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

For those of you who do not have children in the La Grande School District and are planning on voting no for the upcoming bond issue, I would like you to think about a few things.

You may be voting no because the bond will not directly benefit you because you have no children, or your children are grown or you send your children to other schools. Why spend $291 extra a year or $24 a month (mean estimated increase in property tax for La Grande) to upgrade the schools for other people's children?

Here is why. The little bit of money we all spend will give a tremendous benefit to the community as a whole and improve the quality of life here. How much money is spent on gasoline by La Grande residents who must currently drive many miles to see certain medical specialists, such as dermatologists and neurologists? How much money do local companies spend on recruiting young professionals, only to have bright prospects turn down job offers? How long do you currently have to wait to get an appointment with your physician or a physical therapist like me? All of these things could be improved if this school bond is passed this November. You see, young doctors, nurses, physical therapists, chiropractors, attorneys, insurance specialists, audiologists, college professors, dentists and entrepeneurs move to a town like La Grande for quality of life. If they have children or plan to have children, they will investigate the schools prior to moving here.

If the schools are in an obvious state of disrepair and if the community has shown no interest in improving these schools by voting no for a bond, these young professionals will turn their eyes away from La Grande.

Voting no WILL affect you. You will continue to have to drive to see some medical specialists. You will continue to have difficulty getting an appointment with your physician, dentist, physical therapist, etc. Talk to any business manager in town and ask him or her how difficult it is to hire a qualified professional. The current situation will get worse when existing professionals retire and are not replaced by new young professionals.

Property values will be stagnant or decline because there will not be

new families moving to the area to

buy homes.

We all must think of what is best for the whole community. If our community is going to continue to offer outstanding quality of life, we need to take care of it. Passing the school bond issue in November is an investment in this community and good for everyone. It is good for the young, the old and everyone in between, whether or not you have kids in the district.

Corrine Dutto, La Grande

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There are quite a number of readers of your newspaper on the other side of the Valley. And as such, we feel that we have been slighted in your sports pages. Especially as far as volleyball games are concerned.

What those who don't live in the shadow of Mount Fanny probably don't know is that our varsity volleyball team is undefeated in league play and has only lost one match the entire season and that was to Adrian in the Pine Eagle Tournament. After the last several games our coach, Candy McGilvery, has attempted to call in the results as instructed only to find that no one answers the Observer sports phone. Her e-mails have not been acknowledged in the sports page either.

One would think that with such a winning record that perhaps a sports writer/photographer might visit some of our home games. But we find that they may not read the schedules as some of the earlier stories had the wrong towns where the games were played and misquotes and other inaccuracies.

The Leopards' win/loss record is eight wins plus the Cove Tournament. There are five games left in the season, with three being played in Cove. I guess we are another of the "best kept secrets in Eastern Oregon."

We invite you to come on over and see some great volleyball.

Guy Hafer, Member, Cove Booster Club

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Another 12-Hour Drug-Free Relay has come and gone. If you missed it, you missed a delightful family experience.

It was an amazing show of support for the youth of our community to have so many adults come together with them for 12 hours of exercise, games, entertainment and bonding. If you missed it this year, I hope you won't next because it presents a real opportunity to rub shoulders with the rising generation and sends a positive message that they can have a great time without drugs or alcohol.

We appreciate all the adults who volunteered to make this relay the best one ever.

Watching the members of the boys soccer team running wind sprints just minutes before the relay ended, trying to break the record for most laps run, or seeing an older person pushing a handicapped youth in a wheelchair around the track laughing and having fun together, or watching a high school student cheer on an 8-year-old who jogged his entire mile helped us see that everyone benefits from feeling cared about.

These incredible young people deserve the very best we can give them.

When our pioneer ancestors settled the West, the first two things they sacrificed to build were churches and schools. Our youth deserve the same level of sacrifice. We can either front-load our investment in our youth to prepare them for success through adequately funding our schools, or pay twice as much to try to rehabilitate them after they get into trouble with drugs, alcohol and crime because they felt no one cared.

Let's send a positive message to our kids. I strongly encourage our community to support the facilities bond on Nov. 7. Invest in our kids — the dividends are well worth it.

