Letters and Comments for February 5, 2010

Hasse, Wunderle, Boe

Forest can be multiple use

To the Editor:

Magic is happening in our valley. It must be magic. The timber land on Mount Emily, once owned by the evil big business timber company and logged many times, has been transformed in one year, under the ownership of the county, into a pristine, old-growth forest that a group of a few want to “save.” Save from what?

This is the same forest that has been logged at least three times, provided jobs and fiber to the industries of the valley, been managed for timber production yet is in far better shape than most other forests around that are managed by the Forest Service. How could this happen except by magic?

Wait, could it be possible that our forest really can be multiple use, providing fiber to our mills, jobs for our citizens and yet be a recreation area for everyone?

Maybe we should leave it as is, allow it to be logged yet again, let it be managed for all, not a few, and move forward as promised by the county when it was brought before the voters.

Joel Hasse

La Grande

President is out of touch

To the Editor:

The edition of Jan. 28 includes a front page article titled “Obama urges Dems to fight for his agenda.”

The fifth paragraph reads: “He accepted partial blame for the deep troubles facing his health care push, but he implored lawmakers to finish the task rather than yield to public opposition.”

This is a very telling sentence. It shows not only that the president is completely out of touch with the vast majority of “We the People,’’ who clearly are against government-run health care, but it reveals his complete contempt for the American system of government.

This is a government of “We the People,’’ who send representatives to Washington to do what we want, not what they want. Obama advocates doing what he wants, and to hell with “We the People.’’

Paul Wunderle

Elgin

Treat as enemy combatants

To the Editor:

At first glance, it does seem unfair to criticize President Obama for handling the Christmas bomber in basically the same way as former President Bush handled Richard Reid (the “shoe bomber”), arrested in December 2001. Back then we were in mostly uncharted territory about a group (al Qaida) that we know much more about now.

We did not have the legal structures and policies in place (like military tribunals) for handling Islamic terrorists. After Reid’s arrest, the Bush administration moved quickly to develop and implement alternatives to handling terrorists with standard law enforcement procedures.

President Obama has had eight years to observe successes and failures of the war on terror, costly lessons paid for in blood in many cases. He is also, of course, much smarter than President Bush. He has had the good sense to continue many of the programs and policies of the previous administration, even though he harshly criticized them during his campaign. But reverting to treating al-Qaida terrorists as criminals instead of enemy combatants is, as I said before, dangerous and foolhardy.

Steve Boe

La Grande