Demanding Accountability

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Coddling Commissioners?

To the Editor:

I see from reading your last edition that you are supporting the current Josephine County Board of Commissioners. Your reporter John Taft states that Daily Courier reporter Shaun Hall is “allowing Sheriff Daniel and Sgt. Stephen Clarke to pound on the County Commissioners whose hands are tied behind their backs.” I hardly think this fair play as Mr. Taft has done plenty of pounding himself on many issues without the need for third party involvement. I don’t necessarily support the commissioners from what I’ve read so far. The jury is still out on the subject;

While I love reading the Observer for information and news that other media won’t touch I can’t understand why you would lighten up on public officials. They all become corrupt at some point after being elected and I think it best to not coddle them at all.

Don’t take me wrong. I agree with you 99% of the time, I just have got used to you exposing these devils and your public dissemination of the truth. Please get back to hammering and leave the coddling to the Grants Pass Daily Courier and other papers like it.

Thank You

Gary Whitmore
Medford, Oregon

Editor’s Note: Gary – We don’t coddle anyone and when a public official has some good coming we gladly give it to them. Our commissioners are attempting to prepare for the devastation that will come from the probable loss of our O&C funds. Two of them have made some huge mistakes, so I guess the jury is out with us as well. Keep reading the Observer and please realize that we are here to promote good government and therefore should reward the good with good press. P.S. They aren’t all devils!

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Drunk Driving in Medford, Oregon

Dear Editor:

Thanks for the Citizen Review Board article on the Medford Police Department.

Curt Chancler hit the nail right on the head with this one. We had a bad run-in with a couple very rude and unprofessional officers recently. We went to a party with another couple and we all had a few drinks this fall, except for their daughter who was acting as our designated driver. We were leaving a pretty much public party and I believe the police were just waiting for people to leave so they could pull them over.

They pulled her over on Barnett Rd. and gave her a field sobriety test, after which they arrested her for drunk driving. We told them she hadn’t had anything to drink and the only response was an angry, “shut-up.”

After she received further testing she was released without any charges, however it ruined everyone’s evening. The cops were rude and they were wrong, not to even mention the money they cost us that night.

Curt Chancler is right!! We need a Citizen Review Board.

Cathy Bennette
Ashland, Oregon

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Thank You, Thank You

To the Editor:

We have been following your articles on the corrupt Club 71 meat market and we appreciate your courage when you expose these scum.

Southern Oregon doesn’t need strip bars and we sure don’t need a Supreme Court that condones them as well as live sex acts.

Oregon’s courts are becoming a laughing stock and many of us are actually embarrassed over them. They judge what is constitutional and what is not when most of them have no morals or character. This is seen in the perverse rulings they make.

We have enclosed subscriptions for two friends and plan to do the same each month.

Please—keep up the excellent work all of you do at the US~Observer.

Bill and Carol Price
Josephine County

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Doggone Discrimination

To The Editor:

In September, I spent four days in a motel in your fair city of Grants Pass, Or. During that time I called ALL the Property Management places in your fair city. I also answered ads in the local newspapers.

NOT ONE PERSON WOULD RENT ME A DUPLEX OR A SMALL HOUSE BECAUSE I HAVE TWO SMALL OLD DOGS.

I ALSO HAVE FOUR GOOD REFERENCES, BUT THAT WAS NOT TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION.

I have traveled quite extensively since I retired with my small dogs and I have NEVER come across discrimination against dogs like I did in the city of Grants Pass, OR.

I had hoped to live close to my daughter and family who live in Coos Bay, Or.

Sincerely,

Irene Shields

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Dam It

Editor;

President Bush pleaded for lessor important projects like Savage Rapids Dam to be pulled (30 million dollars plus) to help New Orleans, all of Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, coastal communities devastated by three hurricanes. Thirteen thousand five hundred local signers knew Savage Rapids Dam was not a fish killer like Senators Wyden and Smith have stated time and again. National Marine Fisheries have concluded (in a press release) that Columbia River dams do not jeopardize, threaten, or endanger runs of salmon. Doesn't this eliminate the removal of the dams as an option in salmon recovery or discrimination against the clean hydro small dams?

