The INDEPENDENT, February 17, 2011
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(Dem)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5244
E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/
contact
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
(Dem.)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
107 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3753
E-Mail: http://merkley.senate.
gov/contact
WebSite: http://merkley.senate.
gov
U.S. Representative David Wu
(Dem) OR District 1
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Website: http://house.gov/wu
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Dem) Senate District 16
PO Box R,
Scappoose, OR 97056
Phone: 503-543-4046
900 Court St. NE, S-314
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1716
E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/johnson
Representative Brad Witt
(Dem) House District. 31
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-373
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
Representative Deborah
Boone
(Dem) House District 32
PO Box 926
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
Phone: 503-717-9182
900 Court St. NE, H-375
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1432
E-mail: rep.deborahboone@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/boone
Page 3
Letters
County thanked for
obtaining generator
To the Editor:
The City of Vernonia Public
Works department would like to
thank Lonnie Welter at the Co-
lumbia County Road Dept. for
all of his efforts in securing the
generator that is stationed at
the City of Vernonia water treat-
Out of My Mind
From page 2
In spite of shouting that “so-
cialism” is a deterrent to busi-
ness, those same big corpora-
tions have no problem doing
business in socialist, even
communist, countries like Chi-
na. That same socialism re-
duces their expenses because
those governments provide
health care for everyone—you
know, that awful, terrible, no-
good socialized health care,
that costs half, or less, than
good old American insurance
industry health care.
Congress talks about the
need to reduce deficits, and
they could make a difference.
But they won’t stop the annual
$20-$30 billion in oil company
subsidies, or the $20-$30 bil-
lion in corn, rice, cotton and
soy bean subsidies that go
mostly to agri-business giants,
plus additional subsidies for
ethanol made from the same
corn, or the hundreds of bil-
lions in military industrial con-
tracts that the Pentagon does-
n’t want.
Congress won’t increase
taxes on the wealthy, either, al-
though that would be fiscally
sensible, because too many of
them are hooked on what are
euphemistically described as
“campaign donations.”
Without doubt, we have
some good, honest Congress-
men, just far too few of them.
Too many in Congress pretend
to serve their constituents
while actually working to cut
benefits for those who are un-
employed, disabled, elderly or
poor, and by refusing to rein-in
harmful practices with sensible
regulations for big business
(especially Wall Street). They
pretend to serve their con-
stituents while helping destroy
what remains of our hard-work-
ing middle class.
And they’re laughing all the
way to the bank—off shore, of
course.
ment plant. This is an asset that
is very comforting to have on
site for emergency power.
There have been times in
the past years when we have
had to rent backup power in
emergencies. This kind of ex-
pense has never been budget-
ed for since the water plant was
built in 1996. Lonnie has spent
considerable time with this proj-
ect and I am sure that the rest
of Columbia County is very ap-
preciative of his time.
Sincerely,
Jeff Burch
Public Works Foreman
City of Vernonia
Question about dam
deserves explanation
To the Editor:
I want to thank Eleanor
Thompson for her letter about
flooding priorities. I am pleased
that Ms. Thompson expressed
her opinions publically. Opin-
ions expressed publically rep-
resent a risk taken by their au-
thors. The courage to take any
position is the hallmark of good
citizenship. I wish more of us
were willing to “own” our beliefs
publically. Every public opinion,
even a complaint, has the po-
tential to increase public under-
standing at the same time it can
help lower the temperature of
our public discourse.
Although I have had little au-
thority over these matters, I
have been privileged to watch
the wheels of our governments’
flood response grind away. I
want Ms. Thompson, and oth-
ers, to know that many of their
leaders, including our past
Mayor, adamantly sought a
dam or river diversion project. It
was my impression that Ore-
gon and federal emergency
management officials did in-
deed hear those requests. De-
spite this, there were two firm
points on which they pushed
back, repeatedly.
First, dams and similar proj-
ects (“structural projects” in
FEMA parlance) have become
much
discouraged
within
FEMA and Corp of Engineers
circles since the recent, dra-
matic Midwest flooding and, of
course, the levee failures dur-
Please see page 16
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters with per-
sonal attacks on private citi-
zens. Preference will be giv-
en to brief letters, 300 words
or less.
All letters must be signed
and include a verifiable ad-
dress or phone number.
Salem Scene
By Representative Debbie Boone
Oregon District 32
The Oregon Legisla-
tive 75th Assembly is
now in session. The cer-
emonial start was Janu-
ary 10th, but on February
1st, work for the first an-
nual session of the Ore-
gon Legislature began in
earnest.
This year my Legisla-
tive Committees assignments will be the House
Agriculture and Natural Resources which will
meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I am
Co-Vice Chair of the House Energy, Environment
and Water which meets Tuesday and Thursday,
and House Veterans Affairs, which meets on
Tuesday. Although I have a busy schedule, the
only way I can effectively represent our district is
to hear from you. I always make time to meet
with my constituents, please call the office as
soon as you know you’re coming to Salem so I
can make arrangements to see you when you
are at the Capitol.
This session some of the bills I’ve introduced
include:
• HB 2738 Establishing a Gray Whale license
plate, as requested by the Oregon State Univer-
sity Marine Mammal Institute.
• HB 2736 Authorizes State Board of Forestry
to acquire, designate or exchange state forest
lands to create natural resource conservation ar-
eas. This legislation was requested by Tillamook
County Commissioner Tim Josi.
• HB 2742 Establishing an Animal Abuser
Registry for people who are convicted of certain
crimes against animals. This was requested by
a number of constituents in District 32.
• HB 2735 Clarifies provision relating to the
Department of Energy ensuring that Energy Re-
source Supplier fees be credited to the DOE and
prevented from being swept into the General
Fund. The measure has been requested by con-
sumer owned utilities, including the Tillamook
PUD.
If you’re interested in reading the complete
bills, or checking on other proposed legislation,
go to www.leg.state.or.us then click on Bills/Laws
at the top to start your search.
This week I met with Governor John Kitzhaber
regarding the Pacific North West Economic Re-
gion (PNWER). PNWER is an international pub-
lic-private partnership including Oregon, Wash-
ington, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana; the Canadi-
an Provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and
Saskatchewan, plus the Yukon and Northwest
Territories. The group is dedicated to encourag-
ing global economic competitiveness and pre-
serving the natural environment. PNWER focus-
es on regional issues that include trade and eco-
nomic development, energy, transportation,
health care, environment disaster resilience, and
innovation. At this week’s session with the gov-
ernor, the discussion topics focused on energy,
transportation, and trade and economic develop-
ment. The incoming president of the PNWER
executive committee will be Representative Mike
Schaufler of Happy Valley, and this year’s annu-
al summit will be held in Portland.
Some other great news for our district, is that
the Oregon Board of Forestry has selected Doug
Decker as the Oregon State Forester. Doug was
instrumental in getting the Tillamook Forest Cen-
ter established, and more recently worked on the
creation of the new Gilcrest State Forest, south
of Bend. The Board of Forestry selected this 23
year Department of Forestry veteran because of
his communication skills and his ability to reach
out to stakeholders and get them involved in
forestry matters. Doug was installed as State
Forester on Tuesday, and I’m looking forward to
working with him on forestry issues.