Letters to the editor from this week's Chronicle:

Restoring forest health should be about facts, not ideology

An editorial by 
Raul Labrador, Congressman
Idaho’s First Congressional District
In the laboratory of ideas, results should count. 
Recently, I introduced the Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act, H.R. 2316, which would set aside up to 2 percent of the 193 million acres in the National Forest System for state and local management. Sadly, some critics seem uninterested in whether local management of federal lands might restore forest health, reduce catastrophic fires and revive rural economies. 
One editorialist wrote that the bill “might sound appealing” to those living in one of Idaho’s struggling timber communities. Indeed it does – the idea came from a bipartisan group of county commissioners in the 1st Congressional District.
Idahoans are alarmed by our forest crisis. Under federal management, they’ve watched timber harvest crash since the 1990s. Consequences include high unemployment, erosion of the local tax base and essential services, and devastating fires. 
Thirty percent of the nation’s national forests are at high risk for catastrophic wildfire, according to the Forest Service. These fires damage water quality, wildlife and property, undermining the government’s stewardship duty. Worst of all, lives are lost: In the last 20 years, there have been close to 350 wildfire-related fatalities in the U.S.
Working with local officials, I first introduced the bill in 2012. It passed the House in 2013, but wasn’t considered in the then-Democratic Senate. Now that Republicans control the Senate, prospects for final passage are improved.
Perhaps that explains some of the overheated rhetoric, including claims I’m doing the bidding of corporate interests hungry to buy up our public lands and lock out the American people. One representative of an environmental group called the pilot projects in my bill a “slippery slope,” saying, “…if you can’t get title to the lands today at least go for management of them so tomorrow you can make a case for title.”
Translation: Opponents of the forest products industry fear that local management will prove superior to control from Washington, D.C. Such evidence, of course, would boost efforts in Congress to reform federal land management.
New data shows the potential. In a March report, the Property and Environment Research Center compared state and federal management. PERC found that Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona earn an average of $14.51 for every dollar spent on state trust land management. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management generate only 73 cents in return for every dollar spent on federal land management.
But the critics don’t care about facts. They’re making an ideological argument –federal control is better than local –not one based on what’s best for the land and the people.
I think most Americans trust outcomes. If it turns out governors and their advisory committees –working in consultation with Indian tribes –do a better job managing our forests, the federal government should transfer that authority. 
With an $18 trillion deficit, Congress and the American people are hungry for ideas to cut spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects my bill would return a net of $64 million to the U.S. treasury over the first eight years. Across the forest system, the savings would be very significant.
I believe local management is an antidote for the sickness that ails our forests and rural communities. That includes more harvest and efficient salvage following fires. It also means higher paying jobs and fewer devastating fires. 
Just as a scientific hypothesis is tested in the laboratory, my bill tests the hypothesis that state control is better for forest management. It’s a shame that critics aren’t interested in learning what works best for the health of our forests and rural communities.

Redneck Review!!
6/23/15
A quick glance at the news the past couple of days produced some real eye openers!
But at the same time, not really that surprising!
Lewiston's Tribune Friday, June 19, for example, under a headline THE CRACKDOWN BEGINS, cited a government report that 243 individuals have been charged with "bilking Medicare and Medicaid" to the tune of $712 million dollars. The article continues "Health care fraud costs tens of billions annually, another drain on Medicare whose long-term outlook is already shaky."
Surprising? Not so, I say! Already noted in this column is the claim that dollars are more carefully spent by those who directly earn them, than by those whose job is essentially to give them away. So repeated and proved stories of graft throughout a government which spends annually anywhere from a half trillion to over a trillion dollars each year can almost be expected! And when those expenditures have political ramifications, especially in an election year, one can more easily understand why our national debt is near $18 trillion!
Just one day earlier, the same Tribune printed a story about Minnesota's "Sex Offender Program violates state constitution." Noting that sex offenders in that state do not have "any realistic hope of ever getting out," the judge warned the legislature that remedies needed to be made, else "he would impose his own." The thinly veiled threat included his "closing of the St. Peter and Moose Lake facilities, or the extensive release of patients."
Complicating the problem is the rising cost of dealing with sex offenders. The article says "It costs more than $124,000 a year to house just one resident, triple the cost of prison."
Wow! Back a few paragraphs where it is claimed that people "spend their own money more carefully...", one might wonder if the average taxpayer is happy about that cost!
Especially so when states like Idaho are struggling to finance education! With fraud all around and costs sky high, would that taxpayer not find some way to cut those costs?
Another comment! Where in our Constitution can one find the tremendous power that courts and judges have today to overturn both the laws passed by legislatures, and the wishes of the people? It seems to me we were presented with a system of "checks and balances" and "balance of power!" Are those restraints operating on this judge?
Or, very shortly, a ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States may well override the "marriage" laws many states have passed outlawing "gay marriage." A ruling that is predicted to end up 5 to 4, meaning that one man has the power to over rule both the the people and the legislatures of several states. Does this make sense? I say no, and claim that our system is being warped badly out of shape!
Oh, well! If neither of the above stories surprised the reader, then neither should the one about "Isis: Creating a nation of fear!" Disidents "vanish -- their disappearance some times explained by an uninformative death certificate, or worse, a video of their beheading." How, I ask, can one explain some American youth joining the Isis movement??
Jake Wren

Dear Editor, 
Having written a children’s book, "Polly Bemis: A Chinese American Pioneer" (2003), I am now writing a book about her for adults. I’m trying to learn what happened to “Polly’s gold buttons.” There were nine of them, made from $2.50 and $5.00 gold coins, and they were stolen from The Historical Museum of St. Gertrude when the Museum was in the basement of St. Gertrude's Academy. The theft occurred in 1957 or later, since the Museum still had them in May 1957 and planned to show them to visitors on that year’s fourth “Academy Day.” 
When the late Sr. Catherine Manderfeld was the Museum Director, I asked her about the buttons. She said that Sr. Alfreda had left their cabinet unlocked, and noticed that they were missing after some boys had been in the Museum. Apparently, according to Sr. Catherine, Sr. Alfreda always blamed herself for providing the boys with the temptation to steal, so she never pursued it with the police. 
Since the culprits appear to be one or more boys who were students at the school, does anyone in the Cottonwood area know what happened to Polly’s buttons? Does someone want to clear his conscience by returning the buttons or telling what happened to them? It was nearly 60 years ago, so the Statute of Limitations has expired, meaning charges of theft could no longer be filed. Do the buttons still exist, so they could be returned to the Museum, or were they sold during a time of hardship for a local family? 
If anyone has any information about Polly’s gold buttons, please let me know; anonymously if preferred. My address is 735 East 6th Street, Moscow, 83843; telephone, 208-882-7905, and e-mail, pwegars@moscow.com. 
Thank you, 
Priscilla Wegars
Moscow


Cottonwood, Idaho 83522
 

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