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

Answer Man Dick Mason's recent article regarding Edward Dickenson Baker and the naming of Baker City and Baker County after him are totally accurate.

A couple of additional comments regarding Baker are also worth mentioning. As was inferred in the article, Baker was elected as one of Oregon's first two senators after statehood on St. Valentine's Day 1859.

Baker was a very close friend of President Lincoln. They knew each other well, both practicing law in Illinois. Baker's reason for resigning from the Senate was as much because he was a personal friend of the newly elected president as was his support of the North.

Baker's likeness today stands in Statuary Hall in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. Each state is allotted two statues, the other, I believe, is that of Dr. John McLoughlin.

Most historians are of the opinion that other prominent Oregonians were far more worthy of representing Oregon. Politics likely played a part then as it does today. Baker is buried in San Fancisco.

Gary L. Webster

La Grande

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Most comments I've read concerning the USFS closing low maintenance roads have been opposed to undue closure. Comments mention discrimination against certain types of people and transportation. ATVs seems to be the main complaint. But the use of cars, motorcycles, trucks and even snowmobiles would be curtailed. ATVs are already limited to single-lane roads, and the ML1 roads suggested for closure are single-lane roads. This amounts to a double whammy.

The agency would still be able to use their ATVs for what they call "administrative purposes." Apparently, agency ATVs are beyond doing damage or being a nuisance.

Most complaints about ATVs using these roads have been expressed by horse packers and those I refer to as "pure-ologists." Both are using opinions based upon unduplicated findings. If unable to duplicate the findings, the findings are opinions and not scientifically supported.

The most severe impact of the closures could be the penalties for either intentionally or accidentally invading our own public lands with any form of motorized transportation. One could be liable for a $50,000 vehicle fine and further assessed for any deemed ecological damage. (Compare that with the fines leveled upon noncitizens invading our national borders.) Since this would be a federal offense, one must either pay up or face the nearest federal judge. If you are not pleased with the arrest or judgment, plan on visiting the ninth judicial circuit court in San Francisco. They are very liberal, but often overturned by a higher appeals court. Who can afford such an expense?

The deadline for making suggestions concerning ML1 closures is Friday. If you have an opinion, you should hurry. There are millions of people saying they have not voiced an opinion stating the USFS will do as they please. Nonsense, they want to hear from you.

Gene Erwin

La Grande

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Documents obtained by public information requests indicate that oversight at the county is seriously in question due to lack of control by our county commissioners.

The county's Computer Services Department spent in excess of $250,000 on contract services and equipment last year, which did not include any payroll cost for the department. Included in this were authorized payments in excess of $97,000 to a local business. It is interesting that the owner of the business is a part-time employee of the county. None of the $250,000 in purchases or contracts were put out for public bid. In addition, these expenditures were authorized by a person the county commissioners state is not even a department head. This contract is not the only contract being established without bids or appropriate authorization.

Computer services are not the only issue in question. Most department heads do not fill out a timesheet indicating the days and/or hours they work. They leave that section blank. The ironic thing is they do indicate vacation, sick leave and comp time with many of these blank timesheets being approved by Commissioner MacLeod. How anyone could approve comp time being earned when the hours worked are blank is hard to understand. Some department heads have been taking numerous days off using "comp" time while there is no evidence comp time was actually earned.

When the obvious question was asked: "Are there established policies or procedures regarding filling out time sheets?" The answer was, "No, it has always been done this way." There is no control over hours the department heads work nor does anyone seem to care. It is unbelievable the county auditor turns a blind eye to this practice and the issue of contracts being awarded without a public bid.

Is this how you want your county run?

Dennis Wilkinson

Cove

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The governor is wrong: The tobacco companies did not buy the election. What happened is the stinking smokers voted down the measure in retaliation for our making them quit smoking in public places.

We enraged them, and they retaliated by refusing to pay for health care for our poor children. Nice guys.

Nick Smith

La Grande

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We were told the Travel Management Plan is about ATV users, as in us, our friends and family. This is all about motorized vehicles.

We were told they are closing trails. These aren't just trails. They are roads built with our tax dollars. The ones people use to go camping, berry picking, to drop off horses, ATVs and snowmobiles and for just a Sunday drive.

