Put value on experience
Senate Bill 5399, sponsored by state Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina — as reported in The Columbian on Jan. 29 in the Associated Press story “Bill would make teacher layoffs merit-based” — makes assumptions that older teachers are bad teachers. That is far from the truth.
After having taught for more than 31 years I can honestly say that every year I continued to hone my craft by learning additional techniques that increased my students’ ability to learn, and my ability to teach. Many of those techniques I learned from other experienced teachers.
If we were to follow Sen. Tom’s logic and apply it to other professions, we would assume first-year policemen, firefighters and doctors are better than those with greater experience, and they are also cheaper. Perhaps Sen. Tom would welcome first-year carpenters, plumbers, and electricians to build his house.
Teachers and other staff deserve support, not criticism, and should not be blamed for all that is bad in schools. Giving them a pat on the back and thanking them for their tireless effort would be much more effective.
Michael Carmichael
Camas
Herrera Beutler cast the wrong vote
Our newly elected 3rd District Congressional Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has already gotten off on the wrong foot with her recent vote on health care reform.
Under the tutelage of her ideologue mentor Congresswoman Kathy McMorris Rodgers of the 5th Legislative District, Herrera Beutler voted against families with young adults; for allowing insurance companies the ability to deny coverage for those with pre-existing conditions; against filling the so-called doughnut hole for seniors; and for greater uncertainty in the health care industry that will likely lead to higher costs.
Herrera Beutler must remember McMorris Rodgers represents the 5th Congressional District that includes much of rural Northeast Washington. Following the lead of her mentor is not usually in the best interest of the 3rd District.
McMorris Rodgers still swears by the trickle-down theory of economics that, as far as I know, has little to do with job creation — the most important issue facing Clark County — and a lot to do with the increasing income gap between the U.S.A.’s super-rich and the U.S.A.’s middle class.
Tom Lineham
vancouver
Let’s live within our means
Voters tend to turn down local tax measures, yet they continue to demand the services and benefits anyway. Hearing the demands, most state and local government officials go to Washington, D.C. for the money.
Congress obliged.
As it turned out, Congress did not have the revenues. So Congress borrowed the money from the trust funds in Social Security, Medicare, Transportation and pensions, and by selling government bonds to foreign counties.
Now the trust funds have been depleted. Foreign countries are calling up the bonds they hold. With the economic downturn and high unemployment, revenues are down, leaving governments in debt up to their ears. Congress will now be forced to cut expenditures and/or raise taxes to replenish the coffers. State and local governments will be forced to do the same.
Replenishing the trust funds, paying off bond holders, balancing budgets and stabilizing our economy is going to require some major sacrifices by constituents at all levels. Hopefully we have learned that if we want services and benefits, we have to pay for them up front rather than after the fact or stop demanding those services and benefits.
Bob Holdridge
vancouver
Why is access to guns so easy ?
I have heard it said time and time again that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. It seems that every day another policeman has been shot, teens walking down the street have been shot, innocent bystanders in grocery parking lots have been shot.
It doesn’t make me feel very secure knowing that there are citizens carrying concealed weapons under their jackets. I wonder: If a normally sane person snaps or becomes infuriated with another, just how easy it is to pull out that weapon and shoot in a fit of anger?
The argument is that, if we all carry, we can defend ourselves against an aggressor. This is all well and good if you are a marksman, but if your shot strays and hits an innocent bystander I suppose it is his problem for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I keep hearing that the government wants to take our guns. I haven’t seen this happening. I do not understand the outrage over wanting better gun control. Frankly, something must be done.
Why is there such easy access to one of the most deadly products in the world? Obviously, not everyone should own a weapon.
Martha Lane
VANCOUVER
Changes come slowly
Very few principles of life can be applied equally to the world of public affairs as well as to personal matters. But virtue is one of them. And the tragedy of virtue is that in both personal life and in politics, the pursuit of virtue — moral excellence — so often leads to error without us realizing it.
I think this is because we do not understand the complex dynamics of virtue. As in Greek tragedy, when pursuing a commendable goal, we so often find ourselves not only falling short but tragically betraying our own vision.
Biblical virtue is multidimensional. Every good contains the seeds of its own downfall. The greater the good, the greater the potential for evil.
Virtue creates its own propensity for weakness, often blindness. Even the saint, especially the saint, is tempted not to see the corruption of the good he or she creates or embodies.
Some call it pride, some hubris, some the power of evil.
Let’s remember that effective and lasting change comes slowly, sometimes very slowly, and with great difficulty. Let’s not be impatient.
David C. Duncombe
WHITE SALMON
Take power through the forest
Bonneville Power Administration has heard excellent testimony regarding the misguided placing of ultrahigh-voltage power lines through populated areas. Not only is BPA proposing to place new power and electromagnetic fields energy in this highly populated area, but it is being added to existing electromagnetic field energy.
The much more careful and considered choice is to the east through the forest. The proposed eastern corridor goes mostly in timberland areas that are regularly clear-cut at harvest age anyway and remain for several years .
Don’t create a social 911 in Clark County on the basis of government jurisdictional expediency.
Donald Benz
VANCOUVER
