Support Ridgefield schools
We moved to Ridgefield 25 years ago because the Ridgefield School District was consistently high in test scores. We have seen our school district maintaining this record and deliver a quality education experience for our kids.
When the maintenance and operations levy first appeared on the ballot, we did some research into what this funded. The state of Washington only funds 64 percent and federal funds only 9 percent of our education funds in the Ridgefield district. The maintenance and operations levy funds 20 percent and this needs to come from local taxpayers. These funds support special education, High Cap, music, Cispus, transportation, maintenance, athletics, and extra positions to help our schools run smoothly.
We have always voted “yes” to keep our schools scholastically strong and running efficiently. If you look at other school districts in Clark County, you will see that we deliver a higher academic excellence at a lower cost to the taxpayer.
Our youngest child is a senior. We will have no one in the schools when this replacement levy takes effect, but we believe in keeping schools strong. Please join us in voting “yes” for this replacement levy on the Feb. 9 ballot.
Gwen and Tevis Laspa
Ridgefield
Cost of upgrade is prohibitive
A Jan. 4 story reported, “Challenger slams county assessor’s performance.” Peter Van Nortwick’s suggestion to run two computer systems next to each other when changing systems or when making major upgrades works only with very small businesses. This is fine if you have a couple of computers and maybe a small server. You can switch to the new computers when the new setup is working fine. Now you have a few extra computers.
But the cost is prohibitive with many computers and lots of servers including a large database. The companies installing the software often have unexpected troubles and the project suffers one delay after another. Unfortunately, this is a common software problem.
Van Norwick’s statements are stretching the truth quite a lot. But hey, his candidacy for Clark County assessor is cheap publicity for his appraisal business.
Lars B. Larson Jr.
Vancouver
Prison closure affects our safety
I am opposed to closing Larch Corrections Center. State and local governments have been reducing sentences and eliminating community supervision as a cost-cutting measure. Now our governor and Legislature propose closure of Larch, one of the state’s most effective prisons. This, of course, occurs after the state spent millions to expand the facility and praised the center as one of the best in the nation. This is a poorly thought-out action by the state and citizens should be outraged.
I remember clearly all the new programs added to the 2007-2008 state budget. Now to expect public safety programs to suffer across the board budget cuts with other state-funded programs is unreasonable. Public safety in our state should be the highest priority. At a time when recent crimes are being committed against our citizens and police officers, more money should be directed to these functions, certainly not less.
The continued cutting of all aspects of public safety will have long-term negative impacts on the safety and livability of our communities.
Crime will increase. I encourage each of you to contact our city, county and state representatives and insist public safety be the number one priority of our governments. Keep Larch Corrections Center open.
Rod Frederiksen
Vancouver
Slang is not good dialogue
When “Shoeless” Joe Jackson left the criminal court building (1920) in custody of a sheriff after telling his story to the grand jury (1919 Black Sox baseball fixing scandal), he found several hundred youngsters, ages from 6 to 16, waiting for a glimpse of their idol. One urchin stepped up to the outfielder, and, grabbing Jackson’s coat sleeve, said: “It ain’t true, is it, Joe?”
“Yes, kid, I’m afraid it is,” Jackson replied. The boys opened a path for the ballplayer and stood in silence until he passed out of sight. “Well, I’d never have thought it,” sighed the lad.
What may have been appropriate in 1920 is no longer appropriate or funny in 2010. “Ain’t is still ain’t.” In his Jan. 2 column, “Of snow and missing gifts,” Lou Brancaccio’s usage of such with the sentence, “So we ain’t too good at predicting the weather,” did no good service. In fact, I really do not want to read a fine publication such as The Columbian to see cleverly disguised “slang” as dialogue.
Robert Henry Walz
Vancouver
Why dilute the season’s message?
In her Dec. 28 opinion column, “Religious aspects of holidays diluted,” Susan Estrich started with this question: “Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday, does it really matter?” Yes, it does matter to everyone who has hope, faith and believes in the sanctity of life through a system of a higher level of comprehension using truths and a solid foundation to guide the inner spirit.
Merry Christmas is in fact a spiritual and religious event. Christmas is the birth of Christ. The word is Christ-Mass, the celebration of the savior. We, as a nation, set up the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence on the principles of a creator, a powerful almighty God, through his direction in the Ten Commandments.
This provides us how we should live in this world with values, morals and integrity.
Happy Holiday is a positive greeting of sharing hope and joy because the word “holiday” stems from the tradition of Holy Day.
There is a God and there are different ways each of us believe as the heart leads us, giving us the strength to love unconditionally. There are traditions, symbols and memories to enjoy on this festive occasion — why is it necessary to dilute or dampen the joy of the season?
Lucille Deslandes
Vancouver
Divert grant to school staff
I just received notice of $31,000 of “art” money available from the Washington State Art Collection for Hellen Baller Grade School in Camas. I can’t say enough good things about Principal Jerry Moss, but my suggestion would be to divide this money up and pay each teacher, secretary, and support staff at Hellen Baller for their input on “crafting, shaping, molding, loving, and caring” for our daughter and all sons and daughters that attend Hellen Baller school.
With a school bond coming up, I would prefer to see a “cap” on student numbers in each classroom since, by mandate via the state of Washington, if the neighboring school districts do not pass their bonds, then their kids will fill our classrooms in Camas since we typically support our schools.
John P. Brooks
Camas
