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lOB Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL AND OPINION
EDITORIAL
Congressman:
stop pandering,
start discussing
Last week's field hearing of the House Subcom-
mittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
in Sacramento demonstrated all that is wrong with
public discourse in America. Rather than being a
genuine fiict-finding, problem-solving venture, it
proved to be nothing more than political theater.
Republicans control the subcommittee, and they
stacked the witness list with people and groups
whose positions reflect their own legislative goals.
Only one panelist represented a divergent view-
point-- and the highly partisan audience booed
him. Even so, just two of the subcommittee's 13 Re-
publican members bothered to show for the hear.
ing, and none of the Democratic members attended.
Before you think we're bashing Republicans, let us
say that this is par for the course; had Democrats
controlled the committee, the proceeding would
have erred in the other direction.
The paltry legislative attendance •tells us that
everyone already knows what's going to be said.
The hearing becomes nothing more than a forum
for producing sound bites to pander to those of the
same political stripe. Those sound bites will be
used to support GOP-proposed bills that will in-
crease logging, mining, grazing and off-road vehi-
cle access.
Congressman Tom McClintock, who orchestrat-
ed last week's three-ring circus, can name call his
opponents as "leftist environmental radicals" all he
wants, but his party's proposed legislation is going
nowhere without their participation.
In his opening remarks, McClintock quoted U.S.
Forest Service founder Gifford Pinchot's advice to
public foresters:
"A public official is there to serve th e public and
not run them."
"It is more trouble to consult the public than to
ignore them, but that is what you are hired for."
"Get rid of an attitude of personal arrogance or
pride of attainment or superior knowledge."
Hmm. Seems to us that last week's field hearing
flew in the face of that advice.
Meanwhile, last week in Washington, D.C., the
House Natural Resources Committee considered
two competing alternatives to reauthorization of
the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-De-
termination Act. (The Secure Rural Schools legisla-
tion provides funds for county schools and road de-
partments to make up for the dramatic decline of
timber receipts in forest •counties.) The Obama ad-
ministration has proposed a five-year extension of
the act. The proposed National Forest County Rev-
enue, Schools and Jobs Act of 2011 and the Action
Plan for Public Lands and Education Act of 2011 in-
clude provisions for granting millions of acres of
public lands to states, as well as increasing timber
harvests and mining on currently protected lands.
This is serious business. Plumas County stands
to lose $5 million for our roads and schools should
the act, or an alternative, not be authorized. But
which option is best? That's an important question
and it deserves meaningful discussion. The
thought of transferring millions of acres of public
land to the state of California should strike fear in-
to the hearts of many. Some parties say the pro-
posed new bills would actually further restrict pub-
lic recreational access, already a huge topic in the
wake of the travel management plan.
The future of our forests, economy and communi-
ties is too iinportant to be relegated to a political
sideshow in Sacramento. If we refuse even to listen
to those with different perspectives, we will never
craft a workable solution to our forest management
challenges.
A •
Feat00ng
00_/00!00wspap er
Breaking News..,.
I go to plumasnews.com
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Art tour sets y, ood example
EDITOR'S NOTES
DELAINE FRAGNOLI
Managing Editor
dfragnoli@plumasnews.com
A colleague and I had the pleasure of tak-
ing in the Plumas Arts Tour and Barn
Quilt Trail earlier this month. We quickly
discovered that we had not allotted nearly
enough time. To visit each and every stop
would take two days and we had scheduled
just one. We managed to see most of the In-
dian Valley and Lake Almanor offerings --
we even made it into Westwood (well
worth the effort), but failed to make it back
to Quincy or out to Eastern Plumas.
IfI had it to do over again, I would forego
the Barn Quilt Trail portion because I can
get a map and do that anytime. I would fo-
cus on the open studios instead.
