A4
Opinion
wallowa.com
July 29, 2015
Wallowa County Chieftain
‘Lab of hope’
not much
beyond a
nice thought
F
rom substance abuse and domestic violence, to dying
downtowns and chronic unemployment, the myriad ills
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areas are grist for commentary
— including a July 17 piece
EDITORIAL
from New York Times
columnist Timothy Egan,
The voice of the Chieftain
a Seattle-based writer who
proclaims our own beloved
Joseph, Oregon, to be “a laboratory of hope for small-town
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Our immediate inclination is to welcome the endorsement
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singled out as a beacon to others? Upon closer inspection,
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in his headlong rush to a feel-good judgment.
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fourth paragraph of his 15-paragraph offering, after spending
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To Egan, Joseph seems different from the unhappy towns
because it has worked its way beyond the discord he witnessed
during a visit he made here 17 years ago, when “the people
of Joseph and the surrounding area were at war with one
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The wrath of ranchers and others was focused on federal
land managers and environmentalists, and Egan notes that a
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Fast-forward to July 2015. Egan returns to Wallowa
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contemplating the import of this event, and the Chief Joseph
Days Rodeo due to follow in a week, he reaches a seemingly
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cowboys: “The two cultures exist together in a little valley,
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grandparents may have stolen land once vital to the Nez Percé
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We think we see a few problems with this picture Egan
presents, however.
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does, during the brief annual period when we have Native
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area generations ago.
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located on Homeland Project grounds next to Wallowa, but
Egan only places the grounds “at the edge of the Wallowa
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school was in Enterprise, not Joseph.
Carefully avoiding mention of any Wallowa County city
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Joseph, his laboratory of hope. He seems to have endowed
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indirectly, that our big blowups with federal land managers
and environmentalists are all a thing of the past.
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and it does read rather pleasantly. Its content is mostly sugar,
though, that burns quickly off.
Correction
Over a period of four-and-a-half years, John McColgan’s
Scottrade account increased by an average annual rate of 26%,
not 2%. The Chieftain committed a typographical error in Mc-
Colgan’s Political Philosophy column that was published last
week. The Chieftain regrets the error.
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Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction
without permission is prohibited.
Volume 133
The Wallowa-Whitman National For-
est (WWNF) is fully into another year
of planning, and never so self-evident as
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ted by Tom Montoya in the Capital Press.
The current planning process on the for-
est is to test the waters, hope the public
is not paying attention, and wait for light
public response at meetings throughout
the region, or which is not happening.
The forest service has started its
re-engagement with local communities
on the forest plan revision, focusing on
access, grazing and pace & scale of res-
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were received for the forest plan revision,
with residents speaking out about the re-
striction of motorized access in the Blue
Mountains through the designation of
routes (closure of cross-country travel)
and reduction of road densities (closure/
obliteration of historic roads). The forests
have participated in meetings and so far
have brought nothing new to the public.
While the forests do not have all the
meetings scheduled, I do appreciate them
working on meeting with the public.
Each meeting held so far has had a very
strong calling for the forests to develop
a forest plan that retains and protects the
current level of open motorized access to
the WWNF and Malheur, as well as to re-
instate an open motorized access system
to the Umatilla.
Most concerning is the WWNF con-
WLQXHG GHYHORSPHQW RI 6XESDUW$ UHSRUW
of the Motorized Use Restriction Strate-
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sion, developed by specialist at the super-
GUEST COLUMN
John George
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Mr. Montoya makes it very clear that the
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document, however, his supervisor dis-
agrees with him.
On June 12, 2015, Mr. Pena wrote in a
response to my Freedom of Information
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request per Exemption 5 “to prevent inju-
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an exemption claimed to protect a gov-
ernment decision, of which Mr. Montoya
claims this is not a decision.
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ible report, actually becomes a noose
around the neck of rural communities as
road closures and motorized use restric-
tions spring forth from this internally
developed, agenda-driven document.
This model has been used throughout
the West, and is now rearing its head in
Eastern Oregon in an attempt to restrict
human interaction on the landscape, per
the draft forest plan revision.
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roads needed to meet the current forest
plans objectives, but does not have in
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put combining the management objec-
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to access resources in the region. The
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Subpart B plan (closure of cross-country
travel) that is scheduled to take place in
2016, and assist in moving the people to-
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ized access.
Residents expect to be involved in the
process of developing the report, we will
not be allowed to see the report until af-
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tool for the region, except for those that
mean to restrict motorized access. The
report will serve as a baseline for future
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commission roads and restrict open mo-
torized access throughout the region.
Mr. Montoya states he “strongly en-
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but when the public requests to partici-
pate, they are told no.
While the WWNF appears to have
deferred work on Subpart B, it has not.
