URGENT: Public Road Closures ~ BOC Voting to Approve the Authorization of Closing the County’s Forest Roads 9:30 AM Tuesday, June 20, 2023, in Coquille

June 17, 2023 Rob Taylor

Board Of Commissioners Meeting

Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at 9:30 am

Owen Building - Large Conference Room

201 N. Adams St.

Coquille, OR 97420

NO to Road Closures!

The feds, the state, and now the county is working to keep the people off of their public lands, which will accommodate the leftists and their goal of changing America into an authoritative, third-world, commie craphole.

On June 6th, 2023 in a work session of the Board of Commissioners they discussed what to do about the arson, illegal camping, littering, theft, and vandalism that is occurring on the county’s forestland. Instead of working on a solution they went with the expedient answer that most politicians come to when faced with a difficult situation and they decided to shut it down.

Forest Road Closures | Coos County OR

The Board is not going to completely close off the forest to the public they are going to close off the roads that give people access to the forestlands. ATVs, motorcycles, horses, and foot traffic will be allowed, but the commissioners are not going to permit motorized vehicles to travel on the roads leading into the forests. There will be locked gates at the entrance of each road, except for one, going into the county’s forests.

The Board did agree to allow a group of people to adopt one section of the county’s forest as long as they keep the area clean of trash because it is a popular place for people to go target shooting, but the rest of the roads will be closed. It was a small compromise and an easy way to appease the gun enthusiasts, but what about others who may want to utilize those roads to access the lands they use for fishing, hiking, hunting, mushroom picking, or sightseeing?

Several people who attended the work session offered some possible solutions or workarounds to the Board instead of an all-out road closure, but those suggestions were shot down without much consideration. The commissioners claimed they did not want to close the roads, but they did very little if anything to find a better solution.

The suggestions included:

1. Substantially increase the fines for arson, illegal camping, littering, theft, and vandalism.

2. Raise money and offer rewards for people who catch these criminals in the act of committing their crimes.

3. Allow verified road hosts, like park hosts, to park their RVs at the entrance of each forestland road to keep an eye on the place.

4. Look for groups to adopt different areas of the forestlands to care for that area.

5. Put up cameras and signs discouraging criminal activities.

6. Publicly humiliate criminals the courts have previously convicted for committing crimes on the county’s forestlands.

7. Allow people to put a deposit on a key for the locked gates when they want to drive into the forestlands.

8. Organize volunteers for cleanup duty.

9. Offer a free dump day for trash at the Beaver Hill Refuse.

10. Deputize concerned citizens to patrol those lands to deter crime.

The reason this is happening is due to the lawlessness that is caused by the politicians and the state's top-down soft-on-crime policies. Criminals do not fear the consequences of their actions because there are none.

Even if there were enough sheriff deputies to patrol the county’s lands, there is no room in the county jail to detain the criminal. Even if there were enough room in the county jail the District Attorney does not have enough Assistant DAs to prosecute the offenders. Even if the DA prosecuted the offenders, the state would refuse to incarcerate them for their offenses because the state is not interested in making criminals accountable for their crimes. Now law-abiding citizens have to live with the consequences of the actions of criminals, which in this case is losing the roads that give them access to their public lands. It is the sick cycle of a lawless state.

How much lawlessness are the people willing to tolerate?

Every day in Coos County private property owners also have a problem with criminals committing arson, illegal camping, littering, theft, and vandalism, but unlike the government, they cannot just simply shut it down, especially business owners. When they complain about these crimes and criminals to government officials it usually falls on deaf ears, or they are told that it is just the price of doing business.

It is time the people of Coos County stop taking this bullshit and stand up to lazy officials who are not willing to do what it takes to have a civil society. There should be NO road closures on public land and the people should NOT have to suffer because of the crimes committed by criminals. When the politicians complain the citizens need to tell them that it is just the price of doing business, and it is time they do the hard job of doing something about these lowlife thugs who keep violating the law, or they should find another profession other than politics as usual.

Surrender is not a solution.

Closing the county’s forest roads will not solve the problem. Illegal dumping might be curtailed on the county’s property, but the criminals who are committing this crime will dump their loads on someone else’s property. Arsonists, thieves, and vandals will still have access to the forest, so closing off the roads will only give them the privacy they need to commit their crimes.

Coos County has a deficit of almost $3 million in the budget and the Board voted to take the money they received from the feds in the American Rescues Plan to cover the difference. There is only enough ARP funding to cover two years, so the county will more than likely have to ask property owners for a tax increase. The DA’s office has lost another Assistant DA and the county is having trouble finding qualified people to fill that position because they cannot competitively compete with the salaries offered by other counties or the private market, so even if the voters approve a tax increase it is unlikely the proceeds will cover the cost of opening another pod in the county jail,

Commissioner Rod Taylor has found one possible solution, but it is limited in its potential. He asked the Board to consider adding a category in the tax bills the county sends out to the property owners where the taxpayer could voluntarily donate directly to the sheriff’s department for more space in the jail.

Of course, after the Board votes to close the roads that allow the people access to the public’s forestlands, the taxpayer will not be so obliged in supporting any tax increase and they certainly will not be inclined to give donations to the sheriff’s department knowing the criminals will not be prosecuted, so without any other action, the cycle will start all over again.

Here are the images of the damage to the Coos County Forest Land:

The county forester has been trying for several years to close off the county forest property because he believes the land is not public land, so therefore the public has no business on the property. He is wrong in his belief because all the land owned by the government is the property of the people. He tries to show the worst of the damage, but it is no worse than what city residents have to put up with every day.