Piracy, is it dead? That depends on who you ask. Sea Captains would probably say yes, for the most part it is; but what would the Forest Circus administrators say?
Perhaps it would be best if I were to begin by defining exactly what a Pirate is. Upon consulting Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary we find the following definitions:
PIRATE 1. Noun - Someone who commits piracy 2. Verb - To use (anther’s copyright material) for one’s own profit without permission or without paying fees
Although I didn’t find a listing for the term, “Timber Pirate”, it should be apparent the label would apply to a person is one who absconds with another’s Timber. Bluntly, steals trees. An activity which is commonly held, at least in this state, to be unlawful.
In the days of Piracy on the High Seas, Pirates would normally, according to legend, identify themselves at some point as Pirates by running up a flag called a Jolly Roger - a scull and cross bones. Usually doing so, if the stories are to be believed, at the last minute before attacking and boarding a victim freight bearing ship. Timber Pirates on the other hand usually do their best to make themselves look legitimate in every way. At no time does a Log Rustler “run up” the Jolly Roger - at least not that this writer had ever seen before. Note the operative nature of the term “had” in that last sentence. Last month I saw a log truck, not a notable sighting in the Santiam Canyon, which was startlingly different.
Generally speaking log trucks are commonplace on the roads in and around Mill City. In my experience all those trucks have had the owner’s names prominently displayed on the cab doors. However on one occasion during January this year such was not the case. In place of the usual company name there was a Jolly Roger on the right hand door of that particular trucks cab!
Are Timber Pirates in Oregon now operating with impunity, is the display of a Jolly Roger on that truck a joke, or, did Oregon actually register the Jolly Roger as a company logo? I would hope the latter.