10/17 Letters to the Editor

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Support weed levy

I am encouraging you to vote yes for Measure 33-22, the weed levy. Wallowa County needs a stable weed program. A conservative assessment documents an impact of $83 million in annual losses to Oregon’s economy from noxious weeds. Yellow starthistle is forming a sea of thorns in Hells Canyon and has impacted 1.8 million acres of private and public lands statewide. Many noxious weeds continue to spread, for example spotted knapweed has increased 42 fold over the last decade from 2 million to 8.7 million acres.

Currently funding has not been adequate for an effective weed control program. Wallowa County has a limited awareness, education, training, mapping, inventorying, and prevention and detection program. Restoration projects will be limited. There will not be a person to coordinate and facilitate grants, cost share programs and other contracts for weed control. The enforcement program has been limited. There will not be an enforcement program if this levy does not pass.

Funding is needed to continue to support weed/vegetation programs in Wallowa County. For the reasons listed above, citizens of Wallowa County need to vote yes on Measure 33-22.

Dan Sherwin

Enterprise

Brink of war

This nation is on the brink of war. In the near future our leaders will come to a critical decision to use military force to oust aa foreign leader from power. Many Americans are for it and many are not. But we are at war and our way of life is at stake. We have already experienced what happens when we let terrorists get by and do nothing about them. The Bush administration must act and act decisively.

The American people spend billions of dollars in taxes to defend and build a military second to none around the globe. But some individuals and groups opposed to war think that all our military might is some kind of Halloween scarecrow to ward off the enemy. Our military defense is far better than at any time in history. Our nuclear powered ships, aircraft, and submarines were all built for reasons that are now before us. These are your tax dollars at work so you can sit in the comfort of your own home here in the United States. Without the military this country would be in the hands of dictators. We must appreciate what we have.

The time has come once again to defend America and we must act decisively. War is not something out of a book or a movie. It is real. And the job before us needs to be done if we are to live in freedom.

Mike Brink

Gresham, Ore.

A simpler way

We are confronted with so many problems that it must seem impossible to solve them. We hope for simple ways to do it. Well, it’s simpler to solve most of these problems at once than to hack away at them piecemeal. The piecemeal approach seems to create more problems than it solves.

There is a simpler way. All we need do is write, enact, and implement JUST ONE piece of legislation – establishing a human-empowerment agency. ONE legislative act would solve most of our human problems.

In one stroke of the president’s pen, we would eliminate the need for a massive number of existing laws, regulations, rules, programs and departments, and all the associated costs.

With one stroke, we would re-orient our society toward enhancement of human potential and creativity and, simultaneously, make possible a substantial reduction in human dysfunction.

With one stroke, we would substantially reduce the complexity of ordinary life and the stress it causes.

With one stroke, people in need would never be without help tailored to their specific need.

John Watkins

Nashua, N.H.