PCEOC - Alerts

:: Alerts ::

TO MAKE YOUR COMMENT ON THE ARMY REPORT - CLICK HERE

THE REAL ISSUE: THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION - THE EXPANSION IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY

LANDOWNERS STAND AND STATE UNWILLINGNESS TO SELL

THE ARMY RELEASED THEIR REPORT IN JULY THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS BY CONGRESS. THE REPORT MISSED THE MARK ENTIRELY HOWEVER AND PROVIDES NO ANSWERS AT ALL. FOR THREE YEARS NOW THE DEPT OF DEFENSE HASN’T BEEN ABLE TO JUSTIFY THE EXPANSION OF PINON CANYON. IT HAS BEEN LONG ENOUGH.

PLEASE CALL AND CONTINUE TO CALL SENATOR SALAZAR AT 719-542-7550 AND ASK HIM TO KEEP THE MORATORIUM IN PLACE FOR 2009 AND HELP PUT AN END TO THE EXPANSION EFFORTS

Army 'Report' document - written to satisfy the request for justification by Senators Allard and Salazar -WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY BOOZ - ALLEN - HAMILTON (not surpisingly paid for with our tax dollars as contracted by the Army - but 'it doesn't really violate the moratorium')

Army says it 'would be willing to take ONLY 100,000 acres' even though 'it's not enough'. Click here for more

Senator Salazar supports Congressman Salazar and Congresswoman Musgrave to KEEP NO FUNDING LANGUAGEFOR FOR 2009

Keep CALLING Senator Salazar to urge him to continue to work to keep the moratorium in place.

ALSO KNOW THAT SENATOR ALLARD HAS TRIED BEFORE TO GET LEGISLATION PASSED TO ALLOW THE START OF THE ACQUISITION FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF THE ARMY'S REPORT - SO PLEASE CALL SENATOR SALAZAR FOR SUPPORT TO STOP SUCH EFFORTS FROM BECOMING A REALITY

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THOSE IN OFFICE SHOULD SUPPORT THEIR CONSITUENTS AND NEED TO BE SOLIDLY AGAINST THE EXPANSION OF PINON CANYON!!

Send a Note to Senator Salazar

Send a Note to Senator Allard

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THOSE RUNNING FOR OFFICE NEED VOTES - BUT THEY NEED TO BE SOLIDLY AGAINST THE EXPANSION OF PINON CANYON TO EARN OURS!!

Send a Note to Congressman Udall

Send a Note to Bob Schaffer

Watch the parts of the debates that reference Pinon Canyon and their position regarding PCMS expansion [Click here]

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Join Our E-mail List and be kept up to date!!

Keep those letters and calls going out to your friends, neighbors, relatives, newspapers and keep writing and calling our legislators - everyone needs to keep reminding them that if they want our vote they have support NO EXPANSION AND NO FUNDING FOR EXPANSION - PERIOD!!

Go to our I CAN HELP page for direct links to our legislators e-mails.

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If I Spend Your Money on Me

Article by Lynn Allen

03/14/2008 La Junta Tribune Democrat

Well, it was bound to happen, even the military has learned it needs good PR. So, hundreds of thousands of your hard-earned tax-payer dollars are going to a Pueblo based PR firm. They're supposed to take your money and figure out how to convince you you're happy about them taking your land, or half your town's economy.

I recently heard a politician quote an economist: If I spend your money on me, all I care about is quality. If you spend your money on me, all you care about is cost. If I spend your money on you, I don't care about either. If you spend your money on you, then you can make the decision. He was talking about health care, but it applies here too - the military is spending your money on itself, so they hired the best they could find. I'll give that PR firm one thing, they're good.

I got a call from them on Monday. They wanted my opinions in the form of a poll. Now, I hate polls. They NEVER actually represent my opinions. They represent the best opinion I can give to a carefully worded question issued by a person who is after a certain answer.

For example, "Are you going to vote for Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama?"

"Ummm, how about neither?"

"That's not on my form. Are you going to vote for . . ." and on it goes.

The first question was, "Do you support the expansion of the Pinion Canyon Maneuver Range?"

That was easy. "No."

Instead of the "Why or why not?" I was hoping for, I got, "I need you to answer these questions: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree."

"That's a yes or no question, mister."

"Strongly agree, agree, . . "

"Mister, there's no way I'm going to be able to answer that question with your answers. The answer to 'Do you support the expansion of the Pinion Canyon Maneuver Range?' is 'no'. Now if you want to say: 'You support the expansion of the Pinion Canyon Maneuver Range.', I can say 'Strongly Disagree' loudly. Or you can say, 'You do not support the expansion.' and I can say 'Strongly Agree'. So, what's your question?"

From his tone of voice he knew this was going to be a trying call. But I was able to "Strongly Disagree" with his reworded question.

He asked if I owned land in the takeover zone.

I said, "no", and the argument started again.

He asked "If there was a payment in leu of taxes made to your schools and community, would you support the expansion?"

"No."

He huffed and reworded his question.

"What you don't understand," I replied, "is that if you take out my customers, I won't be able to live here, so it won't matter what kind of payments you make, I don't have a business here any more. I like it here, and if you'll leave me alone, I'll support my own community, thank you."

". . . Agree, Disagree . . . "

"STRONGLY DISAGREE."

"If the ranchers were compensated more than the market value of their land, would you support the expansion of Pinion Canyon?"

"No."

There was a furious silence down the line.

"See previous explanation. You can pay them all you want, but when you take out my customers, you kill my farm's value and I walk out of here with the shirt on my back. Since you are getting money out of this deal, how about giving me your address and I'll set my cardboard box up on your lawn. It would be more comfy than under a bridge, and you could tell everyone you're supporting the expansion of Pinion Canyon in a personal way."

He ignored me and went on with, "Do you support private property rights?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you support the expansion if it is done strictly with willing sellers?" He thought he had me there.

"Absolutely not."

He made the mistake of asking "But you said . . "

"You're spending my money to take out my customers. If you were a rancher asking this question, I wouldn't have a problem, but since this is an government entity spending my money, I vote 'Absolutely Not!'"

"Do you support a strong military?"

"Absolutely. I have cousins, neighbors, and nephews in the military, and I'm proud of them for being there."

"How can you not support the expansion of Pinion Canyon if you support the military?" His asked smugly, sure he had caught me in a logical inconsistency.

"24 million acres is enough to train a military of 20 million. Our military isn't nearly that big, and submarines don't work out here so that reduces the number of soldiers per acre even more, so I'd say you have an abundance of land to train on. Use what you already have and quit cannibalizing the people and businesses who pay your wages."

This debate waged for over an hour, and when we were done, he didn't even thank me for my time. But, he firmly understood that there was NOTHING he could do to make me support his cause and he wasn't doing a very good job of trapping me with his questions.

So, for those of you who were caught after my debate with this guy, I'm sorry, he probably reworded his questions to be even trickier. For those of you still on the hit list, don't let them throw you off with their questions. Poll reform starts with us, and since they're fool enough to call, let them know we're not the stupid hicks they think we are.

Reprinted by permission of author