Double up on power line routes
Some of the furor over Bonneville Power Administration’s proposed new transmission seems to have subsided, but the delusional thinking that we have unlimited open space to commit to another line that, coincidentally, goes to the same distribution point is ludicrous. To look at the existing towers and right-of-way BPA maintains and to compare them to other systems around the U.S. and the world, one wonders why the existing conductors can’t be doubled or trebled as they are in other systems? Oh, I’m sure that all the BPA personnel will be able to cite troubles with parallel conductors, lower voltages, increased electromagnetic interference, etc. BPA will present a formidable gauntlet of what can’t be done, not what can be done.
To sacrifice a few more acres for additional switch gear and transformers at existing facilities is a much better approach than hundreds of millions in cost and the loss of private and public property for their shiny-and-new 500-kilovolt transmission line project.
Peter L. Williamson
Vancouver
Majority want lake restricted
Regarding the Sept. 6 Columbian story “Horseshoe Lake waters prove to be troubled,” for over a decade residents of Woodland who reside on Horseshoe Lake have petitioned the Woodland City Council to make it a 5 mph, no-wake lake. The compelling reasons for this restriction include safety, erosion and elimination of noxious milfoil infestation. The council itself has commissioned two committees that have spent years of time and money studying the problems on this small and narrow lake, which have unanimously proposed to the council a recommendation of making the lake a no-wake, 5 mph zone. Yet, we have council members who feel they should be more concerned with people from outside the city of Woodland than those residents who reside on the lake itself.
Councilman J.J. Burke is completely disingenuous when he states, “I’m not here to work for a couple of people,” when the overwhelming majority of the residents of Woodland who have attended several public hearings are for the no-wake, 5 mph lake.
At the last public hearing there were only two people from the city of Woodland who opposed the change, while the other four who opposed were not from our city.
Jeff and Monique Sullivan
Woodland
Take lessons from ‘golden rule’
So a Florida church wants to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11. According to Pastor Terry Jones, the Koran torching aims to send a warning “to the radical element of Islam.”
Article 3 Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says in part: “Treason against the United States shall consist of levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” Aside from being a slap in the face to all Muslims, it has already been shown that desecration of the Quran empowers radical elements to strike out at the people perceived to be responsible. If this stunt does happen it could radicalize many moderate Muslims, help al-Qaida in recruiting, and increase the overall number of terrorists wanting to do harm to our country. Is this not “aid to our enemies”?
For a couple of other quotes from familiar books, maybe Pastor Jones could open his Bible to Matthew 7:120, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Or he could open one of the Qurans he plans to burn and find this verse, “Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors.”
Donald W. Smith
Battle Ground
Glenn Beck makes it all very clear
In the April 26 issue of Forbes magazine, Glenn Beck says to interviewer Larry Rose: “I could give a flying crap about the political process. … We’re an entertainment company.”
What else does anyone need to know?
Joyce Fahnestock
Ridgefield
Followers shouldn’t be defined cult
Syndicated columnist Ruth Marcus, in her Sept. 3 opinion, “Beck fuses Tea Party, religious right,” noted that Glenn Beck, the organizer of the Lincoln Memorial rally, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people recently, belonged to the Mormon church, which, she wrote, “is viewed as a suspicious cult by some Christian leaders.”
A contrary view was expressed recently in a Time magazine article: “The LDS Church is the fourth largest church in the country and one of the fasted growing. The body has become a mainstream force, counting among its flock political heavyweights like former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, businesspeople like the Marriots and entertainer Glenn Beck and Twilight novelist Stephenie Meyer.”
Sometimes depiction of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its people is accurate and sometimes false and misleading. The LDS Church is also the second largest in both the states of Oregon and Washington.
E. Bruce Preece
Vancouver
Any attempt is better than none
Thomas Sowell must be a rabid Republican. In his Sept. 7 opinion column he states, “Look to Democrats for recession’s cause.” It strikes me as funny coming from a Republican whose party cannot even get a solution except to line their and their “owner” companies’ pockets with our tax dollars.
Sowell could have said, “Look to the weatherman for the year without a summer we’ve been having.” It would make about as much sense.
The question I ask the Republicans is, “Why don’t ya come up with a solution instead of bellyaching about Democrats’ attempts at one?”
Karl Krehbiel
Battle Ground
Our leaders strayed from God’s word
The two big sins that are destroying the U.S. right now are abortion and homosexuality. The Bible says that unless the Lord builds the house, the workmen labor in vain. Our government leaders, President Obama, our senators and congressmen and the liberal judges in our courts are pushing for more and more liberal laws in favor of abortion and homosexuality. As long as this continues, we will work in vain to make our country more prosperous and to control international terrorism. Our country was founded by God-fearing men on the basis of God’s Word and the Ten Commandments. Now we are mocking God and we are reaping what we are sowing. President Obama says that the U.S. is not a Christian nation. He is working to make it more un-Christian all the time. We can be a Christian nation if we elect more godly people to office who will work for more godliness and to turn back the recent ungodliness. Otherwise I am afraid God will allow the U.S. to go bankrupt and we could see much worse economic times.
Bob Mattila
Brush Prairie
