It's that time again
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:18 AM PDT
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E-mail this articleJune 25 Letters to the Editor
It’s that time again
In a few days, my neighborhood will start sounding a lot like what I imagine Baghdad sounds like at its worst.
It’ll start as soon as the sun goes down and persist until after midnight. The booms, ker-blams and whistles of fireworks will sound throughout the city.
Now, I have no problem with legal fireworks, but the window-shaking, tooth-grinding detonations of clearly illegal aerial rockets and mortars are a different deal.
And it’s not that as I’ve aged I’ve become a grumpy ol’ fudge. Well, maybe I have, but still your right to celebrate doesn’t include the right to infringe on my quality of life or endanger my property.
I don’t begrudge anyone from celebrating our nation’s beginnings. I well remember the oohs and aahs of delight of my kids when old dad set off the locally purchased “Super Gigantic” fountains of stars, whistling petes and cones of dazzling colors. But, brother, fire off a missile that reaches an altitude of several hundred feet, explodes with a ear-popping boom and whose sparks are sufficiently hot enough to set fire to my home ... well you simply aren’t entitled.
I know our police have far more important things to do than respond to my complaint about a temporary irritant. Guess what, though. I happen to be entitled to not having to endure this disruption.
Jim Hill
Kelso
One good idea
Wouldn’t it be a good idea if Howard Schultz told Clay Bennett the Mariners could be purchased at a discounted price?
Ken Guse
Kelso
Leftists then and now
With the Fourth of July coming, I think the following is appropriate.
Any modern leftist can tell you that Hitler’s Nazis were racist. The Nazis went to extreme lengths to try to prove that Jews were of a different and inferior race than other Europeans. Jews are neither a different race from, nor inferior to other Europeans. The real difference is their religion. The essence of Judaism is their religion, not their race.
The religious faith of the Jewish people is the real reason the intolerant Nazis silenced and exterminated them. The intolerant Soviets attempted to purge any semblance of religion from Russia. Both the Soviets and the Nazis were International Socialists on the extreme left of the political spectrum, with little regard for religious freedom or individual rights.
How much different is this from the modern leftists in the U.S., who seek to silence and eradicate any semblance of religion from public? Our founding fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence that governments are instituted among men to secure the rights all men were endowed with by their Creator. In the First Amendment to the Constitution, they insured there would be no religion of state and guaranteed freedom of religion with the words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Lawrence N. Derby
Clatskanie
Send Republicans to Congress
Regarding the “do-nothing Congress” that people are complaining about more and more: Who holds the majority in the House of Representatives? Democrats. Who holds the majority in the Senate? Democrats.
President Bush gets blamed for everything, but many roads have been blockaded by Congress. Let’s send more Republicans to Congress.
Inga Olson
Longview
WASL tests are garbage
I fully agree with Carolyn Noe (June 17 letter) that kids who can’t read or write should not walk or graduate. But on the other hand, how many realize that what they consider reading, writing, math and English really has nothing to do with the subjects at all? What does algebra have to do with anything? There are very few jobs that use algebra at all.
They take away home economics, the very thing everyone needs to know — how to cook, shop healthy and economically, balance a checkbook, use common sense and be an upstanding citizen living in the real world — and force the kids to learn a foreign language and algebra. Why?
The majority of the students aren’t college material and can attend trade schools and do very well. These subjects should be electives for those who do want to go on to college. This is America. We speak English and shouldn’t be forced to take a foreign language to graduate.
I think the WASL tests are garbage; they don’t prove a thing. Some people can’t take tests. That doesn’t make them stupid. The ones to be tested should be the teachers in grade school. If a child isn’t learning, maybe he needs a different teacher or to be held back and give him some extra time instead of shoving him through the system and pressured to take that WASL to graduate.
Whatever happened to the Iowa test that had no pressure?
Cora Risley
Kalama
Workshop was worthwhile
I had the pleasure to attend the local Master Gardener’s Composting Workshop. I was afraid that I’d be the only person there, but to my surprise we packed the place out. There had to have been between 20 to 30 people there.
Recently I became interested in how I could cut down my waste while at the same time producing natural food for my gardens. I had been doing some reading on composting. I’ve learned that it’s not difficult and can be enjoyable and rewarding. This workshop taught me even more and it was fun to talk to other people to see what sort of things they do in their gardens. We got to see the demonstration garden and see all the different ways in which you can compost including the worm bins.
I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and recommend that everyone explore the idea of composting. It’s an easy way to turn your veggie and fruit peels, used coffee and tea grinds, egg shells, etc., into wonderful soil. No need to buy chemical fertilizers anymore. I love the idea of teaching my kids basic living strategies that don’t get taught in schools much. It was nice to hear that the local juvenile center has a program that teaches the kids about horticulture and composting. What our kids need to stay out of trouble is something productive to do and introducing them to skills that they never thought they could have.
Jennifer Bejcek
Kelso
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