Please go slow

The next time you drive into Parkdale whether on Baseline Road, Clear Creek Road, or from Dee, please take a second to look down at your speedometer. The speed limit through town is 25 miles per hour; 20 mph when children are present.

Our community has many young families with quick pets and quicker children. I have witnessed some near-misses, especially at the entrance to town from Dee as folks pulling out of the post office and McIsaac’s Store are usually driving quite slow and those coming around the corner are not!

I have had a couple of close calls pulling out of our driveway shared by parishioners of the church next door.

If you are a business owner in Parkdale, could you please pass on this request to the trucks making deliveries? Our bed and breakfast is on the corner of Baseline and Fifth Avenue and trucks don’t start slowing down until in front of our inn, a good block past the “reduce speed” sign, usually with a down-shift that is very loud and annoying. I even had a guest last weekend who commented on the noise and speed in front of our house.

This message also needs to get out to all doing business in the Upper Valley. County maintenance, construction companies, fruit growers and processors, utilities: Please respect our community and slow down, quietly, and ask your drivers to do the same.

I have been in contact with the sheriff’s department and will continue to do so as I feel this is a real problem. I am doing my part to not only bring back some serenity to Parkdale but also in preventing an avoidable accident and I hope you will too. Speed bumps anyone? I am all for them!

Mary Pellegrini, owner
Old Parkdale Inn B&B
Parkdale

Family’s thanks

My family and I would like to express our deepest and sincerest gratitude for all the unwavering prayer and support during my illness.

Many thanks to Dan, Tammy, Chuck and Trisha for your hard work in getting the house ready for my return. To our many friends and co-workers who helped with grocery shopping and supplying dinners. To Rosauers for being flexible with Tricia’s hours.

To the city administration, public works and city police for the hours donated so my husband could be off work to take care of me. To the doctors and ambulance crew that got me to the hospital. We know there are others, please forgive us if we have forgotten to mention you.

Each day brings new challenges into our lives and we want all of you to know how truly blessed we are to have such supporting friends and neighbors by our side.

Thank you all. You are truly awesome!

Andrew, Crystal and
Tricia Rau
Hood River

Live, let live

Where did it start? We can read about Nimrod in Genesis Chapter 10 verses 8-9, He was “a mighty hunter in opposition to God.”

He hunted people and animals for “sport” and hung heads on walls.

If there had been cameras back then … he most likely would have had his picture taken with his “trophy,” no doubt. “sporting” his best smile.

Today we have “canned hunts” where beautiful animals are put into a fence, with no place to hide and sportsmen shoot them at close range. The animals are raised for this very purpose.

I thought a “sport” was an activity where each side had a fair chance. What is so “fair” about a high-power rifle, clothes that blend in and scopes?

On the radio Suzanne VanOrman called it “a hobby.” Forget that boring coin-collecting stuff!

Michelle Dennehy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife also thinks killing is a sport.

I would not want to play any games with her.

What chance would the beautiful Hood River bear have. He was “a good sport.” He let himself be seen.

Live and let live.

And yes, I am a vegetarian.

Barb Basco
Carson, Wash.

 ‘Constant’ heroes

Thank you for orchestrating such a great section as “A Salute to Our Troops.” They deserve it and I appreciate the reminder. These great men and women are not everyday heroes, as in “common,” but they are daily heroes, as in “constant.” I am grateful for their constant and faithful service on our behalf and for our nation.

I also appreciate all the local businesses who showed their support through advertisement. We are truly blessed to live in America, especially right here in Hood River.

Carol Wagar
Hood River

Bad timing

It is great to see that Hood River is once again bringing diversity to our county by having the recent auto rally here.

It is equally nice to know that the sponsors are, “motivated to continue running events in the Hood River area due to the beautiful scenery, excellent roads, and friendly people.“ ... as stated in their recent letter to the editor.

While we are grateful to have such wonderful things happening in our community, we would be even more grateful if you hold the event sometime other than hunting season!

Terri Hansen
Hood River

Cuts and harm

I have been to the budget committee meetings and the city council meetings for the past month, trying to see what will be happening to the public safety in our beautiful town.

Last night really bothered me because I just couldn’t understand why, when the issue of possibly looking at the other 18 employees who are not a part of the union and are administrative personnel, to cut some fat there, the idea was shot down by the mayor, almost instantly?

I understand that even if we cut all those positions, there is still a need to cut other positions, but if we can cut some of those jobs, especially people who are on Facebook the whole time the budget meeting is going on, then those monies allow for some wiggle room in the other public service budgets. I am obviously a huge supporter of the police department and I just can’t understand why you are so willing to give their jobs up in order to keep others that DO NOT protect the city that elected you.

 What’s going to happen when my husband or the other wives’ husband doesn’t come home one night because you guys would rather have a reserve than to have officers backing up and serving the city, or keep a few administrative positions rather then maybe being able to keep a position in the HRPD.

The fire and public works are still able to function and provide the needs that the city wants and still stay safe while doing so. The police department cannot. This cut will leave NO coverage at times for our beloved city and then the most important part to me, it leaves our officers alone, with no one to back them up, in dangerous situations that happen on a weekly, maybe even daily basis.

 What are you going to say and do when either a member of your family needs help and there is no one to help, or what are you going to say to me and my 2-year-old when my husband doesn’t come home from work one day? Please don’t look at this as a number but look at this as people and their safety, the people that elected you all to be where you’re at today!

Victoria Martin
Hood River

First, conserve

There is no question that the wind turbines proposed in the Gorge are big. Whether they are things of beauty, or an eyesore, is debatable. 

According to the Oregon Department of Energy in 2005, Oregonians got most of their electricity from burning fossil fuels (41 percent from burning coal, and 10 percent from burning natural gas).

I would guess that most people agree that burning fossil fuels to make electricity is not beneficial to the Earth, nor sustainable. Some would also argue that nuclear (3 percent), hydro (42 percent), and biomass (3 percent) have problems: toxic waste, habitat depletion, etc...  That leaves 1 percent for wind and geothermal (I suppose that solar is included in that percentage too). These power sources also have issues.

Wind power isn’t the solution for all of our energy needs, as there are few places where the wind blows consistently. We have dammed up most of our rivers, and we are literally removing mountains to access coal (and then burning it), burning up our reserves of natural gas, etc... 

This energy problem will become bigger, as we deplete the resources listed above.  Solutions to this monumental problem include: conservation, or making more energy with the ways listed above (or new methods). My guess is that it will be a combination until resources become scarce. Then, it will be reality-forced conservation.

Brian Carlstrom
Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

 ‘Chimerical’ search

I am wondering if (letter writer Mike Farmer, May 20) who speaks of the healthy conditions in our prisons for suspected terrorists can tell us how 100 persons have happened to die there.

I know, we put Japanese Americans in “camps” once because we were at war — and hey, the Nazis put my own ethnic relatives in camps because it considered them threats — and yes indeed war is, as your correspondent notes, sort of like that. But, among other obvious points, it might be noted that “war on terrorism” is, war being a (generally declared) activity between nations, a metaphor, yet waterboarding, for instance, or death from hypothermia, say, is not metaphoric at all. And meanwhile, by spending our money on this chimerical search for “security,” we continue to make war on our own ill and disabled by letting people die for lack of health insurance — unlike most countries, which recognize the value of each person through universal, single-payer, single-tier health coverage.

Paula Friedman
Parkdale