Vernonia freedom., August 27, 1981, Page 2, Image 2

Thursday August 27,1981
Page 2— Vernonia Freedom
Hanlon responds to
"Mist fight" editorial
REBUTTAL
It's time to set the record straight
Senator Hanlon’s rebuttal to our editorial of August 13
(“Hanlon faces hard re-election fight’’) arrived a day late for
insertion in last week’s issue of the Freedom. As it turns
out, this was an advantage for us. It means we had time to
double check our sources and, more importantly, the time to
get in touch with some of the other people concerned with
these issues to see if they remember Hanlon’s involvement
the way he does.
We found a number of people willing to talk to us ‘off the
record*. Unfortunately, the power that political office
bestows upon those we elect is so strong that we had trouble
finding anyone willing to challenge that power by speaking
publicly. As a result we have had to depend on
Representative Ted Bugas alone for public comment.
Except where noted the opinions expressed in this article
are ours and are occasionally based to one degree or another
upon information from sources we cannot identify.
HB2620
As this bill came to the Senate in amended form it would
have allowed the county to take up to 10 percent off the top
of the royalties for administering the overall disbursal
system. Additionally, the amended bill would have allowed
up to a maximum of 10 percent more to be tunneled back to
any impacted area upon proper verification of need or
expense. HB 2620, prior to Senator Hanlon’s proposed
amendments, would not have allowed the county itself any
more money than it already receives under the current
distribution formula.
Furthermore, the amended HB 2620 as it came out of the
House, did not even address the question of interest on the
royalty money. Instead, it ignored interest all together
under the assumption that it would continue to be paid to
the county as it is under the existing formula. Currently
Rainier
School
District
is
challenging
that
assumption in court. They are asking that the interest
produced by banking the royalty fees be disbursed to the
various taxing districts within the county just as the
principal royalty payments are currently distributed.
BOARD OF FORESTRY
Far from sitting “ineffectively by for some seventy years”
Oregon’s
forestry
board
is
responsible
To the Editor:
for
what
is considered by many to be a model program. As a matter
of fact, Oregon is world renowned for the quality
management its forests display. To quote Rep. Bugas, “The
Board of Forestry has done a magnificent job with the small
amount of Oregon Forest that they manage.”
Most people don’t realize that the members that make up
the Board of Forestry reflect their own values when
deciding upon forestry practices. Exchanging timbermen
for realtors and developers would eventually result in a
drastic change in land use practices for Oregon’s forests.
Furthermore, according to Bugas, “The changes Hanlon
wants could jeopardize our local governments and schools
by reducing their share of timber revenues. ”
PORT OF ASTORIA
The truth here is harder to determine, based as it is on
semantics. While it is true that Senator Hanlon did receive a
hand written note from Representative Bugas thanking him
for his help, Bugas says it was merely a matter of form and
only after Hanlon had been responsible for the original bill’s
defeat. It appears that Hanlon’s opposition to the original
Port of Astoria legislation sponsored by Bugas rested
primarily on the bills’ language in calling for cooperative
development of a deep water dock facility between the Port
of Astoria and, specifically, the Port of Portland. Bugas
says he re-wrote the language, omitting any direct reference
to the Port of Portland yet still calling for mandatory
cooperative development of the facility, and included this
rewritten section in SB 777, a related bill. SB 777, complete
with the language stipulating cooperative development,
then passed the House and re-passed the Senate. Only then
did Hanlon receive the note from Bugas. This hardly
qualifies Hanlon’s remark that “I amended the bill to
correct that.”
In the final analysis it comes down to taking the word of
one politician over another’s. We think the records of each
speak quite clearly for themselves.
In closing we would like to paraphrase Senator Hanlon; In
our view Senator Hanlon’s capacity for misinforming or
misleading poses a distinct hazard to his constituents. Our
advice: Be factual or be silent.
In your editorial of August 13,
I believe you have your
“revenge” on the wrong foot.
Perhaps the Columbia County
commissioners would like a little
revenge because I spiked their
attempt to grab a full 20 percent
off the top of the gas royalties,
keep all the interest on the entire
fund and remain legally unable to
aid the Mist Fire Department.
That is exactly what HB 2620
would have done as it came to the
Senate.
Perhaps the Board of Forestry,
dominated as it is by Big Timber,
would like a little revenge because
I have thrown a spotlight on the
fact that the board has sat
ineffectively by for some twenty
years while private timberlands
in this state have been overcut.
You were right about one thing:
Big Timber will throw a lot of
money against me. They don’t
like politicians who expose their
failures.
You were wrong about another:
My opposition to port legislation
resulted in a vital improvement in
the matter. As it came to the
Senate, the port bill would have
gravely
restricted
the
opportunity for the Port of
Astoria to obtain Tongue Point. I
amended the bill to correct that. I
happen to have a note of thanks
from Ted Bugas for my help.
Finally,, in my view, your
capacity for being misinformed or
misled poses a distinct hazard to
your community. My advice: Be
factual or be silent.
