Letters to the Editor for November 6

Unreasonable
Beware! Look before you park! Driving up the Serpentine from Sherman Street, I carefully watched the yellow curb to be sure not to park there, not noticing the pale white stripe designating a bike lane. Fall foliage everywhere. Returning after my appointment, I found a mysterious piece of tape draped around a windshield wiper — a ticket for $82!
Are you kidding? I was afraid I’d run out of meter time, that’s why I chose the way I did. I could have parked in town for 82 hours if the going rate is $1/hour. Is this not an unreasonable fine?
Maria Kollas
Hood River

Need parks
Regarding the park — we should all be grateful to our elected officials in their hard work and the good things they do.
However, sometimes they need a little help. We need all the open space we can get, including Morrison Park. We need the park. It is not a liberal vs. conservative nor a NIMBY issue.
The park will be equally green for all of us.
Jim Hayes
Hood River

I voted no on Measure 14-67.
I value local parks.
I respect our democracy and the people we voted into office.
And, most importantly, I care deeply about and respect the people who live in this place we call home.
I wrote this piece to convey my thoughts:
Empathy in the Streets, NIMBY in the Sheets.
If you say, “Protect Our Parks” and not “Protect Our People,” you don’t care about community. You care about yourself. You care about protecting your privilege.
If you say, “Not In My Back Yard” and not “Let’s Share Our Back Yards,” you don’t care about the small town in which you live. You care about the small piece of it you own and that to which you feel entitled.
If your social activism stops at your fence line, you aren’t an activist at all. You’re an army of one fighting a battle against others who long to call this place home.
If you care more about what this city can do for you than what you can do for this city, then you’re not an agent of change, a voice of growth, or a champion of democracy. You’re leeching off resources readily available to you because of privilege, and not truly giving in return.
And if you think dogs and frisbees and weeds and dirt paths and swings deserve to be in this town more than the humans who pour your coffee, mow your lawns, mix your drinks, clean your houses, coach you through life, provide your medical treatment, fix your flats and cook your food, who can’t even afford to live where they work, then I am not proud to call you my neighbor.
Kristyn Fix
Hood River

Evaluate with skepticism
The letter, “Climate Crisis,” in the Hood River News on Oct. 30, submitted by residents and supporters of CGCAN, needs a response.
They state that, “Recent global temperature data and storm intensities are confirming the awful momentum toward climate catastrophes that we created.”
What is the data and how are storm intensities related to man causation? Climate has changed many times without the influence of man.
Their attempt to decarbonzie seems to be base don the premise that carbon dioxide (CO2) is undesirable, dangerous and significantly influences climate. The amount of CO2 that man produces is a very small percentage of total CO2 and has minimal influence on climate (according to Dr. Chris de Freitas). During the Ice Age, CO2 levels were 10-times higher than today without producing catastrophes. Today’s levels are among the lowest in earth’s history (according to geologist Dr. Robert Giegengack, former chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania).
The title, “Climate Crisis,” is not based on hard, accurate data. Since the ‘60s, numerous doomsday predictions have failed. This “crisis” should be evaluated with skepticism, too.
 I live in the Gorge, too, and strongly disagree that man has a significant influence on climate change.
Donald Rose
Hood River

Spineless
In Mr. Kaplan’s Oct. 2 letter “Magic Man,” he said that there are 30 GOP senators who would indeed vote to impeach the president.
I believe he’s referring to the ever-despicable and spineless Rinos (Republicans in name only). For many years now, these gutless wonders have earned the immense disgust and contempt from conservative Republicans all across the nation, and for good reason: Rinos have joined the D.C. insiders within the Deep State Swamp doing big favors for big-shots who can pay big bucks.
What about getting some things done for all those conservative voters who helped them get into office?
Bill Davis
Hood River

Letter to Walden
To Greg Walden, please read the following law:
US Code Title: 52 Section: 30121
Quoted here is an excerpt from the law: “It shall be unlawful for a foreign national directly or through any other person to make any contribution of money or other thing of value, or to promise expressly or impliedly to make any such contribution, in connection with an election to any political office or in connection with any primary election, convention, or caucus held to select candidates for any political office; or for any person to solicit, accept, or receive any such contribution from a foreign national.”
Rep. Walden, you voted for this law. Explain how you are upholding the Constitution with your no vote on the rules of the impeachment proceedings on Halloween of 2019.
Robert Kovacich
Mt. Hood-Parkdale

Voting wisdom
President Trump lost the 2016 election by 3 million votes. Many significant things have gone wrong in America since then. There is no need to discuss the refuted topics of lying, corruption, childish tweets, personal attacks, or mistreatment of women, dissenters and minorities to make my point. Many facts exist which do not fall under the categories of the “deep state,” or “#fake news,” or “witch hunts.”
We have no nuclear deal with Iran, no nuclear deal with North Korea, and no trade deal with China. We have no new healthcare plan, and no resolution to drug prices or the opioid epidemic. American taxpayers are paying billions for a preposterous wall President Trump guaranteed Mexico would fund with money Congress approved for other things.
On a human level, we have seen over 30 cabinet members resign or get fired. We have seen a big rise in racially-motivated attacks by white men, and open racist acts in public and on social media. President Trump’s great and unmatched wisdom did tell us which countries were sh*tholes, just in case we wanted to take a vacation there with our beautiful tax breaks.
The president has failed to denounce a single, self-proclaimed white supremacist or known dictator, while praising dangerous murderers like Putin and Kim Jong-un. Instead, he has suggested that anyone who disagrees with his policies is a traitor who should be hanged or leave the U.S.
We have seen the biggest threats to the First Amendment since the U.S. Constitution was written by a president who wants to censor and punish the free press, and publicly suggests U.S. judges do not know the law or cannot perform their duties because of their ethnicity.
I wonder how many votes President Trump will lose the next election if Americans use their own great and unmatched wisdom to cast their votes?
Steve Kaplan
Hood River

Above the law
In 1872, a police officer and veteran of the American Civil War for the Union, William Henry West, was patrolling near 13th and M Street in Washington, D.C., when he was alerted to the presence of a speeding horse drawn carriage. He stopped the man and gave him a warning before sending him on his way.
Not one day later, Mr. West was again patrolling 13th and M Street when, again, the same gentleman was racing his carriage. This time, there was no warning. Mr. West arrested the man, who paid $20 to bail himself out.
That man was Civil War hero and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Ulysses S. Grant, during his tenure in office.
The moral of this story is that nobody is above the law. The point of this story is that, contrary to the Trump administration’s insistence that a sitting president cannot be arrested or indicted for anything, a sitting president has indeed been arrested for breaking the law.
There is a career criminal in the White House. It’s time someone arrested him.
Benjamin Sheppard
Hood River