WHEREAS, on Sept. 9, 1913, the Portland, Eugene and Eastern Railway came to Molalla and gave our pioneer settlement a vital link to the outside world, and

WHEREAS, the idea of a rodeo was born from the town’s desire to celebrate the arrival of the railroad, making the Buckeroo Roundup, as it was then known, the third established rodeo taking place in Oregon, and

WHEREAS, the Buckeroo, which was originally held in fields near town, grew rapidly in its first few years, and the date was eventually changed to the first week of July to coincide with the birth of our nation; and

WHEREAS, in 1923, the Molalla Buckeroo Association was formed and took over operation of the rodeo. The Buckeroo Association began construction of an arena and in 1925 the rodeo had its first permanent home, and

WHEREAS, each year, as the Buckeroo celebration and rodeo drew near, the town found itself in a spirited and festive mood — a tradition that has continued to this day. The Fourth of July Parade, now known as the Giant Street Parade, has become an integral part of the celebration;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Tom Foster, Mayor of the City of Molalla, do hereby proclaim July 3 through July 6, 2008, to be Buckeroo Days in Molalla and urge all citizens to join in the spirit of our historic celebration by wearing traditional western clothing and attending the parade, rodeo, museum and associated events and activities during this annual tribute to our great heritage.

Issued this 25th day of June, 2008.

Tom Foster

Mayor of Molalla

Breaking laws and championing lawbreakers is wrong. Recently, there have been many newspaper articles about Snowball and how the state did not return her to the people who cared for her for many years and spent much money by not doing so.

If these people had not broken the law by keeping a wild animal it would not have been necessary. If they had wanted to keep her why didn’t they get certified as a wild animal facility and follow the law? Or is the keeping of wild animals without a permit a bad law?

I don’t approve of the large amount of money spent by the state, but if she had not been championed by our District 18 state representative, it may not have been necessary.

Should we also champion all people who come into our country illegally, or should we follow our laws and deport them?

Should we change our laws to let them stay even after they have broken our laws in crossing our borders illegally?

Should they be allowed to glut our country with offspring and get free services when there are so many legal Americans who are deprived of those same services or other needed services because there is not enough funding to provide for our seniors, our disabled and our not-by-choice poor?

Why are our lawmakers just looking the other way? I am concerned about the future of our country if our government continues to condone breaking of our laws.

Laws are what have kept our country and state civilized and safe for our citizens. When a lawmaker champions a lawbreaker it is setting a bad precedence.

When a convicted lawbreaker can smear citizens trying to make a difference, as was published in a recent letter to the editor, it was a dirty pot calling the kettle black.

Both send a revealing message to the public. If there are laws you feel are wrong, or state or local government is doing wrong, get involved, get it changed, make a difference, If you can’t get involved, at least vote for a lawmaker who will work to enforce existing laws or get bad laws changed.

Pat Ross

Molalla

Hydrogen fuel cells the perfect clean fuel! Oh really, I’ve been hearing a lot of hype about how hydrogen fuel cells are the perfect answer to pollution with water being the only byproduct of burning hydrogen.

Sounds too good to be true. All we have to do is subsidize the development of the technology so we can save the planet.

Question: how do we make hydrogen? As it turns out hydrogen is refined from natural gas or coal (fossil fuels). In a process that burns natural gas or coal, to produce steam the steam is used to break the bonds of hydrogen from carbon dioxide, producing hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

The truth about hydrogen fuel cells is that making hydrogen is just as polluting as burning gas if you include the CO2 produced in the refining process.

Why go to all that trouble and expense? Why subsidize something that’s really no better then refining oil into gas. Who stands to profit from this? Who owns the natural gas in America?

Why are our politicians subsidizing this? I don’t have any answers, just more questions. Start asking questions and expecting answers.

Fred Countryman

Molalla

As a veteran: with friends like our president, who really needs any enemies?

Yesterday (June 28), the day after the U.S. Senate gutted Medicare by allowing a 10.6 percent cut to doctors and other medical providers to take effect July 1.

I find no indication of this in the Oregonian or on the evening television newscasts.

Do you also know that these cuts affect Tricare; the medical insurance program used by military retirees like me, and active duty members who live away from on-base medical hospitals?

Many of these families are those with spouses in the Guard and Reserve overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In other words, the U.S. Senate voted yesterday to gut that program as well. The vote was to eliminate the projected cuts that would take effect because of a flawed formula.

