Not Crazy—Just Greedy
 by Eldon Rollins

At the Coos Commissioners’ meeting on March 6th, the chair of the local “Americans for Prosperity” chapter, Rob Taylor, addressed the question of whether the Wagon Road and O & C lands should be managed by the County, by the Coquille Indian Tribe, or by a variety of private contract bidders. Taylor threw his hat
 in with - NONE OF THE ABOVE - calling instead for the COMPLETE PRIVATIZATION of those lands. Taylor
wants no government ownership or management at all, thereby depriving the County of any opportunity
 to create a steady revenue stream from timber sales.

 Oh, time to re-mention, that’s Rob Taylor, of Americans for prosperity, of the Koch Bros., of Plum Creek and Georgia Pacific, of the “Let’s not require the State to purchase paper from paper mills in the state” crowd. Also of the “Let’s pretend that the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife are threatening to force people off their land to expand the
Bandon Marsh Wildlife Refuge” crowd. This time, even the anti-Bandon Marsh expansion crowd was rolling their eyeballs. See how it works? They get people here to believe that they’re operating on principle—“The big bad government is threatening to take your land” becomes—“the big bad government shouldn’t be allowed to own land here” becomes—“the County shouldn’t be allowed to operate the O & C lands or the Wagon Road lands and create a revenue stream because the Federal Government should sell it (probably at fire sale prices) to private concerns,

 like, say, the Koch Bros.”

 Not crazy, just greedy.
http://www.coos.oregondemocrats.org/sites/coos.oregondemocrats.org/advocate/current/current.pdf

At a meeting with the County Assessor he pointed out that the Cheese Factory site in Bandon was not in the enterprisezone.  It was an error on the part of the city planners and the city councilors had to go back and correct the area.  
http://mgx.com/blogs/2012/03/30/boc-to-vote-on-coquille-valley-enterprise-zone-expansion/ 

Town Hall Meetings
 Krieger & Kruse Town Hall Meetings 
With Senator Jeff Kruse and Representative  Wayne Krieger 
  Save the Date,

April 5th, 2012 

Representative Wayne Krieger and  Senator Jeff Kruse will be holding a series of town halls.   They will  be giving an update on the February Session and the budget.   They  will want to hear from you about issues important to you and your  communities.  

Their schedule will be as follows.
Brookings at 9 A.M.  at the Chetco Library,   

Gold Beach at the City Hall- 11  A.M.,  

Port Orford City Hall 1:30 P.M. and Bandon Library 3:15 P.M..

The Sentinel 3/28/2012
THE TEA PARTYER
March 26, 2012

The US Fish & Wildlife Service just sent out a Press Release announcing they had conducted a study on the effects of fireworks on the birds in the cities of Bandon and Depot Bay.
 
The Service conducted the study 5 days before and 3 days after the 4th of July celebrations in 2011.   They
concluded that the display of fireworks in Depot Bay was having a direct impact on seabirds nesting in a nearby colony.  However, the municipal firework display in Bandon showed little to no disturbance to nearby nesting seabirds.  
  
The City of Depot Bay launches their fireworks 0.62 miles away from the bird colony located at Pirate Cove.  The fireworks launched in Bandon are 1.36 miles from the nearest colony of protected seabirds residing at Coquille Point.  
 
The City of Bandon uses property owned by the Port of Bandon to launch their yearly pyrotechnics.  It is the same lot of land that is in the Bandon Marsh Expansion area.  The US Fish& Wildlife Service had sent a letter to the Port of Bandon in November of 2011 asking to purchase this piece of property located across from the city on the opposite side of the bay.  
 
The Commissioners of the Board on the Bandon Port sent a letter back to The Service refusing the sale of this property.  The Board also added very strong language of their desires not to be a part of The Services  environmental assessment of the area.   Once conducted, it is a difficult to impossible process to refute the findings of these studies, which ultimately result in more land use restrictions within the study area.

US Fish & Wildlife biologist, Shawn Stephens said, “Officials in the city of Depot Bay requested this study on the city's fireworks display.”  
  
The Service decided to add the city of Bandon to the assessment, even though the City of Bandon made
no request to be part of this study.  
  
Stephens claimed, “The decision was made to add Bandon for the purpose of saving money.”   The Service spent upwards of $30,000 on this endeavor, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the money they have spent on restoring the Bandon Marsh.

Roy Lowe speaking for The Service said, “Seabirds play an important role in the marine ecosystem and they are sensitive to human disturbance, especially during the nesting season.”  
  
Lowe is the project leader of The Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge and he has been trying for many years to find a way to stop the city of Bandon from performing the city’s annual 4thof July Celebrations.  He has also been trying to get the city to ban campfires on the beaches for several years, with little to no success.
 
