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

Waibel, Hane, Briggs, Fischer, Andrew, Lawrence, Chaves, Schiller, Helman, Donnell

Having been born and raised in La Grande, I guess I took Mount Emily for granted as a public playground.

I later found that picking berries, hunting mushrooms, hiking and picnicking were allowed by Boise Cascade as they were community minded and a good neighbor. Gratuity at its best.

Had I known, I would have thanked them as often as I used the mountain.

My sisters and I often hiked Mount Emily during the off-season for berries and mushrooms just to enjoy the scenery and escape town. I have continued this practice into adulthood with my children and my daycare children

My father used the mountain for hunting and trail riding on his motorcycle. I am certain that our use of Mount Emily is not unique. It is used by many others not affiliated with the organized groups advocating the acquisition of Mount Emily as a public recreation area.

There is now a possibility that all could be lost to several 240-acre privately-owned sites — sites owned by well-moneyed people not wanting others on their land regardless of their innocent reasons.

I would hate to see our past privileges disappear when we have the opportunity to preserve them through county acquisition of Mount Emily for future recreational needs. Predictions are that we need to become a more recreational economy. Our federal land privileges are eroding, and the earth is not making additional land. We need Mount Emily!

Andrea Waibel

La Grande

Each year, the Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society (TWS) presents several awards at its annual meeting to individuals and organizations whose specific achievements contribute to stewardship of Oregon’s wildlife resources.

The awards range from recognizing one specific action an individual or organization takes, to the occasional lifetime achievement award that recognizes the contributions of a wildlife professional during their career.

In February, one of the annual awards presented was the Private Landowner Stewardship Award. Forest Capital Partners received this award, specifically for the company’s conservation work in their Western Oregon forest operations.

The nomination information the TWS Board received noted the company had conducted surveys for threatened and endangered fish and wildlife species, other species at-risk, and landscape assessments for diversity. In addition, a recent transaction by Forest Capital Partners in Lincoln County provided over 3,000 acres of forestland for conservation management of marbled murrelets and other species adversely impacted by the New Carissa oil spill in 1999.

The award presented to Forest Capital Partners by TWS was not based on all of the company’s commercial logging operations in Oregon or elsewhere, and did not recognize the company for its wildlife stewardship activities on all lands it manages. The award was based on specific actions taken to address species at-risk in western Oregon, and the TWS Board unanimously supported giving the award to Forest Capital Partners based on the nominating information it received.

The Oregon Chapter of TWS believes that promoting stewardship of working landscapes is a positive approach to increasing voluntary participation in conservation work and stands by its decision to recognize individuals and organizations that take specific actions that contribute to the stewardship of Oregon’s wildlife resources.

Matt Hane

president-elect and awards chairman,

Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society

Kyle Corbin is a wonderful kid. But, like most his age he still has his head in the clouds.

In Union we see a passionate youth. He is enthusiastically in the spirit of health care and law enforcement but is not acquainted with community-concerned organizations. He has not helped develop the vision and a strategic plan for Union.

He refused a leadership course providing skill training plus giving him knowledge of county facilities and missed opportunities for growth by attending only one of the commissioners’ city/county meetings. Apparently he does not handle more global participation. However, he has good goals in mind and will mature.

Does he know the commissioners job responsibilities? Their duties include participation with 15 to 30 groups in addition to administrative and legislative functions. He is going from a weak mayor system to a strong commissioner government body. The job is 24/7 evenings and weekends, frequent trips to the Legislature and other gatherings.

Has he been active in the Republican Party? He hasn’t.

Corbin says with more choices you make a better decision. A field of three candidates does not bode well for voters. It creates a three-way split with no clear direction.

Many around the county are saying, “What is he thinking?”; “he doesn’t have experience”; “he doesn’t know what it entails.”

I value Kyle and respect him. But he should withdraw from the county commissioner race today.

