OK, so bare bottoms and bidets are suitable advertising material in the 21st century. Fine. But what I’d like to know is why Mr. Bidet, aka Arnold Cohen (Home and Garden, Sept. 15), didn’t import from Japan the water-saving toilet models I noted there in the early 1970s.

What these toilets offered was a small sink-like affair above the tank. When you flushed, you pivoted around and washed your hands in the water which refills the tank reservoir. Efficient. Economical. Water-saving. Of course, the water wasn’t heated. I’m sure some spendthrift crackpot can rectify that oversight.

Clean market air

My name is Michael Acosta and I am a longtime Hood Riverite.

I love this town and all the things that are splendid to do around here. I have many favorite things I like to do like new restaurants, enjoying the beautiful scenery, walking about town.

But, there is one thing I really like to do during the summer months. Every Saturday I like going to the Farmers Market. I really like to walk about and choose my produce, meet friends occasionally and talk shop with other gardeners.

Unfortunately, there is one thing I and others have complained about. Smoking and smokers, some are vendors (you know who you are), and the fact they are stinking up my air while I am trying to enjoy the market.

I want to smell my fruit, taste what I buy, and generally just enjoy my time there. But, the waft of cigarette smoke just kills me and I have to leave.

Why can’t they ban smoking from the market and leave us to enjoy what we love about the Farmers Market? How about placing signs around the place and let the vendors know that if they want more business, not to smoke. I know this is a free country and it is outside, but this is the Farmers Market. I want to enjoy my time there. I would appreciate comments from anyone about this.

Candidates on Web

Do you want to know which presidential candidate is the best fit for you?

There is a Web site where you can find out using your own personal feelings on a broad range of subjects. If you come up with a candidate who is ignored in all the main media, let them know you want to see equal campaign coverage for all the candidates.

The Web site is www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html. You may get quite a surprise when you answer the calculator’s questions.

‘Be a 49’er’

Measure 37 is a Trojan horse, the real “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” It was pitched to the voters as a “fairness” thing with a poster child grandmother who “just wanted to build a few homes on her property for her children”.

Unfortunately, it also allows subdivisions on prime agricultural and forest land or on top of diminishing ground water tables. It allows gravel pits, pumice mines on national monuments, billboards, and big box stores in inappropriate locations, etc.

Measure 37 is now the law of the land. What worries me most are the future Measure 37 claims that will essentially obliterate land use planning forever, unless Measure 37 is modified by Measure 49.

I had naively thought that after Dec. 4, 2006, no more claims could be filed. The genius of Measure 37’s land use sabotage is that claims can be filed in perpetuity, creating ongoing uncertainty regarding what your neighbors may or may not do with their land.

At any time in the future, any property owner can apply to do any development project regardless of the existing land use laws. If they are denied, they can file a Measure 37 claim (ORS 197:352, Sec. 5). Depending on when they purchased their property and the laws in existence then, they would be granted a waiver or compensated for some arbitrary, undocumentable decrease in their property value.

Since no compensation fund is provided for in Measure 37, waiver in hand, the real potential for the property owner to proceed with their development is there!

Furthermore, any FUTURE land use laws can be circumvented using the same process! Measure 37, unless modified by Measure 49, will insidiously chew away at our famed Oregon quality of life and, in the long run, severely compromise our ability to sustain our life.

Measure 49 is a positive step forward in addressing the severe shortcomings of Measure 37. It was done by our Legislature, after more than 100 hours of testimony, and methodically spells out and clarifies the definitions, procedures, and processes to deal with those shortcomings.

It allows property owners to build additional homes on their property and allows transferability of that right to new owners. Measure 49 establishes a fair and independent appraisal mechanism to determine if there has been a compensable loss in fair market value secondary to a land use ruling.

Measure 49 protects our high value farm and forest land as well as our diminishing ground water resources. There are already wells going dry in the Willamette Valley because of new Measure 37 housing! Be a “49er.”

You, your children and grandchildren will be glad you did. Vote Yes on Measure 49!

Racist Iraq policy

I’m writing this from our nation’s capital where we have just concluded the Gen. David Petraeus hearings on the war in Iraq.

