RoguePundit

Studying Our Schools

This should have been a really good article on a study of Oregon's schools. Weak study, frustrating article.

A majority of Willamette Valley residents are confident that local schools are performing well, an extensive new survey shows.

A Portland polling firm found that six out of 10 Oregonians think highly of their schools and that people around the state are divided about whether schools need more money.

A quintet of Oregon’s largest charitable foundations unveiled the results Tuesday, calling the survey the most comprehensive measurement of Oregon opinions about education ever collected in the state.

The private financiers include the Collins Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation, JELD-WEN Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust and the Oregon Community Foundation.

The foundations will use the data as the backbone of The Chalkboard Project, an 18-month effort to strengthen — if not overhaul — the state’s education system.

Philanthropy at work, tax dollars at rest...not bad so long as the work is bias-neutral. Of course, I'd desire that regardless of fund source.

Like many Oregon educators, the foundations want to reverse trends of rising dropout rates, widening achievement gaps and shorter school years, said Charlie Walker, chairman of the project’s board and former president of Linfield College.

Such improvements haven’t been possible, he said, because education has become a “politicized issue.” Citizens are confused about how to improve schools and don’t know how to respond.

“We have state and local policy decisions pitted against difficult demographic trends and compounded by volatile economic and political factions,” Walker said.

To emerge from the quagmire, the foundations commissioned the survey to gauge Oregonians’ gut feelings about education.

The polling firm conducted 1,800 telephone interviews earlier in the spring, said Adam Davis of the research firm Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall.

Davis called the survey the most comprehensive study of Oregonians’ opinions on education ever conducted. Typical studies rely on half as many interviews, he said. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.3 percent.

Politicized issue...people who don't agree with them are politicized, huh? If the politicized people weren't confused, we'd make progress. That attitude is sure going to work with the politicized folks.

If Walker's so concerned about politicization of the subject, why does he use such a loaded word as quagmire? Well, we could pretend the reporter thought that up all by herself.

At least they took a nice, big survey so the margin of error is statistically low. Of course if the questions are weak or slanted, the margin of error won't matter much.

Among the initial findings:

•State residents have a more favorable opinion of local schools than they do of Oregon schools in general. In the Willamette Valley, 59 percent of local residents feel “very good” or “somewhat good” that schools are doing a good job. The state average is

62 percent and the highest opinions are in Eastern Oregon, where nearly seven in 10 said that schools are doing well.

Not too surprising...folks tend to think more positively about people they know and work with in their local communities. It's easier to believe others are having more problems.

•Fifty-two percent of Oregonians said that schools don’t have enough money to be effective. Forty percent said schools are not spending money efficiently and 8 percent weren’t sure.

The only three options here rather beg the question, don't they? Where's the option for the schools having enough money? How about the schools don't have enough money AND they're not spending it efficiently? So much for my hopes about being unbiased.

•Graduates who are prepared for college should be the top priority for schools, 42 percent of Oregonians said, and 33 percent said that graduates should be ready for the workplace.

So what did the other 25 percent respond on this question? Prepared for a full sports scholarship?

•A lack of parental support is the biggest obstacle to a student’s success, 83 percent said. The next four obstacles are a lack of stable and adequate school funding, districts not finding and keeping highly qualified teachers, unfunded federal mandates and bureaucracy.

What about educational standards? I absolutely agree about parental support, and I certainly understand the funding concerns...stability is huge, adequate could be argued. But regards standards, schools don't expect enough, and they aren't getting what they expect often enough. That answer would attack the administrators, and they're still sacred here in Oregon.

•Nearly everyone agreed that the top reason for developing strong schools is to reduce crime and social problems.

I wouldn't say it that way, but I know what they're getting at, so let's keep going.

•Thirty-two percent in Portland said that closing the achievement gap is an “urgent” priority, but only 18 percent in central Oregon agreed. Twenty-one percent of Willamette Valley residents agreed.

So what were the other choices here for the respondents? The majority answered something else, and they won't let us in on it. Must not be a very desirable answer for the educators.

The Chalkboard Project staff plans to set up town hall-style meetings around the state to gather more opinions from residents, students, teachers and civic leaders.

Meanwhile, a consulting group is surveying the nation for examples of the most effective education systems and techniques, said Sue Hildick, president of the Chalkboard Project.

The project will culminate next year when staff members report to the Legislature and educators. Hildick said that the depth of the recommendations will depend on what the project finds Oregonians want and are willing to pay for.

“The outcome isn’t known,” said Walker, the board chairman. “Oregonians will be instrumental in molding that outcome.”

Susan Castillo, state superintendent of public instruction, commended the effort Tuesday and said that her department will support it.

What do we want versus what will we pay for? Let's hope the study includes some thinking outside the box for educators...like living with their means. Maybe we want to pay for certain things and let a couple of their sacred cows wither. So, how about reducing the size of the administrative staff and not paying them plenty more than teachers? They cut teachers but rarely the overhead...what's wrong with this picture? Additionally, how about not hiring educators without teaching experience...those who can't teach, administrate.

Once again, I absolutely agree with educators' desire to gain funding stability. It's tremendously hard to plan and budget with wildly swinging financial targets.

One other thought...educators keep presenting us with population growth estimates and using those to justify funding increases. Yet we know many school districts in the state are forecast to shrink, and our educators always keep mum on how home schooling is growing. I don't want to approve any increases based upon population forecasts without seeing the homeschooling numbers considered.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski helped initiate the project last year when he asked Oregonians to examine education from the grassroots level.

In a statement released Tuesday, Kulongoski said that he is pleased with the private-sector endeavor to develop a high-achieving, stable and trustworthy education system.