Many of us believe this current study of the area is just another attempt by Mr. Lowe and The Service to find new ways to restrict the use of public property all in the name of ecology.  The Service has increased the pressure on the City of Bandon to pass more restrictive laws, but the citizens are beginning to become annoyed with the increasing intrusiveness of these overbearing government agencies.  
 
“Because seabirds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Service is charged with monitoring and protecting their populations. Any human action causing birds to abandon their nests could constitute a violation of the Act. When the colonies are on a national wildlife refuge, as they are in these two locations, they receive even further protection,” said Mr. Lowe.
 
Those statements demonstrate a disturbing mindset that has infiltrated The U.S. Department of Interior, and especially the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  It is a backwards ideology that has created a situation putting the
importance of animals over the lives of humans.  Also, it should reveal The Service’s willingness to use international treaties to supersede national and local authority. That aspect should really worry the citizens of this country.   
 
The U.S. Congress established The Migratory Bird Treaty Act on July 3rd, 1918. Coincidently that is one day before our own anniversary of our independence.  This act implements various treaties and conventions between the U.S. and Canada, Japan, Mexico and the former Soviet Union for the protection of migratory birds.  The law makes it a crime for the taking, killing or possessing of migratory birds.  The participants of the treaty have modified the document several times since its inception.  It is a shame our own government did not realize the detrimental effects this treaty would have on our country’s sovereignty.  
 
Now, today, the simple traditional celebration of our country’s independence could make a criminal out of all of us.  Fireworks symbolize freedom and it would be a great loss if we allowed these Napoleons of Nature to rule over our lives in the name of environmentalism.   



“Rob Taylor was the original organizer of the TEA Parties in Coos County and is currently an independent activist working to promote the rights of the individual.”


 

Here is some very important News.

This is a letter from DeFazio to Roy Lowe.  In the letter, DeFazio complained about the timing of the Bandon Marsh Expansion.

AMERICANS FOR  PROSPERITY
 Candidate Forum
 Wednesday April 18, 2012
5:00  PM for Dinner
 6:00 PM for the Forum  
 
 Red  Lion
1313  N. Bayshore Drive,
Coos Bay, OR  97420
Google Map 


County Commissioner Position #1
Commissioner  Bob Main               
Incumbent

Commissioner  Fred Messerle        
 

Randall  Sanne



The  Forum will be moderated by:
 Rob Taylor  
 
 
Red  Lion
 1313  N. Bayshore Drive, 
Coos Bay, OR 97420
 Google Map 

 
No Purchase Necessary to Attend the Event.
However, everyone is welcome to  purchase a meal.

 Contact  Rob Taylor at obetewic@msn.com for more info

AMERICANS FOR  PROSPERITY
 Candidate Forum
 Wednesday  April 11, 2012 
5:00  PM for Dinner
 6:00 PM for the Forum  
 
County Commissioner Position #2
 Tim
  Bishop

 Kermit
  Gaston Jr.

 Geno
  Landrum 

Mark
  McKelvey

John
   Sweet 

Frank
   Vincent
 
The Forum will be moderated by:
Rob Taylor  
 
 
Red Lion
 1313 N. Bayshore Drive, 
Coos Bay, OR 97420
 Google Map 

No Purchase Necessary to Attend the Event.
However, everyone is welcome to purchase a meal.
Contact Rob Taylor at obetewic@msn.com  for more info  

The Sentinel 3/21/2012
THE TEA PARTYER
March 16, 2012
 
It was a good day for the people of Coos County on March 6, 2012.  The Board of Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution to stop The Bandon Marsh Expansion.  The document went even further and demanded that the county not be a part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Assessment.

The Resolution does show solidarity in the community’s opposition to this giant federal land grab.  However, it
does nothing to stop the process.  Private property owners can and should always have the right to sell their land to anyone they want to, including the federal government.  The Board has no real authority to stop the feds from owning property in Coos, but the measure allows us the ability to show an officially adopted resolution.

The commissioners did the right thing and they deserve a Thank You for their wise choice.  It was a good way for Commissioner Parry and Messerle to find political redemption, especially after they voted in favor of more debt and gave concurrence to The Bandon Urban Renewal Agency, last January.
 
Of course, the battle wages on to expand the Bandon Urban Renewal debt.  
 
The City of Bandon passed the Bandon Resolution at the City Council Meeting on Monday, March 5, 2012.  The
resolution increases the maximum indebtedness of the Bandon Urban Renewal Agency’s taxing district area #1. 
It is a debt increase from $5.4 million to $12 million extending out until the year 2033.



A $6.6 million dollar expansion into indebtedness is a considerable amount.  The city will spend this money on
corporate welfare and controversial projects.  A Façade grant program will be established with this funding, which takes money from the hard-working taxpayer and turns that money over to private business and wealthy developers.  Then the city plans to use a good portion of the money on the unnecessary construction of an eco-tourism visitors’ center.  These are just two of the many examples of appalling expenditures.  
 
 
In the FYE 2010-2011 Bandon Urban Renewal area #1 & #2 siphoned more than $467,406 in property taxes from 10 other overlapping taxing districts.  Six of those districts are countywide districts and provide for basic services used by everyone in the county.  The Bandon School district lost $174,107.  The state will have to
replace that money with income taxes.  The library district lost $30,477 and the Hospital lost $37,237, which is
the equivalent of one entry-level nurse.  The County lost $64,275.  They could have used the money to keep dangerous criminals off our streets.  
  
That is how Urban renewal, using the process of Tax Increment Financing, takes money right off the front-end.  The city takes that money to construct designer projects, such as those sidewalks to nowhere or replacing vandalized skateboard ramps. Other sources of public funding have to pay for these types of political  extravagance.  
 
 
One good example is the $600,000 of Urban Renewal money the city council just gave to the Bandon Pool Committee.  Now, the Bandon Pool committee has the imperative to dispose of this $600,000 with the creation of another taxing district.  The pool is the purest example of one way Urban Renewal not only increases property taxes, but also is the catalyst to developing other taxing districts.  In addition, it demonstrates how Urban Renewal takes it off the back-end.
 
These types of projects only provide temporary jobs and artificially inflate the value of property, so that taxpayers have to pay more in property taxes for the same piece of property.  Bandon already has an above average price for houses and that is how Urban Renewal squeezes money out of the middle, specifically from the middle class.   
 
Eventually, this government gentrification of Bandon neighborhoods will hasten the rise in the price of houses to the point where they will become unaffordable for the common person to own a family home.  
  
Urban Renewal: it takes money off the front-end, it costs even more money off the backend and it slowly squeezes it out of the middle, and the politicians pass it off as if it was pennies from Heaven, free money.
 
It is not “Free Money,” it is our money and we the people should get to decide if Urban Renewal is worth putting our children into debt.  
 
 
There is a Referendum Petition going around Bandon. If there are enough signatures to put it on the ballot, the voter will get the chance to decide the issue in an election.  If you want to sign the Urban Renewal Petition and you are a registered voter in the city of Bandon, contact me, Rob Taylor at 541-347-9942 or email urpetition@msn.com.  The clock is ticking and there is a very limited time to sign the petition.  
  
To find out more information go to www.CoosCountyWatchdog.com. 
 
“Rob Taylor was the original organizer of the TEA Parties in Coos County and is currently an independent activist working to promote the rights of the individual.”

Anyone who thinks the FEDS do not take your land, need to take a look at this article.  It is becoming a more common thing to happen

Supreme Court rules against feds!
Takes stinging power away from Obama's EPA
http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/supremes-back-landowners-in-epa-fight/

Here’s a link to the latest  ORMAP site.  Not as much data available as our desktop ArcGIS maps, but an
excellent new high-resolution picture.  Courtesy of Jorene Smith, Cadastral Cartographer extraordinaire.  We’re still trying to get the web-based ArcGIS maps going online soon!

http://www.ormap.net/flexviewer/index.html

WILL  U.S. GIVE RUSSIA ENERGY-RICH ALASKAN ISLANDS?
WorldNetDaily
Commentary

by: Joe Miller
Friday, February
17, 2012
 
"I therefore take possession of it in the name of the President  of the United States and name it Bennett Island," said Captain De Long of the ice-locked Jeannette. The picture shows the crew struggling ashore at Bennett
Island in 1881. The island is one of seven strategic Alaskan islands the State Department is giving to the Russians.Photo Credit:"Icebound"Obama’s State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians. Yes, to the Putin regime in the Kremlin. ... The seven endangered islands in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea include one the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The Russians are also to get the tens of thousands of square miles of oil-rich seabeds surrounding the islands. The Department of Interior estimates billions of barrels of oil are at stake.

The State Department has undertaken the giveaway in the guise of a maritime boundary agreement between
Alaska and Siberia. Astoundingly, our federal government itself drew the line to put these seven Alaskan islands on the Russian side. But as an executive  agreement, it could be reversed with the stroke of a pen by President Obama or Secretary Clinton.

The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy. The state of Alaska was not allowed to participate in the negotiations, nor was the public given any opportunity for comment. This is despite the fact the Alaska
Legislature has passed resolutions of opposition – but the State Department doesn’t seem to care.
Read the original article at
WorldNetDaily