Letters to the Editor, Oct. 14 edition

Living right along the Indian Creek Trail, my husband and I were concerned about the noise coming from a pump running 24-7 and other inconveniences associated with living right next to a construction project. We were very pleasantly surprised by how well the project went and were happy with the communication we received from both ODOT and the construction crew manager throughout the entire summer.

I am not sure where Mr. Warnock, lives, but I can guarantee that no one lives closer to the project or had the potential for greater inconvenience than we did, and we were very satisfied with the workmanship and professionalism of the crew. We offered to water the new trees that were planted along the construction site and are happy to work with ODOT, the city and the parks district on future projects along the Indian Creek Trail.

Becky Brun

Hood River

Support Dreamers

Like so many others, we are saddened and appalled by the Trump Administration’s rescinding of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). DACA is the executive order to protect young immigrants brought to this country as children, signed by President Obama. This executive action was a response to the failure of Senate Bill 744, The Immigration Modernization Act. SB 744 passed the Senate in 2013 in a bipartisan 68-32 vote, but was allowed to die in the House of Representatives.

Young people, often called “Dreamers,” who go to our Hood River schools and work in local businesses, are now placed in jeopardy by President Trump’s reversal of this promise. Those who registered for DACA trusted their government to keep its word. That trust has been broken.

Dreamers are striving to build lives in the only country they have known. Many are going on to higher education or beginning careers. DACA recognizes that Dreamers educated in the U.S. can provide enormous long-term benefits to the economy of the U.S. We need their energy, talents, and skills.

We stand with the Dreamers in their quest to live and work in the United States. We appeal to the president and Congress to come to a safe and sane immigration policy, beginning with the reinstatement of DACA.

The DREAM Act, a bipartisan bill, should be revived. Passing this bill will move Dreamers forward with their lives and begin to repair a broken immigration system. We support Dreamers in their quest to have a secure future and a path to legal status in the U.S.

Please contact your local, state, and federal representatives to share your support for a fair solution. It is especially important to contact Congressional District 2 Representative Greg Walden, 202-225-6730.

John Boonstra

Tom Kaser

Mark Reynolds

Vicky Stifter

Ruth Tsu

Judy Zimmerman

Hood River

Note to dog owners

The dog poo situation has grown worse at summer’s end. Why could this be, you may ask. It could be that the windsurfers, kiteboarders and others who are confronted with your dog’s poop, have, in self-defense, been picking it up or burying it.

You see, they don’t want to step in it. I don’t want to step in it, I don’t want my dog to step in it and I certainly don’t want my dog to develop the idea that rolling in poop is fun. In case you think magic fairies make the dog doo go away, they don’t.

When you let your dog out, don’t be talking on the phone or madly socializing. Get a bag and wait for puppy luppins to do what he or she almost inevitably does. And pick it up. Good lord folks, they even provide free bags. Keep some in your pocket.

If you fail, may this curse fall upon you: May you step in it, may your dog step in it, and may your dog roll in it.

Laurie Balmuth

Hood River

Come together

Dear gun owners in my community, I am confident that we are all alike in this way: We all feel shocked and sad about the deaths and serious injuries in the recent shootings in Las Vegas. We are different in this way: I am not a gun owner. But I don’t believe that this difference needs to divide us the way it has often done. There has to be some way that people in the U.S. who have different opinions can talk to one another about gun ownership and use without getting angry. There has to be something we can agree on and do to prevent mass shootings in places where people used to be able to go and expect to be safe and enjoy themselves. I believe that putting people into the categories of “gun rights” and “gun control” activists is way over simplified. If we were to have a conversation, I would say to you, “I do not want to take away your hand guns that you keep for protection, and I do not want to take your hunting rifles away.” I do want gun ownership and use to be subject to the same type of instruction, licensing and age restrictions as the ownership and use of a car. The Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights are thoughtful documents. The people who wrote those documents thought hard about what they wanted to accomplish and how to word them. I have lost confidence that our U.S. Congress can have a productive discussion or come to a meaningful agreement about what those people meant when they wrote, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” My hope is that it will be possible for the rest of us to have civil discussions and to come up with some ideas about what we can ask of one other so that people who own guns and people who do not feel that their rights are being respected and that they are as safe as possible in their daily lives.

Kristine Harter

Mosier

Bipartisan reform needed

Our 35 percent corporate tax rate encourages businesses to move profits and jobs to low-tax nations. At the same time, deductions and loopholes allow major companies like GE and Apple to avoid paying taxes.

Done responsibly, there could be bipartisan support for corporate tax reform.

While there is agreement about the need for reform, there is major disagreement about how to proceed. Given the differing interests of corporations and a divided and dysfunctional Congress, real reform will require bipartisan support.

Instead of meaningful reform, a partisan effort is likely to result in corporate tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy, increase the deficit, create more pressure to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare and do little to end loopholes and tax avoidance schemes.

If Republicans are serious about corporate tax reform, they should reach across the aisle to create reform that:

1) Lowers the corporate tax rate to increase the incentives for companies to locate or remain in the U.S.

2) Eliminates special interest deductions and tax avoidance schemes that have allowed major corporations to escape paying most taxes.

3) Keeps revenue neutral by closing loopholes and eliminating special interest deductions and offsets higher corporate profits by increasing taxes on capital gains.

4) Scores tax proposals conservatively (using “static” vs. “dynamic” scoring) and uses any supply-side bump to reduce the deficit.

These are pro-growth and fiscally sound reforms that should appeal to both parties. Let Congress know you want real reform and not cuts that increase inequality and drive up the deficit

Richard Davis

The Dalles