“It remains my belief that while legislative action may be needed, the real solutions will come from the people of Oregon,” he said. Kulongoski also encouraged Oregonians to get involved through the project’s Web site and toll-free phone number.

Davis said that many were excited to talk about K-12 education.

“People have their opinions — many of them very strong opinions — on what needs to be done,” he said. “We had trouble getting them off the phone, actually.”

Davis and Hildick, president of the project, were encouraged by what happened at the end of many of the 20-minute interviews.

One in three Oregonians gave their names and contact information for follow-up surveys and potential calls to action.

Only one in three is encouraging? Here's another educational standard that's too low.

I really wanted to like this effort. However, the organizations that funded this effort ensured their agenda bled through, and that has really skewed some of the results. Would funding a study with our tax dollars have resulted in anything better. Sadly, I think not, if for no other reason than it would have been managed by educators.

Our educators and their big-money supporters are in the business of growing the educational bureaucracy and budget...growing our students' test scores is down the priority list a ways.

Unwelcome Visiting Bears

Two days ago when I was driving out the live end of my gravel road (I live on the dead end), I flushed a bear. It was a medium-sized black bear, very dark, that took off at a full run. It ran down to the intersection with the paved road, crossed without pausing, and disappeared into deeper woods. It was a good reminder of the power and speed of bears...no human is that fast.

Coincidentally that same evening though well after dark, something got into my parent's berries. It had a sampling of the boysenberries, raspberries, blackberries, marionberries, and the best of them all, the tayberries. Judging from the damage, my parents figured it was a racoon or 'possum. Last evening they discovered otherwise. My mom was picking berries near the deer fence and heard something rustling outside the fence. She got curious and walked to the end of a berry row and discovered she was within a few feet of a rather brownish black bear (cinnamon in the vernacular). It didn't seem particularly alarmed to see her.

She made plenty of noise calling for my dad while making herself look big. The bear responded by making a bunch of huffing and puffing sounds instead of running away as desired. Thus, my mom beat a noisy retreat. My dad, who'd been across the property, got there shortly thereafter, whence they decided to go back and see what the bear was up to (a wee brave or foolish, I figure).

They couldn't see the bear anymore outside the fence, but could hear it crunching through the dry woods. They waited a few moments, then checked out that area of the deer fence, discovering clear evidence a bear had climbed the section of fence before. It had evidentally been their "beary"-eating visitor, petitely climing the fence rather than doing what bears usually do to the fence--blasting through it.

__________

Bears usually only come visit my parent's property every year or two, following their noses to my parent's ripe grapes late in the season. The one last year was unusually mannerly, exiting the fence via the same opening it created, and not damaging everything in its path on the way to the grapes. My parents have a sturdy deer fence...big wooden posts set in concrete, standard wire fabric that gets wider as it goes up, and sturdy wooden cross bars at six foot level. However, it's just tinker toys to a bear playing godzilla.

More typically when a bear comes to visit, it goes something as follows:

- Comes through the fence well after dark, knocking down enough fence that there's no need to climb.
- Discovers an apple tree or two with ripening fruit and knocks down a couple branches, only to discover that apples isn't what it's after.
- Brushes aside any berry rows that happen to be in the way.
- Happens near my parent's newest young fruit tree (the most recent one was a young plum) and either leans on it or sits in it, splitting it down the middle at its first major branches. The trees are just never the same.
- Discovers the grapes and has a nice meal on what hasn't already been picked. They've always been a bit slow to discover the bounty, otherwise they'd have probably consumed the entire crop. Being great fans of grapes, bears never seem to damage the vines, leaving them healthy for future harvest.
- Finishes its nearly straight-line path of destruction by creating another opening in the deer fence.

Only once has a bear clearly come up to their house, leaving a trail between their back door and pick-up. I only know of a bear coming up to my house once, and that was when it was under construction. There was an old burn pile near the site, and it walked right through it, leaving very large paw prints in the ash.

__________

Unfortunately overnight, the bear came back again, once again climbing over the fence to munch on the boysenberries, plus some unripe apples and apricots. That's not good for a couple reasons...the bear is definitely unafraid of humans, and it's hungry enough to eat fruit that's nowhere close to ripe. Thus this morning, my parents called the Department of Fish & Wildlife and reported the problem. Because of its aggressiveness when it should have been fearful of humans, it's now officially a nuisance bear.

When my parents went to breakfast in a cafe in Merlin and asked the old-timers (picture, my parents are 68) what they'd do about a nuisance bear, together they chimed "Shoot It!" Settle down city folks...it was a joke. There are several alternatives before trying to dig a big hole for a dead bear (and this isn't even shoot, shovel, and shut up...my parent can legally kill the nuisance bear).

Suggested by both the old-timers and the Fish & Wildlife folks was electrification of the fence, and attaching aluminum foil with peanut butter on it to the electrified fence. The goal is to shock the bear's tongue, which has proven to be a great learning tool for most bears. My dad got the electrification stuff today, and will install it tomorrow. Also, my mom sprayed/wiped ammonia all around the fence and near the various crops, as bears really don't like ammonia and will learn to avoid it.

DFW doesn't trap and relocate bears, as it rarely works and is thus a rather pointless exercise and expense. Another urban legend is that bears (and cougars) are naturally scared of dogs. The hunting dog ban in (re)proving that this is an acquired fear (unless of course the bears and cougars are young, sick, vulnerable, etc.). With 10 years of no hunting with dogs, younger cougars are now viewing all but the biggest dogs as food, and many bears view them as competitors worth fighting.

My parents don't have a noisy dog anyway, just a terrified cat. She smelled something she really didn't like when they thought it was a racoon or 'possum visiting. She likes to sit in the windows at night and look out, and we figure she must have seen and heard the bear last night. The cat won't go outside now, or even come out from under a bed unless someone is around.