All of the artists we met were gracious
and eager to share their knowledge, tech-
niques and inspirations. Visiting the stu-
dios offers a very different, and valuable,
experience than simply looking at some-
one's art hanging in a gallery. The spaces
themselves were fascinating-- some
funky, some stylish, some tucked in out-of-
the-way nooks and crannies I would never
have visited otherwise.
Most of the artists we spoke with were
cautiously optimistic about the county-
wide tour. Turnout was good, not great,
and they had some suggestions for next
time.., if there is a next time.
I say that because the tour was the result
of a collaborative effort with Plumas Arts
and the county's four chambers of com-
merce, funded by a tourism grant from the
county. Those grant a,,,, °v=,. o,,,m,,,-°
yet another victim of budget cuts.
Like many things, the inaugural install-
ment required the most work in terms of
logistics. Whether enough groundwork has
been laid this year to make the tour feasi-
ble next year without any additional fund-
ing remains to be seen.
But I do think the tour could serve as a
template for other broad-scale events.
The week before the art tour, the Tahoe
area sponsored something called the Tahoe
Expo. "For just one day, gain exclusive ac-
cess to the Treasures of Tahoe" was the tag
line for the event. Visitors could take part
in unique outdoor activities all around the
lake. They could: help build new trails,
take interpretive hikes, try stand-up pad-
dle boards, kayak the upper Truckee Riv-
er, tour a demonstration garden, imbibe at
the ShakesBeer Festival -- the list goes on.
My favorite was a kayak paddle along the
Lake Tahoe Water Trail to the Thunder-
bird Lodge for a tour of the estate and a
catered lunch. Some of the events were
free; others cost something. Some offered
special deals or behind-the-scenes experi-
ences.
Why, I thought, couldn't Plumas do
something like this? We certainly have the
assets to do it: from bird watching in the
Sierra Valley to stand-up paddle boarding
at Lake Almanor, with plenty of stops in
between.
The do-not-pass-go problem, however, is
capacity. Who would organize something
like this? The Tahoe event had as partners
Sierra Business Council, North Lake
Tahoe Resort Association/Chamber of
Commerce, Guitarfish Music Festival,
Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Nevada
State Parks, Sierra Heritage magazine and
National Geographic.
Rut who in Plumas County could or
would put together a Plumas Expo? (Tag
line: Discover the Lost Sierra.)
I think the Plumas Arts Tour was an at-
tempt to answer that question from an arts
perspective. But can you build enough ca-
pacity in just one year to sustain such an
effort?
Volunteers can play an important role.
But my observation is that volunteers
burn out after awhile. I could fill the rest of
this column with the names of events that
have died after the motivating force be-
hind them tired of the effort.
Without seed money and some kind of
community infrastructure, I fear that
something like a Plumas Expo will never
be more than a wither-on4he-vine idea.
(Please, somebody, prove me wrong.)
Perhaps the answer lies in thinking a lit-
tle smaller. I notice that the three golf
courses at Lake Almanor have come to-
gether to offer a weekend of golf events
Oct. 8 - 9. After a morning round at Lake
Almanor West, golfers head to lunch and
an afternoon round at Lake Almanor
Country Club. Bailey Creek hosts more
golf, dinner and awards the next day.
While smaller in geographic scale than
the art tour, the event will attract folks to
the Almanor area and keep them busy and
spending money for the whole weekend.
Can we look forward to similar efforts
from our chambers of commerce, say an
Almanor Expo? (Each chamber did get
$9,600 from the county for this budget
year.) I sure hope so.
Where in the World?
::!!
A55151
Ricreazioni d'Arl:e su
AflresCx: 'Ida e Tavola
Ar Rreations on
Zach Coney vacations in Italy with his wife, Pat, and son Zachary, not pictured. "We enjoyed plenty of great food, wine and
weather on the trip," Zach said. He lives in San Mateo but has vacationed in Plumas County for more than 40 years. The Coneys
have a summer home in Graeagle. Next time you travel, share where you went by taking your local newspaper along and
including it in a photo. Then email the photo to smorrow@plumasnews.com. Include your name, contact information and brief
details about your photo. We may publish it as space permits.
