Casino is welcome addition
Quoted in the Dec. 24 Columbian story “Federal decision shocks, dismays casino foes,” state Rep. Ed Orcutt says, “I think it’s a huge mistake. It’s absolutely unnecessary.” Orcutt also said, “The Cowlitz tribe, as a whole, is not an impoverished tribe. They’ve never been a reservation tribe, therefore, there’s no reason for them to have the land. They’re certainly not in need of more money.”
So in order for a tribe that in the past was wronged by centuries of cruelty, intolerance, and stupidity, to gain financially is to live on a reservation? He’s a privileged hypocrite.
Orcutt needs to be voted out. Orcutt represents Kalama — is that name not Native American? Guess the Republicans are showing their true side.
I welcome the casino. Let La Center figure out some kinds of revenue sources besides cardrooms and traffic tickets.
Scott White
Vancouver
Casino brings deep footprint
“Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints,” according to Chief Seattle. Seems the wisdom and insight of Chief Seattle is lost on the Cowlitz Tribe as they prefer to take your money and leave one heck of a footprint on the landscape. So, bravo Cowlitz Tribe, another casino, further evidence of the growing moral, ethical and intellectual decline in America.
Jim Armstrong
Vancouver
Christmas was back in style
Kudos to The Columbian proclaiming to all their readers a “Merry Christmas” on the Dec. 25 front page. Such a nice thought instead of the worn out “Happy Holidays” facade used elsewhere. It was also refreshing that a lot of employees working in department stores have been given permission to actually say “Merry Christmas” to their customers. Well, maybe we are getting back to what the tradition of Christmas was supposed to be.
Robert Kerr
Vancouver
Mourning the passing of a patriot
Vancouver lost a significant friend and historical figure on Dec. 19. As co-chairman of Vancouver’s Chkalov Transpolar Flight Committee, Alan Cole drew attention to Vancouver. He was the first American to receive the “Order of Friendship” from the Russian Federation, awarded to him by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, in Seattle in 1995. Cole was a retired U.S. Army Captain and buried with military honors in Portland on Dec. 23.
A patriot who believed in people-to-people diplomacy, Cole, with PUD engineer Dick Bowne and Fred Neth, President of Columbia Machine Co., played a key role in awakening Vancouver’s historical memory in 1974. Vancouver had forgotten the world-famous nonstop transpolar flight from Moscow by three daring Russians, who landed here by accident with 10 gallons of gas in their tanks, on June 20,1937.
But we were in a Cold War. Russians were feared and mistrusted. How to honor three brave pilots, who happened to be Russian, but put Vancouver in the world’s spotlight for several weeks in 1937? Cole insisted that nationalism and politics were irrelevant.
Cole was a great man, with a huge heart, and an exceptional talent for people-to-people diplomacy. And those who recognize the significance of Vancouver’s unique relationship with Russia will especially mourn his passing.
Jess Frost
Portland
Eagle Scout serves community
Driving around town in November, I saw signs at many key intersections reminding everyone to put a bag out for the Walk and Knock food collection. I thought these signs were such a great idea and would certainly lead to a record-breaking collection of food. I was glad to read in the Dec. 14 Columbian story “Walk & Knock draws record generosity” about high school senior John Cummings, who had the idea to make the signs, raised the money, and then organized the placement and timely removal of them, for his Eagle project. My hat is off to him. What a great idea. What a great Eagle project. Glad to have someone like Cummings making a difference in our community.
Laura Sheppert
Vancouver
Eliminate dirty energy from our state
According to the Dec. 23 Columbian story “Disaster 2010,” the extremes in weather our planet has been experiencing such as droughts, flooding, heat waves, and record snowfalls, are due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Unless we start to reduce these emissions now, our planet will be virtually uninhabitable for future generations. It is selfish and immoral to continue on, “business as usual.” Our state has one coal-fired power plant, Canadian-owned TransAlta, located in Centralia. It is our state’s single largest source of greenhouse gases, emitting an astounding 12 million tons annually.
Research shows we can do without this dirty power and replace it with clean energy by 2015. However, unless we speak up, it will continue spewing its pollution until 2025. Please join me in contacting your representative to demand the closure of TransAlta by no later than 2015. More information is at http://coalfreewa.wordpress.com.
Virginia Nugent
Vancouver
Climate cycles disregarded
Man-made global cooling — Al Gore has made multiple hundreds of millions on that claim. Various labs and institutions have gotten millions in federal funding dollars claiming it’s happening. Many proponents of the opposing view have been slammed and belittled by the left, the media and by Hollywood. The word Neanderthal has been used. The concept of natural climate cycles is ignored because that doesn’t produce federal funding.
However, evidence points to the world entering a mini-Ice Age, with 20 to 30 years of below-average temperatures. With that in mind, will Vice President Joe Biden write a book and make a movie claiming that it’s going to take billions of U.S. dollars to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to fight this insidious man-made global cooling?
Bill Kercher
Vancouver
Electric cars are the wrong solution
What do you think will happen when we lose power due to a storm, which happened on the East Coast over the holidays? I call it another EPA government plan forcing electric cars down our throats messing up our system. We already have “brownouts” and BPA planning to run power lines through private properties. The push for electric cars is a move in the wrong direction.
If you think electric cars are the answer, be sure you purchase a bike, because you will need it no matter where you live. There will be a power struggle big time and it won’t be just the government. Governments do not fix things; they mess it up and call it “change.”
Anita Sunde
Washougal
