Casino is a sure bet
I am constantly amazed or mainly annoyed at the attitude and shallow thinking of The Columbian ownership and editorial staff. They say it is a horrible, bad, bad thing for Clark County to have a casino that will create thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs. They promote the idea that a casino will put the La Center card rooms out of business.
The casino offered to negotiate with La Center to replace estimated lost revenue. The city officials refused. Who knows where the information came from for that decision.
Everyone who wants to see how an area, the county, and towns around a new operating casino react and benefit from it, please look up Page C3 of the Clark County section of the Feb. 28 Columbian. The story is headlined “Eastern Oregon casino is flush with success in revitalizing reservation.” When the paper is always so universally negative about the Clark County casino, it is nice to see a four-column spread on just how positive and monetarily beneficial it is to have a nice operating casino for a neighbor, the Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Pendleton, Ore.
The casino is coming, so relax and enjoy.
Ken Smith
Vancouver
Place new towers away from old ones
From a BPA financial perspective, placement of the proposed 500-kilovolt lines and towers on existing right of ways appears to make good business sense. It would be the lowest initial costs. However, there are other considerations that should take precedence over these relatively small cost savings.
Placement of the 500kv lines parallel to the existing ones poses greater risk to our communities. Disasters could jeopardize both lines and expose the Northwest region and California to the consequences of a prolonged blackout. Such a risk to this large populated area is unacceptable.
Disasters could result for a number of reasons. Earthquakes, mudslides, airplane crashes, lightning strikes and terrorist activity should be given the utmost consideration due to their impact on the region. The outcome could be devastating, resulting in costs that far exceed any upfront savings. Separating the lines greatly reduces the likelihood of such a disaster.
In 1977, New York City Mayor Abe Bean described the Northeast blackout as follows: “We’ve been needlessly subjected to terror in many communities. … The costs when finally tallied will be enormous!”
BPA, please keep the new lines and towers separated from the existing right of way and the current lines and towers.
Fred Santolucito
Vancouver
Save Willapa’s wildlife
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has approved millions of dollars for coastal restoration. The Willapa National Wildlife Refuge managers have plans to grab millions for their projects. This means removing the dikes out of two duck units that attract 30,000 ducks each year and the Riekkola field that winters 2,000 to 4,000 geese. The saltwater will kill the food sources and the birds will be gone. The five miles of the hunt area shoreline will have no access, just heavy mud. This is a disgrace, but the grant writers ignore the purpose of the refuge.
This has been already done in other refuges. The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge has only 7 percent of the waterfowl it held three years ago, before its dikes were removed.
Send your comments opposing the dike removal before the March 7 deadline to: Charles Stenvall, Project Leader, 3888 SR 101, Ilwaco, WA 98624, or e-mail: FW1PlanningComments@fws.gov.
Dan Heasley
Ilwaco
Raising education will raise wages
Regarding JoHannah Joy’s Feb. 28 letter, “Make wages worth getting off welfare,” I, too, agree that it is sad that people in the state of Washington make more money on welfare than at a minimum-wage job. I also find it sad to think that those on welfare rely on a minimum-wage job for a career. The minimum wage was set up to control businesses’ payroll, not to “fix” the welfare program. The minimum wage was set up to be a training wage, not a “live on” wage.
The truth to the matter is that the state of Washington should focus its tax money on education for the poor and under-educated so they should never have to feel that they have to accept a minimum-wage job.
I know that times are tough, and jobs are few, but perhaps jobs are few because the minimum wage is too high?
The welfare program is under-staffed and under-regulated. Raise the importance of education and career training, and the welfare program goes away. Do not make the small businesses of Washington pay for the bulk of the poverty and poor.
Making businesses pay more for the same minimum quality of work is not only unfair, it is simply not right.
Larry S. Bowman Jr.
Vancouver
Impact can be manipulated
During the Reagan years, economics graduate schools were abuzz over how deficits impact the economy. Briefly put, if government and business are competing for scarce financial capital, government will prevail by driving up interest rates, and business growth will fall. Since interest is the price for money, this concept is consistent with how markets work.
The implication is that low interest rates indicate that there is no significant impact on the cost of investment by government deficits. Unfortunately, many people remain ignorant of this elementary economic relationship and are easily misled by hype and lies. This is especially true today when so much hot air is being produced to cut deficits, even though there is not the slightest evidence that today’s deficit is a problem.
Those who choose to criticize these facts should explain how their view of the deficit and debt actually impact the economy so we know it is not just a slogan.
Malcolm M. McCay
Vancouver
‘The Couv’? Let it rest, please
The Couv? The Couv! How embarrassing. What are we trying to do to our beautiful name?
I, too, have explained to people that I’m not from B.C. It took all of a few seconds and, you know, it didn’t give me a nosebleed, cause my tongue to swell, my jaw to cramp, or give me hives. What I heard in response was, “Oh, yes, we’ve been through there and intend to return,” or, “I have a sister who lives there. It’s beautiful.” Quite frankly, I enjoy saying I’m from Vancouver, Washington, or Washington state. It doesn’t hurt at all.
I have lived here for over half a century and send out a lot of hand-written mail, and have never had a piece sent to B.C.
Please, leave our city’s name alone.
Juanita Edson
Vancouver
