Discussions regarding the administration of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area planning ordinance over the past month resulted in threats of violence being made against all three members of the Wasco County board of commissioners prior to their May 5 meeting.
“There was a lot of confusion after we had our meeting last time, that the county was withdrawing from the National Scenic Area,” Commission Chair Scott Hege said as the topic was introduced during the commission's regular meeting Wednesday, May 5. “Some of the articles out there, that was the headline. I think a lot of people saw that and maybe they didn’t dig into it very much.
“I got a lot of communication that we were crazy to be withdrawing from the National Scenic Area. So let me be clear, that wasn’t the discussion, that isn’t the discussion, and I don’t even think that is possible. Congress might be able to do it, but I don’t think there is any provision or route that allows a county to withdraw from the scenic area,” Hege said. “What we are talking about is administration of the land use ordinance for land use planning, and how we administer the Scenic Area ordinance for the people that live within it, whether the county administrates that or the NSA administrates that.”
Currently, Klickitat County in Washington is the only county in the area that has chosen not to administer the ordinance locally. All other counties in the area have chosen to do so, he added.
Following the discussion, and after voting unanimously to administer the ordinance — with the caveat that a letter would be addressed to the state requesting additional funding to cover the cost — commission members again addressed the public input provided.
Although all three commissioners expressed appreciation of those who provided input and helped inform the board’s decision making, others were asked to refrain from making threats and personal attacks.
Hege said he had pages of quotes from residents, and many of those were “very negative, very personal and attacking, against myself and Commissioner Kramer. We all love this place, we all want to preserve it for future generations. We need to get more on the same page, we truly need to be in partnership. I want to work on win-win solutions. This has been very much a win-lose year in a lot of National Scenic Area things, and frankly I think we have been on the losing side. And I want to see win-win solutions, and I think we can get there.”
Commissioner Steve Kramer was even more specific. “We got a nasty gram this morning, the three of us did,” he explained. “It was very, very threatening and I turned it over to law enforcement.
“So that person that wrote this comment, I just want to let you know that we don’t accept that, it is unacceptable to threaten the three of us doing the job that we have to do. We are doing the best we can with what we’ve got, and we consider all 27,200 and some folks in this county to be our family, so we take this job very, very seriously.”
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