Letters
May 26, 2010

Uneasy feeling

Whenever the president says into a microphone: “Don’t watch FOX News channel and don’t listen to conservative talk radio,” I get this uneasy sensation that he doesn’t want to promote and protect our right to free speech.

W.H. Davis Jr.
Hood River

Shame

A town without a library is a town without a mind. The Internet, Facebook, and Twitter are not substitutes.

How depressing! Shame on Hood River County.

Pat Toy
Parkdale

Lyme ticks here

Lyme disease is not just an East Coast disease. It’s also prevalent in the Gorge.

When you’re hiking, gardening or walking in tall grass, wear light-colored clothing, which makes it easier to spot ticks before they attach themselves. Tuck your pants legs into your socks.

After you get home, put your clothes in the dryer for 45 minutes on high heat, which will kill any ticks, and do a tick check when you’re in the shower. A tick can be as small as a poppy seed, and tick bites aren’t like mosquito bites. They’re painless because the tick injects an anesthesia into the bite wound.

Chronic Lyme disease carries debilitating symptoms and requires expensive lengthy treatment. The best way to beat Lyme is to prevent it. Frequent tick checks and prompt removal of ticks — using tweezers — are important in preventing Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections. Please enjoy the Gorge and be well.

Beth McCullough
Husum, Wash.

Don’t zero out

For the past 17 years we’ve been playing a dangerous game in Congress. It used to be that responsible Republicans and Democrats practiced the art of legislation, crafting policies to benefit the people of our nation and not politics to keep themselves in office.

But in 1993, the conservative strategist William Kristol wrote a five-page in-house memo that changed the way the Republican Party operated. Instead of working with the Democrats to craft legislation for the nation’s common good through bipartisanship, the memo suggested that the Republican National Committee stonewall any legislation proposed or backed by the Democrats.

In other words, I would oppose the Democrats in principle in the belief that allowing any public policy to pass sponsored by the Democrats would cost the Republicans at the polls. Hence, the current “Party of No.”

This is known as the “zero sum game” where “if we lose, you win,” and vice-versa. It was the game that Newt Gingrich fleshed out in his 1994 “Contract with America” — which eventually failed. Its opposite, the “non-zero sum game,” is where “If I win, you also win,” and “If I lose, you lose, too.”

It is this Congressional game that got us through World War II and the New Deal, enabling many of our most helpful landmark programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Having spent some time observing the way Congress works (and doesn’t work) in Washington, it’s hard to be very optimistic about the future. Without some level of bipartisanship, voters will become increasingly cynical, the system will become too paralyzed to function and the whole country will continue to suffer as a consequence.

David C. Duncombe
White Salmon, Wash.

Accept responsibility

It’s now coming to light that recent or current political leaders from both major political parties, including Christine Todd Whitman (R) and Leon Panetta (D), were paid $120,000 per year for service on a high-powered BP advisory board.

Two years ago, those two and others were helicoptered to the Gulf of Mexico by BP’s chief executive to see that, as Whitman later told Newsweek, “We got a sense that they (BP) were really committed to ensuring they got it right.”

Fast-forward to the endangered present in the Gulf: Both parties are scurrying around to avoid blame. Maybe that makes this a good time for the activists in both parties to finally skip the blame game and vie with each other as to which can do the most good. 

Dave Dockham
Hood River

Arizona is right

In the May 12 Hood River News, John Mendez wrote a column, “Learning from Arizona.” In it he made some statements about which I would like to comment.

For instance, he wrote that Senate Bill 1970 is a “bad law,” that the words “criminal” and “illegal immigrant” should not be used in the same sentence; that sometimes coyotes demand more money when trying to bring the immigrants’ sons and daughters into the U.S.; that we need an immigration system that works for all (and that “dignity, respect and appreciation” are what immigrants have brought).

Several points can be made:

One: This “bad law” (SB 1070) is patterned after existing federal law, which, in my opinion, (and apparently Arizona’s) is not being adequately enforced. The law specifically prohibits “profiling,” too.

Mexico has stringent immigration law (as it should); I think that all sovereign nations, including the U.S. should have the right, too.

Two: The words “criminal” and “illegal” DO have similar meanings. “Criminal” means one who is guilty of breaking the law; “illegal” means prohibited by law. So what is the difference and why shouldn’t the words be used in the same sentence, Mr. Mendez?

Three: I think that Arizona’s right in trying to protect its citizens from murder, rape, theft, illegal drugs and property damage. Since the federal government isn’t protecting them, all the states and counties should do so.

