RSS08/31/08 Letters to the Editor
Yakima Herald-Republic
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potpourri
To the editor -- The good, the bad and the ugly.
Good: The vibrant upgrades to the downtown area. The three City Council members not voting "excellent" for the city manager. The Yakima Herald-Republic for investigating more than city staff. The planned aquatic center for tourism. The Convention Center and the Capital Theatre. The Yakima Police Department Gang Enforcement Unit. Wine and wineries!
(Too many more things to list.)
Bad: Our mayor (a local pastor) saying first that "prayer" was responsible for the downtown upgrades, then later saying it was due to our city manager's long tenure. Spending $200,000 plus on a skateboard park when another already exists. (Just how many skateboarders does Yakima have?) The infamous gun banners that city management continually said would never come down. (Ha!) The "low-rider automobile" event (enough said).
Ugly: Wealthy Joe Morrier trying to get the city to pay for removing the A Street ramps. The First Street entrance to the city and the prostitutes and druggies that abound in that area. The city spending millions of dollars trying to bring Wal-Mart to West Valley (still not here), but cannot fund repairs to sidewalks/streets or enough gas for our police cars.
GREGORY BOHN
Yakima
Rosedell is good idea
To the editor -- I just wanted to comment on the Rosedell story. I am not from Yakima, let alone Union Gap, where I reside now. I am originally from a small coastal community -- Seaside, Ore., a popular tourist town.
I am pretty familiar with motels, hotels, and similar short-term housing, having worked as a housekeeper, lawn person, maintenance person, temporary manager, manager, assistant general manager of multiple properties. And then I look at today's economics and think to myself: You know, owning a small B&B is not a bad way to supplement your income, cut back on the cost of driving to work each day, etc., and if you build it right, low maintenance, etc., providing a meager breakfast of toast and or instant oatmeal, along with a pre-set menu for dinner and you can keep your costs down.
Overall, I believe that it was wise for the city to allow Rosedell Manor. Perhaps it also will create growth in the community. Maybe instead of their neighbors fighting this, they should consider joining them.
BARRY SCHWINDT
Union Gap
Obama for change
To the editor -- I watched John McCain's inability to tell a reporter how many houses he owns with a mix of amusement and apprehension. John McCain says that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." For who? He is obviously out of touch with the America I know. I suspect that a vote for McCain is a vote for four more years of the same old Republican (i.e., Bush) policies. The America I know can't afford to continue down this road. That's why I'm voting for Barack Obama. Please join me in voting for the kind of change that will be good for American families.
PATRICIA LEMP
Yakima
Valley woes
To the editor -- It seems every Valley municipality is having money woes. One county commissioner said if we do not pass the three-tenths of a cent tax criminal justice that they would have to cut deputies. I say do it, because until the federal government finishes yawning about illegal immigration, we will never have enough money for criminal justice.
Also we had better make some changes within this county before it is too late. We have good county employees in management positions. Maybe we should make our county commissioners part time. That would reduce the county budget in commissioner salaries.
Sunnyside also has problems. The current council got the city in a mess. The new manager says he will cut help at the planning department. Thus cutting what economic development we have. He said permits will take longer. It took me six years to get annexed into the city. It has been over a year and as of yet I have no designated zoning.
Let's go back and live in the 1950s like council person Carol Stone wants this city to be! Sunnyside's new motto per this City Council: "ignorance is bliss." Look for it on the welcome to Sunnyside signs!
DON PADELFORD
Sunnyside
Are you obsessed?
To the editor -- For the past seven years you have written article after article about the Thirtymile Fire disaster.
It seems to be an obsession. Yes, it was a devastating tragedy for the families, but you never seem to consider what a devastating tragedy it also must have been to the close-knit Forest Service employees who were friends and fellow workers with those who lost their lives.
Every accident happens because someone failed to follow safety rules. How many people have lost their lives on Yakima Valley highways in the past seven years because of someone's failure to follow safe driving practices? How many lives might have been saved if the same amount of newspaper space had been devoted to reminding and educating Valley drivers about their failure to obey rules of the road?
Has the editorial board ever been guilty of violating a safety rule? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
LOIS STANSEL
Selah
Bush led the downfall
To the editor -- As detailed in "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer, (Doubleday, 2008), the Bush administration's descent into torture was deeper and more precipitous than it is possible to believe.
After investigation not by civilian groups, but by professional military lawyers with expertise in Islamic extremism, it was estimated that more than 50 percent of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay were innocent of any connection to terrorism.
The problem is that people do not forget injustice. We have seen it before, the family member pushed to terrorist activities by an inhumane state. This time, though, we are the inhumane state. In the rush to push aside the laws that underpin our Constitution, how much more dangerous has George Bush made the world for us?
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are not documents that can be disposed of when it is convenient to do so, not even for national security, because our commitment to human rights is what guarantees our national security. It is our society's foundational belief and commitment to the rule of law that makes us strong.
President Bush has, by abandoning those ideals, guaranteed that we will have to be concerned about our national security for a long, long time.
JOE LANG
Yakima
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