Oregon County bans United Nations!

        Voters of Grant County, Oregon, passed a referendum on May 31, declaring their county a UN-free Zone, forbidding the United Nations from doing business within the county, and instructing the county to do no business with the United Nations, or any of its agencies.  Passed 60-40%.

        The first local ordinance in the USA passed on 4 July 2000 in LaVerkin, Utah, but has since been repealed.  The tiny community of Bingham, New Mexico, has an ordinance in place, so Grant County becomes the third such ordinance, and the first to pass it by popular vote. 

        Voters also passed a referendum calling for local control of their forests, and to ignore the federal ban on logging.  The timber industry has been virtually destroyed in Grant County as a direct result of federal environmental laws and regulations.  Sawmills are sitting idle and the unemployment rate for Grant County is now at 13.5%.  Forests have become a fire hazard because of the lack of clearing of underbrush which goes with normal logging operations.  Passed 70-30%. 

        Herb Brusman and Dave Traylor have worked for over a year on these two initiatives designed to restore local control of their property and their economy.  Unable to get the attention of local officials on their own, they went over their heads to The People, petitioning and getting these initiatives on the ballot.  The People have ordered County Officials to follow a policy, and they are now bound to do it.

        A meeting today (5 June) with county officials will request that the County agree in writing to a similar agreement, with the alternative being to face a recall drive for county officials.  Brusman and Traylor mean business, and have determined that if the current county officials will not do their jobs, then they need to join the ranks of the unemployed.  The Bureau of Land Management is the next group to be requested to cooperate.  As the old saying goes, "The peasants are revolting," and Brusman and Traylor are leading the pack.

        Brusman and Traylor have worked with the Forestry Service to come up with an agreement which will start now to reduce the fire hazard of underworked forests and provide work to unemployed loggers.  Hazard trees will be identified by Forestry Service experts and cleared by local industry, eventually providing a 150 foot buffer on every forest road in the County, which is the size of Connecticut. 

        Criticism of local initiatives comes primarily from the left, but Congressmen tend to become very reserved in their criticism of anti-UN sentiment back home when they see the power of an active voice which finally organizes a large number of people.  This is what Daniel New calls, "Thinking globally, acting locally," to borrow the motto of the United Nations.  "It creates a 'trickle-up' situation, with local heat rising to affect state and federal officials.  The idea is that, in the end, these ordinances shape the debate, and help people realize that (1) the United Nations is not their friend, and (2) there are national solutions which must first gain grassroots support from an organized citizenry."

        A large part of the credit for this development goes to the Paragon Foundation, which works to establish policies which both return control to local governments, and protect private property.  They focus primarily on range and agricultural issues, water-related issues, and forestry issues.  Policy Analyst Ric Frost, of New Mexico State University, has been working with individuals in Grant County to help come up with new, common sense guidelines. 

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for more information, contact:
        Herb Brusman            Grant County    541-932-4232
        Dave Traylor            Grant County  541-932-4618
        Ric Frost               Paragon 505-646-7699
        G.B. Oliver             Paragon 505-434-8998
        http://www.paragonpowerhouse.org/       
        Daniel New              UN-free Zone 254-796-2173
        http://www.UN-freeZone.org/
Want a UN-free Zone sign?  Send $10 each for one or two signs, or $7.50 each for three or more signs to: 
NAF, P.O. Box 100, Iredell, Texas 76649.   Or order using PayPal from www.UN-freeZone.org/.