Elliott against timber

To the Editor:

The Oct. 15 Valley Press carried a campaign ad “Logging and mining’Ķdone right!” It shows “folksy” Jim Elliott sitting on a pile of logs, described as “his wood lot.” I found the ad to be rather ironic, considering the events that have happened in this District during his long reign in the House and Senate.

¬ÝIn late 1987, Elliott appealed the Little Trout Creek timber sale, mainly because of a small clear-cut to remove diseased and bug infested timber. I guess an eyesore to him. That appeal, the first that I know of, started the ball rolling by inviting every environmental group around to do the same. You can get a copy of Elliott’s appeal from the National Archives by filling out a Freedom of Information Act form at the Trout Creek Ranger Station. Since that appeal, just one of five sawmills in the area remain in business, and hundreds of mill-workers, loggers, truckers and related service sector workers lost good paying jobs. A large portion of our middle class disappeared, with families displaced to areas of the country where they could make a living. Every time a mill closed and a logging outfit went down, schools, roads and other county programs suffered from the loss of timber receipts, if the county’s other property owners couldn’t pick up the load. Of course later, there were requests, begging, waiting and hoping U.S. Senators and Representatives from the east coast would feel generous and throw us a bone in the form of Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and the Secure Rural School funding programs.

While the destruction of the timber industry in Sanders County was being carried out by environmentalist forcing road closures, or appeals to save bull trout that could be hatched in fisheries then planted by the thousands, Canadian imports flooded the market replacing domestically produced lumber, and Elliott sat there doing nothing. He showed little concern when cheap imports caused job losses then.

Now that he wants a House seat AGAIN, he’s attempting to show the multiple use voters how friendly he is toward their cause. His real story is above! Straight Talk – Yeah, Right!

John Gallaher

Thompson Falls