Susan Briggs

Union

On March 26, The Fox News Channel broadcasted a report on parents who denied their 11-year-old, diabetic daughter medical treatment because ... “They were praying for her healing.” The daughter died as result when simple medical treatment could have saved her life.

What has happened to common sense? It is always good to keep faith and to look to God in all things, and I encourage everyone to do so — especially in this day and age. But God also gave us a magnificent gift called “a brain.”

Sadly, too many people seem to be neglecting using it and not just in the interest of religious calling. Where science ends, faith begins and ironically if it were not for faith, there would be no science — medical or of any kind.

By all means, keep the faith in God almighty and always use common sense. They go hand in hand!

Ron R. Fischer

Elgin

Our local United Methodist congregation, like United Methodism everywhere, is marked by a great diversity of theological, social and political views.

While this church is made of diverse people, they’re not divided by their diversity. Despite occasional disagreements about issues, we’re committed to one another as the family of God and to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Recently, due to an honest and simple misunderstanding, our church was listed as a sponsor of the march commemorating the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. While many members of our church have been active in peace vigils and the march, our church wasn’t a sponsor.

While we’re supportive of these events, we recognize that some of the voices there don’t speak from our perspective and use language we wouldn’t embrace. Nonetheless, we believe the church’s witness for peace is too vital to be lost; so some members continue to participate in the vigils and participated in the march. Those who participate do so out of their deep conviction that serving Jesus means speaking prophetically for peace and against war.

That does not mean that everyone in our congregation agrees with that viewpoint. But we seek to be gracious enough as a community to allow for these deep disagreements, even on vital issues. Our church (both the local congregation and the national denomination) is not neutral on these sorts of issues, but we recognize that people of faith can often disagree.

As we continue to grow in our Christian discipleship, we’ll seek to be the people God calls us to be. By God’s grace, we’ll bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the words we speak and the things we do. Despite the difficulties that sometimes arise, we’re committed to being people of open hearts, open minds and open doors.

Rev. Clay W. Andrew

Pastor, La Grande United Methodist Church

I am completely unable to understand why Mr. Rynearson thinks that the Iraq invasion was proactive.

None of the reasons given for the invasion turned out to be true and removing Saddam Hussein destabilized the region, the exact opposite of the stated intention. Now the Shiite-led government, elected with the full support of the Bush administration, is using the government of Iran to mediate their disagreements.

Why are we there? How do we know when we have won? We have attained every stated goal that Mr. Bush has put forward, and isn’t it kind of surreal that we are still in Iraq losing lives and spending our children’s heritage nearly five years after the “Mission Accomplished” statement.

I do not support the war in Iraq and never have. I, unlike most of those who do support the war, have purchased personal armor, boots, radios, phone cards and Oregon Helmet Pads for our soldiers.

I find it very interesting that it is, and always has been, the Democrats in our country that have been first in line to supply our soldiers with the supplies that they’ve needed rather than the Republicans who sent our soldiers over there with no real plan, no real goals, ill supplied and with no exit strategy.

I support Mr. Marcum’s grandson’s decision as I’m sure that Mr. Marcum does. I, however, like Mr. Marcum do not support the Iraq war. I, like Mr. Marcum, am able to think for myself rather than blindly following along, like a sheep, over the cliff.

Greg Lawrence

Elgin

We are writing this letter to voice our whole-hearted support of Chuck Hofmann as a member of the OTEC board of directors.

Chuck possesses excellent business and electrical utility experience. He was the unanimous choice of the current board to fill a vacancy and he has been appointed to the OTEC policy committee. He has completed three national cooperative director courses and he has been appointed to the Oregon Electrical Coop Association’s government affairs committee. Since joining the board, OTEC has returned a record amount of capital credits to its members.

He has a successful medical practice that employs fourteen people. He has significant experience in preparing and overseeing multimillion dollar budgets. He understands financial reports and utilizes them as a tool for decisions about future operations.

Chuck has proven his commitment to community through many years of service on the Baker City Council, as a committee member of the Adler Community Fund and on many other local, statewide and national organizations.