Jan Harris, La Grande

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In this week's issue of the Northwest Guardian, the Fort Lewis weekly newspaper, Army Maj. Juanita A. Chang, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, wrote an article titled, "A Study in Culture: Cultural awareness training to aid soldiers during Ramadan."

She begins her article with the following benign statement: "During this holy time of fasting, practicing Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke during the day, partaking only before sunrise and after sundown each day."

Sounds nice. Almost comforting. Unfortunately, what Maj. Chang fails to mention is the fact that Iraqi suicide bombing activity went on the increase upon the first week of the Muslims' holy celebration. Hmmmm.

Just how "holy" does that sound to you, Maj. Chang? And how is such training going to benefit our soldiers? Will their deaths be more sanctified by us or our enemies if they die during this "holy" month?

According to more than one of our leaders in Congress — not to mention the president himself — we are at war with Islamo-Facism. Thus, by suggesting we be nice to potential insurgents and terrorists, we endanger, rather than protect, our armed service members. Here we are at war with radical and not-so-radical Islam, and we are telling our soldiers to be sensitive to those who hate us and who demonstrate that hatred on a daily basis.

I say tar and feather the whole misguided, if not insane, lot of the Chiefs of Staff for this ridiculous policy. Better yet, give them a taste of their own liberal medicine by providing them the same training, then turning them loose on an insurgent-infested outpost somewhere between Baghdad and Mosul while Ramadan is in full swing.

It will be no wonder if we lose this war in the end. However, we will have lost it here at home long before we did in the deserts of the Middle East. In fact, it appears that we are losing it as we speak — in the dim halls of Congress and the Pentagon where cowards congregate.

Timothy Lucas (Master Sgt. Ret.), La Grande

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I cannot vote for any city position, since I do not live in La Grande. We own properties in La Grande and have dealings with the city from time to time.

The city council, and in particular Steve Clements, has been most gracious in listening to concerns I have brought before the council on various occasions.

I have found Steve Clements fair, honest and inquisitive in all dealings with the city. I would cast my vote for Steve if I were allowed to.

Steven Votaw, La Grande

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I urge La Grande School District voters to support the school facilities bond levy on the November ballot. Among many needs this bond levy wisely provides funds to purchase school site property while it is available on the market as bare land.

Otherwise we will be in the situation the Island City School now finds itself, when the need to expand occurs the current school site is too small to accommodate significant expansion.

We must plan ahead now for our future school site needs in 10 years or so. The current Island City School site is not large enough to provide the 400-student elementary school that will be needed, nor is the Willow School site of sufficient size to be expanded to hold 400 students, and undeveloped property is not available adjacent to it.

I sincerely hope you join me in voting yes on the school bond levy. It has been 33 years since the voters have approved the last major upgrading of our school district facilities.

I would also urge voters to become informed on what the bond levy will provide by attending the informational meetings.

Dale De Long, Island City

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Nov. 7 marks a rare opportunity to elect a stellar judge to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Judge Virginia Linder possesses unmatched qualifications for this important post, including 17 years as an appellate attorney and solicitor general for the Oregon Department of Justice and, more recently, nine years as a judge for the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Those who have watched Judge Linder over the years, a wide variety of judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals around the state, have eagerly endorsed her.

Outside the legal community, former governors John Kitzhaber and Barbara Roberts, in addition to the major newspapers of Oregon, add their whole-hearted support to a lengthy list of endorsers.

Indeed, after writing more than 270 opinions and voting on nearly 6,000 cases, Judge Linder has earned her supporters' trust, including mine.

I have no doubt that she will do a great job for Oregon's highest court and I hope that you will join me in voting for Judge Virginia Linder in November.

David C. Baum , Mautz, Baum & O'Hanlon, LLP, La Grande

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I firmly believe that strong schools develop a strong work force which is important to the economic vitality of our community.

I urge you to vote yes on the La Grande School District Facilities Bond Levy on the November ballot.

Jerry Young, La Grande

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I think neighbors used to come with a better sense of humor.

My dad bought the house at 501 Washington Ave. in 1950. My parents raised my sister and I at that address. My father made his money working for the railroad and he spent the money on us and raising beef cattle.

