Kalama settler was Hawaiian
In his Dec. 29 letter, “Casino is welcome addition,” Scott White made mention of Kalama, asking “is that name not Native American?” Kalama is Hawaiian, named after John Kalama, a full-blooded Hawaiian, and settled by a group of Hawaiians leaving Fort Vancouver.
Doris Balabon
Vancouver
Plenty of millions spent on both sides
In the Dec. 26 Columbian, on Page C2, is a photo of Sen. Patty Murray. The caption reads “Sen. Patty Murray, center, celebrates her re-election to a fourth term, beating Dino Rossi despite millions of dollars of national support for the Republican.” Murray had more national money and spent $8 million more than Rossi. She had $11 million in her re-election fund while Rossi had much less on the day he said he would run. I find it in poor taste for an 18-year incumbent to brag about her re-election.
Ron Rasmussen Sr.
Vancouver
Senator’s office serves constituents
I want to thank the staff in Sen. Patty Murray’s Vancouver office for excellent service on behalf of constituents. We have an elderly family member who came from Sweden as a child and somehow lost track of his legal alien documents. Efforts to straighten out his affairs and ensure his SSI and medical benefits were frustrated by bureaucratic badminton and fraught with worry.
Then we contacted Murray’s office. Through a staff member’s efforts our case was expedited. This week we received our loved one’s official documentation of legal alien status and will be able to secure the benefits he earned over a lifetime of hard work and dedication to family and community.
Judith Dahlen
Vancouver
Keep minimum wage law in place
Front page stories bemoaning the minimum wage increase deserve a response. The law that adjusts Washington state’s minimum wage to reflect Consumer Price Index increases was passed by voter initiative. In place for over 10 years, voters were convinced it was righteous when it passed and it remains so. Let me explain why it’s good policy for those of us who are taxpayers and support programs for the poor.
Because minimum wage isn’t enough by itself, workers often call on public and private charity to supplement their wages. These include tax-supported government programs, food stamps, Medicaid, school breakfasts and lunches, food and clothing banks, and more. One way to think of these is as wage supplements we citizens provided to employers (yes, to employers) so their minimum-wage employees can survive. Those opposed to the minimum-wage adjustments include restaurants, farms and retail establishments, prime employers of low-wage workers. What these opponents want, though they never say so, is for employers to pay less for the work their minimum-wage workers do, and for taxpayers and charities to supplement more.
In this environment, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, this law provides a little defense against warping the playing field even further against the working poor.
Ronald Morrison
Vancouver
Apply reform to civil suits
The Dec. 30 editorial, “Fair and reasonable: Washington’s system of liability judgments should be brought in line with other states,” is right on except that it needs to go one more step and apply the same principles to all civil litigation. The price of every product or service we pay for, a large piece goes to litigation costs or insurance to protect us from litigation. If people realized how much of a settlement goes to legal costs there would be an uproar that would be heard and changes would be made.
When an attorney takes a personal injury case he will charge anywhere from 33 percent to as high as 60 percent of the settlement for his fees then he will charge the client for any additional fees that may be occurred. This could include expert witness fees, lab fees, investigation fees or any other fee or cost that the case may incur. Most of any settlement is paid to the attorney.
It’s even worse for these so-called class-action suits. The attorneys make millions and the claimant gets next to nothing. You will never see any tort reform from our Legislature because many legislators are attorneys or receive contributions from the Trial Lawyers Association.
Herb Maxey
Brush Prairie
Prohibition enables deadly drug trade
A Dec. 30 Columbian story “Safe streets” declared “For this story we’ve looked at just three serious crimes, the kind folks might worry about. We added assaults, burglaries and drug crimes for each area.”
Excuse me? There weren’t enough rapes and murders so The Columbian decided to fall back on the old standby “drugs”? What exactly is a drug crime? Is DUI a drug crime? Is standing too close to the doorway of a business while smoking tobacco a drug crime?
The words “drug” and “crime” would not be found in the same sentence if this ludicrous prohibition would end. Turf wars, crack babies and a large percentage of juveniles using illegal drugs would be a thing of the past. These issues aren’t of drugs but the illicit trade prohibition propagates and the threat of criminal prosecution that limits an abuser’s resources for help. The near 30,000 people killed in Mexico haven’t been about drugs, but money.
Drug abuse is a social-health issue … a crime? The only major drug crimes that come to my mind are the Harrison Act, Marijuana Tax Act and the Controlled Substance Act — crimes of a nation against its citizens.
Jim Kennedy
Vancouver
Review another year of war
Our government and military tell us that it’s been a good year in Afghanistan. But what are the facts? More than 500 young Americans killed. You can see their names and ages on the http://icasualties.org site. Deaths from improvised explosive devices have increased every year from 20 in 2005 to a new record of 368 in 2010. Almost daily, our young people get their legs and arms blown off and suffer severe brain trauma. The Taliban continues to expand its control, with monthly attacks often at twice the 2009 rate. Civilian casualties are nearly 20 percent greater than in 2009. The killing of many innocent women and children during our attacks does not endear us to the population.
We have enough problems here at home; people forced from their homes, crumbling infrastructure, rising health care costs, children going to bed hungry, massive unemployment, the wealthy enriched at the expense of the middle class. But we keep pouring our tax dollars ($708 billion proposed 2011 defense budget) into this endless, losing war in a country run by deeply corrupt politicians. New Year’s resolutions: stop the war, cut the defense budget, and start fixing our own country.