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larger process of developing a Motorized
Use Restriction Strategy is ongoing, and
moving forward without public input or
involvement, and the WWNF continues
to breed hard feelings and mistrust in the
public.
Motorized use restrictions have gen-
erated a great deal of debate in Eastern
Oregon over the last 8 years, as it should.
We have aging residents, and families
living below the poverty level, that are
heavily dependent on open access to the
resources that make our communities re-
VLOLHQWWRWKHDGYHUVLWLHVRIWRGD\¶VZRUOG
6ee GEORGE, Page A
Protect kids from marijuana
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and illegal marijuana are well outlined
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“Deal With It: Oregon wants to crush
black-market weed sales. But business is
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Medical marijuana dispensaries in Or-
egon will be allowed to begin selling Oct.
1, but until then would-be consumers are
in an odd twilight zone of being legally
allowed to possess, grow, use the drug at
the same time nobody is legally permitted
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story makes clear, unlicensed marijuana
entrepreneurs still face potentially stiff
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from going ahead and meeting demand.
Marijuana users can also supply them-
selves by growing it at home, obtaining a
medical-marijuana card or going across
the state line to Washington and buying
from recreational suppliers already le-
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it remains illegal to bring it back across
state lines.
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made selling black-market marijuana,
WW found. Though the sums cited by
sellers interviewed for the story may not
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them by shrinking the black market,
talking candidly to young people about
From the Daily Astorian
why marijuana use is a bad choice for
people under the age of 21, and making
be correct and were taken on faith by policies that allow young people who
the reporter, front-line marijuana sellers have made a mistake to move on with
claimed to net $600 to $800 a week. Cus- WKHLUOLYHV´
Crushing the marijuana black-market
tomers range from high school students
WR MXGJHV $Q 2UHJRQ 6WDWH 8QLYHUVLW\ is a tall order. It has survived for decades
professor estimated in 2013 that nearly despite a nationwide prohibition that
320,000 Oregonians bought pot that year. was, at times, harshly enforced. Nor is it
The gist of the situation: “The line be- easy to keep marijuana and alcohol out
tween the black market and the existing of the hands of youths who choose to
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wego, who co-chaired the House-Senate every household the right to grow mari-
committee on marijuana, says this ambi- juana and keep relatively large quantities
guity reinforces the need to keep marijua- RI¿QLVKHGSURGXFWRQKDQG%XWZHKDYH
QD ʊ QRW WR PHQWLRQ RWKHU LQWR[LFDWLQJ to keep trying.
Ironically, perhaps the best way to
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young people. Irrespective of what adults protect kids in the post-legalization era is
may choose to do themselves, there is to effectively speed things on their way,
good reason to believe that marijuana making marijuana available to adults be-
has a detrimental long-term impact on hind a retail paywall, vigorously punish-
still-developing brains, along with ad- ing those who sell or otherwise provide
versely affecting things like study skills it to minors.
The Daily Astorian is a sister publi-
and safe driving.
“I believe that we need to protect cation to the Wallowa County Chieftain.
COMMENTARY
Trail to falls should be open
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Wallowa County
Out-of-County
New forest supervisor, no change
To the Editor:
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organization and their Board of Direc-
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only trail to Wallowa Falls.
I have been hiking to the falls for
over 60 years. My father took me there
when I was a child, I took my children
there and I would like to continue this
tradition by taking my grandchildren
there.
The falls have been a major part of
tourism in Wallowa County for decades.
Photos of the falls were both the front
and back cover of the Wallowa County
brochure put out by the Joseph Com-
mercial Club. The exact date of that bro-
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EHIRUH WKH ¶V EHFDXVH WKH 5LYHU
your best overall interest.
Oregon has already said that the
public has a right of access to natural
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Coast, people who suddenly closed off
public access to the beaches had to con-
View Dairy is also featured in it.
7KH SXEOLF¶V ULJKW WR WUDYHO RYHU WKH tinue allowing such access even if it was
historic trail that was across private across private property. Such closures
property to visit the Wallowa Falls DIIHFWHG WKH SXEOLF¶V DHVWKHWLF RU UHFUH-
should be continued. It is clear there is ational rights.
The decision in the 804 Trail case
a long standing interest on the part of
the public in the Falls. There has been a said there was a Prescriptive Easement.
continuous public access in this location There should be the same in this case.
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since the beginning of the 20th Century.
The action you have taken to deny Board of Directors of “Creating Memo-
the public access to the falls does your ULHV´WRUHWXUQWKHRQO\WUDLOWRWKHIDOOV
cause no service. To come in and sud- to the people.
Forrest Wilson
denly shut people out of the only access
Joseph
to the major natural attraction is not in
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR