Washougal residents are waterlogged
Washougal not only plans to increase water 13.5 percent, sewer 28.5 percent and stormwater 14.5 percent, but also bill residents for upgrading a water system to “pay” the way for future development. (Nov. 7 Columbian story “Washougal utilities public hearing is Nov. 15.”)
Washougal City Council will be asked to pass two construction agreements on Nov. 15. Washougal’s objective is to upgrade its utility system during the WSDOT state Highway 14 project. One agreement is for $48,351 with an overrun allowance of 25 percent. The second agreement is $19,523 with the same overrun conditions as the first agreement. There’s a good possibility the costs will run over $84,000.
Big development is costing Washougal. Now the city wants its residents to pay for mandated utility costs. Why not redirect the $84,000 from the above agreements. Other possible funds could come from the city’s budget: $22,000 in miscellaneous and $13,550 in the wellness programs. Developers have already had their chance; now give Washougal residents their chance.
Sherian A. Wright
Washougal
Embrace the notion of ‘separation’
In his Nov. 4 guest opinion Thomas Sowell discussed, “‘Separation’ of church, state is false notion.” Separation of church and state is not a false notion — it is a protection of freedom for people of all faiths. The word “separation” is not mentioned in the First Amendment. This is basis for those who wish to have our government “endorse” “support” or “confirm” religion. What is the aim of this movement? What is the gain to them from this movement?
What does government do best? Exert control over the lives of its citizens. Shall we be ruled by government enforcing biblical law? That’s what this comes down to and the best examples of rule by government and religion joined at the hip is Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and most of the Middle East.
Embrace “separation” or live to regret it.
Celia Louderback
Vancouver
Stimulate economy with balance
I get so tired of hearing that the stimulus bill didn’t create jobs. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi praised the Recovery Act and said that it created a quarter of a million jobs in his state. No Republican has spoken against this bill on its merits. However, the Republicans have blocked extensions three times. It’s now dead, and all of those people will become jobless.
The Republicans under George W. Bush gave us all tax breaks during wartime (usually taxes are increased to pay for the war and keep our country afloat). They put an expiration date on these tax breaks. President Obama didn’t want the working people to suffer, so he encouraged continuing the tax breaks to those making under $250,000. The Republicans in the Senate blocked this legislation, too. If the rich couldn’t get their tax breaks, no one could. Who are they trying to help and support, the people who are hurting in this time of recession or the greedy corporations who are outsourcing American jobs?
If you really want to balance the budget, help get money to those who will spend it and stimulate the economy. That’s not the millionaires. That’s us.
Donell Morley
Vancouver
School funding mandated again
Randy Simensen’s Nov. 7 letter, “Provide good education to all children,” mentioned the downfall of public education and the need to restructure funding if we are to have good books, smaller classes, etc. His suggestion to select educators, accountants, and elected officials for innovative ways to assure all children have quality education did not happen. Hundreds of schools, PTAs and parents have been fighting 30 years for what he asks. Superior Court Judge Robert Doran in 1977 mandated legislators define and fully fund basic education. Legislators failed and so last year Judge John Erlick of King County Superior Court once again ruled that the state fund K-12. The state may appeal it.
Testifying before those committees we found few carefully selected educators on committees and no legislators that had training in program budget planning for schools. Lots of CEOs and college administrators though. Learn more from Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (http://www.waschoolexcellence.org). Read the judge’s findings. The history of why nothing was done is documented. Although schools have been made aware of the lawsuits, few parents and teachers seem to know. With a properly defined basic program anyone trained in program budget planning can put together a budget. Please spread the word.
Dale Shotwell
Vancouver
Scare tactics steer the elections
The electoral system is broken and it is war on the poor. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to reinterpret corporate personhood in the case of Citizens United has enabled this attack on America’s democracy to legally occur without a single dollar to be accounted for. Several hundred million dollars have been spent to market opinions in favor of the interests of the rich. To scare the populace into thinking that the government is out to get them; that if they do not vote in the interest of the rich, their livelihood will be lost.
If one claims to stand by the principles of freedom, democracy and the American way, one cannot support this decision. I know that this goes against what the Founding Fathers intended for the Constitution. They meant for the Constitution to protect us from tyrannical corporations such as the ones we face today. The corporations that have risen to new heights from a pile they created by digging our nation and economy further into ruin. It is not what we want either, but we are too busy gawking at the most recent scandals in the tabloids to realize the danger that this brings to our democracy.
Christopher Sean Williams
Vancouver
Don’t change system that’s working
The one thing that I do not understand about officials in the Obama agenda is that they are trying to morph our economic system, which we have had for more than 200 years. Why do we want to change something that has worked so long and been so effective then and now?
I really do not want to look like France or Greece in the future, and we were hurtling toward that destination.
Shane Ring
Yacolt
Entitlement is wrong attitude
I think county, state and federal employees feel they are entitled to wage and benefit increases when the rest of the people are taking cuts. Soon there won’t be money to pay them. They keep saying they can get better jobs elsewhere. If that was the case they would have already.
Jeannette Harlow
Ridgefield
