I sat casually flipping through The Observer the night of Nov. 15, sipping a rich and flavorful Black Butte. The dark beverage caressed my taste buds in a way only a porter can. Suddenly my eyes widened in horror as I read that a Portland brewery has begun a $22 million expansion.

As I read on I learned that a large national brewery owns 40 percent of the Portland company, which plans to greatly increase production and even give their famous hef "a small makeover" to broaden the appeal of the beverage.

I can hear the powerful executives now: "Umm, this beer is good, but it should be a little less flavorful. And see this fogginess here? Yeah, we should clear that up. People like a beer they can see through. And what’s with the grain in the bottom? Let’s get rid of that." Before long, the delicious hef will be nothing more than a light beer with a different label.

As Oregonians we should be proud to have the richest, best beer in the world. Our microbrews are not meant to be enjoyed by the masses. They should be so bitter and dark that brewers in other states bow in terror to the complexities and subtleties of Oregon beer.

We should all send a little note to Deschutes, Full Sail, Portland, Rogue and the many other Oregon breweries to thank them for not selling out just yet and urge them to keep Oregon beer in Oregon.

Jeff Clark

La Grande

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Concerning The Observer’s article on Buffalo Peak that reported on a public meeting led by nationally recognized expert Jim Keegan of the Colorado- based company Golf Convergence:

Keegan discussed changes he felt needed to be made. One was elimination of season passes for unlimited play and cart use. Keegan stated, "Under current pricing plans, it costs the county more to produce a round of golf than it does for a customer to play one."

Deeply discounted golf costs taxpayers. During the last fiscal year the county lost $99,726 from the operation of the course. Money is being paid from our general fund to cover some of these losses. This is officially recorded as an "interfund payable" (loan). This loan now totals $187,210.

Last year, $73,957 of our economic development dollars were also used to pay golf course bills. The intent of these funds are to create local jobs and not pay debt.

The original loan to purchase the course was $2.1 million. Today the golf course debt obligation is $2,716,174.

In December the county will spend $50,000 as a partial payment on the course loan, followed by 22 annual payments over $170,000 each. These payments will add to the losses.

Public policy always doesn’t make sense. The county maintains there aren’t enough funds for 24-hour coverage by the Sheriff’s Department. The road department is closed on Fridays even during the winter months. But there is enough money to keep the golf course staffed year- round.

Four years ago a consultant warned unless "drastic changes" were made we would lose "significant" amounts of money. That consultant wrote that without changes the course "is doomed to being a money-losing enterprise." It appears the new consultant will be saying the same thing. Hopefully changes will be made this time.

John Lamoreau

Union County commissioner

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I want to let the City of La Grande know how I appreciate the state and county police department and

firefighters.

On Nov. 22 my husband and I went to the La Grande fire station to get our youngest daughter’s car seat checked. No one was certified to help us.

The firefighter said, "If we help everyone who stopped by, we wouldn’t get anything done." We were told to come back to a class they were having.

We have always been told that the fire station is where we should go to have our child’s safety seat checked.

This whole situation made me feel as though washing trucks and maintenance are more important than the safety of an infant.

Katy Patterson

Cove

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Once again, the holiday season is upon us, and with that comes an opportunity to economically enhance our local communities and independent community-based businesses by choosing to buy local first.

By thinking local first, we can make many different choices that have a dramatic impact on our local communities, economies and environment. How big of an impact? By keeping money circulating within our region, buying local is worth more than 300 percent more to local communities.

Two recent year-long independent retail studies done by the New Economics Foundation and Sustainable Connections document the following: Every $1 spent at a local business is worth $1.74 to the local economy, and only 19 cents if it is spent out of the area. That makes $1 spent locally worth more than 300 percent more.

In addition, one study compared public revenue and costs for various land uses and found that small downtown stores generate a net annual surplus (tax revenue minus costs) of $326 per 1,000 square feet. Big-box stores require more in services than they produce in revenue and create a net annual tax deficit of $468 per 1,000 square feet, which in effect becomes an absentee-owner subsidy paid for by local residents.

I recognize that only a small number of us will be able to buy everything we need from local, independent businesses. However, each one of us has the power to maximize the positive impact of our daily actions by purchasing products and foods produced locally and more regularly patronize our variety of locally owned independent businesses and restaurants.

