First, welcome. Second, I’m sorry you were hoodwinked by the locals. It appears you failed their test and saw through their silliness.
I do read the letters to the editor and have found them to be an interesting overview of the community at large. I have also written a few about various issues, and appreciate the opportunity to reach a large, local audience. It would be a shame to lose that because of a few senseless people who think everyone is as dumb as they are when it comes to believing tripe. Fortunately, they are a small minority.
The majority of the letters are thoughtful and intelligently written by knowledgeable people. I hope you will continue to publish them all.
When it comes to election time, I read the letters, but my decision is made in the Voter’s Guide. I can go through it and cross out those who think they can make themselves look good by maligning their opponent. I prefer to know what the candidate advocates for, not what their poor opinion of their opponent is. I shudder to think that’s how they would represent me.
Mary McCarthy
Yacolt
Go anywhere in Battle Ground and be inspired by the trees and uncluttered landscapes. This place is truly beautiful. Whether you are single, young family or retired, it’s hard to find a nicer neighborhood and countryside. That’s why our communities near Bell Mountain are concerned about letters we have received from BPA (Bonneville Power Administration). They have selected our homes and acreage as possible electrical power sites and have indicated they want to survey our property and buildings.
This is a very frightening development which matches small groups of citizens against a large government agency. Many of us don’t understand why our little community with young families and quiet lush landscapes has been selected when large areas without population lies to the east and could be used. The towers are taller than Douglas fir trees and emit noise and electrical energy which may harm people. BPA would cut trees and put their towers as near as 50-100 feet from homes .
I hope citizens who may read this can be sympathetic and also know such towers are an eyesore from a great distance. The power on these proposed lines goes mainly to California. Don’t let BPA do this in Battle Ground , or anywhere in Clark county. If you have a chance, complain about it to others and support efforts to move these towers to remote areas. Help us in the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
George Dill
Battle Ground
We live on Kelly Hill Rd., and it has gone from a nice quiet climb to a small freeway. The grade is 7-8 degrees.
When the Yacolt Quarry was proposed, I, and my neighbors, opposed it in an effort to save our neighborhood. We testified in a series of hearings on this issue.
The degree of slope and the closeness of driveways to the corners are not safe. I went to the courthouse and procured a schedule of speeds in relationship to sight distance and stopping distance. The sign on the corner closest to my house says 35 mph. The state says it should be 20 mph.
The hearing’s examiner heard testimony from hydrologists telling how the blasting at the quarry could destroy the aquifers and ruin wells in the area. This is hard to prove, but it appears to be doing just that. The hearings examiner took all the testimony into consideration and denied a permit. People that would benefit, financially, somehow got two of the three commissioners to sign off and give the quarry a permit.
The promised proposal route to travel was Gabriel Rd. The State of Washington approved and the operators were to improve the junction at 503 and Gabriel Rd. The promise has been made for the last three years but no changes have been made.
I, and a neighbor, went to see Commissioner Mielke to show him some facts:
1. 35 mph stopping distance is 271 ft., and more for trucks with loads and more with 7-8 degrees. Blind approaches are less than 150 ft.
2. The corners on Kelly Rd. are 90 degrees and require both lanes to turn.
3. There were 64 trucks, 128 passes a day by our driveway.
4. There are 24 school buses on our road a day and our children have to get on and off after blind corners.
5. Wells that have been affected and the reports of hydrologists ignored.
6. Promises are given each year for truckers to use Gabriel Rd., but it is put off, and a new date given.
7. Dust coming out of the trucks onto the road and our property. State laws require tarps.
8. Dust and silt routed into wetlands and ditches, runs into the Lewis River.
9. The danger to the mail persons and The Reflector delivery persons.
Mr. Mielke promised he would get back to us before we needed to get back to him. That promise he never kept, and it has been 16 months.
I don’t care about this buying old cars and it being in the paper or his need to report on helping an old man clean up his place. We, the people in his jurisdiction, the majority, not just a few, we are to be represented.
It is time our tax monies go for representation and citizens’ rights, not for a bunch of pass the buck people. Mr. Mielke, if you want attention, do your job.
