Projects and Progress

Posted bystarrcommPosted inUncategorized

Well, folks,

I think it’s safe to say that we have passed the point of no return and there will be no grading of the roads or application of lignin for dust abatement this year.  A bad ending for people with lung problems that are now breathing pounds of dust and the rest that are driving over substandard roads.I find myself saying the same thing I did, at my very first meeting a year ago, “You’re too late”.  I feel that somehow I am part of this failure.  I got the bids on the table but maybe I didn’t push hard enough to get them passed.  That’s what the people who voted for me expected me to do, and on a personal level, I feel like I should have gotten it done. I think a lot of the problem was that many men saw me as the pesky newcomer that didn’t know what was what. .
You have my word that there was not one damn thing wrong with ANY one of the six bids I brought to the table. They were as simple as could be.  Badly needed maintenance of ditches and roads, as well as, cutting back the brush and the application of lignin for dust abatement, it just doesn’t get any easier. Each bid has been met with Imaginary requirements for acceptance that all added up to stall tactics and continued refusal to do any work on the roads.  There should have been nothing more than the most basic of questions before their approval. If they had known anything about the work, they would have recognized that.  Instead, they have turned it into the biggest circus I have ever seen.

A lot of this has been fueled by Les Fort’s claim to being a civil engineer and knowledgeable about all things district . Leslie Alan Fort is NOT a licensed civil engineer .NONE of us are engineers and there’s nothing wrong with that.  It states very clearly in ORS 371. that our duty is to MAINTAIN the roads and manage the money, to the best of our abilities.  Got a big F on that this year. 

I will not take part in any activity, that I know from personal knowledge, carries a risk to the members of this district. I will not participate in misinformation or claims of authority, made to the members. that I know to be in violation of the statutes that govern special districts, laid out in  ORS chapter 371, nor do I condone any acts of retaliation or bullying against members who have had the courage to speak out against the mismanagement of this district.


Once the bids are stripped back down to the basic maintenance bids, there is NO excuse to continue refusing to approve them. It’s deliberate and It reduces the members to driving on substandard roads, sucking in pounds of dust for no other reason than they had the power to do that.


No more, the board coming to the meeting with the decision already made expecting to simply tell the members what is going to be done. I welcome the participation and the input, it makes my job easier.  We should be able to pull this district back on track, functioning in a way that we can all be satisfied with.

My hat is off the Commissioner Heere who had the courage to stand up for this district and dealt with the resulting attacks and slander for it.  She carried the board for the year she was in office, preventing the district from being removed from the state roles again. I hope I can continue what she started and not be driven out by the assortment of attacks, threats that are now aimed at me.

Published by starrcomm

Years ago, actings an assistant to a USFS engineer, I took part in the monitoring of all dirt roads within the district, and during those years, I traveled thousands of miles on every kind of dirt road you can imagine. checking for erosion, blocked ditches, culverts, creeks, berms, the impact of travel, slopes, and runoff. Up to the snow-line and back. Along roads that followed rivers dotted with giant tailing piles and deserted dredges leftover from mining along with the miles and miles of ditches used to move water to feed the giant cannons used in hydraulic mining. Into and out of wilderness areas, we followed one-track’s that led to established hunting camps and roads that were built for patented mining claims without the availability of a blade to cut the grade in the mountain. Access roads for tracts of timber going up for bid and the temporary roads inside a logging show. Skid roads to landings, to haul roads to get the logs back to the access road. Dust abatement, water, oil, and plant-based had to be considered. Haul roads often down-sloped and dicey, enough to make an experienced city driver get out of the truck and walk off the job. I’ve been down roads that looked more like a goat track, high above the creek bed, with the distance between the outside tire and air measured in inches. Enough to have me scribbling my last wishes on my lunch bag while keeping an eye on the upper bank for something to grab onto if the truck went over the edge. For those years, we covered every road within an area probably the size of Lincoln county. In my off time, I sometimes played at mining gold, In smaller waterways, using shooter damns, and dredging in the larger creeks. You could say that I have more than a passing acquaintance with dirt and water. I guess you could say it was my love of dirt and water, ad the challenges they present, that drew me to this position. I look forward to getting things done.

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