The hypocrisy of the average Gorge supporter rarely ceases to amaze me, and Tom Koenninger’s sorry effort is no exception.

You see, in the Gorge Supporter's bizarre world, the Gorge and the people in it only exist to serve their utopian, early 20's vision. Bizarre, hot button headlines such as "Development puts Gorge in danger" are just a symptom of the disease.

The Gorge has been here 60 million years or so. There's damned little that people can do about that, one way or the other. But Koenninger's gift for exaggeratio supersedeses reality by geometrical factors, as his nonsensical whine of today shows.

Ol' Tom... well, see, he's ALL about forcing the people of the Gorge to live under a different standard then the one that he lives under. He wants the Gorge to exist entirely for HIS amusement... the people be damned.

His despicable conduct towards the Beas, his repeated calls for hell fire and damnation against those who would provide a reality check for the Gorge Commission, the fact that he bizarrely supports the idea that Oregon State Law should not apply in the Gorge, well, all of that reeks of the standard hypocrisy of the neo-comm newspaper type.

The economy of the Gorge has suffered like few places in Washington/Oregon since the shortsighted, midnight imposition of the Gorge Act on the thousands of people who live there. Promises were made to assist in economic development for the area... promises that rarely are fulfilled.

Those Gorge fanatics of the "Tom mold" have no problem with suspending the Constitution of the United States at the borders of the Scenic Area, frequently confusing the definition of "visually subordinate" with their reality of "absolute invisibility."

Can we ever forget Tom's disgraceful treatment of the Beas and his damnable desire to steal their land from them because they built a house in the Gorge? How about the disgrace of his side losing by the unheard-of count of 9-0 in the Washington State Supreme Court, and his equally despicable failure to apologize for the pain he, personally, had inflicted on that young couple through the bully pulpit of his newspaper column?

In Tom's world, the best possible outcome would be if every living person in the Gorge were evacuated and every structure built by man removed, stone-by-stone... brick-by-brick.

Those most rabid about "protecting" the Gorge wouldn't actually be caught dead living in it. Those who live in the Gorge are forced to commute to Portland for work, because the restrictions on economic development have turned it into a lush, green ghetto.

By all means, I applaud Oregon Governor Kulangoski's desire to build a casino in the urban growth area of Cascade Locks, just one of the communities hardest hit by the imposition of this onerous, late night, smoke-filled room legislation. I also support the idea of economic zones as a response to the lies of those who would impose their double-standard on a place... and a people... that THEY do NOT live with.

To Tom and those like him, I say: take your hypocrisy somewhere else. You see, the thing I NEVER forget is that NONE of this is about Tom Koenninger. What it's about are the people who live there... who struggle to make a life in the face of restrictions, regulations and laws that Tom Koenninger and his ilk never give a second thought... because they don't apply to HIM... they just apply to the people living in his post card.



Opinion - Development puts gorge in danger

Wednesday, June 1, 2005
TOM KOENNINGER editor emeritus of The Columbian

The protected beauty of the Columbia River Gorge appears to be in greater peril now than at any time since the National Scenic Act was approved by Congress in 1986. Some who would weaken gorge safeguards view this near-sacred place not as a public trust, but a pile of rocks standing between them and development.

In a way, the gorge and the Vancouver Lake Lowlands run a parallel course places of natural open space continuously threatened with commercial development.

The gorge embraces a larger area that has so far escaped the threat of subdivision blight or industrial development.

Pressures are mounting. Here are a few:

More (If you can stomach his whining and complaining)