We were told we had to identify specifically which roads we will ever use. Let's see ... my grandson will break his leg hiking in 20 years. Rescue workers will need to use roads 5720 and 8339 to find him!

Add to that the small print: If we haven't written to them by Nov. 16, we will have no voice in the decisions made. There are already 305,341 acres (nearly half the public land) in Union County where motorized travel is either prohibited or severely limited. This is enough!

These are not, by the way, federal decisions. They were made by our local Wallowa-Whitman Forest supervisor. Folks, we don't have to be specific to have our voice heard. Just say no to more road closures, but for heavens sake, do it in writing by Nov. 16.

Send comments to Travel Management Plan, Attn: Steve Ellis, 3502 Highway 30, La Grande 97850.

Steve Ellis, forest supervisor, is the decision-maker for the plan for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

Irene Gilbert

La Grande

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Contrary to the quotes from The Eugene Register Guard editorial in last Thursday's Observer, the SCHIP bill that was recently vetoed by Bush would be a step through the back door in the direction of government-managed medicine and is not as much about the health of children as it is about power.

The writer seems not to realize that there is a difference between the government acting as the insurer of payment for service, as in Medicare, or acting as total manager of when and where you go for treatment and who can treat you, as is the case in most nations with the government controlling all phases of health care.

Contrary to Michael Moore's propaganda movie "Sicko," the British, French and Canadian health systems are not better than what we currently have. What advantage is there to having everyone covered if it means that the bureaucracy can then put you on a waiting list where you may or may not get adequate or timely treatment? That is what now happens in Britain and Canada. Some British citizens have even gone to India for treatment rather than wait.

In the beginning, Britain's National Health Service benefitted from the previous system of hospitals built by local charities and donors as well as benefitting from local pride in those institutions. However, in the first 50 years after the beginning of NHS there were fewer hospitals opened than during the depression of the 1930s. The new system lived off of the capitol of the previous one. Today the majority of the NHS hospitals are shabby, run- down institutions. Patients are routinely neglected and sometimes treated cruelly. Bureaucracy has caused the system to be top heavy with managers while good doctors are retiring as fast as they can.

Is this the kind of system Americans would like?

Gary Poole

Wallowa

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According to a recent national poll, 50 percent of voters would not vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton under any circumstances. Why not? So many reasons, so little space. But one is hypocrisy.

Sen. Clinton brags about her "experience." Yet when inquiries are made about her actions as First Lady during her husband's tenure as president, she hides behind his claim of executive privilege.

Trying to access documents of her actions in the White House from the Clinton Library has been likened to breaking into Fort Knox.

A lot of people don't want yet another Clinton, more years of corruption, stonewalling and outright lying.

Steve Boe

La Grande

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I'm concerned by the recent letter to the editor that conveyed the impression that Native Studies is a waste of money. As one of the founders of that minor, I can assure our community that studies have shown that offering such minors are more likely to attract and retain Native students who are historically underrepresented at the university level.

The minor can only help increase cultural awareness and understanding. The Native Studies minor costs the university nothing. In spite of former President Fatemi's solemn promise to provide funding for five years, it's not funded at all. All work done on this minor is done for free by assistant Professor Linda Jerofke. Her passion for anthropology is recognized by her students. Her classes often have a wait list and are very popular on campus resulting in far more dollars to the university than the previous writer suggested.

Attacking the "Girls in Science" program is equally ludicrous as it has been statistically proven that women are underrepresented in science. Can any program that encourages our children to learn and grow be bad? Shouldn't we inspire both girls and boys to gain as much knowledge as possible?

By offering such programs as Native Studies and Girls in Science, EOU reaches out to future students in our community, to all people of our community to expand their minds and their cultural understanding thereby creating a better world.

Instead of complaining about exemplary programs, look at how we can save our university from further financial incursions.

The financial and emotional impact of the recent cuts will be felt for some time, let's stop the bloodletting and demand that our university be protected, saved, supported so that it can continue to expand the minds and horizons of all our children.

Renee Roman Nose

EOU, Class of 2005