The Whatcom County Council last night voted 5-2 (Brenner and Knudsen opposed) to send a formal letter to proceed with the reconveyance of property from land trusts to Whatcom County, to build an 8,700 acre park. WE have already reported on the facts of the matter.

Conservation Northwest's (CNW) exhortation to stampede the masses was effective; they managed to motivate about a 75% pro crowd at the council's open session (there was no public hearing).  If anyone thinks the Tea Party is a threat to local politics, this turnout will quell that concern.

As one commenter noted, 

A bit of perspective came from actually attending the council meeting, in which several council members acknowledged that this wasn't about water purification or recreation. Which left no reason to do it at all, except because they could. I think somebody needs to follow the money. I'll bet it would lead us on a very interesting trail. 

Either that, or a hidden agenda.  Or both.  Liberty, freedom and good government took it in the shorts tonight.

Here are some delicious quotes from the council meeting:

·  Knudsen: “Let’s put it on the ballot for the general election for a vote of the people”
·  Knudsen: “It won’t cost us anything to put it on the ballot and I’ll work with the
    attorneys on the language”
·  Mann: “I hate Citizen’s initiatives”
·  Knudsen: “You’ve been sold a bill of goods”
·  Knudsen: “Why do we have to decide tonight?”
·  Brenner: “We just got this packet shoved into tonight’s agenda with very little notice”
·  Brenner: “The DNR works with us on the public use of this land and have the best land
    management practices for the watershed land”
·  Weimer, Mann, Knutzen, Brenner, Crawford, Kershner : “It’s not really about water
    preservation”
·  Kremen: “I’ve probably lost the respect of some good friends, but this was a hard
    decision”
·  Kremen: “It’s only going to cost us a drop in the bucket”
·  Kershner: “Where can you buy land for $34.00?”
·  Kremen: “It really only cost us $33.51”
·  Weimer : “Some votes are really important and someday my grandchildren (if my girls
    ever get going on this) will be proud of my vote” 
·  Crawford: “Will the Whatcom Land Trust be willing to compensate the other junior
    school districts?”
·  Rand Jack : “In too many words to write, but could’ve easily been condensed to “NO”.
·  Crawford: “I guess the squeaky wheel gets greased”
·  Crawford & Kershner: “We need to set-up a Forestry Commission Board to preserve
   logging in Whatcom County”     

I guess We the People need to start squealing like hammered cats. To be fair, Ken Mann qualified his remarks later, saying that he sees his job as being a representative of the people, and he doesn't like citizen's initiatives.  WE don't like unbridled democracy either, and neither did the founders.  The CNW dog-and-pony brigade claimed that they represent 74% of the citizens of Whatcom County, but when Bill Knudsen suggested that the issue be put to a vote of the people, their expressions, their body language, and their "down twinkles' betrayed serious doubt in their claim of majority support.  They were horrified.  If Ken Mann truly is going to represent the citizens of Whatcom County, he might need to verify CNW's claims.

To appease the forestry industry, under attack here and in many other scientifically dubious environmental initiatives, Crawford and Kershner proposed a Forestry Commission Board. Really? How does a Forestry Commission Board replace free markets and property rights?  Self-determination is scary to illiberal control freaks, because there's a risk that things won't turn out the way they want them to.  But the same thing applies in reverse with oppressive government control:  Things only turn out the way the rulers want them to. We the People get hosed.  Liberty equals diversity, in the real sense of the word.

From Wikipedia:

     "Bread and Circuses" (or bread and games) (from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metaphor for a superficial means of appeasement. It was the basic Roman formula for the well-being of the population, and hence a political strategy unto itself. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion, distraction, and/or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man (l'homme moyen sensuel).

     In modern usage, the phrase is taken to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many across the political spectrum, left and right, it connotes a supposed triviality and frivolity that characterized the Roman Republic prior to its decline into the autocratic monarchy characteristic of the later Roman Empire's transformation about 44 B.C."

The reconveyance had nothing to do with need, fact, or practicality.   It was all about appeasement, power, and greed.

Here's the new cartoon that's the talk of the town:  Puppet masters pulling the strings at Whatcom County Planning and Development, jacking Jack around.   Click on this:

The county is years behind schedule with the desperately needed jail project, and the budget for truly important public work doesn't look so good.  But we desperately NEED another 8,700 acres of parks in this county that's already 65% national park and forest, with an enviable abundance of public parks and trails?   Nuts!

