Page 10A
NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Saturday, February 7, 2015
‘In God We Trust’ leads to county debate
By SAMANTHA TIPLER
Klamath Falls
Herald and News
Could a Community Bill Of Rights
keep out a gas pipeline?
Southern Oregon communities along a proposed
natural gas pipeline route are looking for creative ways
to stop the project. Douglas and Coos County residents
hope a Community Bill of Rights will give them a legal
avenue to assert local control.
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natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay would run
through the property of Stacey McLaughlin. She doesn’t
want it there. And speaking out before government
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“It feels like a waste of my time,” she said.
So McLaughlin is organizing her Douglas County
neighbors to enact a community bill of rights. It would
give cities and counties the legal grounds to say no to
projects that violate local values.
The group met last week with Kai Huschke of the
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund to
discuss their options going forward. Huschke said many
communities have little to no recourse against state and
federally approved projects.
“So folks are actually moving law to assert that right,”
Hushke said. “That right of government to say no to things
like pipelines, and yes to sustainable energy futures.”
McLaughlin said the Douglas County group is early in
the process. Community members are working on language
for their community bill of rights, which may eventually
include fossil fuel and community health provisions.
“I think it will create an opportunity for reason and
rational thinking to start being the approach we take as
citizens in this community,” McLaughlin said, “instead
of just settling for somebody (who) just walks in the
door and says, ‘Hey, here’s what you have to do.’”
Feds not convinced by tribal claim
that would halt coal project
A federal agency says a Puget Sound tribe has not
made a convincing enough case to halt the permitting
process for a coal-shipping project.
The Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the
review of plans for the train-to-ship coal facility
proposed for construction near Bellingham. It said in
a letter to the Lummi Nation that it would not halt the
permitting process. Instead, it asked for more detailed
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The Lummi Nation’s tribal lands abut the site of the
largest proposed coal export terminal in North America
— one of three coal export facilities proposed in the
Northwest to move Montana and Wyoming coal to
Asian markets. In a letter the tribe argued the proposed
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rights it secured in a treaty with the federal government.
The letter from the Corps’ District Engineer Colonel
John G. Buck was made public Wednesday. In it, Buck
said the tribe needs to provide more information:
“While the information you provided supports historic
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need detailed information for our administrative record
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the facility’s construction and operation would affect
access to, and use of, these waters.”
Washington legislation would
mandate bigger crews on oil trains
A growing number of oil trains rolling through
Washington has emergency responders and rail workers
calling for bigger crews on board to better protect
human health and the environment.
A set of bills, one introduced in the House and one
in the Senate, would require all freight trains coming
through Washington to have a minimum of two crew
members. Trains carrying hazardous materials would
be required to have a third crew member at the rear of
the train. Oil trains more than 50 cars long would be
required to have two crew members at the rear of the
train.
KLAMATH FALLS —
Not everyone agrees with the
motto “In God We Trust.”
And a contingent of Klamath
County residents doesn’t want
to see it on the commission-
ers’ hearing room wall.
“If ‘In God We Trust’ is go-
ing to be placed on that wall,
shall we then place ‘Allahu
Akbar’ on this wall for our
Muslim citizens? Or ‘Yahweh
is God, you shall have no oth-
er god before him’ on that wall
for our Jewish citizens? Or
‘We bow down to our Mother
Earth at this time of solstice’
on the back wall for our Wic-
can citizens? Then we have
the Buddhists, the Baha’i, the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Or-
thodox Catholics and so on.
“God knows what we’ll
do with the atheists,” said Tr-
ish Seiler, Klamath Falls City
Councilwoman. “Choosing
one faith over another by plac-
ing the proposed plaque in this
room is not only unconstitu-
tional, it is morally wrong. It is
not the American way.”
Seiler joined about 40 other
citizens who attended a town
hall Tuesday evening hosted
by the county commissioners.
The commissioners didn’t set
Klamath Falls Herald and News photo by Samantha Tipler
More than 40 people came to the Klamath County
Commissioner town hall meeting Tuesday evening.
Most citizens wanted to talk about the issue of put-
ting “In God We Trust” on the wall of the hearing room.
an agenda or topics for the
meeting, but the majority of
people spoke about the “In
God We Trust” issue.
At the end of December,
commission chairman Tom
Mallams suggested putting
the words “In God We Trust”
on the wall of the public hear-
ing room. It has come up sev-
eral times in meetings since,
mostly with citizens speak-
ing in favor of the motto. At
Tuesday’s meeting, the tune
changed, and more spoke
against it.
“I am a Christian. I love
my God and I love my gov-
ernment for giving me the
constitutional right that it
gives me. I don’t want my
government — federal, state
or county — to tell me how
to love my God, or tell others
to do so or do not,” said Aus-
tin Folnagy, a homeowner in
Klamath County and member
of the Klamath Community
College board.
He said he wanted to at-
tract more homeowners to the
area, and he thought the “In
God We Trust” sign would
hinder that.
“I want young families and
young people to come and fall
in love with this county,” he
said. “I want that regardless
of their race, their religion or
creed.”
Seiler also urged the com-
missioners to focus on eco-
nomic development, job cre-
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and other issues that would
help unite the community, not
divide it.
“This issue is dividing our
community,” she said. “We
need to work on issues that
bring us together.”
Commissioners said they
were surprised the “In God
We Trust” issue became the
dominant topic Tuesday eve-
ning. They had anticipated
talking about the county bud-
get, or public safety. But “In
God We Trust” came up again
and again.
The issue brought forth
arguments about the First
Amendment and the separa-
tion of church and state.
“The Founding Fathers felt
very strongly we need to have
a moral compass of some sort.
They didn’t say ‘In God We
Trust’ the God of the Bible or
the God of the Muslim faith,”
Mallams said, adding he be-
lieved the motto didn’t vio-
late church and state division.
“Even atheism is considered a
religion by many now.”
Bellet said he didn’t see
a problem with putting the
words on the wall.
West Coast port employers to cut shifts amid labor dispute
LOS ANGELES (AP)
— Companies that handle
billions of dollars of cargo
at West Coast seaports said
Friday they will hire far few-
er workers this weekend, the
latest escalation in a contract
dispute with dockworkers
that threatens to shut down a
vital link in U.S.-Asia trade.
The association repre-
senting port terminal opera-
tors announced its members
would not hire crane drivers
to move containers on and
off massive ocean-going
ships. Instead, employers
could order smaller crews to
clear already-unloaded con-
tainers from congested dock-
side yards.
The announcement could
foreshadow a full port shut-
down as soon as Monday,
or it could be a hardball bar-
gaining tactic designed to
force a contract after nine
months of talks.
Congestion has been a
huge issue at the West Coast’s
29 ports, where containers
are taking two to three times
longer than usual to clear
dockside yards on their way
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The International Long-
shore and Warehouse Union
has blamed employers, say-
ing they failed to manage the
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tion, which represents ship-
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Earlier this week, the mar-
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as early as Monday, ports
could become so gridlocked
with containers there’s no
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“meltdown” point would re-
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