My dad's never owned a rifle, but he's about to. The timberhood's just too dangerous to not be packin'.

__________

We locals figured the Biscuit Fire would flush a number of bears our direction in late 2002. One of the best pictures I saw of the firefighting was in a local paper (dead tree only), a photo of bears drinking from one of the huge firefighting water blivets. A huge number of bears were waiting patiently to drink, just a few at a time going up to the blivet. Firefighters said over 300 would come to take a drink with their regular watering holes having been burned.

That flush of bears either never happened, or was a non-event to live through. Of course, this is prime bear country, so maybe the nearby land just absorbed the increased population. The Coast Range here in Southern Oregon is quite possibly home to the greatest concentration of black bears. An estimated 30,000 may live immediately to the west of us in Curry County alone. The County has more bears than people. We're not sure what the carrying capacity of the land is for black bears...they may still be recovering from decades of hunting.

Bears here are having a very good year (and so are the deer...driving is like deer-Frogger lately). We don't mind living with the bears, just so long as they don't get comfortable coming close to our homes. As newcomers continue to buy up the acreage and build their large retirement or second homes, there is less empty forest for them to prowl about. But worry not, 73 percent of the county is federal land, and the vast majority of that is protected from lumbering. Thus, we'll always have plenty of trees full of bears.

But, there's going to be one less bear here if that cinnamon one doesn't stop visiting my parents.

U.S. Military Exercise With South Africa

An Air Force friend of mine wrote that he is deploying to South Africa next month on a humanitarian and civic action (HCA) exercise. It's medical care and engineering support, a typical non-combat deployment that gets troops from both countries familiar with working together while providing a benefit to the people of the host nation.

I worked on a bunch of HCA exercises in various Latin American countries during my career, but such trips to Africa are not common. For a trip like this to be set up, it must have been blessed by the State Department and by high-level officials in the South African government. One can infer the priority of this effort by the fact it will occur despite all the troop requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Third Air Force will lead more than 200 U.S. military members — most from bases in Europe — to South Africa next month to provide medical care in remote villages and share knowledge with their South African military counterparts.

The exercise, which will start shortly after July 4 and last about two weeks, will include personnel from Lajes Field in the Azores, Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases in Germany, Aviano Air Base and Caserma Ederle in Italy, and RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in England. It will also have a few dozen reserve and Air National Guard members from the States.

...

Doctors will provide medical care to people at remote clinics, while civil engineers repair faulty plumbing and install better electrical systems, among other projects, at the clinics.

At the same time, U.S. and South African military members will test their ability to respond together to an emergency. In this case, the scenario involves a major flood that has overtaxed the capabilities of South Africa, leading it to request U.S. help.

Emergency response is a standard military expertise (under various names). The Air Force practices and executes a wide range of such responses both here and abroad, including recovering from a tornado ripping through a base, dealing with a plane crash with mass casualties, providing hurricane relief, etc. With the U.S. having much of the world's large emergency response capabilty, it's logical that the U.S. would practice with other nations upon occasion so there would be familiarity with each others' methods of doing business.

Such exercises are also opportunities to help military professionalism in developing nations. For instance, when I was working HCA as an engineer, deployments were an opportunity to show how our military worked for civilians without question, something not often seen in countries where the military is only nominally under the control of the government. The locals will see that if the U.S. embassy has instructions for our troops, they will obey...it's not optional or the other way around. This won't be an issue in democratic South Africa, but it sure was in many Latin American countries in the 80s and early 90s when I was doing HCA.

Another thing we'd do is readily send female officers to Latin American nations to show them that men working for and with women in the U.S. military was normal and accepted. Only Peru balked, not even allowing a female engineering officer into the country (in about 1990). Arab countries have a long, long ways to go in that regard.

“We will be working side-by-side with the South African military,” said Col. Russell Richardson, director of logistics for Third Air Force and the ranking U.S. officer on the exercise.

Capt. Greg Ready, a medical planner for Third Air Force, said every aspect of the exercise, from public affairs to transportation to medical, will be duplicated by the Americans and the host nation.

“There’s not a single aspect that’s going to be only South African or only U.S.,” said Ready, who has traveled to the country several times in the run-up to the exercise.

The exercise will conclude with a mass-casualty drill. The scenario for that will be the crash of an airplane carrying flood refugees from the area.

“That’s the crux of the exercise,” Ready said. “That will show how much we’ve learned those first 14 days.”

Another goal in developing nations is to show them how to develop a more professional enlisted corp. Our airman have far greater managerial and technical expertise than theirs, in part because our militaries expect it and train for it (a stronger educational system helps as well). In a number of lesser developed countries, the lower ranks are conscripts who are beaten harshly by the first sergeant (or young officer) if they disobey or don't perform as desired. Getting people to work together in a chain of command based upon mutual respect and discipline sans violence is progress many nations' militaries need to make.

Dr. (Lt. Col.) Brian Affleck, deputy commander of the 48th Medical Operations Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, said South African health care is first rate, but the villages that will receive help are remote, and the clinics are sometimes staffed only by a nurse or two. At one clinic, he said, a nurse and two nurses-in-training care for the health needs of 80,000 people.

While U.S. doctors will provide everything from dental care to eyeglasses, they also will learn from these overworked nurses, who have expertise in such things as tuberculosis and malaria because they see them so often.

“We’re going to let these nurses train us and make us smarter,” said Affleck, who also has visited the area to prepare for the exercise.

Working with the American medics will be members of the South African military medical services. They will send a contingent that will mirror the American one, Affleck said.

“It’s going to double our efforts,” he said. Plus, he said the South African doctors will train the Americans on such things as sub-Saharan diseases, while the Americans teach them more about surgeries required after combat.

