April 12 Letters to the Editor

Nice to see levy approved

Thanks for voting for the school levy. It was very nice that it passed, but the 2,000 and some folks that voted against it — that’s too bad.

I have talked to a few folks that voted against it. Some of the reasons were very good. A few months ago I challenged a letter writer about his issues in one of his letters. He called me, and we got together. We had a very interesting conversation. If I said his name you would know who I am talking about. We agreed to disagree. I enjoyed the conversation very much. Got to know him a litter better. How he thinks.

I don’t know what we talked about, it was very intense. One big issue was the Bible. He sees it from a historical point of view. I see it from a faith issue. A very interesting conversation on the Bible. This is Easter week, a very important week for people of faith. This is our hope. To the non-Christian world, it is a waste of time, money and energy and a small element in the big picture of this world.

Well done to Calvary Community Fellowship on their musical/drama presentation on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I was there on April 3. It was alive and real. A lot of work. Again, well done.

Ray Van Tongeren

Longview

Attitude is common for liberals

This letter is in response to K.R. Johnson’s April 7 letter titled, “Line has been crossed.” Okay, so let me understand Johnson correctly. Johnson feels as though his home has had no environmental impact on these so-called “wetlands,” yet, if anyone else desires the very same thing he desires, they are selfish slobs and further adding to the “urban sprawl” he was referring to.

This is the type of attitude liberals have, “I got mine and you can’t have yours.” Much like how Madonna is vehemently against the NRA and guns, yet she sports around a bodyguard who packs heat. While I certainly agree with Johnson in regard to the thoughtless, noisy people who speed up and down the public street where his house happens to be located at, others that obey laws should be entitled to pursue the very same dream he has enjoyed these past 15 years.

Again, I am in full agreement with Johnson about those who presume upon others with their single-digit IQs, serenading us with their speakers that seem to require the entire rear space of their cars. Those people need to be prosecuted and sentenced to 100 hours of some enlightening music, such as classical or big band, with speakers much the same size and at the same volume. Can I get an amen out there?

John Wilson

St. Helens, Ore.

Clarification is needed

A recent letter to the editor asked people to contact the county commissioners regarding taking control of decisions made by the Humane Society of Cowlitz County (HSCC). Please note: The Humane Society is not a Cowlitz County government department. It is an independent 501 C(3). The county commissioners do not have budget authority or jurisdiction over the HSCC, and if contacted regarding animal control issues, county departments are instructed to forward inquiries to the HSCC.

The HSCC does have a board of directors that meets and oversees the organization, and a very proactive Web site (http://www.cowlitzhumane.com/). Under FAQs on the HSCC Web site, it is asked:

Is the Humane Society a government agency? And the Answer is: No. The Humane Society is not a government agency. We are contracted by the cities to do their animal control.

Kathleen A. Johnson

Cowlitz County Commissioner, District 1

Kelso

What’s government trying to do?

So the state Legislature has approved the granting of civil rights to those who perform the most basic and essential of human functions: mothers who breast-feed their babies (April 8, “Legislature approves civil right to breast-feed”).

If you think about it, it is somewhat audacious — the next thing expected of them may be to pass a law allowing public conversation without the use of the F-word; or to give elementary school teachers the right to hug a child who comes from an abusive home; or to prevent credit card companies from lowering one’s credit rating simply because he or she chooses to pay cash instead; or to declare those who refuse to own a gun to be as patriotic as those who do.

What is our government trying to do, anyway? Legalize nurturing acts, common decency and mutual respect? Let’s hope we can stop them before it is too late.

Ron Naff

Longview

Addiction to pain killers plagues many

I read the article about “Pain Killer Drugs.” I had been dealing with chronic back pain for a number of years now. When my back first started giving me trouble, I asked my doctor about my future, making reference to pain killing medications. That was 20-something years ago.

I lived from one trigger point injection to next only taking what he prescribed after the injection started wearing off. My doctor told me way back then that I’d be moving upward to the point of a morphine drip to keep the pain in check, the hardest thing for me in considering my options. I was taking a pain medication named Damason-P during the time when I was in between injections.

After I moved up from California, I got a referral to InMotion at St. John’s Medical Center where I went through a series of procedures over a period of time that made a world of difference in my life. For the first time in years I had no back pain. I don’t have to take opioid pain killers right now, thanks to the staff at InMotion. When they did a procedure called “Radio Frequency Ablation” on my low back, it was like turning off a light — that’s how fast it was, no more pain.

Don’t want to take pain killers like morphine, hydocodone or oxcycodone? Get a referral to a pain clinic and go through what I went through, and be pain free.

Richard Roth

Castle Rock