Text Box: Few folks will attend all the meetings that stalwarts like John Carlson did or with the energy of caring present in his personality.  In the early days of Dunes City he defended the reasons people moved here.  John was one of the founders of the Dunes City Citizens Association and authors of the comprehensive plan.  He has worked hard in many committees planning Dunes City's future. When a large oil company was encouraged to design a 500 unit time share for RVs or a shopping center was proposed over wetlands, citizens defended their community at great sacrifice, hiring lawyers to defend community rights and in the long term changing the process of how future decisions were to be made.  “After a while those who considered building over what was once considered parkland shifted their outlook,” he recalled, “to respect that this is a darn nice community. Why are we trying to mess it up and make a large city out of it?” Preservation is the key. Although John sees a need to protect the waters of Siltcoos Lake he has observed the International Text Box: Paper’s water right and the 15 million gallons a day it used without recompense to the people of Oregon as a core reason to give the water rights back to the state.  Even if they sell the rights to a group that returns the water levels to five feet above sea level (from the present eight feet) it would not disturb him.  John explained, “More than a hundred houses were built after the dam went in because of the new level that was established. I don't agree with the principle of people joining wallets to buy a permit that for forty-eight years had enabled private interests to gain from public resources. “Rather, it would be fitting for the company to return these rights to regulators as prescribed by the state water board.  Abandon the permit in favor of the state of Oregon.” Ideally this would be the fundamental statement of people coming together.  John said, “People who live here do so because of what it is, a city that's really not a city. Dunes City is a community more than it is anything else and one objective is to keep it rural and tax free.” John reflected that there Text Box: Text Box: “Community is citizens taking an active role for the benefit of the whole.” — Richard Koehler DC Councilor

Page 6

Dunes City Newsletter July 2007

Dunes City events always create time and space for the youngsters.

The public lands around Dunes City offer quiet respite for the soul.

John Carlson
Meet Your Neighbor. . .

Building community - bringing us together. 

Thoughts from John Carlson by Richard Koehler

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