Vote Nelson
I am writing this letter in support of John Nelson, running for re-election to the North Wasco County School District 21 School Board. I got to know John approximately 20 years ago when we served together on the SMART reading program’s commission. I quickly learned that John cares deeply about young people and the community. I also realized that when John spoke, it was wise to listen.
John has served well for 12 years on the school board. John taught school for 24 years. He understands how schools work. He has the knowledge and wisdom to make wise informed decisions. John cares. He understands that the welfare and education of our students are the primary reasons for a board of directors. He has the experience and wisdom to help lead our schools into the future. John knows that our schools are a community investment.
Vote for John Nelson to continue to help lead District 21 today, and into the future.
Mike Wacker
The Dalles
‘Apocalypse’
This is an epic apocalypse, and the cacophony of devastation will echo for decades. Oregon has ringside seats to view the wreckage, and no barrier to block the shockwave.
The world has an economy of about $110 trillion. United States has an economy of $30 trillion. The rest of the planet is $80 trillion. The “Day of Liberation” will fully engage everyone. From our perspective, a market of $80 trillion exists with high demand. With these tariffs, Trump is confining us to the U. S. $30 trillion economy. The U. S. market is highly saturated with a huge part of our spending going to less and less utility. (Law of diminishing utility: the more money one has, the more they spend on less useful things). That is, everyone has a cell phone, TV, entertainment gadgets, NFL games, gambling, etc. With the tariffs, we are withdrawing into a closed market and with our money, do dramatically less productive things than education, infrastructure, and capital investments. Everyone else does not have stifling tariffs between each other. They will expand trade between themselves and move forward quite well.
Oregon is an exporting economy: Soft white wheat has no domestic market. Fruits (cherries, apples, pears, filberts, etc.) have large markets in Asia, Canada, Europe, and the mid-east. We export timber primarily because the rest of the world uses metric dimension lumber and has mills to make metric dimension lumber. The world does not want our English system lumber.
We mutually trade our agriculture as the seasons change. In the summer, we eat Oregon blueberries and sell the bounty to South America. In the winter, we eat blueberries from Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. That is, until the tariffs.
The United States eats more beef than it can raise. We get major beef imports from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. These come primarily as ground beef to McDonalds and others. Get ready for the price of your McDonalds Happy Meal to double.
Isn’t it great? Bentz is with Trump’s economic wrecking ball. Dump Bentz! Dump Trump! Let’s return to civilization.
Terry Armentrout
The Dalles
Social Security
I got my first real job and my Social Security card and number at age 14. I am now 77. Social Security’s database has 63 years of my residence addresses, my telephone numbers, my employment history, my earnings, my taxes, my benefits and who knows what else.
Elon Musk and his teenage hackers want to access to my personal information. Additionally, despite having all of my personal information, it is widely reported that Elon Musk will require me to report to the closest Social Security Office with sufficient documentation to prove my identity, and that I am not deceased in order to combat alleged waste, fraud and abuse. At the same time, Elon Musk is cutting Social Security’s employees by 50% and closing innumerable Social Security Offices.
But that is not the worst of it. I saw a podcast yesterday in which three billionaires, one of whom was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has ultimate legal jurisdiction over the Social Security Administration, discussing methods to discover waste, fraud and abuse within Social Security. Mr. Lutnick said that his preferred method is to stop Social Security payments next month and see who complains. He opined that his 93-year-old mother-in-law would not complain and that anyone else who did would be a fraudster who deserved to be investigated and have their eligibility terminated.
Because you were not paying attention, this is what you voted for. Many of you, without your Social Security benefits, will not be able to pay for your housing, food and medication. You may end up living on the streets. Unfortunately, the Department of Agriculture has canceled its support of food banks and food kitchens. It is not a pretty picture.
Lance S. Stryker
White Salmon
Lack of access
Two years ago, I wrote a guest commentary on the lack of access to abortion services in the Gorge. Unfortunately, nothing has changed — no clinic or hospital in the Gorge provides abortion, despite it being legal, protected as essential healthcare, widely accepted, and common (one in four women experience an abortion by age 45). Fortunately, despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Washington and Oregon continue to maintain strong protections for their abortion patients and providers.