Charles Hanlon
State Senator, Dist. 1
Reader charges Freedom suffers from "foot in mouth'
To the Editor:
First of all, a brief response to the
rebuttal of the editor of the Vernonia
Freedom concerning my letter last
week. I quote from the Freedom’s
editorial dated 8-13-81 (Vol. 3 No. 40);
“By voting ‘no’ to any school levy,
and especially a levy proposed during
a period of austere budget cuts
imposed from above by both state
and federal authorities, we’ve
dramatically cut our children’s
chances to experience the widest
possible variety of choices.” The
editor printed in last week’s paper
that he didn’t say what I just* quoted
from his own editorial. I would
suggest the editor read his own
editorials before putting his foot in
his mouth.
Secondly, it seems to me Mr.
Arthur Parrow, superintendent of the
47J district, is not on the same wave
length as the rest of us. The mood
locally as well as nationally is one of
fiscal restraint. Senior citizens on a
fixed income such as social security
are experiencing forced cutbacks.
This is a logging town and most
loggers are hurting financially, right
now. Tektronix is preparing to lay-off.
The economy is quickly sliding into a
recession while at the same time we
are all fighting the effect inflation is
having on our every purchase. The
Reagan income tax reduction is not
30 percent, as I keep seeing in print,
Vernonia Freedom
Published weekly in Vernonia, Oregon, 97064, on Thursdays at
825 Bridge St. Phone 429-8111. Subscriptions, $8 per year in
advance.
Second class postage paid at Vernonia OR 97064. Publication
No. 474-690. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Vernonia Freedom 825 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064.
Dennis Dobson...................................................... publisher-editor
Ann Dobson..................................... publisher-business manager
but one of 25 percent across the
board. Phased in over a three year
period of which you will only see five
percent reduction the first year.
There are no assurances of the
Property Tax Relief program coming
to our rescue as the state legislature
almost gave the program the 5k
during the last session. Most people
can barely get food on their table and
pay their ever increasing bills.
Electricity and water both just
recently experienced a sharp increase
that will be well felt by consumers
now and especially this winter.
I think that we must look to the
future realizing, until the economy
comes out of the slump it’s in now, no
new funds should be appropriated to
the schools. In the past we prospered
and the town overwhelmingly
approved its school levies. But now
the school board is faced with only
supplying the basics; reading,
writing
and
arithmetic,
and
forgetting the frills.
Afterall, the older generation got
by with the basics and prospered why
not also the younger?
Phillip Williams
Vernonia
EDITOR'S NOTE: For the last time: a
perceptive reader would have
understood the sentence Mr. Williams
refers to within the context of the
entire paragraph it was a part of If
Mr. Williams goes back to the
editorial he quotes, and reads the
entire piece again without letting his
obvious prejudices color what he
reads, he might understand the point
of the sentence. Instead of endorsing
blanket approval of any and all school
levies the sentence, and the
paragraph that surrounds it, state
simple facts. We repeat; There was an
original levy asked for, it was denied,
a new one is coming up and we are
urging only that 47J voters look at it
with the thought in mind that further
cuts represent a serious threat to the
quality and variety of education
Vernonia's children will receive. As
for Mr. Williams' belief that we're
talking through our toes, it was (and
is) this paper's understanding that
one of the functions any newspaper
fulfills is to act as a conduit of
information and ideas between
members of the community it serves.
It is not a soap box from which
anyone may indulge in pointless mud
slinging or childish name calling. By
the very evidence of his own letter to
the editor Mr. Williams provides a
shining example of an individual who
cannot muster logic or fact to his
argument and must resort to a purely
emotional level as his only defense.
Enough said.
Cloudy title charged in land sale
To the Editor:
The 1980 sale of 40 acres of
Columbia County timber land by
Commissioners Hunt and Ahlborn for
$57,250 was ruled invalid at a recent
class action suit when the value was
established at $105,000 - by Judge
Pihl in Circuit Court, St. Helens.
The property’s cloudy title and lack
of access was discussed at the time of
sale, however testimony during the
trial disclosed that on the date of the
sale, a title policy was issued to the
purchaser. This policy had removed
the clouds and showed that the
property did have access to the
county road. Additional testimony
revealed that the purchase offer was
submitted to the commissioners
during their weekly meeting and the
sale was approved at this same
meeting, standard procedure, which
calls for the assessors appraisal prior
to the decision to sell the land, was
bypassed.
Law requires advertising notice of
county land sales and if not sold, later
sales are at the discretion of the
commissioners. In this case the legal
advertisement of the sale appeared 35
years prior to the 1980 sale.
This shameful abuse of the intent of
the law requiring advertising county
land sales coupled with a 1978 county
land sale of a Rainier property that
was advertised 42 years prior to its
sale was brought to the attention of
Senator Charles Hanlon.
Senator Hanlon sponsored SB 283
which requires county property not
sold in the calender year be re­
advertised. The bill requires the ad to
contain a layperson’s description
(size and location) be included with
the legal description to assist people
in knowing what county lands are
being sold.
This is another example of Senator
Hanlon’s dedication in working for
the best interests of his constituents.
Stan Egaas
Clatskanie