Snow safety

Kudos to those who have spent hours removing the snow from downtown.

From the snowplow drivers who spend their days and nights plowing our streets, to the tireless downtown business owners who kept their walks clear, thank you.

The efforts of these people is greatly appreciated; it not only creates a safe environment for everyone, it allows businesses to go on, regardless of the weather.

To those who have neglected to do so, please realize that you are not only putting all pedestrians at risk, but are also harming the business of those around you.

Juan Sanchez
Hood River

Don’t scold; support

Generalizations can be divisive, dehumanizing and very unbecoming, Mr. (Gary) Fields (Our Readers Write, Jan. 7).

I thank God that any of us, whether right or left “wingers,” have the freedom to say our piece. As a Christian, I voted pro-life. As an American I support whoever has been elected into office.

I may disagree with some issues, even hotly, but it does not mean that I go around scolding people and/or bashing our president. I will faithfully pray for wisdom, health and safety for him and his family. He is, in fact, a man, not a deity; and his house needs our prayer support and good wishes.

I hope all of us can have a loftier goal of loving one another in spite of our differences. It has been one of America’s greatest attributes. I‘ve never written to the editor before; but, well, I just couldn’t hold my tongue.

Gigi Murphy
Hood River

Thanks for safety

The many men and women who serve our community in the cold, wind, rain and icy conditions deserve a huge pat on the back and show of our appreciation.

I hope you will join me in thanking those who work so hard to keep us safe and that respond to our needs day and night — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — despite road conditions and many other hazards. Thank you to all the fire fighters, EMTs, paramedics and first responders who put their lives on the line every day to come to our aid; who travel the treacherous roads to reach someone in need.

Thank you to the state, city and county police officers who are working to protect us as well as assist those who become victims of the dangerous road conditions, putting themselves at an equal risk.

Thank you, especially, to the city, county and state road crews that have been out there trying to keep up with the seemingly endless snow on the roads and the icy conditions.

Many of us complain if our mailbox gets hit or the plow pushes more snow into our driveways; yet we expect the roads to be clear when we have somewhere to go.

Let us remember that they are out there day and night working hard, despite wind, rain and snow; chaining up and unchaining the tires on the plows in unpleasant conditions. And remember: They don’t get to stop plowing and sanding just because it’s a holiday, either!

Let us not forget all the dispatchers and other supportive staff who help keep all these services coordinated and organized. Thank you, too!

And thanks also to the linemen and other utility workers who are out in the wind, snow and icy conditions to repair power lines and other utility services that fail in these extreme weather conditions.

So whether it’s your neighbor who plows your driveway, someone who shovels your walkway or who stops to help you on the side of the road or someone who comes by to check on an elderly neighbor in the middle of a storm — let’s remember to show our hard-working service workers and our kind-hearted friends, neighbors and the good Samaritans how much we appreciate them.

God bless each of you for all that you do and may He keep you safe!

Stefanie Weseman
Mt. Hood

More deficits

Good news! You won’t have a good President Bush to kick around much longer with his billion-dollar deficits; here comes the second coming messiah with his trillion-dollar deficits.

Oh, for the days when we had million-dollar deficits. Hope there is enough future generations to pay the bill.

Paul Nevin
Hood River

Cleaning the skies

It’s past time for PGE to clean up its act. The power company operates Oregon’s only coal-burning power plant in Boardman, Ore.

The plant was built prior to the implementation of the Clean Air Act and operates with no modern pollution control devices! The result is a constant stream of air pollution flowing directly into the Columbia River Gorge, impairing views 95 percent of the time and causing extraordinarily high levels of acid rain.

The effects include poor visibility, damage to ecosystems, adverse effects to Native American cultural resources and threats to human health. This has to change.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is now taking comments on a proposal that could improve Gorge air quality. Unfortunately, the DEQ’s current proposal is not aggressive enough to tackle the problem of air pollution in the Gorge.

Come to a public hearing and tell DEQ that they must require the best available pollution control technology at Boardman.

The meeting is in The Dalles on Jan. 13, in the Columbia Gorge Community College Lecture Hall, Building 2, Room 2.384, at 6 p.m.

Carol A. Taylor
Cascade Locks

Dark stores

I have some concerns about the proposed ordinance.

1. Who will pay for the “enforcement officer”?

2. Why do we not have a vote as the “paying public”?

3. Who decides that the property is vacant? Is there someone driving around finding these? I saw three vacant properties on a side street in downtown Hood River.

4. Who is keeping track if the property is vacant longer than 30 days?

5. If I or you owned a commercial property wouldn’t you think we would want it rented? There could be a million reasons why there is a dark building.

6. Why would any landlord desire a vacant building? Think about it! You are still paying taxes and water, etc.

7. What would the cost burden be of enforcing this ordinance?

8. If this were designed as a stopgap for Wal-Mart, why not try and keep them here and the building occupied?

Please rethink this ordinance.

Linda Holloway
Hood River

Our real wealth

Few would disagree that the top priority for the Obama administration on Jan. 20 is fixing our sick economy. In the short term, a massive bailout may be necessary. But, like human sickness, short-term treatments don’t often address the underlying systemic problem.

For the past four decades, through so-called “good” times and bad, our economic health has been failing. Most of us haven’t noticed because we’ve been using the wrong thermometer — our Gross Domestic Product. GDP measures only the amount of money we spend, not the actual value of anything we own or create. Our rising GDP has masked the real problem — the widening chasm between the rich and the poor.

Today the top one percent in this country owns more than the bottom 91 percent. Not only is this morally disgraceful, it is economically dysfunctional! It represents the greatest resource discrepancy and concentration of wealth since just before the Great Depression in 1929.

Real wealth is by its very nature common wealth, common to all. It is the hard work we do, the natural resources we share like clean air and water, and the goods and services we create with our own hands and sweat.

False wealth, that which has increasingly infected our economy, has no real substance. It is built on speculation and greed and is both created and measured by numbers we put on paper or type into a computer.

To really fix our economy will take more than tweaking it (i.e., a little more regulation and oversight here, a few more bailouts there, etc.).

As Obama has said, the only real solution lies in devising a system to “spread the wealth around.“ What that system will look like I have no idea. But I do know that it is likely to be the only long-term cure for our ailing economy.

David C. Duncombe
White Salmon, Wash.

Welcome to CL

It is very refreshing to have a new business started here in Cascade Locks. Lotus Locks is a new hair salon with a knowledgeable, friendly staff. Welcome to Cascade Locks.

Nancy Renault
Cascade Locks