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Comment
The H&N view
Judge right to dismiss baseless water claim
published April 24, 2003
Maurice Russell made the right call in dismissing WaterWatch from the Oregon's water adjudication process.
Russell is a judge who ruled that WaterWatch didn't have a legitimate place in the process, in which people who claim water rights in the Klamath Basin have their claims evaluated and priorities set.
It's a laborious process that's been going on for years and will go on for more years. There really wasn't room for a group of environmental activists to jump in and try use their token investment in a couple of parcels of land to mess up what had already been done.
WaterWatch bought parts of two small parcels of land in the Klamath Reclamation Project and claimed this gave the organization a rightful place in the adjudication process. It sold its interest in one of the parcels shortly after filing the claim. The other is a 1 percent interest in a commercial site that doesn't get project water.
Clearly, the organization had no valid interest in the process. Clearly, the judge ruled properly.
Cougar take grows
without use of hounds
A more current set of figures than those in an April 18 editorial make it even more obvious that the Legislature shouldn't make major changes in laws on cougar hunting under the guise from protecting people from mountain lions.
The editorial argued that the people have voted twice to outlaw the use of hounds in hunting cougars - which a bill introduced in the Legislature would legalize - and cited the number of cougars killed since the use of dogs was outlawed to show there was no need. It used statistics posted though 2000 on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Department web site. The 2000 figure was 135.
Updated figures provided by Tom Collins of the department's Klamath Falls office show that 230 cougars were killed in 2002 - the most ever - and that 219 were killed in 2001.
• • •
The "H&N view" represents the opinion of the newspaper's editorial board, which consists of Publisher John Walker, Editor Tim Fought, City Editor Todd Kepple and Opinion Editor Pat Bushey.
published April 24, 2003
Maurice Russell made the right call in dismissing WaterWatch from the Oregon's water adjudication process.
Russell is a judge who ruled that WaterWatch didn't have a legitimate place in the process, in which people who claim water rights in the Klamath Basin have their claims evaluated and priorities set.
It's a laborious process that's been going on for years and will go on for more years. There really wasn't room for a group of environmental activists to jump in and try use their token investment in a couple of parcels of land to mess up what had already been done.
WaterWatch bought parts of two small parcels of land in the Klamath Reclamation Project and claimed this gave the organization a rightful place in the adjudication process. It sold its interest in one of the parcels shortly after filing the claim. The other is a 1 percent interest in a commercial site that doesn't get project water.
Clearly, the organization had no valid interest in the process. Clearly, the judge ruled properly.
Cougar take grows
without use of hounds
A more current set of figures than those in an April 18 editorial make it even more obvious that the Legislature shouldn't make major changes in laws on cougar hunting under the guise from protecting people from mountain lions.
The editorial argued that the people have voted twice to outlaw the use of hounds in hunting cougars - which a bill introduced in the Legislature would legalize - and cited the number of cougars killed since the use of dogs was outlawed to show there was no need. It used statistics posted though 2000 on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Department web site. The 2000 figure was 135.
Updated figures provided by Tom Collins of the department's Klamath Falls office show that 230 cougars were killed in 2002 - the most ever - and that 219 were killed in 2001.
• • •
The "H&N view" represents the opinion of the newspaper's editorial board, which consists of Publisher John Walker, Editor Tim Fought, City Editor Todd Kepple and Opinion Editor Pat Bushey.
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