Thanks, Jan
I remember asking Jan Veldhuisen Virk questions about school at a party when my son was in second grade in Mosier. He is now a senior in Hood River and she is still volunteering her time. Jan, the community thanks you for your work and serving on the school board of Hood River for 18 years. Great job.
Nigel Longland
Hood River
No shelter?
I heard on the radio this morning that the Hood River Warming Shelter has not found a building to use. What has happened to the compassion Hood River once had? Seems it is being replaced by greed and money. Pretty sad. This is not the Hood River I grew up in.
Ruth Turner
Hood River
Media mania
We voted for Clinton, and we are sad that she lost. We may face serious consequences as a result.
However, I am really mad at the media! It wasn’t enough to keep us all on the edges of our seats for six months leading up to the election. Now they have to continue to keep us all hot and bothered with headlines such as these:
Trump to abandon consumer.
Social Security could end.
Furious Clinton seeks last ditch effort to win.
Trump set to undo everything Obama has accomplished.
Trump in serious legal trouble.
Most of the headlines dump on Trump. But it was the media who gave him all that free publicity that got him started in the first place. Now that he is elected, they want to keep the drama going. I look at the computer headlines once a day and that is more than enough for any person who wants to remain sane.
Let’s all remember that the Hood River valley is a very special place. We love and welcome our Mexican friends and neighbors. We are tolerant of others. We get out into the beautiful countryside. We need to keep it that way, and not be carried along with the negative forces so rampant in our country today — led by the media.
Wendy and Dick Best
Parkdale
Wrong acceleration
If just the most moderate scientific warnings are only “plausible,“ then non-renewable fuels needed to be capped in the ground long before yesterday.
It seems like we might be soon accelerating in the opposite direction.
What, me worry? Let’s just have a two-generation orgy and consume everything.
Bob Williams
Hood River
In it together
I believe in abortion rights, gun control and climate change.
I know and deeply care about people who disagree with me on these topics, including members of my family and friends. Time ticks away and the world keeps on spinning. People are born and people die and we are all still on this planet together floating alone in space. The universe doesn’t seem to mind or really even acknowledge our existence here. The stars, moon and sun are still the same distance away, at least visually, as they were yesterday.
It’s easy for me to take this fragile existence for granted with the economic needs of paying off my truck, living expenses and saving for my future. I don’t mean to simplify our country’s divisions either. There are tangible and dramatic differences. However, with these differences I believe that we all still share more in common with the people around us.
After this election, I am going to make a concerted effort to have an open mind and treat others who may think or look differently than myself with the same respect that I want to be treated. It’s more important than ever to stand up for what we believe in, regardless of whom we voted for. This is a powerful time for change, and I think many people can see and feel that. I am grateful to be alive at this time as an American, with each of you, and look forward to the coming days with courage, backed by the understanding that we are all on this planet together, floating alone in space.
Avery Hoyt
White Salmon, Wash.
Deep fears
Hillary Clinton received a majority of 51.3 percent of the votes in the United States. Now we must tolerate a 48.6 percent minority of the votes which elected a predatory, racist, xenophobic, sexist and potential military antagonist as president. We need to eliminate the Electoral College, which in our history, five Presidents were placed in office by a minority. This is an insult to the democratic heritage; I have deep fears for our future.
Bill Nix
Hood River
‘A Glimpse’
A glimpse is all it takes.
Oh Columbia! Remembered river
foamed and furrowed by the wind.
Hood River: leaf-leavened stream,
soggy city streets: Oak, Poplar, Laurel:
Fall colored, dream-doting displays.
A season of passing rainbows:
assembled sunsets glimmering
with searing coral over Mt. Defiance.
Clouds crafting images: seen, untrue, east-bound.
Time: now and again, time in the future, just time.
The rambled road to Mount Hood, seen chalky clear,
the matter for mind-mended welcoming walls.
Rain-riven: my love for you is
the only meaning that matters.
Ted James
Hood River
Listen
“We the People” have voted. Regrettably, the vote wasn’t an election but rather a protest against an ineffective political system. A system where elected officials are more in touch with a manipulating news media and the accompanying twisted polls than their own constituents.
This is supported by an excerpt from The Oregonian on Thursday, Nov. 10. The excerpt comes from a wire reports article titled, “Clinton and Obama pledge their cooperation.”
“Clinton, who appears to have won the popular vote, said, ‘We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America, and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and look to the future.’”
This quotes a 30-year career politician who, in 2008, sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States and then won the nomination in 2016. With these credentials, how could the divide been missed? The answer is simple. Collectively, the legislative body in Washington, D.C., does not listen. Had “We the People” voices’ been heard, this divide would have been apparent. When our politicians start working together “For the People,” this abysmal divide will disappear.
To fix the ineffectiveness our politicians need to shake up the system by taking career risks and have the willingness to cross party lines. Donald J. Trump is neither the most polished nor politically correct President-elect. Likewise, he is not a career politician weighted down with the associated baggage. Perhaps he can provide the leadership for the shake-up needed to jump-start our ineffective political system. Let’s believe in America, accept the results, and look to the future while giving Trump time to prove himself.
Panic and trepidation is not the answer. We have Constitutional means by which a rogue president can be removed.
Bruce C. Stanton
Hood River
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