>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Round up the general population, move them into a restricted, confined area where they can be accumulated and controlled. The historic name for this was "reservation,'' now referred to as TMP — Travel Management Plan.

The creation of more roadless and wilderness area benefits a select few that have the means and ability. It eliminates the majority of the population from their right of access to the area. It does not increase the population of game animals. As most of this valley hunters know, the largest game herds are located behind locked gates on subsidized game farms. The decline of hunter success in the wilderness area surely cannot be attributed to wheeler traffic. Maybe the managers should take another look at their eight-month long hunting season.

I am not against the hunters who choose to go into the roadless areas, but lacking access to a mule and not having a strong back I have learned to be more selective in where I harvest our meat. Thankfully the wheeler has expanded my area and success.

Granted, there are always people who abuse, but they are not the majority. The meadows that I have seen torn up were done with vehicles that had larger than a 40-inch wheel base. Enforcement and citations are the answer here, not closure.

First the Forest Service said all numbered roads were open (even the blocked ones) unless signed closed. Now they are saying all roads are closed unless signed open.

I sympathize with Mr. Gerding of Philomath. I, too, like quiet and solitude when I go to the mountains. The only thing I can think of is that he must have gone to the newly created campground on the North Fork of Catherine Creek — which by the way is closed to wheelers.

The signatures I recognized on the petitions were from citizens with above-average knowledge and experience of what is going on. They are locals supporting a very simple and specific statement — NO MORE.

Dorian Cox

Union

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Union County needs to review its policy on burn barrels. Several communities have ordinances banning the use of burn barrels and the rationale is the same for rural areas.

The May issue of "The Cove Community Association Newsletter" paraphrases a DEQ's fact sheet as follows:

"The State of Oregon prohibits open-burning of any material that creates dense, noxious smoke, including: plastics, asbestos, tires or other rubber products, garbage or food waste, wire insulation, waste oil or other petroleum products, automobile parts or dead animals.''

Burning plastics releases toxins into the atmosphere; burning bleached paper and some plastics releases dioxin; colored papers and synthetic inks release heavy metals when burned. Virtually all of the pollutants stay at ground level.

Some are burning prohibited materials during fire season and the fire might spread to surrounding grass and brush. Homeowners are not always careful about keeping a grate on the barrel; they fail to stay in attendance while burning or allow children to burn without supervision.

There are alternatives that weren't available a few years ago. Garbage service is provided for most residents. Also, recycling centers accept scrap paper, magazines, newspaper and cardboard along with glass, metal and plastic containers.

Local governments should upgrade the recycling program to include all recyclable plastics. Perhaps the most important change would be to accept all hazardous materials such as paint, batteries, pesticides, solvents and other toxic chemicals. Finally, a way to safely dispose of confidential documents should be developed.

While local government has worked to reduce materials going into landfills by encouraging recycling, there is room for improvement. A county-wide ban on the use of burn barrels coupled with enhanced recycling would be a good start in reducing

pollution.

Jack Hunter

Cove

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I want to express appreciation for Brian Bell, Kevin Loveland and the La Grande Rural Fire crew (with the backup from Cove and Imbler) for their quick thinking and their willingness to put themselves in harm's way in order to get a jump on a grass fire that, if not controlled early and effectively, could have destroyed my home and those of others in my neighborhood.

I have to admit I have taken fire protection for granted; this experience helps me to appreciate the protection that we all receive as a result of the generous volunteers in our community.

Jane Sabin-Davis

La Grande

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The U.S. Forest Service is set up like a corporation. A CEO at the top makes the rules and the rest of the company carries them out. Dale Bosworth, the former head of the USFS, made the rule severely limiting off-road activities in public forests. At least the principle of federalism is being used as each district ranger gets to be the "decider" of which roads to close. Unfortunately, Steve Ellis, ranger of the Wallowa-Whitman, is falling in line with Bosworth with his radical proposal to close more than 5,000 miles of roads plus thousands more "decommissioned" ones.

OK, you're saying they are just following the system — that is how the government is set up. The problem is there is no oversight of these people. They don't have any pressure to follow the will of the majority. They are not elected and there is no elected representation over them. (Well, the president, but he's busy.)

There is an illusion of democracy as they hold meetings to inform the public and take comments, but this is just for show, to placate the people. The USFS plan comes from the top — there will be few changes.

More than 3,800 people in this region have signed petitions requesting the USFS make no more changes in the WWNF. The USFS has stated that all of these signatures don't carry as much weight as one person's request to keep their favorite road open. What kind of democracy is that? If all 3,800 people singled out their pet road there wouldn't be any consensus and then the USFS will follow their plan anyway. The real consensus seems to be from the pens of those 3,800 citizens — no more closures, period.

