Sept. 25 Letters to the Editor

What a deal!

A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.

A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year. So, the average clunker transaction will reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles — so that’s 224 million gallons/year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. Five million barrels of oil is about 1/4 of one day’s U.S. consumption. And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million at $75 per barrel.

So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion (of taxpayer money — appropriated and spent by Congress) to save $350 million. How good a deal was that?

They’ll probably do a great job with health care, though.

Burt Harwood

Longview

Kelso schools merit support

Citizens for Kelso Schools would like to hear from Kelso citizens on school funding. We are a volunteer group of Kelso citizens, which notifies and educates the community regarding school levies. We also strive to provide positive support and public relations for Kelso Schools and students.

This citizens committee will provide input to the Kelso School Board on the 2010 levy renewal, and we are seeking community input to inform our discussions.

Please visit our Web site at www.C4KS.com to have your voice heard.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all our teachers, school employees and community members, who commit their time to our children. There’s no more valuable investment.

Eric Yakovich, President

Citizens for Kelso Schools

Help map a path

Everyone who lives in Kelso has been given a unique opportunity to directly input their vision, wants and desires for the future of our city. The city fathers have asked anyone who cares about their community to take a few hours from their busy lives and join a voluntary panel of ordinary folks in developing a vision and plan for Kelso’s future.

We have a chance to directly influence how our city grows and evolves. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or your politics. You have an equal voice and you will be heard.

Please don’t waste this opportunity to build a future Kelso that delivers on the potential of our wonderful and spirited community. Join with us on Oct. 7 in the Kelso High cafeteria at 6 p.m. You can help map a path leading to an even better Kelso of tomorrow.

Jim Hill

Kelso

Editor will be missed

I was shocked, dismayed, and downright angry to read that Cathy Zimmerman had been “laid off” as editor of the This Day section of The Daily News. She was the best thing your paper had going for it as far as writing for, about, and to women. It takes another woman to write to women. We have a special sense of sensitivity, comprehension, interest, and compassion that is seldom if ever dealt with in a knowing manner by male journalists.

She wrote many columns over the years that spoke to me as though we were cut from the same cloth. One particular column that I recall dealt with the vagaries of perusing some of the many slick coated catalogs that overstuff our mailboxes especially this time of year. She addressed the theory that if we were to only purchase some of the advertised items we could also be part of the “beautiful people” group. We both knew better, but also gave in to daydreaming as a worthwhile pastime on occasion.

L.C.C. and the students attending are the winners now. To have any classes in writing taught by this talented individual is a coup for any school and its student body.

She is sorely missed by myself, and, I am certain, other female readers of The Daily News. I was hoping that maybe she was only on a sabbatical or some sort of extended summer vacation. Imagine my chagrin to discover her permanently gone.

Sally Abeyta

Clatskanie

Time to separate

I may be a bit premature with this statement, but I feel we are close to an “East” and “West” United States. Our country is so polarized at this point, I do not see any resolution due to the extreme disparate positions the left and right have. This country was galvanized at one time. Sadly, in the 1960s, Dr. Spock, Gloria Steinem and drugs gave birth to the polarization of this country.

We need to leave the liberals to their own devices and ultimate demise. We already have eastern Washington for years attempting to gain their own statehood. They are sick and tired of these environmental pinheads controlling their land, from their compost pile in western Washington. Think of the Constitution as a marriage license; they wish to eviscerate the Constitution, repealing every amendment, most notably the Second, which is the enforcement of the First.

It would be analogous to a bad marriage. Sometimes their are just too many irreconcilable differences and it is time to separate.

John Wilson

Longview