Those who were in favor of eliminating these ridiculous cuts were all Democrats, two Independents, and eight Republicans.

Unfortnately, the vote was 59 for eliminating these cuts and 41 (all Republicans) voting to allow them to take effect.

Sixty votes in favor of eliminating the cuts were needed for passage. Is this how those Republicans in the Senate support those in uniform? I guess so!

Billions of dollars can be found to fund the war in Iraq, but adequate funding can’t be found to provide adequate health insurance for the elderly (Medicare) and those in the military (Tricare) who are serving now and those of us who served and are now retired.

Medical providers have not seen an increase in Medicare and Tricare payments factoring in inflation since 1999. What this means is those covered by these underfunded programs will find it harder to find providers accepting their low coverage.

I have already experienced this personally even without the new cuts. Now, it will be harder. I don’t blame the doctors and hospitals for not accepting Medicare and Tricare because they can’t afford to.

By the way, the war President, Mr. Bush, supports these cuts as well and it was feared in Congress that he would have vetoed the legislation eliminating these cuts.

What a wonderful way to support the military, Mr. President!

Richard A. Gano

Colonel, USAF (ret)

Canby

I was shocked and appalled when I read the Saturday June 28 letter to the editor titled “It’s a fact, not a rumor that we have a great town” by City Councilor Deb Leighton.

In her letter she references an article written a month prior in the Clackamas County Weekly regarding the Molalla Aquatic Center and City Manager John Atkins.

What Councilor Leighton failed to mention in her letter was that the councilors had discussed with Mr. Atkins his comments in that article and were satisfied with his apology and his explanation on how some of the comments were taken out of context.

If Councilor Leighton was not satisfied with Mr. Atkins, why did she give him a favorable annual review? Why doesn’t she express her concerns to the mayor regarding Mr. Atkins’ performance if she is concerned about how he is representing the city?

I’m a bit confused, she is the first councilor to publicly tell staff that they do a great job, then she attacks and belittles city hall, public services and staff in general. This week she publicly attacks and criticizes the city manager who she meets with every week.

Apparently Councilor Leighton feels that it’s acceptable for her to publicly criticize or attack city staff when it’s to her benefit.

Is this the type of person we want as mayor of this city? I for one don’t and there are many more who feel the same way.

Danna Jacober

City Councilor

City of Molalla

Thank you for all your love and helpful support

Dear friends, family and the community of Molalla:

There is no way to adequately express my thanks to you for all you have done for me to help out with the events surrounding Jim’s passing.

The outpouring of love through cards, phone calls and flowers; so many people have helped with so many details that I wouldn’t or couldn’t have thought of or done on my own.

Jim loved everyone and to see and feel this love come pouring out from all of you to Jim and myself has meant so much and has brought me such comfort.

Thank every last one of you for all you have done.

Judy Bixel

Molalla

Pioneer reader questions integrity of Dan Jacober

In last week’s paper (June 25), Dan Jacober’s ridiculous attempt to discredit Susan Hansen is almost laughable.

I say ‘almost’ because he was using lies for the purpose of making us think Steve Clark is dishonest. That kind of political manipulation does nothing for our standard of living and actually lowers the collective morality of everyone who lives in the Molalla area.

I know for a fact that Susan does not believe “aliens are being hidden at Area 51,” and she knows as well as the rest of us that U.S. astronauts “walked on the moon” back in 1969.

But yet Mr. Jacober did not hesitate to make absurd accusations that stated the opposite of what she believes.

He also accused her of being a “conspiracy theorist” without any proof at all. If this nonsense was actually true, she would be in good company, considering the forefathers of our country were actively fighting the British conspirators. Thomas Jefferson, the main author of our Constitution, advocated that the People should revolt every so often to keep the government from getting too powerful.

While a revolution isn’t the best way to keep those who govern us in line, demanding integrity from them is a good start toward reform.

If Dan Jacober, whose wife is running for mayor, isn’t above using lies to raise questions about Steve Clark’s honesty, what does that say about his, and possibly his wife’s, integrity?

Esther Wood

Molalla

Mudslinging won’t work, only honest, open debate

I hesitated how to respond to the recent letter from Dan Jacober, (husband of Molalla mayoral candidate Danna Jacober) which attacked City Councilor Steve Clark, City Councilor and mayoral candidate Deb Leighton, and me. It was widely reported in newspapers and on television that Dan Jacober was recently convicted of a morality crime and has lost his job in the process. Perhaps his non-factual rants can be partially attributed to anger and stress?

