McEuen, Orwell and Chicken Little

Here it goes again, the talk of the town. Don't you think for one minute that our store fronts can't become as empty as the ones in Kellogg, Butte, Mont., and several other "used to be" mining, logging and sawmill booming communities. I don't think many of the Coeur d'Alene downtown merchants own their buildings and some may be having difficulty adjusting to the economy. Business is slowing down. Each merchant who leases probably is concerned about the trend.

Lake City Development Corp. and the McEuen committee say there won't be any hike in Coeur d'Alene property taxes. What about the other folks' property in Kootenai County? Will their taxes go up unexpectedly? Several years ago in Wallace, the freeway was planned to go smack dab through the main part of town. Harry Magnuson and a group of concerned citizens boycotted the plan and saved Wallace. Do we really need to spend all this money on McEuen? If Wallace hadn't been saved from those big yellow tractors, many merchants would have had to up and move away.

An allegory is an expression, by means of symbolic fictional figures, of truths or generalizations about human existence. This is where the story of "Animal Farm" comes into focus. The story is an account of a group of barnyard animals that revolt against their vicious human master (remind you of anything?) only to submit to a tyranny. (Let me help you out - Poli-Sci 101- A government in which absolute power is vested in a single ruler's oppressive power.) Think about what you've read the past couple months about the progress and decision making for McEuen Field: "No vote! You already voted when you voted for us." Really? Could that be tyranny?

"Animal Farm" author George Orwell showed what happens when too much authority is given to ONE small group (Cd'A) that tells people what to say (meetings) and when to say it and only allow five minutes in rebuttal: "Pick your color, pick the side of the room you want to sit at, don't let the public know what we are up to, and where we will be getting all this money to build this arena. Let's see if we can pull a rabbit from our hats!"

All of you remember the children's fable about "Chicken Little." It is a cumulative tale about a chicken who believed her world was coming to an end because a stone rolled off her roof and hit her on the head. The fine feathered friends all marched off to see the king and along the road the sly fox jumped out and worked on the friends to jump into a particular hole. They gathered around the hole eager to follow sly fox and behold, a little gray squirrel said "Don't go in, don't go in; your little necks he'll wring and you'll never get to see your king." Eventually the fine feathered friends made it to see the king and he said, "You silly, silly feathered friends, don't you know the only thing that comes from the sky is rain?"

The sky wasn't falling. Don't you get the picture? Are the lights coming on?

Remember the acronym NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard? It was a word used frequently in the '70s and '80s. In this case I believe the word is quite fitting for our McEuen battle - and I believe it's all right to be a NIMBY.

We all remember what Thomas Jefferson stood for. He had the wisdom and the words and didn't spare the truth, especially when it came to the Bill of Rights. He said, "No tyranny." The Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to.

Some quotes from Mr. Jefferson: "A frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not (not can't, but shall not) take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government."

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for the people of good conscience to remain silent."

"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."

My word of wisdom to all of you, be wise - don't take the bait and stay away from that narrow deep hole.

Late last night I heard the screen door slam

And a big yellow taxi come and took away my old man

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

'Til it's gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot.

- Joni Mitchell, '70s folks singer

Gail Jensen is a Hayden resident.

P.S. Please, limit your rebuttal to only five minutes!