Share the road

The irony of publishing an anti-cycling letter on Earth Day could not have escaped the Hood River News and its readers.

As a Home Health nurse, I drive 75-100 miles a day. I ride a tandem bike with my husband most weekends and have toured the country on bicycles with my family. I do many errands on my scooter and I love to walk to town for the exercise and enjoyment of the outdoors. With the blossoms in full bloom this is the perfect time of year to enjoy the beauty of Hood River County.

If you feel you almost hit a cyclist, you are probably driving above your safe reaction time. Drivers have to be alert for slow-moving tractors, snow plows and, of course, cyclists and walkers. With the energy crisis and escalating fuel prices, having alternative modes of transportation helps residents and the environment. I suspect we are going to see increasing numbers of bicycles on our roads.

Yes, cyclists need to ride defensively and safely; pedestrians need to be aware of their surroundings; and drivers need to slow down, be considerate of others and Share the Road.

Julie Byers
Hood River

Vote for Davies

Hood River needs Jon Davies on the Hood River Port Commission. Jon is a quiet leader who believes that by working together we can get things done. He is a consensus builder who listens to all concerns prior to making decisions.

Jon’s priority is bringing new jobs and businesses to the port while maintaining public access and recreation opportunities. His diverse background of business ownership and community service will be an excellent addition to the port commission.

John serves on the board of the Central Cascade Credit Union, chairs the Port Ad Hoc Hook Advisory Committee, and is vice president of the Downtown Business Association. A family man, Jon coaches soccer and enjoys skiing, windsurfing, mountain biking and water skiing with his three young daughters.

Jon has a degree in business administration and has demonstrated leadership in both private and public sectors by developing budgets, increasing sales and revenues, growing organizational membership, and implementing progressive and innovative business practices and strategic planning.

I have known Jon for over 20 years and heartily endorse him for the Port of Hood River. Please join me in voting for Jon Davies.

Carol York
Hood River

Buy American

Shipping is by far the biggest transport polluter in the world. It can take up to 1,900 tons of high-sulfur bunker fuel to bring one ship of cheap Chinese products to America. What a waste of natural resources.

Buy American products first, pollute less, support American taxpaying workers and families. You can buy American-made tires for your car or truck at Gehrig’s Chevron in Odell. American-made clothing is available at The Wearhouse in Hood River.

Now work boots are little harder to find, but Danner’s outlet store on Airport Way in Portland has a few. One hundred percent American-made bio-fuels for your cars, trucks and tractors are available from Carson Oil in Hood River and Pacific Pride in Bingen.

We can’t tax ourselves out of this recession; we’ll have to work our way out and for me it makes the most sense to buy American-made products, first — it may take a little effort, but we’re worth it.

Jerry Tausend
Pine Grove

Choose clean

I am baffled by the rhetoric from politicians, environmentalists, corporate execs and others concerning the so-called pollution caused by CO2, particularly as it applies to coal.

In perfect combustion in air, the products are heat and light energy, water, nitrogen and CO2. In the real world, byproducts such as nitrous oxides, sulfur, fly ash, soot and carbon monoxide are also produced. These are the “dirty” products of combustion, especially with coal, but also with other fuels. The only clean coal is the coal that is not burned — better left in the ground.

All animals also oxidize carbon, producing energy, CO2, and water. Now, if we are talking about global warming and greenhouse gases, CO2 is a problem. And, since it is the natural product of combustion of any carbon based substance in air — wood, gasoline, ethylene, natural gas, or coal — the only way to reduce it is to burn less, or use alternative sources of energy like hydrogen, wind, solar, nuclear and hydroelectric. The only other ways to burn less are to improve efficiency and reduce our consumption habits.

Make your choice.

Russ Hurlbert
Parkdale

Davies for Port

I am writing this letter in support of Jon Davies for the position of Port Commissioner.

What I want to see in a Port of Hood River Commissioner is someone who has the ability to understand the delicate balance of needing to support and grow commercial opportunities with the need to maintain important aspects of what makes Hood River special from a destination recreation area to agricultural community. This is Jon Davies.

Jon Davies brings a diverse list of business and recreational experiences. He understands the need to support small businesses from owning his own in Hood River. He understands the business needs from downtown to the upper valley from working with businesses and individuals in his current role in insuring businesses and individuals throughout the Hood River Valley.

As an avid skier, boater, sailor, and biker, he understands the need to maintain and enhance recreational opportunities in the Hood River Valley. As a dad he also understands the need to create opportunities for his children and other children so they too will be able to live, prosper, and recreate in Hood River in the future.

In a nutshell, Jon Davies gets it. The port needs to grow commercial opportunities for current residents, their children and future residents of the Hood River Valley. The port also needs to respect what makes Hood River special — from our agricultural heritage and entrepreneurial spirit to our world-class recreational opportunities.

Vote Jon Davies for Port and get an experienced, reasonable commissioner without an agenda that can balance the needs of our community and make the tough decisions when necessary.

