in
many areas besides economic has been rec-
ognized for some time. Pittman lists many of
those sources.
Here are a few more. Good Jobs First
(www.goodjobsfirst.org/gjf.htm) has been
doing analyses of the results of corporate
giveaways across the country for years.
David Korten, who worked idealistically
with USAID for eight years to help poor
countries develop economically, finally real-
ized that the methods used were not only
doing the opposite in those countries but also
in America “as revealed in the growing gap
between rich and poor, dependence on for-
eign debt, deteriorating educational systems,
rising infant mortality, economic dependence
on the export of primary commodities
(forests), indiscriminate dumping of toxic
wastes and the breakdown of families and
communities.” He came back to America to
work on people-centered rather than growth-
centered economics.
To fully understand what corporate power
has done to our economy, our society, and our
rights, read Thom Hartmann’s Unequal
Protection,” Arianna Huffington’s Pigs at the
Trough and Marjorie Kelly’s The Divine
Right of Capital. Check out the Program on
Corporations, Law and Democracy
(www.poclad.org) and the Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom
People’s Rights Campaign
(www.wilpf.org/corp/cintro.htm).
But take your blood pressure medicine.
Wanda S. Ballentine
From exile in Cleveland
BY TOM LININGER
Undercover agents are infiltrating
religious organizations.
sary to keep track of Muslims who might be terrorists. Across the nation, the
media reported that the FBI had begun spying on mosques using confidential
informants (in Orlando), undercover agents (in New York City), pole cameras
(in Buffalo), and flyovers (in Bloomington).
Then the FBI came under intense criticism for religious profiling. The FBI
spokeswomen changed her tune, justifying the infiltration of mosques on the grounds
that it helped the FBI prevent hate crimes against Muslims. Interesting logic. By this
reasoning, the war against Iraq could be rationalized as a precautionary measure to
defend Iraq from outside invaders.
I
R
Sects, Lies &
Videotape
’ll admit it: I was an unconventional federal prosecutor. I sometimes questioned the au-
thority of the federal government. One of my friends in the FBI called me a “sheep in
wolf’s clothing.” I played in a band called The Grateful Feds.
I left my job at the local U.S. Attorney’s Office shortly after John Ashcroft became
attorney general. As an outside observer of the Justice Department, I’m concerned that
Ashcroft has gone too far with his anti-terrorism initiatives.
One of Ashcroft’s policies that deserves re-examination is the new set of investiga-
tive guidelines he issued in May of 2002. These guidelines permit the FBI to infiltrate
religious organizations without any prior suspicion of criminal activity. Ashcroft
reversed a 26-year-old policy — followed by three prior Republican administrations —
which prohibited such investigations because they infringe on religious freedoms. This
longstanding policy had arisen from concerns about the excesses of J. Edgar Hoover,
who had conducted surveillance of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. without any legiti-
mate suspicion of criminal activity.
The FBI is now focusing its attention on mosques. In January 2003, FBI headquar-
ters issued an order requiring all 56 of the FBI’s field offices to count the number of
mosques in their jurisdictions. By now, all of the mosques in Oregon are probably listed
in some FBI report. Whew! I feel safer already.
At first, an FBI spokeswoman told Congress that counting the mosques was neces-
4 MAY 29, 2003
eligious profiling isn’t just a violation of civil liberties; it’s also a waste of inves-
tigative resources. There are more needles in haystacks than there are terrorists in
mosques. Why didn’t we conduct surveillance of all Christian churches after
Timothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City? We recognized that the
overwhelming majority of Christians are law-abiding people. The same is true of
Muslims. There are over a million Muslims in the United States, and only a handful of
them have been indicted as terrorists.
In early June, the Board of County Commissioners will consider whether to adopt a
resolution proposed by the Lane County Bill of Rights Defense Committee. The resolu-
tion needs some fine-tuning, but I’m confident that the board will take a stand reaffirm-
ing our commitment to civil rights.
I don’t mean to impugn the integrity of the federal prosecutors and FBI agents who
work here in Eugene. These people are scrupulous public servants. Many of them gave
up more lucrative opportunities in the private sector so they could protect the safety of
our community. My concern is that federal law enforcement agencies should focus their
energy on investigative techniques that are likely to protect public safety, and the reli-
gious profiling that Ashcroft has authorized is not one of those techniques.
Tom Lininger, the county commissioner for the East Lane District, is writing a 100-page law review article on
undercover investigations of religious organizations. If you’re interested in reading a copy of this article, send an e-
mail to lininger@law.uoregon.edu.