The INDEPENDENT, September 21, 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
313 Hart 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 ace
pl
620 SW Main, Suite e 606
r
Portland, OR 97205
o on
Phone: 503-326-2901
– n lecti
d e Ofc. Bldg.
2338 Rayburn
l
ne ti House
g
i
Washington,
s un DC 20515
e
t
Phone:
R en 202-225-0855
Website:
m 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
Learn about how to
avoid foreclosure
To the Editor:
I would like to take a mo-
ment and remind community
members living in Columbia
County that a valuable re-
source is available to them in
the form of Community Action
Team, Inc. This agency not
only serves low to moderate in-
come households, but house-
holds above the moderate in-
come level.
Recently a Foreclosure Pre-
vention Resource meeting was
held in St. Helens to provide
county community members
the opportunity to speak with
HUD approved agency coun-
selors about foreclosure pre-
vention options and tools to
help them avoid foreclosure. I
was surprised to see the meet-
ing poorly attended.
We are all aware that deal-
ing with banks and servicers
regarding difficult situations
such as foreclosure prevention
can be an uphill battle in most
cases. Community Action
Team has trained foreclosure
prevention counselors avail-
able to ease some of the stress
this process causes. And the
service is free. It is hoped to
have another of these meet-
ings in a different part of Co-
lumbia County in the near fu-
ture. I remain the eternal opti-
mist.
If you would like to know
more about these meetings or
other services offered by Com-
munity Action Team you can
visit www. cat-team.org, call
Cindy at 503-325-9215, ext.
2303, or e-mail Cindy at cind-
kp@cat-team.org
Cindy Peake
Community Action
Team, Inc.
Astoria
Airport expansion is
a threat to rural area
To the Editor:
After a lengthy and expen-
sive battle, the Land Use Board
of Appeals allowed Apple valley
Aviation to engage in aircraft
operations under certain condi-
tions. Primarily restricted to
agricultural flights, it was a
compromise that both sides
could live with. Mr Applebee
apparently has other plans.
From the beginning, he has
wanted to expand the original
private airstrip into a full-
fledged airport. The main im-
pediment has been that most of
his property is below the flood
plain and cannot be built upon.
So, that should be the end of it,
right? Not necessarily so. Mr.
Applebee hired an engineering
firm and, Surprise!, 11 feet of
flood elevation disappear. With
this new information, he has
applied to Washington County
to continue his expansion with
runway improvements, and ex-
tension of an “existing” road for
parking his big trucks. (Which
looks very much like a future
taxiway with turn-outs to even-
tual hangars.)
Washington County, in it’s
continuing appeasement, has
accepted the application and is
considering approval. The
flood plain designation was es-
tablished long before most can
remember and has generally
been accepted by state and
federal agencies.
The Neighbors Against Appl-
evalley Expansion (NAAVE)
group has once again formed
to stop this threat to our rural
way of life. Our lawyers and en-
gineers have questions about
the validity of the findings in
this report, especially with pho-
tographic evidence of severe
flooding in ‘56, ‘96 and 2006.
We’ll show that the established
line is correct, as it always has
been and that our position will
prevail. Unfortunately this will
take money and we can’t do it
alone.
Through the generous con-
tributions of our supporters in
the past, we were able to pre-
vent the unbridled expansion
attempted last time. It’s unfor-
tunate that we have to ask
again, but once again the liv-
ability of western Washington
County is at stake. NAAVE will
sponsor an information booth
at the Banks Farmer’s Market
on Fridays. You can also visit
the website at NAAVE.org.
Jeff Holmes
Banks
County man upset
by lack of deputies
To the Editor:
On 9/14/11, Sheriff Dicker-
son went public on Fox 12
News stating that effective Oc-
tober 1st there will only be one
Deputy to patrol the entire
County. One deputy to respond
to all 9-1-1 calls received daily.
This Deputy will, at his or her
discretion, choose what calls to
respond to. They may not even
respond at all! Sheriff Dicker-
son was quoted, “If you have a
firearm, get trained in the prop-
er use of that firearm, and be
willing to use it if you need to
protect your family.”
(Editor’s Note: Sheriff Dick-
erson told The Independent his
statement was, “If someone’s
kicking your door in, a double
aught load in your shotgun is a
good deterrent.”)
Sheriff Dickerson, you made
a very powerful statement in
telling the residents of Colum-
bia County that they may need
to be willing to use deadly force
but you failed to tell them that if
they don’t follow the letter of
the law they will be the ones
going to jail!
I cringe knowing we are go-
ing back to the days of calling
9-1-1 and being told by C-Com
“sorry no one is on duty or
available to respond, you can
call back tomorrow or we will
take a message and a Deputy
will call you back when he or
she can”.
I expected more from you
Sheriff Dickerson, that’s why I
voted for you! I feel you are all
about excuses and nothing
about solutions. Are you pun-
ishing the residents of this
county for not passing the tax
levy so you could spend the
money as you saw fit? Where
is the Sheriff’s Posse and your
Reserve Program? Why don’t
you hold the County Commis-
sioners responsible for this?
The same goes for our Com-
missioners. Why are you not
holding Sheriff Dickerson ac-
countable for his budget that
seemed to be adequate prior to
the levy? When you focus on
nothing but the problems, that
is all you will get in return, more
problems!
In Columbia County, Ore-
gon, with a population of
49,351 people we have three
County Commissioners that
are directly, legally, morally,
and individually responsible for
the current state of this county.
They are Tony Hyde, Earl Fish-
er, and Henry Heimuller. I be-
lieve it is time We the People
start holding these three peo-
ple responsible and account-
able for our failing Sheriff’s Of-
fice. If they cannot come up
with a solution to this problem
then why are we allowing them
to represent the citizens of this
County? They are supposed to
represent the best interest of
the people!
If the County Commission-
ers and the Sheriff cannot
come up with a resolution to
keep our Sheriff’s Office func-
tioning to a satisfactory level of
operations then at a minimum I
feel that by October 1st, 2011,
the Commissioners should
have a County Ordinance in
place that allows the citizens of
this County the right to use
deadly force in the defense and
protection of personal property.
The right to use deadly force to
protect land, tangible, or move-
able property. The right to use
deadly force to prevent the im-
minent commission of Arson,
Burglary, Robbery, Aggravated
Robbery, Theft during the
nighttime, or Criminal Mischief
during the nighttime. The right
to use deadly force to prevent
the criminal that is fleeing im-
mediately after committing the
crimes listed above or when it
is reasonably believed the
property cannot be protected or
recovered by any other means.
Right now in this county there
is no other means of recovering
or protecting property because
the Columbia County Sheriff’s
Office (CCSO) is non-existent
and does not have the staff to
investigate property crimes to
recover stolen property. I know
this first hand. Now let’s include
the right to use deadly force in
protection of a third person’s
property with these guidelines.
The third person has requested
the protection and/or the third
person is a family member.
These are the same laws that
are and have been in effect in
Texas for quite some time. Now
is the time to change the use of
deadly force laws in Columbia
County. The billboards have
just been put up by Sheriff
Dickerson welcoming every
criminal in the Pacific NW to
Columbia County. Change the
laws allowing us to defend our
property and you can bet that
Please see page 22
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.