Once again we have a serious example of the cult of the personality overriding facts and issues in Molalla.

In this election year, Molalla-area citizens need to understand how the city works, how the local candidates and other city officials interact with citizens — inside and outside the city limits — and what issues are facing us as a greater community.

In the past, especially during the struggle to site the waste water pipe into the Molalla River, I sat back and watched others fight the important fights, telling myself that I could not vote so why bother to try to influence the outcome?

No more will I risk this wonderful rural quality of life by watching from the sidelines as decisions are made that affect us all, whether we live inside or outside the city boundaries.

“Insider-outsider” is a non-starter as far as I am concerned. I jokingly wrote to city leaders and suggested that they could end the participation of “outsiders” in the workings of the city by removing us “outsiders” from all financial and social ties to the city.

The “insider-outsider” view is a blatant attempt to discourage citizens of the greater Molalla community from participating in important land-use, social-justice, and taxation decisions — issues that scream for wide public debate.

For Dan Jacober to malign Steve Clark again and again with the same tired and untrue claims is petty and unfair, especially in light of Dan Jacober’s recent “troubles”.

I ask Danna Jacober, as a city official and a candidate, to step up and tell our community her views and her concerns.

How can she present herself as the best person to run the city if she can’t fight her own fights?

I think that Dan Jacober’s letters, which focused on unsubstantiated personal grudges instead of city issues, would appear to a thoughtful voter as detrimental to his wife’s candidacy.

As a frequent attendee at city council and other civic meetings over the past year, I have yet to hear Danna Jacober voice a single opinion or concern, other than to trade brick bats back and forth about who has insulted whom on the council, or what minor council rule has been breached.

On the current slate of councilors, mayoral candidate Deb Leighton and city council candidate Steve Clark seem to be very willing to express opinions and ideas and to engage the public.

Before the recent meeting about the serious pollution problems at the Scott’s Hyponex fertilizer plant, City Councilor Steve Clark took the time to talk to affected residents, to photograph problems at the fertilizer plant and to call these problems to the attention of city manager Atkins.

Steve is interested in hearing from all citizens and will debate ideas. I have enjoyed a lively ongoing discussion with him, as well as with Councilors Needham, Mackie, and Leighton, about the comp plan.

At the meeting, City Councilor and mayoral candidate Deb Leighton was outspoken in her belief that it is time for the city to act to help end the pollution problems, especially now that DEQ has confirmed Scott’s pollution and fined the company.

Time and again, Councilor Deb Leighton has fearlessly expressed her views at civic meetings, even if her ideas don’t follow the mainstream council path.

The problems at Scott’s are long standing; 14 years is far too long for the city to have passed the buck about this health hazard. Deb and Steve expressed concern about the city’s failure to join DEQ’s efforts to stop the pollution that threatens the safety and health of the residents living nearby.

Councilors Leighton, Clark, Mackie, Needham, and Boreth all understand that public participation in civic issues should not end at the city limits.

In contrast, Danna Jacober sat through the entire two-hour meeting, heard the DEQ’s comments about Scott’s lapsed mitigation efforts and the proven health hazard from blowing fertilizer dust, listened to the impassioned pleas of citizens for help, and uttered not a word of comment.

Such silence is characteristic of Danna Jacober at city meetings I have attended. Her refusal to sign the Molalla Resolution against LNG/pipelines is an example of her apparent disinterest in lending support on a community issue.

Do you want a mayor who is reluctant to express an opinion, and who offers no solutions? The Parks Plan pipedream seems to be her only focus and it was voted down by a wide margin.

Land use, the stalled real estate market, pollution; a projected $200,000 budget shortfall, and middle school upgrades are just a few examples of serious problems facing Molalla. These issues affect all of us.

If you are one of the “insiders” who have the privilege and the power to vote for Molalla candidates next fall, please do your homework.

It is time to be certain that any candidate asking for your vote is willing and able to tell you how they plan to make the Molalla area a better place for every resident. The use of unfounded accusations and personal attacks to try to sway opinions will not lead Molalla to good government! Facts and open debate will!

Despite Dan Jacober’s attempted smear campaign, I’ll keep showing up in the city to watch, to listen, and to ask questions. There is an exciting election season in progress! I’ll keep talking to everyone about my opinions of the candidates. I hope you will, too!

Susan Hansen