Page 14
The INDEPENDENT, February 1, 2012
Letters
From page 2
the two lawsuits filed on your
behalf by the current CHD
board, the new trustees and a
representative taxpayer. It is
our understanding the county
has two full-time attorneys and
a part-time attorney. Why are
we paying them if more attor-
neys must be hired every time
someone disagrees with the ir-
responsible manner in which
the commissioners are han-
dling our tax dollars?
The commissioners are also
attempting to give the Millard
Road property, free of cost, to
the City of St. Helens. How
does that make the rest of you
taxpayers who do not live in St.
Helens feel? We would not ap-
preciate paying for a new park
in Scappoose or in Warren or in
Goble. We’re sure you feel the
same. You paid as much in tax-
es as we did in St. Helens.
Thirdly, we are highly offend-
ed, as should you be, that your
vote electing a new CHD board
by a 90 percent margin has
been totally ignored. The new
board was cut off at the knees:
no money, no records and not
even an office until a minute
space was finally provided in
the old courthouse. Now your
CHD board has attorneys and
they are doing everything in
their power to hold the old CHD
board and the commissioners
accountable for their misdeeds.
Let us share some of the
“secret”
messages
sent
amongst the CHD and the
commissioners. Oh, and by the
way, it appears the City of St.
Helens was also in on this back
room maneuver.
3/17/11 – from Karen Ladd
(public health administrator),
using public health computer,
to Jay Tappan, “I spoke with
Akin (one of their five attor-
neys) this morning. He said
that the mayor, city admin,
commissioner, you and Aki and
I should meet to discuss the
transfer of assets ...”
3/24/11 – from Jay Tappan,
using the publicly owned com-
puter at the fire department,
“Hi, Pam – Just a note...I left a
message on Randy’s (Peter-
son, St. Helens mayor) cell
phone to call me about the
CHD move to the PNP (private
foundation) status.”
4/4/11 – from Karen Ladd to
Jay Tappan, “Us sending a let-
ter to say we are “outta here”
by the health district is not a
mutual dissolution...”, “This is a
one sided statement and really
violates the terms of the
IGA.(Intergovernmental Agree-
ment)”, “Would you be willing to
talk to Earl (Commissioner
Fisher) and ask him to go talk
to Sara (Tyson – one of the
county attorneys) and see if he
can set something up with us
and them to start mutual disso-
lution of the IGA talks.”
4/4/11 – from Jay Tappan,
using the publicly owned com-
puter at the fire department, “I
just finished talking to Earl
(Commissioner Fisher) and I
think we have a good under-
standing of where we are go-
ing.” “We will not reference any
arrangement past 30 June so
as to blunt the criticism of us
doing a sleight of hand…” “The
commissioners need to have
that impression of “selecting” a
next provider of PH (public
health) services past 30 June.”
“Is there any risk in this? – yes,
Please see page 17
Just for Fun
Casey and Kyle by Will Robertson
Solve this Sudoku
Answer to Januar y 18
Sudoku is on page 19.
H e re ’s a Va l e n t i n e
to color
Love is swift,
sincere,
pious,
pleasant,
generous,
strong,
patient,
faithful,
prudent,
long-suffering,
manly, and
never seeking
her own; for
wheresoever a
man seeketh
his own, there
he falleth from
love.
THOMAS Á
KEMPER
monk and
author
(1380-1471)