Letters
May 29, 2010

Along the trough

Highly paid government employees are supposed to either have ideas or solutions to the problems encountered and when they no longer have these ideas or solutions — they are to get out of the way. That goes for elected and non-elected. Some problems are new and others are old looking for new ideas.

Does not appear that incumbents and other government “deadwood” are willing to get out of the way and stop feeding from the public trough so others can. The statesmen of the past knew this and got out by going back to their farms —- never to be heard from again except by history. Too bad the present ones do not have the same sense.

Paul Nevin
Hood River

Learn about water

Are you interested in the future of our water supplies in Oregon?

The critical world issue of the 21st century and beyond will be increasingly WATER — for drinking, bathing, irrigating and ecosystem maintenance. In Oregon, water tables are dropping dramatically in many locations, wells are going dry and some 1,861 bodies of water are impaired and do not meet water quality standards.

To their credit, the 2009 Oregon Legislature passed HB 3369 which directed the Water Resources Department to develop a statewide Integrated Water Resources Strategy. There are some 21 local, state and federal entities formally involved with the process and many agriculture, industry and fishing groups are providing their input.

A series of open houses have been held, and will be held, around the state through the first part of June. The main purpose of these open houses is to gather public input. None of them are, or have been, within really easy driving distance of Hood River County.

However, you may submit your ideas, comments, etc., on the Water Resources Department website: www.wrd.state.or.us. Under the paragraph “Oregon’s Integrated Water Resources Strategy,” click on “Project Pages.” Click on “Background Documents” to read the papers on the major issues.

All Oregonians will be impacted by our future water resources, or lack thereof. The more public input into the IWRS, the better. Please visit the website, read the documents and express your opinions, suggestions and ideas.

Hugh B. McMahan
Mount Hood

Penny foolish

“Check your math, and direction,“ Jeff Zipfel’s (May 8) letter in rebuttal to complaints regarding parking meters states that there is free parking “just a few feet west” of the library.

Where exactly is the free parking west of the library Mr. Zipfel is referring to? In addition, Mr. Zipfel implies that “furloughing and laying off workers” is ample and just cause for the City of Hood River to ignore a broken or malfunctioning parking meter.

I am sure that if the broken and/or malfunctioning city equipment directly impacted Mr. Zipfel, he would have a much different stance on the issue.

As far as his math, Mr. Zipfel concludes that “paying $7.50 to go to The Dalles to save $3 in parking” is fine, but he goes on to say that when you factor in “wear, tear and depreciation, you have wasted about five times what you have saved” is quite a stretch.

Using Mr. Zipfel’s math, five times the difference of $7.50 in fuel less the $3 in parking equals $22.50 in depreciation for a trip of only 50 miles. (Mr. Zipfel apparently did not feel compelled to disclose the source of this “fact”)

Mr. Zipfel, “I don’t know what you drive” either, but may I suggest you cut your losses now, and look into a different vehicle. Really. In addition, Mr. Zipfel seems eager to throw out catch phrases, such as “Limbaugh/Beck”, and “Republicanism.“ He did, however, leave out Hannity/Palin. Maybe Mr. Zipfel should just come out and say what is really on his mind.

Dallas Glenn
Hood River

Parking ticket ’slap’

This past week while traveling through your city, we stopped for lunch on our way home to Seaside after a road trip through Oregon to Idaho.

It had been a nice break from our routine as owners of a gift shop which is about to have its busy tourist season. We had particularly enjoyed visiting many of the small communities along the way.

Upon returning to our car we were amazed to discover a parking ticket. We expect to pay for parking in Portland; it astounded us that your city chooses to have a similar system.

It particularly seemed like a slap in the face to us as a visitor. I’m glad to say we don’t do that to our visitors. We hope to see you this summer.

Carol and Don Brenneman
Seaside

Responses to the library vote:

District unwanted

I feel that some folks did not get the real message sent by the voters. I do not believe there were multiple reasons sent by the voters. They the voters sent the message that they could not afford any more new taxes, period!

The folks who did not vote for the library district I feel did not vote to close the library. They voted against forming a library district.

Jerry Petricko
Odell

Horrible example

The library is a magical place for children. I will never forget the rainy Saturday morning that I wandered in with my children and we quickly found ourselves captivated by an amazing Japanese story teller. What a day!

The shocked and disappointed looks on my children’s faces upon learning that our community voted to close the library was heartbreaking. Add to that their concern for friends who depend on the library as their only source of books and computer access.

When I think of all the children who wrote letters to the editor, and remember the image of my 6-year-old carrying home a sign as big as he is to put in our yard, I really wonder what they have learned from this experience.

I realize that many have remarked that they don’t use the library. This argument baffles me. We all pay for things we don’t use as members of a community.

I hope that my children and others are able to hold on to community-minded values despite the horrible example we have recently set for them. In five, 15, or 30 years when it is their turn to vote on health care for you, a senior center or a park for you to enjoy in your retirement, you will be glad that they did not choose to follow this example.

Kimberly Humann
Hood River

No library, no smarts!

A library is a place many people visit to educate themselves and find useful information. Without the library, what is going to happen to our generation and future generations?

Many people will say there isn’t a need for a library now that we have Internet. They don’t understand. Anyone can post any false information for anyone to read on the World Wide Web. Numerous websites let anybody change facts on them, like Wikipedia.

Books aren’t full of fake facts. Not everything is allowed to be published in a book. If an author is writing a book or article that is nonfiction, they prove their information.

Clearly, without the Hood River County Library, people will be turning to the Internet and filling their minds with information that is not true.

Our generation and generations to come will have a lack of knowledge.

Mary Jane Laney, 12
Hood River

Moving ahead on library

As someone who has from the very beginning been part of trying to save the library, I want to assure the public that we — and by “we” I mean everyone who wants to be involved — will be doing everything we can to reopen the library on some basis as soon as possible.

But people also need to understand that whatever we are able to do in the short term, reopening the library doesn’t mean we’ll get back what we had — which is one of the best libraries for its size in the state.

The library as we’ve known it included availability (hours open), highly trained professional staff, frequent special programs, a wide variety of children’s and other services, Internet access, community meeting space, the ability to get books from all over the country through interlibrary loan, and much more.

The best we’re likely to achieve during the next year is a building with books in it that’s open periodically during the week, staffed by volunteers, funded by donations. We may not be able to achieve even that much. If we do, it will be a library — but certainly not THE library.

A long-term approach to re-establishing and sustaining a good and fully useful library is still needed. Whether it’s some other form of library district or another funding mechanism entirely, it will need to be both sufficient and permanent to do the job.

Right now the effort to reopen and preserve the libraries of Hood River, Cascade Locks and Parkdale is beginning. Committees are being formed. Options are being researched. The opportunity is now for you to be involved in both the short-term efforts and the long-term planning.

Anyone who wants to be on the mailing list should provide their e-mail address to saveourhoodriverlibrary@gmail.com.

Glenn Harris
Hood River

Sign him up

Suggestion: Let’s start a newspaper list of volunteers and please put me down for four hours a week at a desk job.

Dave Dockham
Hood River