For Gorge residents, the closest providers are in Vancouver and Portland. One can imagine how inaccessible this must feel to a person without a car, a student, or a worker without medical leave. We are fortunate that medication abortion can be accessed remotely. This involves taking pills before 11 weeks of pregnancy, which cause an abortion that is similar to a miscarriage. They are safe and effective. Medication abortions can be accessed both in-person and remotely through Washington and Oregon Planned Parenthood clinics. Abortion pills are also available through telemedicine websites such as INeedAnA.com, AbortionFinder.org, and others. The local Gorge Abortion Access Collective is here to educate our community and support greater access (GorgeAccess.org).
After hosting a very successful “Abortion Access Community Workshop” in Hood River in February, the Collective is hosting three more in the Gorge:
White Salmon Valley Public Library on Wednesday, April 23 from 6:30-8 p.m.
The Dalles-Wasco County Public Library on Tuesday, April 29 from 6-7:30 p.m.
Online on May 6, 6:30-8 p.m.
Please register via www.gorgeaccess.org/events.
The workshop will address how to access abortion services, how medication abortion works, how we can protect abortion under the new administration, and ample Q&A. It is designed for the general public, healthcare workers, and social service providers. It is free, open to the public, and snacks will be provided.
Karen Enns
White Salmon
Immigrant round up
Nearly buried in the recent news cycle dominated by the fallout from the Trump tariffs is the developing story of the immigrants rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and flown to CECOT, a maximum security prison complex in El Salvador. Recently, the plights of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Andry Romero have been brought to light, thanks in part to some excellent investigative journalism by CBS/60 minutes. The upshot is that these two men have no history of violence or gang membership, nor any record of committing crimes.
Further investigation by CBS into the records of the 238 Venezuelans most recently seized and thrown into CECOT has revealed that 75% of them have no record of committing ANY crimes, despite Department of Homeland Security officials repeatedly characterizing them all as violent gang members and hardened criminals.
What have we become when our government falsely characterizes persons as “dangerous,” drags them off the street, deposits them into a hell-hole prison known for torture and human rights violations ... and all without due process? What have we become when our government admits it made an error in sending Mr. Abrego Garcia to a horrific fate in CECOT, but as of this writing, still refuses to lift a finger to bring him back immediately and make reparation for such a grievous injustice?
Due process for all is the legal bedrock of civilized societies in free countries and functioning democracies. The removal of due process for any group or person, once it becomes acceptable, is a harbinger for government takeovers and systematic oppression of the citizenry by authoritarians and fascist “leaders.”
I am appalled by this egregious violation of a foundational human right by our own government; it is clearly intentional and has already led to unspeakable cruelty. We the people must demand a return to honoring due process for ALL. Congress, SCOTUS (Supreme Court), where are you?
James Brauer
Hood River
Reciprocity
I’ve long been a proponent of free trade and believed it would be best if tariffs and other trade barriers were completely eliminated worldwide, but that has never been and never will be the world we live in.
Countries put tariffs on imported goods to encourage and protect their own industries and jobs. Yes, that means their citizens might pay more for imported stuff, but obviously they believe it’s a worthwhile trade-off. After World War II, because we were relatively unscathed, we made the conscious decision to accept disproportionate tariffs and other trade barriers as part of our “Marshall Plan” effort to rebuild nations devastated by the war. Later the policy was used to help “developing” countries (like China) bring their economies into the 20th century.
But things have changed. In 1991, America had a $38 billion trade surplus on advanced technology manufacturing. Today, it’s a $299 billion deficit, and during COVID, we discovered we were dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers for essential medical ingredients and supplies.
America is still the most robust economy in the world, and virtually every business of significant size in the world needs to market their products here to be successful. That gives us enormous economic power. I think we’ve done more than our fair share to help the rest of the world’s economies. It’s time to prioritize our own.
Steve Hudson
The Dalles
Apple industry concerns
In 2012, I was at a produce market in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon and saw a 3-foot high pyramid of perfectly formed red apples, each bearing a little label stating, “Washington State.” Trump has imposed a 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam. What is going to happen to our apple industry if Vietnam, in retaliation, stops importing our apples?
Janet Holen
White Salmon
Your tax dollars
Nearly every weekend since Donald Trump took office this January, he has taken Florida golfing vacations at taxpayer expense. Detailed data documenting the cost of these trips to taxpayers appear to be unavailable.