No question our American medical folks can learn alot from local experts who treat diseases regularly that we don't see too often. I learned this in spades in my HCA and counterdrug days. When I travelled to Central or South America, if I had chance I'd stop through a military hospital in Panama on the way back, I would. Those docs were used to treating folks who went "downrange." They had a much better chance than stateside docs of knowing what to do about the strange bug bites, nasty diarrheas, etc. that I might have picked up.

If I'd been staying in really primitive areas eating what the locals ate and drinking what they drank, then wanted to be de-wormed just to be safe, in Panama that was no problem. In the States, I got strange looks from uncertain doctors, then fecal and blood tests, etc. What a hassle. Just purge me and send me on my way...I'll stay by a toilet for a day (obviously), and then my mind will be at ease. The docs going to South Africa will be much better for their trip...more confident of their skills.

Also, he said, his hospital will send a deployable hospital, which will be set up at the South African air force base at Hoedspruit.

“When it comes to deployable medicine, the Air Force is in the lead,” he said.

The equipment is lighter and takes less time to set up then that used by the other services, Affleck said. Therefore, medical people from the Navy and Army will be on hand to observe how the deployable hospital is used.

Ready said the goal of the exercise is to develop a working relationship with a country in the Third Air Force area of responsibility. If the need arises for real in the future, he said, people will be familiar to one another.

This exercise sounds like a nifty learning experience. I hope it also contributes to the U.S. and South Africa getting along better. After, that's another of the goals.

Greenpeace Dismantles Forest Rescue Station (Updated)

According to local radio this morning, Greenpeace has departed with its forest rescue station. This was as promised in a couple local newspaper articles. They're being mysterious about their next destination, though the Tongass National Forest in Alaska is rather likely.

The report also said that one individual had been arrested, some equipment confiscated, and a bill was going to be sent to Greenpeace for damage to the BLM forest. Maybe they didn't get completely gone fast enough.

Will follow up with more...hopefully this afternoon's Grants Pass Daily Courier will have a long article. As could be expected, Greenpeace's website has nothing on the subject at this point.

UPDATE: It was the spokeswoman who got the ticket (yesterday, not today) from BLM law enforcement, and she was told she'd get ticketed again if anything remains on the site tomorrow. Evidently, the clean up is going well. All that was left when the D-C went to print was a rental porta-poddy.

Portland, Greenpeace is headed your way for a July 6 "rally" at the regional USFS office. After that, they intend to continue the forest rescue campaign, but still want to maintain the mystery regards the next destination(s).

Forest Bomb Rumors

There's a Rural legend going around right now that has some Rural workers rather nervous. It has also hiked tensions with some environmental activists, like the visiting Greenpeace folks. Like many such legends, it started with some truth, but has spun all out of proportion. Here's the story of the forest bomb.

It’s a stunningly scary scenario for those who work or play in the woods, yet it’s as real as the 9-foot hairy creature rumored to live in Southern Oregon’s forestlands.

Eco-terrorists have placed PVC bombs with mercury- detonators in the lock cans of metal gates that block access to forest roads to all those without keys, the story goes. Reach into the metal bell-like covering for the gate’s lock and, boom, there goes your hand.

And when a Washington state agency spokeswoman last week issued a warning about the bombs after saying a spate of such booby-trapped gates occurred around Medford, the gate bombs joined the Kentucky Fried rat as yet other bogus story the public won’t let go away.

"It’s an urban myth, as far as we can determine," said Frank Mendizabal, a spokesman for Weyerhaeuser Co., whose Western Washington lands were among several where the bombs were rumored to have been found.

This is one of the reasons Greenpeace has spent much more effort than normal lately telling folks that the organization stands for non-violent civil disobedience...peaceful protests. Ginger Cassady, their local spokeswoman, has been really emphasizing the non-violence at the Greenpeace protests, wrote a guest editorial in our local paper a couple days ago (not worth retyping that dead tree article), and contributed to another article that referenced threats of violence against Greenpeace members heard by others in the Illinois Valley.

Greenpeace's presence has certainly raised tensions around here, which various groups--including Greenpeace itself--are wisely trying to defuse. Nonetheless, Greenpeace is clearly responsible for raising tensions by repeatedly breaking the law and trying to stop local folks from earning a living. Their passive-aggressive behavior has not brought the positive response they were hoping for. The forest rescue station was designed to host a humble 120-250 people per day, yet unless there's been good attendance this weekend, it's top day has been about 40.

The Greenpeace johnny-come-latelies have offered us only protest, not help with solutions. It's the NIMBY solution being pushed by folks who don't have backyards here. They're also costing our law enforcement agencies money in these lean fiscal times. Thanks for nothing, Greenpeace.

State and federal law-enforcement officials all say they know of no such bombs on forest gates in the Northwest. Ditto for Hampton Affiliates’ tree farms near Astoria, Longview Fiber Co. in Western Washington and others rumored in e-mails to have discovered the bombs

"It’s a story that’s just not true," Mendizabal said. "But it just keeps going on and on."

Just like a Bigfoot sighting, the rumored bombs have created a life of their own.

On Thursday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife became the latest agency to perpetuate the myth. Agency officials issued a warning to the ODFW’s 1,000 employees about the bombs, saying they were discovered on Hampton Affiliates lands.

The memo urged them to use "extreme caution" when approaching gates. "Do not attempt to handle or remove any suspicious device," it said.

"It sounded credible, and we err on the side of caution," ODFW spokeswoman Anne Pressentin Young said. "It’s kind of bizarre. I’m not sure where it came from."

Spreading rumors is one thing, creating and exaggerating them is another. One can at least understand why agencies and corporations would spread information about such events, but a few folks are actually creating false information that is suckering well-intended individuals...who and why?