Call your U.S. congressmen and senators. And please sign the petition. Maybe true democracy can prevail in the end.

Scott Schroeder

Union

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Dennis Wilkinson's letter from June 19 was at the very least interesting.

He attacks Commissioner Hibbert for remodeling her office at a cost of $765, of which $600 was for energy-efficient blinds for single-pane windows. It is interesting to note that these kinds of blinds have been used throughout the Joseph building for several years. Apparently Mr. Wilkinson only has an issue with Commissioner Hibbert's office.

He also failed to mention that the majority of the work and materials were supplied at no cost by the commissioner's husband. The only bill submitted by Mr. Hibbert to the county was for $115 worth of cabinetry hardware. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Apparently it is OK for other departments to make unauthorized and unbudgeted expenditures, such as $8,000 for carpet. More than $100,000 was spent to remodel a single office at our local university, without even a whimper from Mr. Wilkinson.

Commissioner Hibbert and Commissioner MacLeod's lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., helped our county road department's budget by about $600,000 — the same road department that plows the county road in front of Mr. Wilkinson's residence.

Why is his concern only for issues with one department? It would be incumbent to ask, "What is Mr. Wilkinson's agenda?" and "Why does he only look at a select few"?

Tim Jederberg

La Grande

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Articles in the June 16 and June 18 Observer discussed health care and tobacco. Seems odd to link those two topics in the same sentence doesn't it?

In the June 16 paper, the state Senate passed the tobacco tax hike to fund an expansion of children's health programs. It goes on in this article to state that 20 percent of Oregon's population smokes.

In the June 18 paper, the article states there are 600,000 Oregonians without health benefits, of this amount I do not have any idea how many of these people or children will be taken care of through a tobacco tax hike.

Doing simple math makes you wonder how much money in tobacco is out there. If you were to pay $200 a month in health care, which is unheard of, it would equal $2,400 a year. Times that by 600,000 people. Wow, that is a whole lot of money from somewhere.

Also in the June 16 paper was an article about banning smoking in bars by 2009. Keep reading and it is stated by opponents that the next two-year state revenue forecast would be reduced by $50 million in tobacco tax proceeds.

There is something terribly wrong here. The Senate is hoping that 20 percent of the state's population is going to fund a certain amount of health care for children. Yet there is a possibility that there will be a $50 million shortfall in tobacco tax revenues for the next two years.

Is it fair that 20 percent of the population pays for this? If there is to be a tax initiated, it only seems fair that all Oregonians participate. Here's an idea, why don't we tax toilet paper?

When we are asked to vote on this, ask yourself, when this fails, where will that tobacco tax money go to?

Johnny Arnold

La Grande

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I am writing this letter in support of our Union County Vector Control District (VCD). I thoroughly enjoy both the benefits of health and comfort that our district provides.

Around the world, malaria infects 500 million people per year, which results in

1 million of those individuals actually dying from malaria. Every 30 seconds a child will die from this horrible disease. In many years, malaria is the number one cause of death among humans!

Dengue fever infects 50 million people per year which, left untreated, can result in mortality rates of 20 percent. There are 200,000 cases of yellow fever a year and there are currently 120 million cases of elephantiasis in more than 80 countries.

Various forms of encephalitis occur, including: West Nile Virus, Japanese Encephalitis, St. Louis Encephalitis, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Western Equine Encephalitis and La Crosse Encephaiitis. Many of these result in intense suffering and even death.

All of the above diseases are spread via mosquito bites. Vector Control's goal is not to eradicate but simply to keep the population under control. We all see the "fogging" that they perform, but it is really the smallest part of a mosquito control district's efforts.

Union County Vector Control uses larvicide 90-95 percent of the time. Larvicides are very specific to mosquitoes and effect fewer non-targets, which leaves a much smaller footprint upon the environment. When ground-based fogging is used, they use ULV (ultra-low volume), which results in an application of less than 1/2-ounce per acre.

Education is a strong point of every mosquito control district. They also exert a great deal of effort to drain or maintain stagnant pools of water. VCD also samples and surveys the type of mosquitoes found in an area due to the fact that certain types of mosquitoes carry different diseases.

Union County VCD is a fine organization that provides superb service and promotes a healthy environment for both man and beast.

Lance C. Shoemaker

Imbler

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Regarding your story on lyme disease, I live in Kamloops, B.C., Canada, where there is also "no Lyme disease here." I hear this same statement from patients all over North America. Apparently the infected ticks stop at the border because they don't have the proper paperwork.

Canadians have to use testing from Igenex if they want the most accurate testing available at this time, but it's not accepted as such here because apparently we know more about Lyme than the United States does. No arrogance here either.