Some of my relatives came from a foreign country and became citizens legally. Several died in World War II in protecting our freedoms.

I welcome legal immigrants with open arms!

Don Rose
Hood River

Winner’s thanks

I am sure by now that your readers are fairly tired of letters to the editor about the recent Circuit Court Judge race. Please bear with me for one last such letter.

I write to let the voters know how pleased I am to be your next Circuit Court Judge. I am very thankful to the voters of the Seventh Judicial District for voting for me in the election.

Thanks also to all of my friends, family and supporters who appeared out of the blue to knock on doors, write letters, call voters and help with signs.

Also a huge thank you to my committee, who encouraged me and kept me to my plan for the last year. The campaign has been a great new journey and I learned a lot along the way about campaigning.

More importantly, I learned a lot about our communities. I must have attended over 100 meetings and listened to the concerns of many groups, individuals, neighbors, and families.

I plan to use that information in my new position as Circuit Court Judge. As promised, I will be firm, fair, respectful and courteous. I look forward to serving you as judge.

Janet L. Stauffer
Dufur

ANOTHER VOICE

Dog ownership requires true commitment

By SUSAN KENT

Adopt A Dog Volunteers showed up for their morning shift recently to find a bowl of dog food and a cord tied to a post by the shelter front door.

The dog that had been abandoned and tied there had chewed the cord, wandered away and now is roaming around our community.

If this dog is not neutered there is a good chance that it will either become pregnant or impregnate a female while out on its own — more dogs to find homes for. If the dog hasn’t been inoculated it will be at risk for disease or could be carrying a disease that it will pass on.

The dog will soon grow hungry and thirsty. When the temperature drops tonight it will be cold. The chances of this dog getting hit by a car or fighting with another animal and injuring or being injured are high.

If Hood River County Animal Control locates the dog it may be placed at the animal shelter for three days in the hopes that the owner will come forward, which probably won’t happen. The dog will then be placed in the Adopt A Dog Program and we will work hard to find it a home.

Please be very sure when you make a decision to add a dog to your family. Everyone in the home needs to be committed to the new dog and children should be supervised.

Make sure you study the breed that would be appropriate for you. Make very sure your home is set up for the dog. including containment (which means a four-sided fence with no holes, or the dog must always be on a leash).

Dogs should not live out in the backyard, but rather in the home with their people (dogs are pack animals and need companionship). Dogs left in the yard dig, bark and are very unhappy.

Some dogs live 15-18 years; be prepared for that. And every dog will need to go to the vet occasionally; be prepared for veterinarian bills.

In the past four weeks these are just some of the dogs fostered that have been found in our community:

n An abandoned lab pup was found wandering. Upon arriving at the shelter, Adopt A Dog volunteers found he had parvo. He was very sick and often pups die of parvo. Vaccinating this dog could have prevented this.

We were very fortunate to immediately discover this dog was ill because he could have passed this disease on to other dogs in our shelter. He was transported to a vet and then into foster care. And a lot of time had to be spent decontaminating the facility. Fortunately he survived, has a clean bill of health from the vet and is up for adoption.

n An abandoned Chihuahua pup was found wandering in the road by Nobi’s. One of our volunteers saw her and rescued Willa before she was hit. After careful consideration this volunteer decided to adopt her and the pup is thriving in her new environment

n An abandoned Chihuahua was hit on Highway 35. People in the area had been feeding it for several months but he had no home. He traveled with another abandoned dog that was hit and killed the week before. He is now up for adoption.

These are just a few of our dogs and many others are up at the shelter or in Adopt A Dog foster homes. One of our volunteers is presently following up on a box of abandoned puppies.

If you see a dog wandering please phone Hood River Animal Control; don’t just turn your back. And, please do not get a dog unless you are committed to it for life. Dogs are wonderful, faithful companions. They deserve our loyalty, too.

We try and reserve judgment and prefer to educate people and help them. Sometimes, it is hard when you see so many dogs treated so badly.

The volunteers who work for the Adopt A Dog program are committed to the stray abandoned dogs of this community; please make their job a bit easier and take care of your pet.

Please also consider becoming a volunteer. An hour and a half per week of walking dogs makes all the difference in keeping them healthy, mentally and physically. Volunteer applications may be picked up at the shelter or go online www.hoodriveradoptadog.org.

n

Susan Kent, of Hood River, wrote this appeal on behalf of the Adopt A Dog volunteers.