Rather than placing your hands on the keyboard for yet another Internet purchase or upon the steering wheel to the nearest highway out of town, take the hand of your loved one and take a stroll downtown, pick up and admire the handiwork of local artisans, thumb through the eclectic collection of books and other items of delight located right here within our own communities.

Chris Perry

Director, Oregon Rural Action

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My daughter, Karin, married her husband, Wayne, in Reno on Thanksgiving Day. We had a reception here in Union the following Saturday to honor this special occasion. More than 200 guests arrived, brought gifts, ate, drank and enjoyed dancing to a live band.

At some time during the evening, someone helped themselves to the newlyweds’ gift-card basket and absconded with all but 10 of the hundreds of congratulatory cards.

Karin is heartbroken. Not only have they lost the gifts of Wal-Mart and other store gift cards and cash, but she has lost the greeting cards for her memory book.

We are sending out this plea to all of those who attended the Sturm-Lequerica wedding reception at the EOLS building on Nov. 25 and placed an envelope in the basket to contact us in the hope of at least being able to thank you.

For this to happen to these two well-loved young people is atrocious. A wedding reception is about coming together in support of a new bright future, especially at this time of year.

Please help us recover the memories. You can reach Karin at 910-0577 or myself at 562-5451.

Svea Ross

Union

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I read with interest the story on hard times in the timber industry (Nov. 15) and the editorial on Nov. 22.

The local timber industry vastly overcut the timber resources on public lands in the past, according to Nancy Langston’s book "Forest Dreams, Forest Nightmares." The local timber industry should understand better than most that timber harvest on public lands in the 1970s and 1980s were not sustainable. Water quality, wildlife habitat and recreation provide much more value to the land owners than timber harvest alone.

Healthy forests need fire, dead trees, insects and disease to remain healthy in the future. Dead trees provide important nutrients for soil and wildlife habitat for many birds and mammals.

It appears the mill capacity in Union County has outstripped the sustainable supply of timber available. Perhaps the leaders in Union County should devise a long-term strategy to balance available sustainable timber supply with mill capacity.

The price of wood products has fallen dramatically in the last year because of a combination of falling demand and oversupply. Cutting more timber would only make things worse. It would make sense that restricted supply might help the price per board foot.

The timber industry is at least partly responsible for the unhealthy forests we have today. The overcutting, roading and loss of old growth all contribute to the problems in our forests today.

It is simply untrue that environmental groups have litigated every timber sale on the WWNF. In fact, the two sales mentioned by Kurt Wiedenmann were not litigated by anyone.

Perhaps The Observer could check its facts and talk to a broader spectrum of the population before printing unbalanced news stories.

Larry McLaud

Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator, Hells Canyon Preservation Council

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Ms. Petersen’s column in the Nov. 27 Observer hit too close to home. While we were visiting in Boise at the end of October, my mother suffered two strokes. She was in St. Alphonsus Hospital for almost two weeks then was transferred to a local care facility. Nine days later she was hospitalized in La Grande for eight days, in and out of ICU. She is now back at the care facility and doing OK.

During this time it became apparent that she would no longer be able to manage her personal affairs. Having a power of attorney, I was able to change her mailing address to mine everything except Social Security. They do not recognize a POA as a legal document. This meant I had to try to get her to sign a change of address form. We managed to get this done, and they accepted her signature.

The point I want to make in writing this letter is to encourage anyone who has a POA for another person to get the change of address form from Social Security, have that person sign it undated and put it with other important papers. If the time ever comes that you have to use this form, it will save a lot of hassle by having a pre-signed form on hand.

When you’re in an emotional situation, having to make life-changing decisions for a loved one, you certainly don’t need the added pressure of jumping through a bunch of hoops with Social Security, especially when you thought you had all the legal documents you needed.

I hope this information will be helpful to many of you who have a POA for someone.

Barbara Endicott

Cove

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I would like Commissioner John Lamoreau to answer a few of my

concerns.

What is the life expectancy of a golf course in Oregon? Does anything else in the county budget have the potential to make money? Are there any other county services that only 9 percent of the population use? What is the value of the City of Union being able to put its effluent on the course instead of in the rivers and streams in the area? And what is the economic boost to other county businesses from money that golfers spend in the area?

Make all of these negative, and I might jump on your bandwagon that the small amount of the county budget that is spent on the golf course is not worth it.

Damon Nash

Union