Our readers' views: Oct. 6

Wise spending?

Am I the only person who wonders how it is that the city of Vancouver cannot afford to repair our streets, hire more police officers or even support the wildly popular Fourth of July event, but it can afford to spend tens of thousands (possibly into the hundreds of thousands) to fight the building of a casino that will not even be inside the city limits?

On top of that, we have a culture within our city that creates million-dollar settlements for on-the-job discrimination.

I hope we all remember this in the next city election. I know I will.

Robert Figley
Vancouver

Great bargain at $1.30

I had a “green” day recently. My car was in the shop and I had some errands to do so I decided to take the bus.

I happen to live right across the street from a C-Tran stop so I hopped over there and waited. The bus picked me up 20 minutes later, the driver was friendly, the bus was new-ish and clean, and the bus dropped me a couple of blocks from where I needed to go. It was a pleasant experience. I got a little exercise walking between errands and then I caught another bus to the grocery store. One bus took me all the way home.

C-Tran is a great bargain at $1.30 per trip and I found it quite convenient and a pleasure to ride. I would recommend the bus to anyone. It helps beat the high cost of fuel and it reduces carbon emissions. I am going to try to ride the bus more often.

Roger Cole
Vancouver

Congress incapable of unity

In one of the most crucial times in our country’s history and in an almost financial collapse, the Congress continues business as usual. Each party is trying to shuffle blame on the other, in what amounts to a political bipartisan snit. These learned, powerful people are acting like third-graders, bickering and bullying. They seem incapable, as a body, to shed their alliances to their party and lobbyists’ contributions, to work for the good of the country when its welfare is at stake.

Recently, a Washington Mutual CEO received nearly $18 million as severance pay for 18 days of work. This should demonstrate that corporate greed and fiscal irresponsibility have led to our situation.

It is apparent that Congress’ deportment will not change. The voters need to bury their partisanship and remove these people from office.

Wilfred J. Hudson
Vancouver

No turning back

Now that it appears that restrictions are being removed from offshore drilling and each state will make that decision, how many drill rigs will be working in Bristol Bay, Alaska? Will Gov. Sarah Palin open up that area and other offshore areas for drilling? Prince William Sound is probably a poor bet to get Alaskans to support drilling there. Offshore drill rigs pollute and when the “gunk” goes into the water, it is impossible to recover it.

When the Exxon-Valdez hit that reef, there was no turning back.

Hugh Shuford
Vancouver

Trips equate to many jobs

Mark Jones’ Sept. 28 letter, “Effect of trucks is crushing,” asks if anyone felt the repercussions of the 170 to 190 truck trips he counted after the opening of Livingston Mountain Quarry’s rock crusher. Yes, I have felt the repercussions and many of my friends, family and co-workers have felt the effect.

Each time we see a load of gravel on the highway consider what we don’t see:
Someone was paid to blast the rock, someone was paid to load it into trucks, someone was paid to drive the trucks to the crusher, someone was paid to crush the gravel, someone was paid to load rock into the trucks we see on the highway. At a delivery site, someone was paid to place a concrete foundation where more families supporting skilled tradesmen will enjoy the benefits of the loads these trucks are hauling.

I, too, urge contacting Commissioner Marc Boldt, 360-397-2232 or marc.boldt@clark.wa.gov. Ask him to put more gravel trucks on the road as soon as possible.

Brad Elfring
Yacolt

Require bulk dispensers

I’ve been to three events at the Amphitheater at Clark County this year, and I am very disappointed at the environmentally unconscious concessions. They bring in aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles and then proceed to pour the contents into a secondary container for customers rather than dispensing all beverages from bulk sources.

This makes no sense when they dispense most all of the beer and all of the soda from bulk containers already. Why not do that for all the beverages including water?

Whether they recycle behind the scenes or not makes no difference — they are still doubling the volume of waste. Amphitheater management should take responsibility for reducing the amount of waste produced from its events and require the vendors do the same.

Bobbie Redington
Vancouver

Lower benzene levels

Research shows that the Northwest has a higher rate of breast cancer than other states including California. Research in Portland showed that people living within
one mile of a major thoroughfare have a greater chance of contracting cancer.

Gasoline supplies in Oregon and Washington have an additive called benzene, which is a known carcinogen. California gasoline does not have benzene added. Benzene is not incinerated during engine combustion. It’s present in the car’s exhaust. Northwest gasoline currently has three times higher levels of benzene than EPA’s proposed national standard.

EPA’s proposal won’t guarantee reductions in Northwest fuel benzene levels because it establishes a market-based benzene credit banking, trading program that allows refineries to buy and sell “units of benzene in gasoline” nationally. Instead, we need a nationwide minimum ­standard to regulate the use of benzene.

Betty Reinhardt
Battle Ground