My friend and Congressman Brian Baird expressed to me his disappointment with the reaction of many of his constituents with this position on troop withdrawals. Baird believes that a quick withdrawal would likely lead to a disastrous slaughter of Iraqi civilians.

As an unabashed liberal in foreign affairs, I must say that I agree with him. I know that many of my friends in the peace community do not. My reasons stem from a long-held belief that every life is precious in the eyes of God. To adapt a withdrawal strategy that values American lies over Iraqi lives, I believe, is immoral.

I am painfully aware that a vast amount of money is going into our war machine and not into our poverty programs. As a veteran myself, I stand in awe of the great sacrifice being made by our men and women in uniform.

Yet it worries me that, as Petraeus predicts, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis may be killed if our withdrawal leaves a power vacuum, into which Iran, Iraq’s historic enemy, may unleash an even bloodier civil war between the Sunnis and the Shi’a.

Any policy preferring American lives over Iraqi also borders on racism. One people is worth more than another? Down through the ages, this belief has fueled wars, hatred and militarism.

We are still struggling with racism and prejudice at home. Let’s not sanction it abroad.

Fair’s cruel side

There has been much excitement lately about all the fun everyone has at the fair:

Arts. Craft. Rides. Food and the animals.

I find it very sad that when it comes to the animals … it’s all about money.

I feel it is a huge betrayal of trust to comb, brush, bathe, talk to and hug an animal and then sell it to be cruelly killed.

I’ve been told “It’s a learning experience.”

Who learns what?

The young person learns how to win the trust of an animal. And if it wins a prize we will let it win. And make more money off of it.

If it doesn’t’ win … we will take the money we can and send it to be slaughtered.

The animal finishes the “learning experience” frightened and alone.

If the young person were to complete the learning experience they would go to the slaughter house and watch the cruel treatment the animal goes through before it finally dies.

That’s what my heart tells me, and I’m listening to it.

Yes on 49

When Governor Tom McCall said, “Don’t come here to live,” he wanted to delay growth until Oregon land use policies could protect our farmland, forests, and beaches.

Three decades have passed, and you don’t need to be a census taker to know that managing growth is not the same as stopping growth. If the scenic area’s urban boundaries expand today and tomorrow, the CGNSA will become Beaverton East. Greed is the enemy of land use planning.

Vote YES on Measure 49.

Keep it compatible

The Columbia River Gorge Commission recently released an amendment to the Gorge-wide management plan that would open the door to large-scale development in the National Scenic Area.

The amendment is driven by a proposal from one developer, Broughton Lumber Company, who wants to build 245 vacation homes and full-time residences in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. Last weekend’s Chronicle ran an editorial on the plan that deserves rebuttal on two critical points:

1) The editorial described the plan as “on par” with Skamania Lodge (see Seeking Reason Sept. 16). While Skamania Lodge and the Broughton proposal may be “on par” in terms of providing overnight accommodations, the two are truly incomparable.

Skamania Lodge is located in the urban area of Stevenson and is the largest private employer in Skamania County. The lodge was created through a public-private partnership authorized by the Scenic Area Act.

The Broughton proposal, on the contrary, is driven by a single private developer seeking to build an urban-scale resort outside of a designated urban area. Broughton’s plan is the largest development ever proposed on National Scenic Area land. Lastly, Skamania Lodge provides over 300 jobs for Skamania County while developers claim that Broughton Landing would only bring 50 new jobs.

2) The editorial characterized the Broughton development as the “lifeline” for Skamania County, should federal timber payments go un-renewed. Future development of the Broughton mill site cannot be viewed as the solution to revenue shortfalls in Skamania County.

The revenue shortfalls in Skamania County and other rural counties are a bigger problem that requires a more comprehensive solution.

Developing economic and community development strategies for the urban areas of Skamania County would help focus our collective efforts on sustainable economic development, like Skamania Lodge, that would generate revenue for Skamania County. This is the kind of forward thinking solution that we need to focus on.

The former Broughton lumber mill should be redeveloped in a way that is more compatible with the National Scenic Area, but replacing this old mill site with a more intensive, large-scale development is not an outcome we want. As a matter of integrity, the Gorge-wide Management Plan should not be compromised for one private developer.