Clear away political smoke and mirrors
MY TURN
M. KATE WEST
Chester Editor
" chesternews@plumasnews.com
In the world of entertainment you fre-
quently hear that the star of the show "real-
ly played to the crowd" and that's what I
feel like happens in politics each and every
day.
It's a constant rehash about which con-
tender or party can be the most popular and
rack up the most survey percentages. Life
appears to be just one continuing "sound
bite" instead of resolutions to real prob-
lems.
While I understand that keeping your job
as or campaigning for president of the Unit-
ed States is a pretty big deal I am back to the
same problem with pandering for votes.
It isn't that I don't realize that large
blocks of needed votes come from many de-
mographics. My problem is that I have a
tough time with the old "I'm your friend to-
day and tomorrow I'll be someone else's
friend" election tactic.
"I'm in Detroit today so I like cars." "Cali-
fornia has a lot of special interest dollars so
I'm all for saving a fish, cutting off water to
the nation's largest produce belt and jack-
ing up unemployment." "Palestine should
be its own state but, hey, I like you too, Is-
rael!"
Party affiliation makes no difference and
every individual campaigning is sure to be
your friend.
Stay in Iraq and Afghanistan or bring the
troops home? Is national health care a good
thing or not, how about reforming Social Se-
curity, the tax code or Medicare? What
about amnesty for illegal immigrants and
scholarship dollars for their American-born
children?
Candidate answers to those questions
come forth under a number of circum-
stances, usually centered on the mix of au-
diences present for hosted forums, in re-
sponse to another candidate's remarks or
even based on who owns the diner where
they happen to be eating lunch.
Vegan? Eat a soy dog at the fair. Visiting
Texas? Wear a Stetson. Yep ... I'm just like
you folks!
As I'm not single handedly solving Ameri-
ca's problem, I don't want anyone mirroring
my likes and dislikes.
What I want from a sitting representative
or candidate is consistency in policy and re-
suits.
CNN contributor Ruben Navarrette's
Sept. 22 column also addressed the central
issues of "playing to the crowd."
His column involved the "Buffett's Rule"
being proposed by President Obama and re-
ally sums up, in my opinion, the gamesman-
ship that is standard fare in Washington,
D.C.
He said, "It's election year gimmickry
that stands no chance of going anywhere
with a Republican-contr011ed House of Rep-
resentatives. Obama knows that, and that's
why he considers it safe to propose such a
plan now rather than in the first half of his
administration when the House was in the
hands of Democrats.
"Why didn't he propose it then? I think
it's because it might actually have become
law, and then the Democrats would have
owned this new tax policy and have had to
answer to voters in future elections. This
way, Obama gets to excite the base in time
for his re-election campaign with a proposal
that won't go anywhere, without having to
pay a political price."
To me his column was powerful stuffcon-
sidering, in my opinion, that he leans t0-
ward the left and appears to mostly support
the current administration.
I think he and I agree that the effort spent
on "BuffeR's Rule" was all about wasting
precious time that could have been devoted
to real issues and potential resolutions.
Taking another nonpartisan step forward,
I am also in favor of the recent James
Carville suggestion that President Obama
should fire all his advisers. As a matter of
fact, there is more then one politician out
there that should probably do the same.
If these folks continue to listen to the
same advice that perpetuates the same par-
ty games, how are we ever going to address
and fix the catastrophic issues tearing
America apart?
The issues alone are staggering, do we re-
ally need politicians, pundits and entertain-
ers compounding our problems with vote
getting tricks?
For those of us seeking serious change
from the ineffectiveness we live with today,
the 2012 election cycle is less than 14
months away. It offers the American public
the greatest forum in which they can speak.
I say, "Clear away the smoke and mir-
rors,make your message known, let your
voice be heard."