Treating Lyme disease beyond a simple course of doxycycline for a few weeks is deemed "unsafe and reckless," according to the "experts." Instead, leaving a patient heavily infected with Lyme and treating the symptoms instead makes more sense to these same "educated professionals," and forget testing for co-infections, that's silly!

Interestingly, in going against this kind of thinking with my Lyme-literate medical doctor, I was able to reclaim my life after 4 1/2 years of suffering from undiagnosed and untreated Lyme disease.

The "experts" can take their diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and stick it in the sand, right beside their heads.

Dannie Cade

Kamloops, B.C.

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I read with great interest Georgia Cox's recent letter regarding the closure of our forest roads to ATVs and other vehicles. I thought she made several good points in her objections to these closures.

I am getting too old to be out in these roads myself, but I can understand the disappointment of hunters, huckleberry pickers and others who go out for a day's outing and find so many of the old roads closed.

I would suggest these people write to the Secretary of the Interior. The president recently appointed a new one. You know the old saying "If you have a complaint, take it to the top."

The secretary might some day make a trip to Oregon and check the situation out himself. He lives just next door in Idaho.

Lodema Asper

La Grande

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I'd like to give an answer to Mr. Farmer's question he posed in his letter "Double standard'' in the June 22 Observer.

Perhaps even right-wing political commentators have enough respect for a person living her life according to her own beliefs and would not strike such a low blow.

Defamation of character is extremely hurtful. Besides, it would not be an effective recruitment tactic for any political party member.

Sharon K. Schiller

La Grande

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Summer finally seems to be here. We anticipate enjoying the outdoors with picnics, barbecues, watching soccer and baseball, and fishing. Since I live near the river, I also am very aware of the mosquitoes that I share my backyard with. Those mosquitoes pose more danger now than they did 50 years ago, when the sprays used to control them may have been more toxic to humans than they are now.

Mosquito bites primarily cause itching and can become infected. Bites also may transmit viruses that attack the nervous system, causing encephalitis or inflammation of the spinal cord or meningitis. There are four major arthropod-borne viruses in this country that are spread by those little blood suckers. Antibiotics are weak against these viruses and the symptoms are often treated in a hospital.

Then there is the West Nile virus. About 20 percent of those infected become ill. Children, seniors and others with low immunity can develop tremors, high fever and coma.

I am thankful that the Union County Vector Control is concerned about our health. Please let it know that you want your community to be sprayed with pesticides that will kill the mosquitoes and larvae at 963-2974.

Jackie Bingner

La Grande

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Trish Yerges's June 18 story on Lyme disease was well-written and researched and covered a topic that should be of interest to anyone who hunts, fishes, gardens or has pets who come in the house.

I was a park ranger in Sierra Nevada of northern California — that is, until Lyme disease almost ruined my life.

I, too, was told by my family doctor that Lyme was unknown here. In spite of the fact that I brought the tick that bit me to my physician and suffered a typical rash around the bite, it took a year and a half and five doctors to be diagnosed.

There is no perfect test for Lyme, and once established, the disease results in a dizzying array of symptoms that have given it the name, "The Great Imitator."

The Federal Centers for Disease Control's risk map clearly shows Oregon as a place you can contract Lyme disease. Yet for health care workers, not recognizing the disease tends to reinforce the notion that it is not present.

Jordan Fisher Smith

Nevada City, Calif.

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Thanks for the June 18 article, "Lyme Disease — What you Don't Know Can Hurt You." Hopefully, it will raise public awareness.

The medical community in the Pacific Northwest is incredibly ignorant about Lyme disease, mistakenly believing that Lyme disease does not exist in Oregon and Washington. This despite the fact that Oregon and Washington has been defined as endemic areas by the Centers for Disease Control. The tragic result is that many have been misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, Lou Gehrig's, psychiatric disorders and other conditions of unknown cause and cure which results in needless

suffering.

Veterinarians are somewhat more informed than medical doctors regarding Lyme disease but, even so, most also believe there is no Lyme in the Pacific Northwest. Nevertheless, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association last year reported over 100 cases of Lyme disease in the Portland metro area alone. This figure is likely also vastly under reported, and using the same multiplier that is used to measure under reporting of human cases, there were probably well over 1,000 cases of animal Lyme disease in the Portland area last year.

Compare this to the pathetically low and grossly misleading figure of 3 human cases reported for all of Oregon last year.

Doctors should get informed about Lyme disease and start helping people as they should. Prompt and adequate treatment can prevent a lifetime of misery. It is a complex disease and most of us with late-stage and chronic Lyme disease must go to tick-borne disease specialists in California or the East Coast for treatment. Currently, there are none in Oregon and Washington.

Miguel Perez-Lizano

Battle Ground, Wash.