The Energizer Bunny "Fairhaven mafia" will stop at absolutely nothing - back room arm twisting,  anonymous cash "donations," and now a bums rush at county council (without a public hearing) - to have 8,700 acres added to the 7,300 acres already in county parks' inventory.

WE're talking about the DNR "reconveyance."   If this goes through there will be more than 16,000 acres of parks in Whatcom County.   For what?   One lame (or loony) excuse has been trotted out after another.

Our community and conscientious elected officials have resisted this bad idea for years, not out of malice but for very sound reasons.  Yet promoters keep beating on the same old drum.

Conservation Northwest, that refers to this as a necessary "preserve," is running a astroturf letter-writing campaign to council at this moment.   Will there be push-back?   WE think there needs to be.

Common sense has got to prevail.  A host of unproven and tortuously conflicted claims purport that the conversion of state managed forest into this huge park will somehow decrease human impacts, resulting in the long term improvement of Lake Whatcom's water quality.  Huh?   That's far from proven.

As for the need to more than double the county's park acreage, even this Futurewise webpage cites, “About 65 percent of Whatcom County is national park and national forest."    Parks just ran over the Acme community pushing the 603 acre South Fork Regional Park forward two weeks ago (with its $1.6+ million pricetag).   That heavily opposed trainwreck pegged Parks acreage up to 7,300.  The expense of this albatross, demanded primarily by Bellinghamsters (not county-folks), will hang around everybody's neck forever.

Last month's $500,000 skid-grease to quiet the Mt. Baker School District didn't settle the general public's valid concerns about lost revenue.   What about the long term loss of timber as a public resource?   What about all the logging jobs that will be lost?

If you haven't followed this, know that arguments "for" have been so weak that even the DNR (this was always hustled primarily by park and trust promoters) distanced itself carefully from this project last fall.    The overall "public benefit" has never penciled out.

Out of the blue, Councilman Carl Weimer initiated County Council agenda bill AB2012-066B just two days ago.   It was quietly slipped onto next Tuesday's agenda - no public hearing desired - bundled up and ready to go.  Talk around the campfire is that council members Sam Crawford and Pete Kremen are ga-ga for it whatever the cost, no matter how lame the case is for public need.  Of course the empire-building county Parks Department writes nothing but sunshine, along with it's partner-in-chief, the lucrative Land Trust that's on a constant campaign to build inventory.

If you attend the committee and council discussion next Tuesday, brace for the predicable schpiel that seems to precede most decision making these days.   You'll hear:  "This project has been in progress for years," "The paperwork is already done," "This is critical for health and welfare," and "It's not a matter of if, only a matter of when," followed by "Just sign here."   It's a nasty modus operandi.

If any or all of this concerns you - as WE think it should - you have GOT to write to council and let them know your objections.   "Just say no" would do, this will only take a moment.  You may email Councilmembers as a group at [email protected]

And if at all possible, WE suggest you go to the council meeting at the courthouse next Tuesday too - 7 pm.   If you want to speak, Open Session is your only opportunity.   The public needs to take a stand, as the brave folks down on the Olympic Penninsula just did.

Wild Olympics is what they call the proposal to designate more land around the Olympic National Park as "wild and scenic."   After a while it becomes obvious that the environmental collectivists are simply trying to put as much land as possible out of reach of private ownership and private use -- including land that is currently privately owned and privately used.   (Read all about it...)

This is a duplicate of what is going on in Whatcom County, as WE have reported previously, about the backroom deals being made to advance the dubious  Lake Whatcom Watershed 'Reconveyance', the  American Alps Legacy Project, Chuckanut Rock, Lummi Rocks and Lummi Carter Point, and the San Juan Natural Conservation Area.  This government land grab is unprecedented.  How much is enough?  When many environmental collectivists believe that humans are the planet's biggest problem, nothing is ever enough.

Property owners, property rights advocates and liberty seekers have not been as active as the collectivists, who have discovered that the environment is a great tool to stampede otherwise skeptical citizens and their representatives in government, into forfeiting our freedom.  Enough is enough -- and then some.   It is time to push back.

You don't want to miss this!   The WWU College Republicans and Western Libertarians are going to have a debate plus Q&A about the "coal terminal" and the proposed "Bellingham Community Bill of Rights" intiative:

      May 17th, 2012 6:30 PM at Western Washington University
                 Parks Hall (PH) 146 - Open to the General Public

Check out and print their flyer here.    They boldly ask, "How much do your rights matter to you?"   Without speaking for them, WE think the political spectrum looks like this: