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Opinion Letters Letters to the editor for November 6, 2008
Letters to the editor for November 6, 2008
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Unfair attack on Powder schools To the editor: As an employee of the North Powder School District, I took offense to your editorial last Friday, Oct. 31, regarding the North Powder parents deserving more information. Why would you suggest that Mr. Dixon ignore the advice of the district’s attorney, the Public Health Services, and the Center for Disease Control? Why would you question our school being proactive? Anybody in the educational setting knows that being proactive is much better than being reactive in any situation. Why put our District into a possible lawsuit for violating confidentiality when we as a District did not know the specifics, but chose to clean our schools to be proactive? There were no secrets we were hiding. I felt that your editorial was a way to stir the pot when the pot didn’t need to be stirred. Mr. Dixon has our students’ best interests at heart. The majority of people in education do. So, when he makes a decision that is backed by the Board Chairman, the school’s attorney, and his staff, the right choice was made. People didn’t have to worry. If this was all your paper could come up with for newsworthy information about what’s going on in the North Powder School District, you’re missing out! Molly Smith Baker City
To the editor: Baker County is revising the county zoning ordinance, and has held several hearings. After becoming aware of the extent of the revisions, I concluded that the notices of said hearings did not make clear the extent of the revisions. This proposed ordinance contains severe restrictions on the creation and use of private roadway easements, in addition to new requirements for building private roadways. One proposal is that no private road easement shall be less than 30 feet wide, which may be modified to allow a driveway easement of 20 feet to one parcel or lot. Patented mining claims also face new restrictions as to any construction of a dwelling, including a replacement dwelling. For example, a replacement dwelling would not be allowed at all if access is by a BLM or Forest Service road, unless “the Forest Service road is paved to a minimum width of 18 feet, there is at least one defined lane in each direction and a maintenance agreement exists between the USFS and landowners adjacent to the road, a local government or a state agency.” The above is only a brief summary of some of the proposed restrictions of use of private land. If you own, or expect to own rural property, or just plain care about private property rights, then you should be informed about what is in this proposed ordinance, because if you require a building permit to improve your property, or to rebuild after a fire, you could easily be spending more on your driveway or road to get to the house than what the house costs. The draft zoning ordinance can be accessed at www.bakercounty.org/planning/Ordinances/html. There are two hearings before the draft ordinance goes to the Baker County Commissioners for approval. The first is Nov. 13 regarding all ordinances except roads, and the second is Dec. 2 as to the roads. Each meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Extension Building, 2610 Grove St. We are fortunate to have good public officials in this county, but they won’t know our cares or concerns if we don’t let them know. Laurene Chapman Baker City |
