Our readers' views, July 12, 2009

We have been gone from Vancouver for just over a year … the siren call of grandchildren and family responsibility trumped the quality of life in Vancouver and the Portland area. But, oh my gosh, how we miss our former lives in Vancouver.

We miss the largely decent people, we miss the cleanliness, we miss the civic involvement, and yes, we miss the relative innocence compared to the complexity of California.

I can only encourage you all to consider the fiscal/social nightmare facing California as you seek to maintain the fabric of your existence in Vancouver. You have something to protect and embrace … a sublime expression of what should be in life.

We still sometimes awaken in the mornings and envision ourselves being in Vancouver. Whatever difficulties you face, whatever dissonance you experience, you live in a fabulous place filled with truly remarkable people. Cherish, support, and protect the legacy you leave your children and grandchildren. Vancouver is truly a wonderful place.

Stephen R. Hoover
Sacramento, Calif.

I read the story "Learning to lead" in the June 20 Columbian. Mark Morey of The Yakima Herald-Republic wrote about the ROTC cadet program at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. What a great opportunity for our young men and women to be career officers in the U.S. Army.

I am proud to know an Army officer who graduated from Hudson's Bay High School in 1987. He attended CWU on a ROTC cadet scholarship and graduated with special honors in 1991. He was sworn in the regular U.S. Army as a second lieutenant at Fort Lewis.

He was assigned to aviation as a helicopter pilot and participated with other graduates from West Point. He later specialized in Apache helicopters. He was a pilot and top Apache instructor. Many of his graduating pilots flew Apaches in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served his country in Iraq as a major in charge of 100 helicopters.

Presently, Lt. Colonel Chris Chronis is the garrison commander of Fort Greely, about 90 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Vancouver and Clark County should be proud of "one of our own" who chose an Army career. It all began as a young ROTC cadet at Central Washington University just 22 years ago.

Wayne "Bucky" Ritter
Ridgefield

David Thies' July 5 opinion piece, "Northwest wind power a threat to raptors," on wind power raises legitimate concerns about bird deaths resulting from poorly designed wind power development, but his attack on the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation as strong-arming conservation groups to acquiesce to wind developers is flat-out wrong.

As executive director of Friends of the Columbia Gorge for the past decade, I can tell you that we have been the recipient of several grants from the Bullitt Foundation. At the same time, we have worked to convince wind energy developers in the Gorge area to redesign projects to avoid or minimize impacts to birds. We have also opposed projects that were sited in environmentally sensitive areas. The Bullitt Foundation never once raised a concern about our efforts or pressured us to back away from our positions.

Most in the conservation community understand that wind power is an important part our energy future, but these projects must be sited and designed so that we don't create new problems while trying to solve existing ones.

Kevin Gorman
Portland

Habitat for Humanity initiated a special program to help restore housing to the areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and many other distressed places. Many people from the Vancouver area have gone to Gulf states to restore housing. Much is left to be done.

But here locally, churches are going into partnership to put local people into better housing. Three Presbyterian churches — Columbia and First Presbyterian of Vancouver, and St. John's of Camas — are sharing their skills, financial resources, etc., to put up a house for a local family. The land for the house was donated by a Vancouver philanthropist. The house to be built is in the Five Corners area of Orchards, near Covington Road.

The selected family, one of many hundreds, has to put in a sweat equity of 500 hours, working on the job site or otherwise volunteering for the Evergreen Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. There are also opportunities for construction workers and other individuals to volunteer their skills by calling 360-737-1759 or 360-566-3644.

Alvin Fischer
Vancouver

Barack Obama's administration claims to have a new and potentially successful approach to the foreign policy vexation that is North Korea. From now on, we are told Pyongyang will have to come clean about its nuclear activities and illicit trade in missiles. According to administration spokespeople, the U.S. will henceforth assume a hardboiled attitude of confronting North Korean provocations. We won't "reward" North Korea.

Unfortunately, one would be justified in regarding this "new" policy with extreme skepticism.

If the past 60 years of U.S. policy towards Northeast Asia are a guide, we can assume that Washington, D.C., will initially talk tough but end up negotiating all sorts of back-door deals.

In 1968, for instance, the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo was captured and its crew placed on "trial." Lyndon Johnson's White House said at first it wouldn't bargain with the North Koreans. Of course, they ended up doing just that.

Similarly, Obama's people maintain that they'll make no deals to win the release of two captured American journalists. Already, however, there is talk about sending a "special envoy." We see this particular diplomatic scenario over and over.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" means "more of the same" when it comes to interactions with North Korea.

Frank W. Goheen
CAMAS

How can anyone come up with something so off the wall as Jeremy Baenen's June 29 letter, "Appointments grant unlimited power," about the "czars" appointed by President Obama? What about the "czars" appointed by Reagan, Bush, Ford and others?

Simply because Webster's dictionary defines a czar as having unlimited power (in Russia) doesn't mean that these "czars" do.

This term "czar" the writer seems to be so uptight about is an invention of the media, not a job description. I'm appalled to think any person would try to sell this bill of goods. Baenen is right about one thing: "This isn't Russia."

Chris Keuscher
Vancouver