Opening the door to the subject of tax inequity is like opening Pandora’s box because more “evils” keep revealing themselves. A compatriot has supplied me with some fascinating information regarding Oregon’s forestland revenue and the impacts of special assessments on local taxing district as well as the consequences of HB 3537, a bill passed in 2001, which did away with the timber severance or privilege tax.
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Meanwhile, take note that Ken Messerle is listed as a member of the steering committee on the BS Oregon website. Messerle, after two terms as State Represenative was beginning his first and as it turns out only term as a State Senator when HB 3537 became law. Personally, I find it really galling that the same individual who helped create the tax revenue problem is now leveraging that problem to pitch an LNG terminal that other locations have said no to. It is a little like having the mafia come in and steal your piggy bank and then charge you protection money so it won’t happen again.
It is also interesting to see his brother’s projections of the potential worth of property atop the pipeline. Fred Messerle projects that based upon the current and expected gains in the value of timber, timberland will be worth $240,000 per acre with 40 year old trees by 2050, yet he pays less than $4 an acre in property taxes. This underscores the severity of Salem’s actions in giving the timber industry a free ride and helps explain why Coos County is broke.
By the way, the slang definition of the word “boost” is “to steal or rob, especially by shoplifting or pickpocketing.” Remember that every time you see or hear an ad for Boost Southwest Oregon.
“Reminder”, I’m with you as far as The World newspaper is concerned. They do seem tilted in favor of the corporatists. However I finally learned why they omitted my comments; the administrator I spoke with said they were censored due to “personal attacks”. So with a few minor revisions, I was able to get those through after all. And I’m glad they went through, because we need to get the message out about Jordan Cove and what’s at stake for this community! And somebody has to answer DHCollins’s bull crap, along with the BS from all those other lying sacks of you-know-what. – Doro
Great letter you wrote for the worldlink and the comments on your letter and Mary’s article were all very good reading. Since I won’t give any money for a subscription to help that SCDC member (theworldlink) promote Jordan Cove, I am limited to the ten free views a month which also lets me see comments on those ten stories. I’m glad I saved my free views for those two stories.. DHCollins seems to be missing his com-padre everyman. Those two are still the most aggressive online bullies working for the Jordan Cove project. They both admit to arriving at this area around the same time as the 12″ gas line project and they are sure that they know whats best for all of us. Things haven’t changed at that paper enough for me to buy a copy, digital or on paper.
Here’s more B.S. from Jordan Cove’s shills, along with my replies (again, The World has omitted my replies without explanation):
Tourism, tourism…. Why is it everyone who opposes LNG states it will hurt tourism? What tourism?? We are not a vacation hot spot and we will never be one. Our community was originally build around industry not tourism. When industry was ran out of the area this community died. There is no work or future here for our youth so they all grow up to be useless dope smoking, alcoholic, tweekers on welfare and that is all due to the “we are a resort town” mentality. WE NEED JOBS, WE NEED LNG!!!! – “TrappedInATownFullOfIdiots”
Dear “Trapped”, how about untrapping yourself with a one-way ticket to Bora Bora? – Doro
Oh and I just love how all these people who know nothing about the natural gas industry are all over night experts because they got learned by someone, who got learned by someone, who likes to tell people that LNG is the Devil because LNG doesn’t help them make money because they invested in a golf course and their abuse of tax payer money lead to the eye sour that we call our new airport… Anyone feeling like having italian food? We need industry to save our community, not tourists. – “TrappedInATownFullOfIdiots”
And I just love how you shills who care nothing about this community keep telling us the same lies as part of this aggressive public relations crusade, one that hides behind false pretense and is as manipulative as it is misleading. You guys are just trying to placate us so we don’t put up resistance and get in your way. You’re determined to ram this thing through. If this project proceeds, we’ll not be getting tax $ from Jordan Cove; they are poised for a tax break of three years, minimum. Once tax revenue from Jordan Cove is actually forthcoming, it all goes to the port; NOT schools, NOT roads or law enforcement. You guys are full of baloney. – Doro
Here is a classic example of the B.S. we’ve been getting from Jordan Cove’s paid shills:
Naysayers.
I’m still waiting for somebody else to come forward with BILLIONS of dollars to construct a project of this size right in our own backyard. I’ve been here since 1999. That line is pretty darn short.
Plan B if this project fails? Just how few cops and how few potholes getting patched are you willing to put up with? This region is withering economically. And the future is not terribly bright.
We NEED Jordan Cove. And we NEED the money it’s going to bring with it.
– DHCollins
Despite repeated attempts to post my reply on The World’s blog page, it has been omitted without explanation:
Mr. Collins, are you a shill for Jordan Cove? You’re making the same tired old arguments you submitted months ago; the same old lies I keep hearing on the radio from JC. We don’t “NEED” our waterways obstructed by JC’s giant size tankers; we don’t “NEED” our property values reduced while our insurance rates go up; we don’t “NEED” to have to pay higher prices for natural gas; we don’t “NEED” a 95+ clear cut through private property and public forests; we don’t “NEED” a hazardous LNG facility at the end of an active airport runway and we don’t “NEED” eminent domain either! Try absorbing that through your thick skull.
– Doro Reeves
First of all, I would like to show a classic example of the B.S. we’re getting from Jordan Cove’s paid shills, posted on one of The World’s blog pages:
Naysayers.
I’m still waiting for somebody else to come forward with BILLIONS of dollars to construct a project of this size right in our own backyard. I’ve been here since 1999. That line is pretty darn short.
Plan B if this project fails? Just how few cops and how few potholes getting patched are you willing to put up with? This region is withering economically. And the future is not terribly bright.
We NEED Jordan Cove. And we NEED the money it’s going to bring with it. – DHCollins
My response to this was omitted without explanation, despite repeated attempts at re-posting. I’ll post it here:
Mr. Collins, are you a shill for Jordan Cove? You’re making the same tired old arguments you submitted months ago; the same old lies I keep hearing on the radio from JC. We don’t “NEED” our waterways obstructed by JC’s giant size tankers; we don’t “NEED” our property values reduced while our insurance rates go up; we don’t “NEED” to have to pay higher prices for natural gas; we don’t “NEED” a 95+ clear cut through private property and public forests; we don’t “NEED” a hazardous LNG facility at the end of an active airport runway and we don’t “NEED” eminent domain either! Try absorbing that through your thick skull.
– Doro Reeves
Yes, there are people who are responsible for the advantages Jordan Cove is receiving. The chain is not hard to follow for anyone looking. The oil/gas industry hires snake-oil salesmen to go into a depressed area and promise jobs to all . That’s what Jon Barton and his buddy Franks Williams are busy doing. They have put a infomercial on PEG TV to sway the insomniacs and the ill-informed masses of Coos Bay, that we really,really need to put this bomb on our shore and we should all believe and trust them when they say that no harm will come with this project.
These two shills are just the tip of the iceberg. All your elected officials are making themselves believe this is good for us, either by ignorance or greed, take your pick.
Yes, I have been afraid to watch that because I know it will be full of industry talking points. PEG owes the opposition equal time, however, so we should do our own infomercial.
In gaming boosting is a way of cheating in order to get ahead by having other players help you in ways that go counter to the game’s design. Boosting is looked down upon because it shows that the person isn’t skilled enough and/or too impatient to rank up the legit way. Basically, if you boost, you are a loser.
I don’t think the BS Oregon name was chosen accidentally. In the end it will be obvious how incredibly gullible and ignorant some of the people living here actually are. It has been rather disconcerting to watch actually.