The myth most likely germinated from a simple explosives case investigated three weeks ago in the BLM’s Glendale Resource Area by Detective Blain Allen, one of six bomb technicians with the Oregon State Police.

In what Allen called "a juvenile, uneducated effort," someone put smokeless powder in a plastic tube, added a crude fuse, taped it to the top of a BLM gate at a place kids drink beer and tried to light it, Allen said. When it failed to ignite, they left it, he said.

Allen issued a short report, which ignited a flurry of Forest Service and BLM e-mails, he said. Within a few days, the bomb had somehow grown into many sophisticated devices targeting gate users.

"It’s taken on a life of its own," Allen said. "I started getting calls from federal agencies back East, saying why haven’t they heard about it.

As much as we (me certainly included) criticize our intel types in agencies like the FBI and CIA, much of their life is spent dealing with scraps of information and rumors, trying to figure out what's accurate (or exaggerated, false, etc.), connecting the dots between varying pieces of random information, trying come to incisive conclusions, and acting to keep America safe. It's an incredibly difficult job in the best of times.

With the forest bomb rumor, we have a bunch of non-intel types trying to do the same thing, but with the knowledge that they deal with terrorists in their line of work. The Earth Liberation Front has been active in damaging equipment and property (though not people), various eco-terrorists have spiked trees which can certainly injure loggers with chainsaws, pot growers put bombs and other booby traps in the woods to protect their plantations (and occasionally shoot at interlopers), etc.

Little wonder legitimate forest types are a wee suspicious and willing to quickly react to such information, true or otherwise.

The supposed quantity of bombs had jumped by the time Mike Davis, a Hampton Affiliates forester in western Washington, heard the rumor.

Davis said he wrote an internal memo June 10 about the rumor and urged company foresters to warn people who routinely use their many gates.

When Bud Henderson read Davis’ e-mail, he passed it on.

"We just notified the key holders to be extra alert when opening a gate," said Henderson, manager of Hampton Affiliates’ Big Creek Tree Farm near Astoria.

Henderson said he had "no clue" of the information’s origin, but that he "had no doubt in my mind that somewhere along the line, there was a pipe bomb."

If you had a piece of information that may or may not be true, that could help someone avoid an injury or save a life, would you wait until you had verification of that information before passing it along? If you wanted to ensure the readers down the line didn't brush it off and thus put their folks at risk, might you make the threat look just a bit more credible to attract attention? Even folks with the best of intentions can distort information, growing or shrinking it in accordance with their job responsibilities and possible agendas.

Washington Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Jane Chavey said her agency warned forest workers to be careful after a rash of booby-trapped gates near Medford.

"We were just telling people to be aware because we knew in Southern Oregon that this has happened," Chavey said Friday.

When told no such bombs were found anywhere, Chavey said she would look into it.

It turns out, she said later, that her warning was based on an unverified voice-mail message at the DNR.

"Looking back," she said, "we’re not sure where this came from."

Who was the voice-mail from? Someone who would have reason to pass along such rumor, a prankster, or maybe an activist trying to hassle the government and/or industry? It makes a difference.

There's probably both good and bad reasons this Rural legend won't die. Let's hope it stays a legend versus actually coming to pass.

Average Home Prices in Southern Oregon

As could be expected, it's more expensive to buy a home along the I-5 corridor in Southern Oregon than in the more Rural counties both east and west of it. Here are the May 2004 median home sale prices for several counties from this weekend's Grants Pass Daily Courier (as always, dead tree only) in a front page article entitled "Homes Just Aren't For Everyone:"

Jackson..........$205,000
Josephine.......$185,000
Douglas..........$149,900
Coos.............$125,000
Klamath..........$108,200

Note that included within the Jackson County statistics is Ashland's median home price of nearly $300K.

In Jan 2002, the median price of a Grants Pass home was $138,500, meaning that home prices have gone up 33 percent here in less than 2 1/2 years. This is pricing many of the first-time home-buyers out of the market...and rising interest rates will only make that worse. More affordable condos and townhomes are rarely built here because they just don't sell.

One of the local real estate brokers (Andy Rubin) quoted in the article nails the reason why:

"Our local young people aren't going to buy condos, because they've grown up with land," he said. "And the people from California aren't going to buy condos either. They're coming here to find a home with land because they're tired of living close together."

"With land" makes things pricey here in timber country. The average listed price of a 5-acre improved lot (well, septic, driveway, and power) in JoCo right now is $168,000. That's averaging in lots from O'Brien (40 miles SW of GP out the Redwood Highway, just before one enters California) as well as a lot in Sunny Valley adjacent to I-5 (13 miles north of town). For that 5 acres in O'Brien at $80K plus, say, an $80K manufactured home, one gets a $160K house with an hour commute to Grants Pass...with occasional winter snow considerations in between.

Local builders are spending a fair portion of their effort constructing luxury homes...in excess of $350K. That's a hot segment of the market, and the scale increases profit. We still have a very affordable market compared to California, where the majority of our inbound residents come from.

What local realtors tell folks if they come to town and want home under $150K is to try Roseburg or Klamath Falls. And in Klamath Falls if one wants to garden, the elevation causes a very short growing season there. They had hard freezes early this month...it's not that unusual there.

So, Grants Pass continues to gentrify. The Californians that skip Ashland and come all the way up here are usually the types that like what California was but are glad to leave behind what California is. They fit in here pretty well. Let's hope their deep pockets don't end up forcing our youth out.

Thoughts on the Proposed Defense of Marriage Measure

We should soon know if we'll get a chance to vote on a defense of marriage measure. If this petition drive doesn't succeed, the next one will...so let's just get on with it already.

