The independent., April 03, 2003, Page 2, Image 2

APR
Page 2
3 2003
The INDEPENDENT, March 20, 2003
Citizens respond and
thugs threaten harm
From the response of a few people to the March 20,
2003, editorial opinion, one might think that I, a small
town newspaper editor, is single-handedly destroying
the United States. I would like to ask a few of them if it
makes them feel really, really brave to threaten a 69-
year-old woman with both physical and economic
harm...but they forgot to leave their names.
The people who wrote letters in response to the ed­
itorial are appreciated. They understand that freedom
of speech is for everyone; they care enough to state
their opinions and they’re not afraid to sign their
names.
What is troubling, is that the editorial was about eco­
nomics; how this administration used the tragedy of
9/11 - and now war - to divert people’s attention from
the continuing loss of jobs, out-of-control health care
costs, reduced appropriations for housing, food, ener­
gy assistance and other basic human needs. It was
about how the Bush budget seeks reductions in Head
Start, school lunches, education, senior services and,
yes, even veterans and survivors benefits, while most
of the country is distracted, watching a war on televi­
sion.
It was also about the abuse of power; how American
citizens can be jailed on suspicion, with no charges
filed and no legal representation. If you think that can’t
happen here, you’re wrong. Jose Padilla, an American,
has been in prison since June, 2002, on suspicion of
links to terrorism. He has not been charged with a
crime and his attornies have not been allowed to see
him. If there isn’t enough evidence to charge him, he
should be released; If there is, he should be charged
and allowed to talk with his attornies.
So far as the war is concerned, we must support the
men and women of our military - anything else would
be wrong - but that doesn’t mean we have lost the right
to criticize our government and the president.
As a congressman, Abraham Lincoln harshly and re­
peatedly criticized President James Polk for the war
with Mexico. Theodore Roosevelt supported the right
of citizens to severely criticize the president, even on a
personal level.
The Constitution did not establish an untouchable
presidency. It did establish freedom of speech.
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By Dale E. Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
I was glad to see the
picture in the last Indepen­
dent of the kayaker surfing
the wave at the Rock
Creek swimming pool dam
site. I surf this wave myself
and we may have an un­
tapped recreational re­
source. Kayakers come in
several different breeds:
Recreational - those who like mellow waters and
paddle mostly for relaxation; Creekers - those
who like paddling steep, narrow streams while
covering distance, and; Park and Play - kayak­
ers who like to find certain water features which
they play on, staying in one place. There are, of
course, a lot of variations of all these paddlers.
The feature that Matt Chesley was playing on
was a wave caused by the concrete apron of the
summer time dam.
While this wave is not a giant, at certain water
levels it does provide good surfing for the begin­
ner kayaker. With a few modifications it could
also provide a playground for veteran Park and
Play kayakers. I envision, with minor stream dis­
turbance, the ability to create a wave in the mid­
dle of the stream that can be adjusted to the flow
and create the ideal wave. During times of flood,
the wave apparatus would lay down, reducing
river back up. I also believe this can be done with
minimal cost. It is amazing to see how far kayak­
ers will drive to find the perfect wave to play on
and, being as close to the valley as we are, we
would draw large numbers of kayakers who
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would bring revenue to town.
Kayakers are also a very defensive group of
people. Recently, the Whitewater organization
that I belong to posted a story about proposed
changes in livestock grazing rules, by the Bu­
reau of Land Management, which would allow
permit holders to lock BLM gates temporarily.
The kayaking community’s concern about the
proposal is that the public would be denied ac­
cess to rivers. Hunters should also be very con­
cerned about this proposal; there are already nu­
merous reports of ranchers locking public gates
during hunting season. It seems that public
agencies continually attempt to degrade the pub­
lic’s use of their own lands, either by denying ac­
cess or charging fees. We need to let the gov­
ernment know that this is not acceptable.
Posted also on my kayaking web site was an
article about the proposed plan to circumvent the
navigability act in Oregon. When the State of
Oregon joined the union on Valentine’s day in
1859, it was given title to all navigable streams.
All that had to be done was to declare them nav­
igable. Sounds simple, but because of ineptness
the State is now in a quagmire. To try and break
this impasse the state is proposing a pilot pro­
gram that would allow public access to:
• A river and its beds to float, anchor, swim,
eat, wade, and sleep in a boat;
• The banks of a river to portage and deal with
an emergency;
• The banks of a river within 10 feet of the wa­
ter line or the line of ordinary high water,
whichever is closer, for the purpose of any lawful
recreational use associated with the water (ac­
tivities need not be accompanied by a boat), in-
Please see page 12