The code enforcement department is a joke. We are lied to and our rights ignored. Most county offices offer excuses and a lack of concern for public safety. This leaves me with a dislike of paying taxes.
David Rogers
Yacolt
The opinion letter from Jacqueline G. Harris, “How is that ‘change’ working for you now?”, in the Aug. 12 edition was nothing more than a medley of FOX News and Tea Party Rally sound bytes.
Do we really care if Sir Paul McCartney was at the White House to receive an award and entertain the Obamas when under George W. Bush’s watch he and Laura hosted B.B. King, the Jersey Boys, Marvin Hamlisch, Rascal Flatts, the Temptations, Kenny Chesney, Naomi and Wynona Judd, Steven Curtis Chapman, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Itzhak Perlman, Lee Ann Womack, Natalie Cole, the Oak Ridge Boys and Yo Yo Ma? Bush spent 33 percent of his time in office vacationing either at Camp David or his ranch in Crawford, TX.
I will admit that I’m disappointed in the lack of progress Obama has been able to make in bringing much-needed change to America. He stepped into a quagmire from the previous Administration and has since faced the “Hell No” Republicans who have fought him on every issue - not because it’s best for the country but because they want to see him fail at any cost. That makes me truly wonder about their motives. Is it partisan? Is it racism? Obama didn’t engage the United States in two illegal, dead-end wars. Nor did he bring about the unemloyment, the Wall Street greed, or the deregulation of the banking industry.
Don’t start yelling about “wanting your Constitution back” and “rebuilding our country from the ground up” when you are so strongly opposed to a man that could accomplish that. And instead of reading Greek mythology or watching FOX News, Ms. Harris might want to crack a history book.
Jane Sturm
Battle Ground
On the “Mark and Dave Show” on Portland radio last week, I heard Dave saying that a squad of “hate speech police” were going to patrol the streets of Portland to stop people from making offensive remarks before they caused trouble. Can this be true?
Who makes the determination about what is offensive? Is there a government handout with a list of remarks that can’t be made? Words that can’t be said? Gestures that must not be flipped? Looks that can’t be glared? The people need to know.
For instance, if I was running late for a very important meeting and a pack of dwadlers kept blocking the sidewalk and I couldn’t get around them and I finally snapped, “Move your big butt, lady,” would that be considered hatred of fat people? Or a crime against women? An offense to dwadlers in general? Or that I was inconsiderate, impatient and a blight on polite society and deserved to be locked up? Would it be okay if I kept my mouth shut but just gave her a shove? How are we supposed to know?
If Dave was right, I consider this information a public service for anyone headed to Portland. I heard him say it, but I hope he was wrong.
Barbra Case
Yacolt
On August 25, Robert Wassman laid all of our woes on illegal aliens and the Obama administration. Mr. Wassman has, time and again, detoured around fact to preach the dogma of the far right.
Yes, there are illegals in this country. Yes, there needs to be legislative action and more activity to protect our borders. However, such must be done within the confines of the U.S. Constitution, which Mr. Wassman professes to support and protect. The Arizona law has, at this point, been deemed to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
There are, according to Wassman 15 million unemployed Americans. I believe the number to be somewhat higher and also a significant number of under employed. Even many of those shown as employed can do no better than subsist. Wassman would lay this at the feet of illegal aliens, Obama and the Democrats.
Wassman, as usual, avoids mention of the Bush/Cheney years with their wild spending and unpaid for tax cuts. He fails to identify the trillion or more spent on illegal wars initiated by Bush/Cheney. All those of Wassman’s ilk buy whole hog in Ronnie Raygun’s failed supply-side economics. Giving millionaires tax breaks and tax cuts will not return our economy to health.
Mr. Wassman would be better served to argue with the powers-to-be to stop sending the manufacturing and good wage jobs overseas. We need infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities in this country.
JD Fitzgerald
Battle Ground
My mother, Bertha Olsen, received a summons for jury duty last week. She passed away in January, hadn’t voted for two years, didn’t receive the latest ballot, and her driver’s license expired in 1999. I replied, “Deceased. Although I lived to 104 1/2, I’m in heaven now and the commute is prohibitive.”
Clara Jane Holcomb
La Center