The inevitable petition process has been rather a shoestring effort pushed into a very short window. It's been worked through Republican channels, but moreso through the churches, whose organizational talents were recently invigorated by the Passion of the Christ promotion and viewings. As should be expected, this more grassroots organizational style has greater probability for petition errors.

So once again, we're having some folks closely monitoring petition quality while others are saying the regs are being applied too stringently. How predictable. My view is here is rather basic: there should always be stringent quality control to ensure fake signatures don't have a chance of impacting state politics. Nonetheless, I do tire of all the gamesmanship regarding the number of days to gather signatures.

In pushing for stringent petition quality control, the same-sex marriage proponents need to be careful that they're not perceived to be trying to prevent the average voter from expressing his/her opinion on the subject. With legal equality and social acceptance being twin pillars in true equality, one might think activists would not want to sacrifice social acceptance to gain marriage rights. But for many, marriage has more social and/or religious importance than does the civil union, regardless of the same improved rights each would provide.

Pushing for marriage rights over civil unions is a risky strategy, as Oregon voters would likely approve civil unions and their accompanying rights, but may not be so giving when it comes to marriage...in fact, it could backlash. Most voters have already made up their minds if they support same-sex marriage or not, so gays should be courting at least the swing voters...those who support civil unions, but not same-sex marriage.

__________

I get to speak to a pair of such voters pretty regularly, my parents. They're okay with some gay equal rights (keep the sex in the bedroom...no fetishes on parade, thank you), but same-sex marriage is definitely a bridge too far...for traditional more than religious reasons. The militance of the gay activists in Portland and elsewhere has convinced them to support the defense of marriage act here in Oregon, even though both would rather not change the constitution for such things.

In seeing gay couples streaming to government offices to marry, they saw the results of a few political zealots/opportunists usurping the right of the public to have its voices heard on an issue important to the social fabric of this nation. Yes they know that society is gradually becoming more accepting of homosexuals, but they still felt disenfranchised by the process. Obviously non-heterosexuals have felt that way for a long time...but two wrongs don't make it right.

Equality is more palatable overall if given rather than taken. If enough swing voters are pushed away rather than courted by the gay community, the defense of marriage act will pass. Homosexuals clearly understand that militance is alienating and scary when it comes from religious conservatives. Yet, a number of gay activists display militance themselves and can't understand why society won't be more accepting of their sexuality. Don't push away those open to change.

It also takes increased social acceptance to enable more folks to safely come out of the closet. And, it might help reduce the rates of suicide, addiction, etc. amongst gays as well.

__________

Pass or fail, we all know that the losing side will go straight to the courts and hope judges will usurp the will of the people. Ultimately, either same-sex marriage will be approved, or as I still believe if the issue is dropped on to our legislature's lap, the government will get out of the marriage business and approve civil unions for all. This more clearly separates church and state, and gives the same-sex marriage issue to the churches. This reasoning is also a means how our supreme court could justify overturning the defense of marriage act, if voters approve it.

In other words, yes, for the most part I think this measure is a waste of time and money. The value it can provide is if the measure fails by a fair percentage...that will clearly show societal support of gay equal rights (yes, some could say they just don't want marriage in the constitution) and push the hard right towards compromise. If the measure passes and then is overturned, the vitriol rises.

With current societal beliefs, there is no win-win solution...but both sides can claim partial victory with civil unions, without having to swallow an outright loss. It may take a few years of legislative battles and a continuation of our slow societal shift toward gay acceptance, but eventually it will be the best the religious right can get.

So why don't we just save the heartache and get there sooner rather than later? Yeah, I know...won't happen.

The NBA Draft

There were just four college seniors drafted in the first round this year. Would be curious to know how many of them graduated.

#8 Rafael Araujo, Brigham Young
#10 Luke Jackson, Oregon
#20 Jameer Nelson, St. Joseph's
#25 Tony Allen, Oklahoma St.

There were also eight high school seniors, six foreign players, and eleven underclassmen in the first round. There were more seniors in the second round. Nonetheless, lesson learned...if you have to stay in school through your senior year, you're not that much of an NBA prospect. If a ball player uses his entire scholarship, let's hope he studied and graduated so he can find work.

Congrats to Luke! Unfortunately, maybe we've haven't read the last of the stories with sentences like this.

Despite coming from the small town of Creswell and playing high school basketball for a Class 3A school, Luke Jackson always believed he could play with the big boys of college basketball.

Gag...no offense to Luke or to Creswell, a very nice town. But the point is, if you have talent, colleges and the NBA will find you...and school size, country, whatever have nothing to do with talent. Creswell High School has about 400 students...certainly not tiny. In fact, it's the ideal size according to the small school initiative (most recent blog here). Any of you Oregon sports writers who have used a similar phrase, quit the lazy elitism.

Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers had four draft picks and completely avoided folks who've attended college. With the first pick (#13), they chose Sebastian Telfair, a 5-10 to 6-0 high school point guard from NYC who already has a six-year, $15 million Adidas endorsement contract (though not all the money is guaranteed).

Haven't read anybody that thought he'd go that high in the draft. Are the Blazers maybe grooming Damon's replacement? If so, yet another slashing guard who doesn't shoot very well? At least he creates for teammates pretty well, and he's really speedy. Let's hope he's mature enough to resist some of the bad influences Portland still has, something another Blazers youngster, Qyntel Woods, hasn't proven strong enough to do. With Stephon Marbury as Telfair's cousin, one has to worry some regards being a head case.

Next at #22 and #23 came two Russian teammates, Viktor Khryapa and Sergey Monya. Monya survived much deeper than expected and is highly thought of...but has contractual difficulties which may keep him in Russia for awhile. A 6-8 small forward if he keeps developing...hmmmm. Khryapa sounds like a two-guard role player, someone who can shoot and play some D. No one seems to think he's spectacular in any particular facet of his game, just solid.

