Opinion
In Our View: Put Experts in Charge
Municipalities are best run by trained managers, not politicians
For many good reasons, three of the four largest cities in Clark County (Vancouver, Battle Ground and Ridgefield) have highly trained experts — and not politicians — running day-to-day municipal operations. Some members of the Washougal City Council are wisely considering a conversion to that same superior system.
Callaghan: Lowdown on possible shutdown of state government
Gov. Jay Inslee's press secretary characterized the lack of information about a state government shutdown that might happen July 1 like this: "There are more Qs than As right now."
Letter: Flaws in bridge plan are obvious
I will never understand why so many Clark County residents do not grasp the negative implications of a new Interstate 5 toll bridge.
Letter: Validity of survey questionable
At the end of last month, I participated in Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler's, R-Vancouver, survey concerning health care. At the time, I commented on the skewed choice of answer options, as others likewise noted in their editorial submissions. The survey offered three negative-leaning answers and one neutral.
Letter: Impact on hospitals would be huge
Larry Little's June 14 letter, "Religious doctrine has much leeway," about Catholic hospitals and abortion, stated: "If abortions won't be performed at Catholic hospitals to save the life of the mother, that would include and threaten a huge population that aren't Catholic." I submit the following from the Centers for Disease Control website.
Letter: Against changing power structure
Regarding the June 16 story, "Washougal eyes changing government style: Council-manager system would shift governing power from mayor to manager," I am totally against taking away the rights of voters to put the elected mayor in charge of the daily administrative operations of the city.
Letter: Acceptance must be emphasized
Bullying and suicide are increasing every day. From cyberbullying to physical bullying, there aren't many teens who haven't experienced bullying. Adults are always trying to decrease the amount of teen suicide, but unless we remove all bullies and demolish all insecurities, what can be done?
In Our View: Learning Consistently
State's math and language arts classes are setting up for national standards
Local control is essential in the pursuit of high-quality public education. Locally elected school board members and locally hired administrators and teachers know best the needs of school districts, some diverse, some more uniform.By the same token, public education is enshrined in our state constitution as the state's "paramount duty," so there is an accountability that must be met at the state level. And with our economic realities becoming more global by the day, all states should pursue education standards in concert.
Sowell: Obama's contempt for truth wounds country as a whole
Amid all the heated crosscurrents of debate about the National Security Agency's massive surveillance program, there is a growing distrust of the Obama administration that makes weighing the costs and benefits of the NSA program itself hard to assess. The belated recognition of this administration's contempt for the truth, for the American people and for the Constitution of the United States has been long overdue. But what if the NSA program has in fact thwarted terrorists and saved many American lives in ways that cannot be revealed publicly?
Letter: A day in the life of a Vancouverite
Tired of spending my Saturday afternoon standing in line at a local retail store — the same store that sends out "support your local small business" fliers — only to pay more than my Oregon-licensed fellow Vancouverites, I slowly trundle south across the rickety I-5 bridge (suffered through a bridge lift as a newly manufactured drilling derrick slowly drifted past, barely clearing the bridge) to the uberweird and wonderful land of no sales tax.
Letter: Legislators need a 'timeout'
The taxpayers are again reaping the effect of nonproductive state legislators, who, by their foot dragging, have added to the budget deficit.
Letter: CRC view is forced on us
In the June 15 story, "Murray targets opponents of CRC," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., argues that if we don't accept a bridge with less traffic capacity and overpriced light rail, then we don't want a new bridge at all. This is another dishonest argument.
Letter: CRC alternative merits a look
In a June 15 story "Murray targets opponents of CRC," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., was quoted as saying, "The people who are opposing (the Columbia River Crossing) need to tell you what the backup plan is."
Previous Next
Follow The Columbian on
