Symphony director is a treasure

My wife and I had the good fortune to see the conductor of the Vancouver Symphony, Salvador Brotons, conduct the Banda Municipal de Barcelona while visiting Spain earlier this month. We expected and got a wonderful performance. The real eye-opener, however, was the esteem and even adulation in which the maestro is held in the rest of the world.

Brotons performed in a magnificent venue in front of thousands of people, security was tight and people were clamoring to be near him. We found that this is the norm for Maestro Brotons when he performs around the world.

We are so very fortunate to have one of the world’s finest conductors right here in Vancouver and clearly we take it for granted. We are desperately looking for ways to draw people into downtown Vancouver to boost the economy. We have a rare talent here. We need to build an arts center to give people a reason to come downtown and stay to dine and shop. We have a rare talent in our hands, we should do our best to retain Brotons and draw other elite performers to Vancouver.

Bob Dingethal

Ridgefield

Poor management in wetlands issue

The June 28 Columbian story “Access denied” reported on wetland mitigation east of Ridgefield. This issue has been an ongoing battle for almost a year.

It is interesting to see WSDOT and other “parties” implying a lack of or misrepresentation of easement when documentation clearly noted legal easements. The sad thing about this whole affair is the poor management and the lack of ownership regarding this issue. Now, WSDOT has proposed eminent domain, offering a small amount of compensation for property my elderly neighbor has held for over 30 years. As she refuses, they are proceeding to take it from her.

All across our nation, farmers, ranchers and other homeowners struggle to save their land and homes. In this tough economic environment, it is a shame that they must now fight off the very system we thought was there to ensure our rights were never violated. It raises the question, “Do ‘We the People’ have a government that is ‘for the people’ or have they become like the carpetbaggers, known for questionable objectives?”

Is it possible that receiving stimulus funds has become more important than the residents of this state? Coercion should not be an acceptable means for acquiring another’s property.

Patricia Table

Ridgefield

Cut waste in administrative areas

One of the jobs of government is to protect its people. The city of Vancouver is in a budget crunch. So one of the things they are considering is laying off police and firemen. This may get the attention of the public to want to give more in taxes for protection, but this is one of the main jobs of government.

Government should be cutting the fat in administration (not in the fire and police departments) and other areas that do not affect the protection of the people. Any really good manager can find waste and areas to cut and streamline a business but apparently the management of government employees is not capable.

Paul E. Nelson

Vancouver

‘Bomb’ fireworks cross the line

I appreciated Tom Koenninger’s July 7 column, “It’s time to silence personal fireworks.” He made some good points.

I hope some of the offenders who read his column reside near Columbia Ridge in the Camas-Washougal area. We appreciate the pretty displays; let us know when they will be visible to us but cut out the bomb-sounding fireworks. It really shook some of us up.

Keep up the good opinion columns, Tom.

Evelyn Rice

Washougal

Answers not always ‘in the bag’

Regional grocery store chains are considering eliminating plastic bags and charging 5 cents for each paper bag and eventually phasing them out. But which one is better? There are pros and cons on each of them.

Plastic bags can end up in the ocean and pollute or kill our marine life, be buried in the landfill, or some of the bags can be recycled.

Paper bags cut down our trees, eliminate the habitat for wildlife, or create mudslides that can destroy homes and human lives. (Do you remember why we went to plastic in the first place … one reason was to save our trees.)

Reusable tote bags: It sounds like the answer to the use of plastic or paper, doesn’t it? But if you don’t wash them after almost every use, you possibly could spread E. coli, salmonella, etc., to our family and contaminate your food from leaky or damp meat and poultry packages that touches your produce, breads, etc. You can’t say that you’ll put them in those little plastic bags that they supply near the meat and produce counters as they are plastic and stores will probably get rid of them, also.

So which one do you use?

Barbara O’leary

Vancouver

Many jobs are lost to illegal workers

I read recent stories in the paper about us reforming our immigration laws. My question is: Why do we have to change our laws to accommodate these illegals, who by the way are in fact breaking those very laws?

And now our federal government has decided to file an injunction to stop Arizona from at least trying to do what our government will not do. (July 7 Columbian story “U.S. sues Arizona over immigration law.”)

What has happened to this great country of ours when we let another country dictate what we can or cannot do? There was a time when this would not have happened.

Construction, landscape, factory — do these sound familiar? Those jobs used to be ours.

With 15 million Americans out of work, I wonder just how many could be working if not for these illegals? There are a lot of us that have worked for many years to increase our wages but now I am told I have to work for less so that I can compete with them. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

When Barack Obama promised us a change I did not realize it meant us sitting at home while the illegals work.

Lloyd Jolley

Vancouver

War in Afghanistan is pointless

Afghanistan is just as pointless as the Vietnam conflict was (where my brother died and for what?).

Originally, supposedly we were after Osama bin Laden in retaliation for 9/11. Well, that “mission” is over and thousands are dying to no point other than corporate interests and continued Blackwatertype “contractors.”

It’s time to stop and spend the money at home, creating green jobs, building infrastructure and education — all the things we can’t afford because of this idiotic war.

Victoria Rountree

Vancouver

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