Your voice: Aug. 14, 2024

This year, Two Rivers 4-H, in collaboration with Skamania County Fair, is hosting Sunflower Hour. Sunflower Hour is a sensory-friendly event for all ages offering activities and unique experiences held during a calmer time with less commotion, allowing others like me the opportunity to enjoy the fair. Snacks, fidgets and noise-canceling headphones are available during Sunflower Hour. This will be at the Skamania County Fairgrounds in Stevenson on Friday, Aug. 16 from 9-11 a.m. Join us and visit the animals, including my chicken, and say hi to my fellow exhibitors who have worked so hard for this all year. We hope to see you during the first year of Sunflower Hour! Questions? Contact us at sunflowerhourskamaniacounty@gmail.com.

Josey

Two Rivers 4-H

Deserves reclamation

This past spring, I visited Bonneville Dam for the first time and was captivated by the surrounding beauty. A long winding river, trees of evergreen, a bright blistering sun shining down on tall grass and wildflowers, birds of prey and song twirling in the clear sky above, fishermen and their families casting their lines and praying for a little luck — it's a special place.

How can a place so special and sweet be cared for by so many people, but be devastated by a group of one? I recently learned that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contaminated Bradford Island for years, all while Indigenous and local fishermen used the area to catch fish. They dumped electrical components, hazardous waste, and light bulbs into the land and river. Contaminants here include PCBs, PAHs, lead, arsenic, mercury, and phthalates. Studies show Bradford Island’s resident fish have some of the highest PCB levels in the country. Doesn’t this area deserve reclamation? Don’t the animals that rely on the river and the land deserve to be protected? Don’t the people who live around this area deserve the right to safe fish and clean water?

“You can break something in two seconds. But it can take forever to fix it. A lifetime, generations. That's why we have to be careful on this earth and gentle.” — Salma Hayek.

Ryan Winship

Andover, Massachusetts

Just punishment

When I was growing up, I believed adults knew everything, did everything right, and never made mistakes. At home, my mistakes were met with extra chores, loss of privileges or grounding. At school, I had to write letters of apology or, as I got older, face detention. These boundaries set by adults help children grow and learn valuable lessons, although sometimes they are misapplied.

This year, I learned about an on-going situation where these boundaries have been and continue to be heavily misapplied. Zenith Energy, a Texas-based corporation, has been the receiver of first-grade punishments for a long history of dishonesty and harm. They operate fossil fuel transloading facilities that transport and store liquid fuels. Their facility in Northwest Portland, adjacent to the Willamette River, spans six miles of tank farms where 90% of Oregon’s fuel is stored. This facility sits on a liquefaction zone, meaning in the possibility of an earthquake, the soil would turn into the consistency of cake batter.

Zenith Energy has a history of opacity in a world that needs transparency. They’ve lied to city officials and the Department of Energy, violated permits and procedures, illegally lobbied, and withheld information from the public. Each time their dishonesty is exposed, they’re made to write a letter of apology, promising to do better. They’ve written countless letters.

Should the punishment for a lying corporation be the same as for a child? Should we trust a corporation that repeatedly shows no remorse for harmful actions? I think not.

Mia Moline

Hood River

Voting Harris-Walz

As a registered Republican, I once embraced the Republican party and voted party lines. At this time, I am ashamed of how the Republican party has changed in the past few years. It once stood for freedom, democracy, the right to vote — willing to accept the voice of our people.

What my two older brothers sacrificed defending these rights and privileges in Germany and Asia as soldiers in World War II will be wasted if Donald Trump ever occupies the Office of the President again! As a registered Republican, having studied what both sides of our two party system offers, I will vote for Kamala Harris as president of our country with Tim Walz as vice president. AND I encourage my Republican friends, family, and neighbors to consider what is at stake: freedom, democracy, and the voice of our people to decide what is best — our free country or a dictator seeking to take these decisions from us.

Joe Stewart

The Dalles

Big bandage

Gee, you would think if someone was shot by a bullet in the ear, they would need to see a doctor. But if the bloody ear was just from a pin-prick, then all you would need was a big bandage!

Ann Beug

Husum

Hypocrites

In the July 5/July 12, 2024, issue The Week Magazine has a very meaningful front page heading. It reads, “Teaching or Preaching.” The article inside addresses Louisianan public schools being forced to hang large banners if the Ten Commandments in there class rooms.

This is nothing less than indoctrination, exactly what regressive Republicans accused teachers of doing when they tried to teach about slavery in the United States. Slaves were brought into the U.S. in 1619. Slavery was stopped by President Lincoln with his emancipation proclamation in 1863, freeing all slaves.

There are lot of hypocrites in the current Republican party, be they in office, on the media, talk shows and on the streets.

Gary Fields

Hood River

A trick

I try not to get angry, and when I fail, not to say or do things I will regret later. That's why I can't listen to political candidates who perpetually preach hatred and anger, with the expectation that I will become angry also. It's a trick, to get me to make the bad decision of voting for them.

Ben Seagraves

White Salmon