Our readers' views: Dec. 29

The Dec. 9 editorial, “Protecting Pinchot,” disappointed me. It omitted the rally purpose of holding Gifford Pinchot forest officials accountable for their public hearings requirement. Without hearings, their plan will likely exclude off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation on the 4,000 miles of secondary roads, built for 60,000-pound log trucks, where motorized recreation can easily be provided.

Total motorized trails in a typical national forest are less than 0.1 percent, yet, environmental extremist fund managers deny motorized grant applications allowing nonmotorized users to benefit using OHV funds. OHV gas taxes and registration fees, dedicated to the nonhighway and off-road vehicle activities fund ($1.3-plus million annually), are supposed to guarantee motorized recreation.

In the expansive Pinchot forest, where trees absorb exhaust and produce oxygen and where some studies suggest wildlife are less sensitive to motor vehicles than to hikers, the editorial criticism of internal combustion becomes questionable. Intolerant thinking created the recreation conflict permitting nonmotorized users to erroneously criminalize motorized use and deny recreation to those incapable of hiking.

Barbara Vertz

Cougar

In my opinion, Clark County has done a poor job of plowing the major streets outside of the city limits of Vancouver. In my observance, the county never had the plow blades set close enough to street level to remove the snow adequately. Now, since it is thawing and with all of the vehicles that had chains, what’s left is deep ruts and grooves on the roadways making it treacherous and hazardous for driving. This condition also is hard on an automobile’s suspension, tires and wheels.

I do fully understand that the county probably doesn’t have enough equipment to deal with the amount of snow that we received, but that is not an excuse for the condition the roads have now become.

No matter what you have for snow-plowing equipment, if you properly set up the equipment for the job it was intended to do, we wouldn’t now have the kind of driving conditions that we are experiencing.

Steven Stockwell

Vancouver

Concerning the local view by Dvija Bertish and Lauren Goldberg on Dec. 14, “Stormwater pollution is a critical issue for Clark County,” as government affairs director for the Clark County Association of Realtors, I would like to add a couple of facts.

In Seattle, comparable regulatory requirements add $200,000 to the price of a new home. In Clark County that figure is $56,000; the new requirements would add $60,000. How much is too much to pay for extreme environmental policies?

Also, a new housing development would be required to prevent runoff from reaching streams in amounts above that which reached streams prior to 1806.

No other major city in Washington has implemented these proposed requirements, yet the city of Vancouver has done so to settle a lawsuit initiated by the Rosemere Neighborhood Association.

This will be a devastating blow to our economic development. Many Clark County residents can plan on continuing their drive to work in Portland, because companies will be reluctant to locate in Vancouver with extreme environmental requirements.

Jim Keithley

Vancouver

It’s become increasingly apparent that just before midnight on Jan. 19, 2009, the current occupant of the White House will most likely issue blanket pardons for those in the administration responsible for:

1. failing to take appropriate action to prevent the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center,

2. misleading this nation into an unnecessary illegal war and occupation,

3. the politicizing and corruption of the Justice Department,

4. the hurricane destruction of New Orleans,

5. and the destruction of the United States’ economy by Wall Street interests.

To allow these criminals to walk free will demonstrate that those in Congress are not only hypocrites (and that the president-elect, for all his intellect and training, has clearly failed to learn anything from the mistakes of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and we can look forward to a permanent fascist majority starting in 2012), but that they do support an agenda of unmitigated class warfare and wholesale destruction of the American middle class.

Kevin J. McElrath

Camas

On Dec. 26 my two children and I drove from our home in the Walnut Grove neighborhood across town to the Carter Park neighborhood.

Our destination was a cafe at the corner of Columbia and West 31st streets.

When I turned onto the side street, my car sank into the snow like a stone in water. My children and I were stuck. With the help of a fabulous cafe employee and a few neighbors, my car was pushed to the side of the road.

Though I hoped road conditions would improve, it was clear that it wouldn’t for quite a while. I tried to drive onto Columbia Street again. We got stuck in the snow a second time.

Again we were helped by the employee and another neighbor. They dug out the snow, pushed the car, and gave me directions on how to drive out of the snow bank. What a wonderful neighborhood to help us out twice.

Maureen Andrade

Vancouver

It took an act of God to give us the white Christmas — the rest seems to be up to us.

Like the wrapping paper, ribbon and bows last week, this white stuff accumulates and will not go away without a little help. In the case of the snow, more than a little effort will be necessary.

Have you seen a snowplow wending its way through town? Or maybe a neighbor shoveling the walk or driveway? Mostly we’ve seen snow-chained vehicles following the ruts of others and a pedestrian, perhaps, as he stumbles to or from a distant bus stop, attempting to follow the ruts, too.

Having grown up in Iowa, I learned early about snow. So indiscriminate about where it lands. So peaceful and beautiful. And so stultifying of our high-paced, multi-tasking lives.

So, will the Lord take it away again? In His good time. If we want it gone any sooner, it’s up to us.

Leonard Bauhs

Vancouver