Our Readers’ Views

Keep message clear for BPA to hear

Stop Towers Now and No Way BPA are two citizens groups opposing the Bonneville Power Administration’s plans to erect new 500-kilovolt transmission lines through Clark and Cowlitz counties. Their message from the onset has been no new lines in populated areas.

You might think these groups are a small minority with no real backing and few supporters, but you would be mistaken. A partial list of supporters in favor of locating new lines away from populated areas includes the commissioners of Clark and Cowlitz counties, the city of Battle Ground, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., state Sens. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, Joseph Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, and Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, state Reps. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, and Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, the town of Yacolt, and Battle Ground and Hockinson school districts. Additionally many thousands of families opposed to the lines are busy working and raising their children. They have attended meetings, written letters and held signs. Given the concerns about health, real estate values and safety, I’m not sure who would support the building of any new lines close to schools, neighborhoods and privately owned land. Many folks have spoken up, let’s hope BPA is hearing them.

Lynn Stiglich

Vancouver

Money’s running out; make changes

Unlike the president of the United States and federal lawmakers, state governors cannot resolve budget shortfalls by borrowing or printing more currency. Therefore, the only choice to resolve budget shortfalls is to reduce expenditures (short- and long-term) to a level that is commensurate with taxes collected. If the state has taken on more workers than it can support, then the employment rolls need to be reduced. If the state has made agreements with other entities by contract, then those contracts need to be re-negotiated or abolished commensurate with available taxes collected annually.

Governors, bound by the constitution of their state, must keep the state on budget on a year-by-year basis. This is the most significant job of the chief executive of the state … period.

The idea that state jobs, benefits, entitlements and contracts are somehow sacred is a nonstarter. Rational minds have been warning for years that “other people’s money” to the state will run out one day. That day has arrived. Somebody in Olympia (Democrats and Republicans alike) should have been listening.

Jock Demme

Vancouver

Marriage equality affirmed by law

Regarding the government’s decision to cease blocking the right of gays to marry, the religious right wing of the Republican Party will view it as the end of the world as we know it, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party will compare it to the fall of the Berlin wall. It is neither. It is merely an affirmation of the 14th Amendment decree that no state may deprive any person within its jurisdiction of the equal protection of the laws.

There is no downside to this action. People whose primary concern is biblical dogma may still marry within its dictates. Those folks, whatever religion they belong to, may still worship in their own way. No heterosexual’s life is altered in any way by this decision.

The upside to this decision is that all minorities may breathe a little easier since the last deprivation of a minority’s rights is being rescinded. If one minority’s rights can be abridged, all minorities’ rights can be abridged. This remains an issue since there are many in the religious majority who still refer to the United States as a Christian nation. The Constitution guarantees to every citizen the right to have rights. The 14th Amendment does not enact the King James Bible.

Joel Littauer

Vancouver

Influence of unions spills over

In his Feb. 27 guest opinion, “Wisconsin governor calm in eye of storm,” it was no surprise that columnist George Will applauded Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union crusade in Wisconsin, but I was bothered that he did it under the colors of an unbiased journalist. The only explanatory mention was that he writes for the Washington Post syndicate. Not mentioned is that Will sits on the board of directors of the Bradley Foundation, an admittedly anti-union, pro-privatization think tank, and presumably is paid by them for his position.

I have never been a member of a union, but I recognize that more than one of my employers feared unionization, and as a result, boosted pay and benefits. When I retired, it was with a pension that I never paid into, and full medical that requires no payment from me, so what the unions have been getting is not that extraordinary.

I would like the note at the end of columns to identify the writer’s affiliations, and because many groups have vague, patriotic names, where they really stand.

Bill Stewart

Vancouver

Reform excessive sentencing terms

The number of incarcerated people in Washington state has quadrupled in the past 20 years. Our present prison population is more than 18,000. Crime must be punished but the time should fit the crime, not as our mandatory minimum sentences demand. The time incarcerated should be utilized as a time for treatment, education, and job training to aid in the reduction of recidivism and the constant recycling in and out of prison.

Highly unjust and very expensive, we send people to prison for life for comparatively minor offenses under our three-strikes law. Many have had no chance for rehabilitation in the past since educational and vocational programs were nonexistent. It is unfair and if that doesn’t bother you, consider the unnecessary burden to the taxpayer.

When laws that we’ve created prevent us from doing the right thing, it’s time to fix those laws. We felt warm and safe with our three-strikes law but our intent of taking the “worst of the worst” off the streets has expanded into a mass incarceration that includes nonviolent people, drug addicts, the mentally ill. We are no safer. We are a lot poorer. Please contact your state legislators to support SB 5236, (Providing a minimum term sentence for certain persistent offenders) for much-needed reform.

Sandra Gadberry

Vancouver

Those who contributed deserve funds

In response to Curtis A. Paulson’s Feb. 25 letter, “Legal citizenry is a privilege,” truer words were never spoken. I had worked for many companies, contributing to the Social Security system to benefit myself and those who legally earned their benefits, not to be given to those who never earned a dime of the system.

All those who worked and earned it, like myself, should be enraged about the unjust and outrageous giveaway of our funds.

Gene A. Loomas

Vancouver