Then at #46 is Ha Seung-Jin from South Korea. Having lived there, take my word for it...his last name is Ha...he would be Mr. Ha (though he might be a bit young to be Mr., even in formal S. Korea). If you knew him well, then you could use Seung-Jin. He's 7-3 or 7-4, 300-325, and only 18...his dad was a national team player. So, while he's not without skill, can you say project? Portland lacks a genuine center, though Detroit just proved one can win with a defensive-minded forward blocking and altering shots (Ben is more athletic than Theo Ratliff, though).

Portland is really gearing towards the following season when they're finally out of salary cap hell. This year if any of the draft picks comes through, it's a bonus. Telfair is an interesting gamble, but he's always going to be short in the NBA. If Portland can actually sign Monya, he could prove to be an interesting pick. Portland's already got too many forwards, but they'll be certainly culling the lot over the next two years.

At least the Trail Blazers are contributing to linguists finding jobs in town. Think of the marketing possibilities for a Korean in the NBA. And on his jams, folks could yell HA!

Another Greenpeace Protest, More Arrests (Updated Below)

This morning, Greenpeace staged another protest near another Douglas County logging operation (Greenpeace blog of the event here). This time it was of old growth logging in the Umpqua National Forest...the Peanuts timber sale.

Greenpeace staged its second protest this month in Douglas County, blocking a logging operation in the Umpqua National Forest before dawn this morning.

Four activists attached themselves to a bright yellow, 3-ton shipping container, which read “Bush‚ Forest Destruction Stops Here.” The container blocked the Peanuts Timber Sale, about three miles west of Lemolo Lake in the Diamond Lake Ranger District.

One woman was perched atop a 30-foot mast 20 feet above the container and another woman locked herself to the outside of the container. Two others were locked inside the container with a laptop, allowing them to file Web logs to the Greenpeace USA Web site via satellite e-mail.

Five support people who weren’t locked in the container were arrested just before 8 a.m. today, according to Douglas County Sheriff’s office spokesman Dwes Hutson. Deputies worked to cut out those attached and had arrested three of the four by 9:15 a.m.

I understood the container from the previous protest was taken to the BLM yard in Medford. Don't know if Greenpeace retrieved it for reuse/recycling or had to invest in a new container. It looks like the arrests went quickly and efficiently. Greenpeace was a bit aggrieved that their medic was arrested...he was standing by just in case.

If you notice the few supportive posts at Greenpeace's blog, check the names you'll note that Ant and Hollywood were arrested at the Soukow protest near Glendale.

A crew of about six loggers with D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. of Riddle discovered the blockade and called the sheriff’s office at 4:45 a.m., Hutson said. The sheriff’s office sent about eight deputies to the scene around 6:15 a.m. Officers with the Umpqua National Forest also responded.

The protest is the second this month, following a protest last week several miles west of Glendale. The protests are part of the international environmental organization’s campaign calling for an end to commercial logging of old growth on public lands.

“It is time to restore the damage that has been done to our public lands by 100 years of abuse by the U.S. Forest Service, here in the Umpqua and around the nation,” said Ginger Cassady, Greenpeace forest campaigner, in a written statement. “If the American people don’t draw a line in the sand, then the Bush administration is going to leave us with a tragic legacy, a graveyard of stumps.”

D.R. Johnson purchased the 154-acre sale in 1997 and began logging last fall, with logging scheduled to be completed this summer, said Steve Nelson, road maintenance supervisor for the UNF who also marked and appraised the sale. He said most of the 4.7 million board feet to be logged is mature timber.

“It meets all the requirements of the Northwest Forest Plan,” he said. “It’s consistent with the laws.”

The reference to the Northwest Forest Plan is about northern spotted owls...old growth without spotted owls can legally be logged. Most of the old growth in the Northwest still has spotted owls (and thus can't be logged), though barred owls and fires in old growth (the biggest percentage being from our local Biscuit fire) continue to dent their numbers.

Shawn Westbrooks, timber manager with D.R. Johnson, said crews had resumed logging last week after taking off the winter and spring, and have just over half left to cut. The crew had to wait this morning until officials removed the container, which hadn’t yet happened at press time.

“We have to wait until all that stuff gets cleared out,” he said by cell phone on his way to the sale.

The protest is unusual, he said.

“We haven’t had any protests at all with other sales.”

Umpqua Watersheds Inc. is amongst the groups that have opposed the Peanuts timber sale. As opposed to Greenpeace, they worked with the National Forest Service during the assessment process in airing their concerns about the logging.

The group has been monitoring the quality of the timber harvest, documenting D.R. Johnson's sloppiness in significantly damaging some of the retention trees that were to remain to reseed and shelter the regrowth of the forest. Felling trees is certainly an inexact science, but let's hope the Forest Service holds logging companies at least partially responsible when retention doesn't go as planned. It's not good for the environment and terrible PR.

Here's how Umpqua Watersheds describes its logging beliefs:

While Umpqua Watersheds doesn't oppose all forms of logging, we adamantly oppose clearcutting, logging of old growth forest, excessive road building, and other methods of industrial logging that deforest our slopes, destroy critical habitat for endangered species, and degrade the quality of life on the Umpqua. Deaths of four of our friends at Hubbard Creek from a landslide caused by an industrial clearcut heightened our resolve to restore some sanity to natural resource management practices in our region.

While the group attempts to show itself as moderate, a bit of radicalism leaks through in a couple places. They talk about working on behalf of the voiceless, a common anti-globalization phrase meant to scare folks about the supreme power of corporations and governments. They also note that contributions to their organization protect forests and endangered wildlife from "the ravages of corporate profiteering."