We are voting for Chuck Hofmann and we encourage all of you to do the same.

Richard and Kathleen Chaves

Baker City

Allow me to make additional comments regarding the ethics disclosure law that’s been prompting so much protest from the smaller towns.

Some have stated that “everybody knows what everybody else is doing anyway,” which to me underscores the law’s positive value.

To those who say they “know” everything anyway: By what means do you “know” what everyone in town is doing? Do the rest of the citizens in town “know” what everyone else is doing?

I’m sure many of us have gone through the exercise in middle school of sitting in a circle with classmates, having one person start with a tidbit of “news,” passing the “news” around the circle and having the person at the end announce the “news.”

I don’t mean to offend anyone who communicates effectively with honesty and integrity. However, I have lived in the Union County and Wallowa County area for the past 15 years, except for six months in which I resided in Washington. It is amazing how quickly gossip flies, and changes along the way to the outrageous. Now we have instant messaging gadgets that really speed the process along.

If I were a public official, I would rather have relevant information disclosed to the public, certified as true by me, rather than have people who think they know me through gossip judge me through gossip with the truth having to wait for the results of a lengthy ethics investigation (not to mention the additional expense to the taxpayers) if it were to be reported by a concerned citizen. I wonder if the fear that some relatives of public officials experience about their names being disclosed has to do with anticipated detrimental effects of gossip. I believe the gossip mill will be reduced significantly if relevant and true information were disclosed by public officials.

Sharon K. Schiller

La Grande

At 7 a.m. in the morning of March 27 my daughter and I were headed to Walla Walla for a medical test. We were almost to the top of Cabbage Hill when my daughter missed a chain tightener on the road, but hit another one with the front right tire of my Explorer, causing a flat.

We put the flashers on and got off the road as far as possible, got the jack out and lowered the spare. Traffic was heavy, the road conditions being very icy. It was snowy, windy and 27 degrees.

We tried to flag someone down, as I’m in my 70s and my daughter is not in good health, but was ignored, even by a state highway truck that went by. Then a driver of a Homestyle Industry truck stopped to help. Then while changing the tire, a part of the jack handle stripped out, but the driver finally, after turning it with another piece, got the tire changed.

He refused my offer of money, but we are extremely grateful for his help. I want to thank the driver for stopping to help us. As the weather conditions were so cold, it took us almost the rest of the trip to Walla Walla to warm up.

When someone is in trouble on the side of the road, which is a bad spot, please move over to the other lane. You may save a life, maybe your own.

Stop and help if possible. We could have used another jack.

Carolyn Helman

La Grande

Recruiting doctors and retaining them along with a stable up-to-date hospital is critical to economic development and health and welfare of the community.

The Grande Ronde Hospital is a 41-bed hospital. It’s also critical access, which by law is limited to 25 active beds. If the number of beds used on a regular basis exceeds 25, the hospital will lose its funding level now received for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

At the present time, our Congressman, Greg Walden, and other congressmen have jointly introduced legislation to allow hospital bed occupancy to be defined by use of a new bed computation so that actual occupancy at any one time can be increased without violating the present law.

The Veterans Administration is working to increase veteran medical opportunities by use of contracts with local hospitals. Hopefully at the end of May the new veterans La Grande Clinic building will be complete and in operation.

However if the Grande Ronde Hospital is nearly full (they try to have two or three unoccupied beds for emergencies), the clinic will not be able to refer veterans to our hospital because no beds (25-bed limitation) would be available.

To correct this problem Congressman Walden is working to enact a change in present law that would result in: Any hospital bed occupied by a VA-referred veteran would not count in the number of occupied hospital beds for the purpose of bed count as now done.

You can help “increase beds for veterans” by contacting Rep. Walden. Ask how you can assist him in making the proposed law change a reality. The doctors, the hospital and all our veterans will appreciate your help “to create beds for veterans” without any cost to government and taxpayers. The beds are available at GRH so let’s put them to use.

Stephen Donnell

La Grande