Ted Lohr
Hood River

Partisan blocks

I am worried about what seems to be happening to Congress, especially the Senate. We have just elected a president by a large popular vote, a president whose approval ratings remain high despite the financial crisis. Yet his legislative agenda seems blocked at every turn by his own party and by the arcane rules of the Senate.

It used to take 41 votes in the Senate to filibuster a bill to death. Recently, it has taken only one. The process is called a “lock” or “hold,” and is usually practiced by a junior minority party senator from a sparsely populated state. The current chief culprit and practitioner of this art is Sen. Rom Coburn of Oklahoma.

If this weren’t bad enough, the Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, himself from a sparsely populated state, supports this arcane blockage rule and has told the president that he feels no obligation to support his legislative agenda.

There is, however, a way around this one-man filibuster. The Senate’s “reconciliation” rule allows the majority leader to order a vote after 20 hours of debate. Republicans used that rule liberally when they were in the majority; but now that they aren’t, Reid seems unwilling to employ it even to rein in a senator like Coburn who by himself has blocked numerous humanitarian bills in the last Congress.

One of these bills was the latest revision of the Jubilee debt forgiveness bill for impoverished nations. It is estimated that this bill alone would have saved more than one million Third World children from starving to death in the next five years.

How any senator can live with himself after single-handedly blocking a bill like that is beyond me. Write Coburn and Reid and tell ‘em what for: zip code: 20510.

David C. Duncombe
White Salmon, Wash.

Wind farm hearing

Folks in the Hood River-White Salmon-Underwood-Willard area will have a rare opportunity next week to influence the location of an industrial wind energy project which will be highly visible from parts of all these communities. Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council will be holding hearings in Underwood May 7, and Stevenson May 6, on the Whistling Ridge Wind Energy project proposed on Underwood by SDS Lumber Co.

If you have only seen the wind farms east of here by daylight, let me tell you, you are getting less than half of the story. Please take a drive after dark and observe the miles of red strobes used to warn aircraft of the presence of these towers. They blink in unison, lighting the ridges in an eerie red glow; and if this project goes forward as proposed they will begin at the edge of the National Scenic Area, and march north, toward Mount Adams. If Underwood Mountain is part of your viewshed, you’ll probably be seeing them.

Having stood on the site, I can tell you that I could see most of the Hood River valley, all of Mill A and Willard, most of western White Salmon, and parts of Snowden and the Husum valley, and I’m only 5 ½ feet tall. The 50 or so towers proposed will be more than 400 feet tall, and will likely have a better view. I won’t see them from my house, but I’m guessing lots of folks won’t be so lucky.

The May 7 EFSEC hearing in Underwood begins at 2:30 p.m. The Stevenson hearing is on May 6 at 6:30 p.m. at Rock Creek Center. Information about the project can be seen online at whistlingridgeenergy.com, with links to other sites. I believe the applicant will be presenting information at both hearings. Initially, EFSEC was only holding one hearing in Stevenson. They were persuaded that the project will have a far greater impact on our area, and graciously consented to hold a second hearing at the Underwood Community Center.

This agency possesses broad authority to site energy projects, overriding other state and local jurisdictions. This may be your only opportunity to be heard.

Sally Newell
Underwood, Wash.

Follow rules

I understand that, in the past, Hood River has required extensive plans for landscaping in order to allow a company to locate in Hood River (Walmart, for those who do not know).

I also understand that many projects have been disallowed because they did not conform to the existing structures in that area (a movie theatre).

I also know that, in many cases, regulations have required that homeowners provide off-street parking if they ask to remodel.

I wonder why they allowed a three-story building, both commercial and residential, that has insufficient off-street parking.

In case you are not sure, I am referring to the three-story building, located next to previous residential housing on 13th Street in Hood River. Is off-street parking available for the downstairs businesses?

In conclusion I could also comment on how the requirement for landscaping has been ignored when a local company has been involved. I think that many of these rules are designated to allow only favored people to build.

Leonard Hickman
Hood River

Energy issues

I have been intrigued lately by our energy needs and choices in the Gorge. Much debate has already been initiated regarding the coal-burning plant in Boardman, the dams along the river, nuclear reactors and wind projects. We seem to have an ever-increasing need for energy with sources having various impacts and costs associated to them.

Discussion is heating up now about the coal-burning plant and how it used tons of coal daily to generate power. Certainly a number of environmental issues from harvest to production.

Nuclear reactors from a pure science standpoint are very safe and rather efficient. Unfortunately, we saw the effects human management has had on Chernobyl and Hanford.

The dams create a great deal of power as well. We now spend millions annually to study their effects on salmon. Also, a lot of this power is sold off to other states with no benefit to us here.

The proposed wind project on Underwood Mountain has drawn criticism as well. It is a National Scenic Area, after all. Considering the other energy alternatives, wind is starting to seem like a pretty good, low-impact idea. Certainly it will affect the view and take a great deal of legal deliberation to bring to fruition. We are running out of options.

I hope this letter generates some new dialogue where practicality places a role as we try to have our cake and eat it too here in the Gorge.

Steve Kaplan
Hood River