My parents recognized the value of pets for young children. We had, at various times, ducks or chickens living in the backyard. My father had a series of Brittany spaniel bird dogs. We had an occasional sick baby calf on the back porch and gave our pony a bath frequently in the front yard, although later we started taking the pony to the car wash (not the drive-through kind).

My dad parked his 16-foot cattle truck on the street, often full of what nervous cows leave behind.

Never once were my parents served papers by the police, as I recently was, for "livestock violation.''

I think the neighbors came to my parents and asked for the accommodations that they needed to continue living in harmony. The cattle truck got washed out. The pony went to the car wash.

On Oct. 17 at 4:30 p.m., my 6-year-old daughter and I go to municipal court to defend her three pet hens. On Oct. 18 one neighbor will no doubt be celebrating and other neighbors will be sad. It is a sad comment on neighborly living.

Sharon Trimble, La Grande

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No one welcomes a valley full of smoke. It's easy to be against something, but better to be FOR something. That something is the Fuels for Schools program.

Instead of the forest thinnings and slash piles polluting our air, they could be heating our schools. The forest waste doesn't need to be burned out in the forest. It could be brought into our schools and used as the fuel to keep our students warm.

For many years, we have burned wood for home heating. Let's use this same principle to heat the schools. The heating units in the Fuels for Schools are highly efficient and do not add significantly to air pollution. Let's take what is being wasted, take out the inefficient burning that fills the valley with smoke and replace it with a highly efficient heating system.

One item in the school bond issue is a new heating system at La Grande High School. The bond issue gives us an opportunity to invest in a cleaner environment, to get away from fossil fuels and to use a home-grown fuel.

By voting for the bond issue, you could be voting for cleaner air. Contact the school board to encourage them to adopt the Fuels for Schools concept. You can find out more at www.fuelsforschools.org.

Carol Lauritzen, La Grande

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When Scott Morrison was appointed to the Union City Council, people said he had an agenda of his own, but I actually go to the meetings to see him in action.

You can always tell Scott has taken the time to read the meeting packet, and is always informed. He talks to the employees. He does research before he makes decisions.

Some people in office only want to hear what you have to say if you agree with them, but not Scott. He really listens. He doesn't make up his mind and then dig for only the facts that support his point of view as we have seen others do.

Dick Middleton does not look at both sides. He never even talked to the Clarks before the recall. He didn't try to resolve anything. The things he was telling people were false and he knew they were because he had been to the meetings and knew what Roger and Debbie really said and did.

He chose to overlook the facts that proved he was wrong and slandered good people in the process. We don't need someone like that in office.

I urge people to vote for Scott Morrison. We need to get Union past the fighting and the pain. An 18-year-old boy isn't going to be able to do that. Scott has the time, the experience and the intelligence we need in the office of mayor.

Sherryl Burke, Union

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I would like to comment on the guest editorial of Oct. 10 in The Observer, by The Bulletin regarding the Biscuit Fire Report.

It is interesting and somewhat refreshing that someone took the time to report more than just the usual surface information of salvage sales losing money, and as was pointed out in the editorial, there are many reasons for this.

The first and most obvious is that, yes, bureaucracies do move slowly and hopefully Rep. Greg Walden's legislation will change that. It isn't just money that's lost here but recreational values and wildlife habitat as well.

However, it should be pointed out that this fire and many of the fires that have plagued the western part of the country have been due in large part to the actions of a group that has entrenched itself into our society and has become a bureaucracy of its own.

And like all bureaucracies, it was started with the best of intentions. But like all things in life, time has changed it.

Now it has become the problem and not the solution. It has simply become a way for some people to make a comfortable living at the expense of the rest of us and our children.

Unfortunately, many people have died trying to save our lands from a problem created by this bureaucracy. It has cost millions upon millions of dollars, with no end in sight for the near future. This is money that could have been used for education, or for the hungry or any other positive purpose, yet had to be used to fight fires.

This bureaucracy still refuses to admit that its actions of the past 50 years are indeed the major reason we are having the fires we have today.

You may want to consider this before you write a check to support this bureaucracy — the environmental groups.

J.R. Kauffman, La Grande