Letters to the Editor for March 25

My name is Jason Carpenter and I’m running for the Port of Hood River, Position 5, to keep this area available for all of us. That is why, as you elected Commissioner, I will stand against any development of the area unless it meets three criteria:

1) Is fair to all people who want to use the area, whether it is wake boarders, fishermen, or people just looking for a scenic place to walk,

2) Is environmentally responsible,

3) Has a long term, positive economic impact on the City of Hood River.

The Hood River Bridge allows the community of Hood River and the state of Washington to have a combined economic impact on each other. Every day, hundreds of commuters cross both ways and as a Port of Hood River Commissioner, safety will be my number one goal.

So, on top of insuring the bridge is regularly maintained, as a Commissioner I would like to work with local law enforcement to establish random DUI and drug checkpoints at the tollbooths to stem the tide of drugs entering our city and keeping dangerous drivers off of our streets.

On a lighter note, I think it is time we named the Hood River Bridge after a local historical figure. This would bring a bit of local flavor to one of our most prominent landmarks and also work as a way for both locals and out-of-towners to learn more about our identity as a city.

So please, remember to vote on May 19 for me, Jason Carpenter, to the Port of Hood River Commissioner Board, Position 5. Let’s have a better today, and let’s work towards a brighter tomorrow.

Thank you.

Jason Carpenter

Hood River

Sense and sensibility

Every day thousands of people experience sudden crisis in their lives. They are fired from their jobs. They become violent under the influence of drugs and alcohol. They lose their children in a custody battle. They are threatened with eviction. They become involved in an incident of road rage.

Ready access to firearms during times of emotional distress often results in preventable gun-related deaths. We see these tragedies played out every day in national and local news.

Over 30,000 gun related deaths occur each year — as many deaths as traffic accidents. States with the highest percentage of gun ownership experience nearly five times as many gun related deaths as the states with the lowest rates of gun ownership. If we weren’t so caught up in our fight over gun rights, we might begin to address these deaths as an issue of public safety.

With rights come responsibilities. Isn’t it time that gun owners and gun manufacturers took responsibility for reducing gun related deaths? If the NRA, gun manufacturers and gun owners took responsibility for the costs and fears they impose on society, couldn’t we have a more effective discussion on sensible ways of limiting gun violence while preserving the right to own guns?

Richard Davis

The Dalles

Punchbowl parking lot?

Now that the county has approved the Punchbowl park I am very worried that Iowa Drive and Linnaeus Road will turn into one big parking lot. I hope that does not happen.

Ron Dunn

Dee

Publicity stunt

If there is anything worse than hubris and arrogance it is combining it with ignorance and stupidity. Senator Tom Cotton is guilty of both. His open letter to the leadership of Iran, signed by 46 other equally guilty Republican senators, has made the United States the laughing stock of the world, heaping humiliating ridicule on us all.

Cotton, that seasoned senator of 63 days from Arkansas, not only wrote his letter in English, he tweeted it in Farsi to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif “in case you need a translation.” Zarif has a Masters Degree from San Francisco State University and a second Masters and a Ph.D. from the University of Denver. Zarif responded by saying, “This letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy.” Zarif also pointed out to Cotton and the other signers by saying, “I wish to enlighten the authors that if the next administration revokes any agreement with ‘the stroke of a pen’ as they boast, it will have committed a blatant violation of international law.”

If you care to educate yourself, there is more to read at The Fiscal Times, March 10, 2015. I fact, you could spend the next few years reading more than 19 million comments on this unbelievably stupid publicity stunt of a letter.

Gary Fields

Hood River

Fact check

Does omitting facts in a story have to be the societal norm in order to make someone’s case? When taking a side, do people have to mince words to make their true intentions unapparent or benign, so as to gain majority approval? If a journalist, politician, or activist must do that, by how much is the measure of the strength of their case being made? Omission or downplaying one’s intentions are forms of dishonesty. In staff writer Patrick Mulvihill’s story, “Break stress ‘ripples’” (Hood River News, March 18, 2015), there is both the omission of facts and the spin on intentions.

The spin comes from Dr. Bonnie New and her friends at Gabrielle Gifford’s super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, who care nothing about gun safety. Dr. New said in Mulvihill’s story that “the goal” of this legislation “is not to take guns away from law abiding citizens.”

What she doesn’t tell you is that she has no problem making it as difficult as possible for those same law abiding citizens to own a gun. They’re not about “gun safety.” They have a laundry list of gun control laws which go way beyond telling you how to store your firearms, and they are ready to pass them in Oregon within a moment’s notice.

The omission comes from Mr. Mulvihill’s cited statistic that there were “420 gun related deaths in Oregon in 2011.” This is mostly true; however, he neglects to inform the reader that of 421 gun-related deaths, 65 are homicides, 342 are suicides, six are legal interventions, five are undetermined, and three — just three — are unintentional. It looks like Oregonians are very safe with a firearm when they’re not busy killing themselves. They were law abiding citizens right up until a split second before pulling the trigger.

There is nothing non-partisan about these anti-Second Amendment proposals. Dr. New speaks about “cultural fear” as an outcome of gun deaths. The only “cultural fear” that exists comes from liberal yuppies that want to see gun owners drop their guns, take up yoga, and end conversations with “cheers.”

Is there a retort?

Kevin Herman

White Salmon, Wash.

One step

Nestle wants to control the world’s water. Cascade Locks is only one step.

Paul Nevin

Hood River

Different legislation needed

Representative Mark Johnson enjoys being known as an education expert while he is in Salem. When he manages to attend a school board meeting, he enjoys being known as the legislator for education. Does anyone else find it alarming that our school-board-member-legislator is authoring legislation for a new license plate — not stable school funding?

For shame!

Regena Rafelson

Hood River

Thanks for generosity

I recently sat down with a few of my fellow law enforcement friends to get a bite to eat before we went out and patrolled what are usually busy Friday nights. We sat down, ordered our food and had a good time talking about what we had encountered already on our shifts and what we were planning on doing the rest of the night. After finishing up our dinner, we asked for our tab and Jessie our waiter told us that someone inside the restaurant had already paid for our food.

All five of us looked at each other almost in disbelief and then we looked around to see if we could locate the kind and generous patron.

Well, we looked but we had no idea who it was. So we decided that we would pay it forward as well and left a generous tip.

In these times when it seems like people are always looking for law enforcement to do something wrong, it’s nice to know that we always have people that support our cause and go out of their way to say thank you.

To whoever helped feed us the other night, a big thank you to you and your family for your kind gesture. I appreciated it and so did my friends.

Sal Rivera

Hood River Police Dept.

Hood River