However, in 2019 the Government Accountability Office released a report (GAO-19-178) summarizing the cost of four Florida golf trips Trump took in early 2017. The average cost to taxpayers was about $3.4 million per trip. Owing to inflation, costs of his golf trips this year have likely been higher — probably at least $4 million each. Thus, if Trump continues his near-weekly golf vacation habit for the rest of 2025, the resulting annual cost to taxpayers will be roughly $200 million.
While Trump enjoys golfing at taxpayer expense, he and his billionaire buddy Elon Musk also take pleasure in the firing of federal employees. They claim the purpose of the many firings is to reduce costs to taxpayers.
The majority of federal employees have annual salaries between $50,000 and $110,000 (Pew Research Center Report, Jan. 7, 2025). Dividing Trump’s $200 million annual golf tab by the average of those federal salary values ($80,000) yields 2,500. Thus, about 2,500 typical federal employees could keep their jobs for the same annual price as Donald Trump’s taxpayer-funded Florida golf trips.
If you’ve recently been struggling to contact the Social Security Administration or Department of Veterans Affairs but no one’s been available to answer the phone, or if you find that some facilities in National Forests and National Parks have been shuttered, or if — even worse — your home burns down in an uncontrolled wildfire this summer, just think of all the useful work that could have been done by 2,500 federal employees who’ve lost their jobs.
Do you prefer to see your tax dollars spent on federal workers serving the public, or do you prefer that your money is spent on frequent golf vacations by Donald Trump?
Richard Iverson
Hood River
Letter to Bentz
This is the text of my recent letter to Cliff Bentz:
“In regards to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comment’s of April 8, 2025, regarding deporting American citizens to be slaves in El Salvador, how does Rep. Bentz feel about the United States as a source of slave labor?
“Thanks, a concerned citizen that doesn’t want to repeat Germany 1933-1945.”
Unfortunately, I do not expect a substantive response from Rep. Bentz because he is too afraid of invoking the wrath of our orange overlord. The existence of this question and my assumption of no response should terrify everyone. If anyone has no expectation of due process, you do not either!
Caleb Woodruff
The Dalles
Suddenly okay?
We received the local Tri-County newsletter that says we are now able to throw away alkaline batteries with household waste. My first thought was “Heck yeah!” Taking these separately had lead to a battery pile up on more than one counter.
The next thought was, “Are they suddenly less harmful to the local environment around our dump or is it a lifting of an environmental regulation without any oversight?”
Knowing our Wasco County Commissioners manage the contract for the landfill, I wonder if they approved this change or if it was simply flown under the radar.
My third thought as a reader: I would love to see an investigative piece on the relationship between commission and Tri-County, and who controls the keys to what is leached into the surface and ground water for the landfill.
Thank you for all that you do!
Claire Graper
The Dalles
Editor’s Note: Wasco County Commissioners are responsible for negotiating the contract with Waste Connections and have no jurisdiction over the Wasco County Landfill itself. Dumping rules are set by The Department of Environmental Quality in its permit with the landfill, which is renewed every 10 years and happened last year. See columbiagorgenews.com for a story written by Aileen Hymas, published in August 2024, containing more details on the agreement.
Vote McElwee
I am so delighted that Michael McElwee is a candidate for Port of Hood River Commissioner Position 2.
I’ve known Michael for almost 20 years, and had the pleasure of working with him during his 16 years as executive director of the port, both as a commissioner myself, and as a citizen. Now he is willing to bring all that experience back to the port as a volunteer.
His deft leadership while he served as executive director was key to the development of an extraordinary waterfront that includes Leed-certified buildings and a large regional park that spans from the bridge to the hook. He led us through improvements at the John Weber Business Park, and through the re-development of the Hanel mill site, as well as improvements at the airport. He listened carefully and respectfully to citizens, and to port commissioners. He was dedicated to research, thoughtful planning and excellent execution. He made me, as a commissioner, look good!
This is a critical time in the port’s history as we work towards a new interstate bridge, and face an enormous challenge: the port has decided to no longer use bridge revenues to support the waterfront recreation area. How will we maintain this jewel in Hood River’s crown?
Michael McElwee is the right person for these challenges at the port: experienced, knowledgeable and mindful of community needs and concerns. Please join me in voting for him in the May election.
Kathy Watson
Hood River
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