A bit of googling reveals that Umpqua Watersheds receives a fair percentage of its funding from the same types of anti-capitalist groups (sample link here) that fund organizations like the Oregon Natural Resources Council (previous blog here). Some of our local activists are not as local as they'd like us to believe. Nonetheless, some of these groups do good things for our local communities. Guess the issue comes down to motives...to trust.

To finish off the original article...

The method of protest is similar to the one used to block the Soukow timber sale June 15 on land managed by the Medford Bureau of Land Management near Glendale. Deputies with the sheriff’s office arrested three people who attached themselves to a similar cargo container.

After that protest, Medford BLM officials gave the members of the organization 48 hours to move an encampment they established last month outside Glendale that they call a Forest Rescue Station.

Greenpeace members had not yet moved the encampment today, said Karen Gillespie, spokeswoman for the Medford BLM. In a meeting yesterday, Greenpeace members told Gillespie they planned to move the encampment by Sunday.

I would wager if Greenpeace breaks this promise, it's a guarantee they'll shortly get to visit our JoCo jail. I still figure they won't want to have their forest rescue station confiscated, so they'll move...the question is where.

UPDATE:Here's a bit from a Friday article from Roseburg's newspaper.

Those arrested from Oregon were Carol Lynn Dyer, 32, of Ashland; Nathanial Brian Pundt, 25, of Williamson; James John Bowler, 32, of Eugene; and Kayla Margo Starr, 63, of Cave Junction. Deputies also arrested Lawrence Martin Turk, 46, of Missoula, Mont.; Jessica A. Rucell, 26, of San Francisco; Jennifer M. Kirby, 26, of Washington, D.C.; Shanna Christine Foley, 19, of San Leandro, Calif.; Fred Fischer Ecks, 38, of San Francisco; and Randeep Singh Walia, 25, of Dallas, Texas.

Alario said members would dismantle an encampment set up outside Glendale last month -- called a Forest Rescue Station -- on Monday following a "family gathering" this weekend. Some of the structures will be shipped to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to establish another such station.

A few of the protesters were local this time. I don't know about all of them, but the Cave Junction lady is a professional protester--literally--been at it for nearly 20 years. Bail was $250 each. None of the locals evidently talked to the quoted Greenpeace spokeswoman enough for her to learn about the local area. The forest rescue station isn't near Glendale, it's several miles west of Galice.

I watched a local TV interview of another Greenpeace spokeswoman last night...all cockiness and obvious sound bytes. One gets the distinct impression that Greenpeace didn't send its A-team to Southern Oregon. I'm wondering even more strongly now if Greenpeace even has an A-team any more.

Anti-Development Actions

Yeah, this might just be vandals...but it smells more like eco-terrorism by anti-development types acting out in Medford.

Objectors to a 165-acre development near Roxy Ann Peak have sidestepped the public-hearing process and apparently decided to voice their displeasure with the project through vandalism, police said Tuesday.

For the second time in two months, vandals have damaged property at the Vista Pointe planned-unit development under construction on the East McAndrews Road extension, Medford police Sgt. Tim Doney said.

About two months ago, someone spray painted the words "No Sprawl" on signs and removed survey stakes from the Vista Pointe site and a nearby development.

More extensive damage at Vista Pointe was discovered Tuesday by Johnny Cat Inc. crews who reported to work and found five pieces of heavy equipment and two fuel trailers had been tampered with overnight. Damage included cut hydraulic lines, and dirt-filled fuel filters and radiators, Doney said.

Vandals also used spray paint to write the word "unless" and initials "TJC" on equipment. The estimated cost to repair the equipment is expected to exceed $7,000, police said.

Police are not certain the two cases of criminal mischief are related, but Doney said the word "unless" was also written at the site the first time vandalism was reported there.

It sounds rather like what some activists do to lumber company machinery, or a mild version of what Earth Liberation Front folks have done to developments in California.

Don't have a clue on unless and TJC...wish I did.

John Holmes, owner of Johnny Cat, doesn’t believe youngsters are to blame for the damage.

"Usually, kids do vandalism a certain way ... breaking stuff and making a mess," Holmes said. "This was done in such a sneaky way. It was definitely older people — grown-ups."

With a plan to build 657 homes on 165 acres, the Vista Pointe development is the largest ever reviewed by the city of Medford, city Senior Planner Jim Maize said.

Maize said the project will be developed in four phases. A tentative plan for the first phase was approved after a required public-hearing process drew little opposition, Maize said.

Curious if it is eco-terrorists that they didn't even bother to try to litigate the development into the ground. Lawyers are more expensive than terrorism and take longer.

I don't know enough about this development to have an opinion on it. I definitely have the same opinion I always have on people who will resort to breaking the law to get their way...no tolerance for it. Whether this was vandalism or terrorism, there is no acceptable excuse for it.

I keep posting stories like this here because I don't think most folks realize how much "low-level eco-terrorism" is going on here in Rural Oregon or in the nation. It needlessly costs our society money...builders pass on the costs to us, police have to devote investigation time, etc. It's not always urban types coming to visit, as many Rural folks would prefer to believe.

Until society kicks up enough of a fuss that law enforcment agencies devote more energy to catching these criminals, rogue activists will just keep acting out and destroying things, with little fear of being captured. Successful law enforcement is, well, could be a good deterrent.

Even if I completely believed in what Greenpeace is protesting in our nearby woods, I wouldn't approve of their methods. What they term as peaceful protest is simply the deliberate breaking of the law with passive-aggressive actions.

Rumor has it that they're breaking camp shortly to move elsewhere. I think the JoCo authorities have saber-rattled sufficiently to let Greenpeace know that they'll be arrested and, more importantly, their assets will be confiscated if they don't soon move from BLM land. I'd wager they'll move to somewhere like national forest land fairly nearby to start a fresh camping clock with a new set of authorities.