Lead or get out of the way
Thursday, August 21, 2008 1:27 AM PDT
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E-mail this articleAug. 21 Letters to the Editor
Lead or get out of the way
Our county commissioners have determined that the cost of energy is not a problem. By setting up a review process that will probably last over a year, they are preventing people like me the opportunity to install alternative energy sources (green energy).
Our PUD actually tries to encourage people to install alternative electrical production sources.
My opinion, our county government hasn’t been hurt by the high cost of energy. Their solution is to increase our taxes. As an example, look at your revised assessed value and guess what will happen to your tax bill next year. I think your tax increase will cover your share of their increased energy cost.
As a nation, our only hope for energy independence is reducing our use of purchase fuels. The most expensive electricity in our system today is from fossil fuels. Until we aggressively encourage local alternatives, we are stuck paying over $100 per barrel to foreign countries for much of our energy.
Hopefully our county commissioners will soon decide alternative energy is a requirement for our community.
I ask them to lead or get out of the way.
Bill Hallanger
Longview
Why vote?
I for one get tired of reading people’s opinions about who the next candidate is we should vote for. My question is why don’t we, as American citizens, get rid of both parties and start over. Let’s face it, the politicians we are in the process of electing should not head up our county fairs. The system that is currently in place is not for the people, but rather how much the politicians can benefit by things. Lobbyists, the great American job where one can legally line the pockets of politicians and make it look legal.
Politicians do not care about us and, in time, the only goal is to obtain as much as possible at our expense. Look at how often this and past administrations have broken our very laws that they are sworn to protect. How does one like Karl Rove claim executive privilege when subpoenaed to court? Was Rove elected? Of course not; he was appointed. So how do these privileges extend to him or the other clowns that were caught breaking the very laws they are sworn to protect?
Our Constitution has been bluntly misused, and come on folks, isn’t it plain what is happening, or are you too involved in getting the next corrupt politician in office? I get sick reading such tributes such as “hard working for you,” “honest,” etc.
Gary Haley
Longview
Home value on the rise?
There must be something on my property here on Terry Avenue that the county assessor knows that I don’t know. Is there oil, gold or silver under the house, or maybe he’s just getting ready for another big raise in the county paychecks.
How can anyone’s property go up $35,280 in just two years? You might say go appeal it, but why waste my gas?
Across the nation, values have gone down; here they just keep going up. I wonder why. When your value goes up, your homeowner’s insurance goes up, also.
Mac Janke
Longview
What’s wrong with the paper?
I cannot even begin to imagine the powers that be at The Daily News who would think it appropriate to print that mean indictment of old and older women (Aug. 16 letter). The writer has some serious problems with women. Why else would he so demean them? His opinion is best kept to himself.
A woman brought him into this world and this is how he makes her proud? He has chosen to attack 52 percent of the people on this planet, including the “young girls” (as he refers to them), because they too shall grow old. I would advise any woman who has even the least bit of self-esteem to remember this writer’s name: David Fossati. No self-respecting newspaper would print this. And what does that say about The Daily News? Are they on the skids? I wonder if they’d publish a letter which would expound on the myriad and many dysfunctions men go through in old age and their addictions to “growth enhancing” drugs.
It would be wholly inappropriate to publish a letter from a racist who expounds their opinions of “problems” of African Americans or Muslims. Why is it OK to do the same to old and older women. Shame on The Daily News. I think the paper owes an apology to all women.
T.P. Barrington
Kelso
Right to die
As I understand it, there will be an initiative on the November ballot asking the citizens of Washington to vote on whether or not they want an assisted-suicide law similar to the one in Oregon. This is one of those supposed feel good initiatives that seem to have a lot of support that will start us down a slippery slope that we will eventually regret as a society.
My wife and I purposely moved to Washington instead of Oregon because of their assisted-suicide law. The right to die will, in my opinion, soon become the responsibility to die. My evidence? Former Gov. Lamb of Colorado, when he was governor some years ago, was the first to say that older people have the responsibility to die. The evolution of the assisted-suicide law in Holland is stark evidence of the trend this law will put in place. And now there is the case of Randy Stroup, a 53-year-old Oregon man with no insurance and prostate cancer who has been denied treatment by Oregon but offered assisted-suicide instead. For further details, read Cal Thomas’ article available through Tribune Media Services Inc.
Let me strongly urge my fellow voters to vote “no” on any assisted-suicide/right-to-die law that comes before us for a vote and tell your representatives to vote “no” as well.
Ben Coombs
Longview
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