We the people, must ask in writing, E-mail or by calling Congressman Greg Walden (541-776-4646) to speak for us to President Bush. We, as Americans, have God given duties to help other Americans. Our present brilliant leadership (in my opinion) has wasted millions of fire killed trees in the Biscuit fire while nit-picking about this and that. The same goes with Savage Rapids Dam and Elk Creek dams in the middle of a drought and a looming energy gridlock crisis. Please don't follow their leadership, protest like the enviro's.

Endangered Species Act, fish and owls are more important than suffering Americans to politicians, VOTE THEM OUT!

Lyle Woodcock
Josephine County

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$400 a Day for a County Treasurer

Editor:

I am appalled that Josephine County Treasurer John Harelson is making $400.00 per day as reported in the Observer. I haven’t stopped thinking about the issue since reading the article a couple weeks ago.

What are our commissioners doing about this? What are they doing about the other officials who are being paid like they were Kings and Queens? I for one am sick of hearing about all the problems over money shortages in Josephine County. In light of the wages and perks being paid I must assume that no one is really doing anything to remedy anything.

Voters need to start acting on the big issues and it seems that the Observer is the only paper here that is willing to take on such issues. What can we do to stop giving the farm away to the few who act like they are running things when they are really just running things into the ground.

I for one am willing to take action. I am tired of useless rhetoric. Do our commissioners plan to correct the absurdities or don’t they.

Jeri Hart
Josephine County

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The Great Farce

To the Editor;

I was a somewhat disinterested bystander nearly 40 years of age, but I do remember the temper of the times around 1965. The well established city businesses were losing trade to new suburbs, largely formed without zoning regulations. Street cars that had been used to keep business down-town were being scrapped. Not to just wither away, the prominent city businesses expanded to the suburbs.

The United States Congress didn't have a remedy, but they thought they did. That was to zone the entire nation and put a lid on development, rather than allow natural market forces to determine development. The attempt to find a constitutional means took considerable energy. If only there had been a precedent. Zoning in municipalities wasn't a precedent, because persons entering municipalities yielded some of their property rights to that municipality upon entering. A municipality normally owns all rights to regulation, including rights of eminant domain. But, to zone outlying areas wasn't a trade, so it was an outright seizure; obviously unconstitutional unless "just compensation" had been paid. But, States have the responsibility for the safety of business ingress and egress on the property. To expand definitions arbitrarily would have been unconstitutional (which may have been done, although I am uncertain). But, the Congress had "discovered" a precedent for such zoning (a "taking") without "just compensation". The unlikelihood that there could have been such a thing made it look like an "invention" by Congress. The normal likelihood of such a precedent is so unheard of and remote, it is very likely that more than 99% of those effected had never heard of such a precedent. If that isn't a FARCE, what could be? It certainly isn't INTEGRITY. (DID THEY MAKE IT SO JUST BY PRETENDING IT WAS?) It seems that "making it Constitutional" should be more complicated than that.

Charles McManama
Estacada, Oregon

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A Message From OFFPAC

Dear Friend of Gun Rights,

The upcoming election season will determine who will be making laws for gun owners in Oregon, and there is still time for you to make your voice heard at no cost.

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That's quite a deal. But you have to act before the end of the year and that time is fast approaching.

If you have not already made a donation to OFFPAC, would you consider doing so now, while you can still take advantage of the credit for this year?

We hope so, because your donation to OFFPAC will help us elect ethical men and women to office, and expose those who will attack your gun rights.

For complete information on taking advantage of the Oregon political tax credit, and convenient and secure on-line donations, please use this link: http://oregonfirearms.org/offpac/index.html

Thank you for your support for gun owner's rights in Oregon, and best wishes for a joyous Christmas season from OFFPAC.

Kevin Starrett
OFFPAC

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