vision2020
Re: MOLLY IVINS ON THE STATE OF IDAHO
To All,
So here we see it again. More of the same old Good Ol' boy rhetoric. From
local all the way through the state and perhaps more, Idaho is controlled
by the Good Ol' boys, i.e. ranchers, farmers, lawyers, judges and the like,
and to what good purpose have their Laws come? Poor representation for the
underprivileged, Poor representation for nonranchers and farmers, Poor
representation for anyone with ecological concerns and so on. Idaho is a
beautiful State! but unfortunately it will not remain that way if the
"Multi-use" Advocates continue to buy votes.
With regard to Tax payers money being used for gathering places, such as
the Women's center, and other groups of non-traditional types, I would
rather see the money going to these groups than to continue to support the
ranchers and their "Free Range" cattle that are destroying the ecosystem
with their S@*T and Urine, not to mention the depreciation of the river,
lake and stream banks.
Oh Lord, Help those who are unable to see the light, tis time for an
Apocalypse!
Kay Henson
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> From: Dena Marchant <wyakin@hotmail.com>
> To: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: MOLLY IVINS ON THE STATE OF IDAHO
> Date: Friday, August 14, 1998 1:03 PM
>
> >> In case you missed this column this week by Texas writer Molly Ivins:
> >>
> >> AUSTIN -- I have been to Idaho and so am feeling better about
> >> Texas.
> >>
> >> This may sound odd, since the Great State is frying away down
> >> here: It's so hot that the railroad tracks are warping, the poor
> >> farmers are losing everything, and we're baked brown all across
> Texas.
> >> Idaho, on the other hand, remains its spectacularly beautiful self,
> >> laced with gorgeous rivers and trout streams, snow still on the
> >> mountains, the glorious smell of pine forests and wonderful scenic
> >> vistas, and it's cool even in August.
> >>
> >> Although Texas may be represented in Congress by Huey, Dewey
> and
> >> Louie (Dick Armey, Tom DeLay and Bill Archer), at least we don't have
> >> to claim Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne, and Rep.
> >> Helen Chenoweth. Sheesh, what a bunch of darbs.
> >>
> >> Try this for people's representation: Kempthorne slipped a
> rider
> >> onto the 1999 Defense Authorization Bill that will expand the Air
> >> Force
> >> bombing range in Idaho's Owyhee Canyonlands by 12,000 acres, which in
> >> turn will impact at least another 2 million acres, despite the
> >> following facts:
> >>
> >> The U.S. Air Force has said in court it doesn't need an
> expanded
> >> bombing range in Idaho and already has existing bombing ranges in
> >> Idaho, Utah and Nevada.
> >>
> >> Public hearings over the past 10 years on this proposal have
> >> averaged 6 to 1 against the expansion.
> >>
> >> The area is not only pricelessly beautiful, a sister of the
> >> Grand
> >> Canyon with some of the most dramatic white-water rafting in the
> >> country, it is also the largest roadless area in the Lower 48,
> >> contains
> >> the largest stock of bighorn sheep in the country and is full of mule
> >> deer and Indian artifacts. It is the ancestral burial grounds of the
> >> Paiute-Shoshone tribe, and these Indians are already assaulted daily
> >> with sonic booms and low-flying jets.
> >>
> >> But that's not the best part. It turns out that a rancher named
> >> Bert Brackett, who is also a big giver to the Republican Party in
> >> Idaho, runs cattle on the land in the expanded bombing range. He
> >> doesn't own the land, he's just been leasing it for a long time for
> >> $3,000 a year. Now, if this expanded bombing range goes through,
> >> Rancher Brackett can still run his cattle on the public land, but his
> >> cows could be traumatized, so Sen. Craig wants to compensate him --
> >> with up to $1 million. Brackett's daughter happens to work for Craig.
> >> Nice, hey?
> >>
> >> The matter of grazing permits in Idaho is beyond funny. Jon
> >> Marvel of the Idaho Watersheds Project, which is hell-bent on getting
> >> cattle out of Idaho rivers and streams because they destroy the
> >> riverside (their defecation poisons fish, they silt up the rivers,
> >> etc.), has been having some wonderful adventures. At one permit
> >> auction, Marvel opened the bidding at $30, and the local rancher who
> >> had held the permit said, ``That's too damn much. I'm not bidding.''
> >> The rancher then appealed to the Land Board, which awarded him the
> >> lease. After a two-year legal fight, the Idaho Supreme Court said the
> >> board couldn't give a permit to someone who hadn't even bid. A new
> >> auction was held, the rancher bid $10, Marvel bid $2,000 -- and the
> >> Land Board awarded the rancher the lease.
> >>
> >> Marvel has exposed the good-ol'-boy system that allows these
> >> permits to be sold off for a fraction of their market value, costing
> >> the taxpayers an arm and a leg. About 80 percent of the population of
> >> Idaho lives in urban areas (if you consider Twin Falls a city), and
> as
> >> near as I can tell, they all love the wilderness. Yet they continue
> to
> >> elect people dedicated to destroying it in the name of ``multiple
> >> use.'' ``Multiple use'' means you let the welfare ranchers, the
> timber
> >> companies and the mining corporations destroy whatever they want to
> >> and
> >> then pretend you are protecting the wilderness.
> >>
> >> The Idaho Land Board is comprised of the state's top five
> >> elected
> >> officials, including Ann Fox, the superintendent of public
> >> instruction,
> >> who theoretically would have a special interest in maximizing grazing
> >> fees since the money goes to the schools. However, Fox has said,
> >> ``It's
> >> important to keep all these leases in the hands of ranchers because
> >> Idaho's economy is dependent on them.''
> >>
> >> Actually, public-lands ranching provides one-seventh of 1
> >> percent
> >> of the employment in Idaho and one-third of 1 percent of the gross
> >> economic product. Fox also has said she doesn't think the children of
> >> Idaho need more academic courses, but they do need shooting ranges.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
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