Letters to the Editor for May 23

Alan Bailey

Hood River

Whose cost, whose gain?

Nothing there, a “nothing burger,” said Don Trump Jr. “It was a meeting about Russian orphans.” Did you believe that?

Over the weekend, it’s revealed that another meeting took place, this one involving some shady characters from the Arabian Peninsula, Eric Prince, who’s always peripheral to a lot of deaths and the Trump campaign. Suddenly there was an overthrow of the existing order in Saudi Arabia, and we’re more deeply involved in Yemen and Syria. When a request for money by the Trumps is refused, friends become enemies.

Besides what we’ve committed ourselves to in terms of treasure, sweat, blood, and things unknown (it’s hard to know in an opaque society). suddenly we’ve broken our agreement with Iran against the advice and requests of our allies. Why did LaDonald Johnson and others die in the Sahel in preparation to build a drone base? Is it tied in? Shouldn’t we know? We lost men there in a undeclared war. And lastly, how many other meetings occurred, what’s the cost to the American people and how does it line Trump’s pockets?

Rob Brostoff

Cascade Locks

One ignorant cyclist

To the disrespectful ignorant Post Canyon mountain biker, I hope SOMEHOW you see this letter.

A good friend was returning from a horseback ride on Post Canyon. As she came down the road, a biker barreled by at full speed, no “behind you” or other respectful verbal caution and flew past her, startling her horse. Most fortunately, she and her horse came out of it OK.

At the bottom of the road where he was racking his bike, she stopped and politely said it would really be appreciated if, when he’s coming up on a horse, he would call out “on your left” or “coming up behind you” to avoid startling the horse and possible injury. His two-word response?

Excuse me, but in his own words, “F— OFF!” She didn’t bother to respond ... simply rode away.

So, to the disrespectful fool, dressed in black and red Spandex, racking his matching red and black bike on his shiny black “Beemer” sedan with a grayish four-day growth on his face: Not only are you ignorant — your arrogance taints the reputation of every other mountain biker. But if you don’t give a damn about a woman on horseback, then I doubt if you give a rip about giving your fellow bikers a bad name either.

To other bikers, who were within earshot: I wish you’d stepped up and clued him in. If you know who he is, where he’s from and if you see him again, please educate him. He needs it badly! Thanks to all other bikers for being cautious and respectful of horses and their riders as we all share our beautiful outdoors together.

Betty Osborne

Hood River

Column praised

I want to praise Kirby Neumann-Rea for his May 16 Editor’s Notebook about Jerusalem and the dangerous embassy move. It’s a brilliant and fascinating piece of writing, and among the best I’ve read in any publication for a long time. (That includes the New York Times).

Kirby’s insight and historical perspective are very valuable, and I wish his piece could be shared to a wider readership, such as in The Oregonian.

Darryl Lloyd

Hood River

Poor performance

In reference to your article “City building permit process red-flagged,” in your May 19 edition, I highly question why Hood River City officials are looking at joining in a lawsuit against the new state ruling that farming out the city’s building department administration is unconstitutional. Why defend poor performance by an outsourced agency in Corvallis? Their work is inefficient, flawed, and hasn’t worked as promised. A lawsuit has the potential to cost the city tens of thousands of dollars — and is highly likely to fail!

What the city CAN do is help its residents and city by ending a poor-performing service that is an impediment to residents and builders by restoring a building department that is efficient and increase much-needed revenues to Hood River. The city turned over the reins in running its building department to a third party in 2008, when building activities tanked during the recession. At the time, that may have been the prudent course of action. However, in 2012, there was a push by the community to recall the program due to poor performance. The city officials prevailed in keeping the program, despite community requests.

Most Hood River builders you talk with can tell you the nightmare stories of delayed permit applications — taking up to six months or more with both residential and commercial buildings, which is very costly and frustrating to both builders and residents. The city officials don’t hear these stories because builders are concerned that their next applications will be delayed even more if they voice their complaints.

These delays add tens of thousands of dollars to the final construction project. This does not make things “affordable” in our community. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual permit fees collected locally are sent out of town to a third party. These dollars could be kept in town to enhance the local economy with good paying jobs. Why keep defending a poor performance that needs to be recalled?

It only makes sense for the city to bring back the administration of the building department from Corvallis and join forces with the Hood River County Building Department.

Jim Reed

Hood River