Your voice: Dec. 3, 2025

Having spent almost 40 years as an early childhood educator, I know that not all children and youth are so fortunate and that, for many families, there are few if any books in the home. Decades of research have consistently shown that having even a small library of books in the home can lead to increased school success, and greater educational attainment and skills in adulthood. Current national test results for 12th graders show significant declines in students’ reading abilities especially for students from low income families. 48% of Oregon students and 39% of Washington students have not achieved even basic reading skills by the end of 4th grade. Only 30% are able to read proficiently. A variety of local organizations are committed to doing their part to change this situation. You can get involved by joining your local Kiwanis, volunteering to be a SMART reader, or supporting an organization like the local non-profit Books for Kids Columbia Gorge, whose mission is to help at risk children and youth in Hood River, Wasco, Klickitat and Skamania Counties become proficient readers by providing them with books to keep as their own.  

Each January, Books for Kids Columbia Gorge awards book grants to local schools and programs that serve low-income households and promote family literacy. A donation of $20 buys a 4-6 book library for a child or youth. If you would like to participate in our fall fundraising campaign, go to www.booksforkidscg.org for more information. Donations can be made online or by check.

Karen Stafford

Lyle

Book ‘Patriot’ raises questions

My current read is “Patriot” by Alexei Navalny, who courageously tried to save Russia from Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship before Putin murdered him, as reported by the Associated Press in April 2024. That raised a question: Who is currently our U.S. patriot playing the same role as Navalny was in Russia? I immediately thought of former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and her courageous dedication to saving our democracy from wannabe dictator Donald Trump.

At the other end (bottom) of the courage scale, my recent read was the Aug. 18 Time magazine featuring Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. He appeared on the cover with the label “The Survivor,” having survived as House Speaker by the blessing of his idol, Trump, a 34-count convicted felon. In reverence to Trump, Johnson shut down the House for more than seven weeks, preventing any chance of negotiation with Democrats to reverse the government shutdown and also as a flimsy excuse to avoid swearing in recently elected Arizona Democrat Rep. Adelita Grijalva, whose vote would force Johnson and House Republicans to release the child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein files that include Trump.

Johnson claims to be a Christian, but his worship of Trump violates the Bible’s Ten Commandments — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” — and, most non-Biblically, supports Trump’s cruel violations of Jesus’s teachings.    

Norm Luther

Spokane,

former Gorge resident

Man in the Moon

I’m partial to neighborhood churches and military chaplains. Strange. The one so near. The other so far.

A youngster, shy of my eventual enlistment into the Marines, I corresponded briefly with a Navy chaplain who had served with the 1st Marine Division during the Korean War. I wrote to him asking what it had been like at the Chosin Reservoir. He answered: “Cold.”

Later, I had known a duo of pastors, though not chaplains, the older of which had gone into the Italian campaign during World War II as an atheist. That changed him. The younger of the two had never had much time for church either when, as a dog handler, he found himself on a trail in Vietnam. The words “dog up” whispered down the length of a crouched patrol changed him, too.

And who can forget the Four Chaplains, after whom the United States Postal Service printed a stamp. When the troop ship Dorchester was torpedoed in 1943 off of Newfoundland the chaplains removed their life jackets and gave them to others. As the stricken ship sank the chaplains were seen on deck, huddled together in prayer. And what about that poem, The Man in the Moon?

“I’ve felt the Southern Cross slip by, / and with it, near, within my gasp, / the pale, round, forgotten face / of the chaplain.”

But again, I’m partial to neighborhood churches, too. It’s not that I have anything against the so-called “mega church.” I’m simply warmed by the hearth-like sound of the phrase “the church around the corner.” It sounds .... near.

In Bruges, Belgium Crusaders returning from the Holy Land worshiped at a small, stone Basilica. It had nearness. And it actually does occupy a site “around the corner.” The online description reads that it “... does not attract the eye at first sight. Indeed, it is a modest-looking building nestled in the corner of the square. Admission is free.” I like that.

Advent also seems a time of nearness. Why else the seasonal name, Emmanuel, meaning: God with us.

Robert White

Mt. Hood-Parkdale

Hostage Square

It was only two weeks ago that I was standing in the middle of Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, trying to take in all the yellow ribbons, the messages, the burned out bullet-riddled car, and the big screen with the clock that will keep ticking, ticking, ticking up the hours, minutes, seconds until the last hostage is returned.

My family was honored to have the opportunity to take a family trip to Israel. We established residency in an Airbnb just outside of the Old City in Jerusalem and spent the next 11 days visiting the Knesset, the Supreme Court, many biblically, historically significant sites including the Temple Mount, Capernum, and the Sea of Galilee, and walking the Via Dolorosa, the path Jesus Christ carried the cross to his crucifixion.

We heard many languages, observed the whole city shut down for Shabbat, and had to close the windows during the Sunday morning Anglican church service so the sermon was not drowned out by the Muslim call to prayer. We learned that we could not order cheeseburgers because they are not kosher, and we had the sobering privilege to speak with families who lost loved ones on Oct. 7.

At one point, our 17-year-old daughter started crying. “I feel so stupid,” she said. “I don’t know any of this.” I let her know that was exactly why we were there: not because we knew it all, but because we knew so very little. The nuances of living in an area that is significant to the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims, combined with a few thousand years of conflict, is very overwhelming. The rules are not clear, the tensions are evident. What a challenging way to live.

It was a great trip; it is great to be home. We know more now than when we started our journey: all nations have their challenges. As we enjoy Thanksgiving and reflect on our nation’s youthful few hundred years of history, I am thankful for its relative simplicity.

Lisa Evans

White Salmon

Don’t build on sacred lands

I attended a screening of “These Sacred Hills” and an informative talk by members of the Yakama Nation on the proposed plan to excavate Pushpum (also known as Juniper Point) in Klickitat County, which is ceded land held sacred as the gathering place for traditional foods and medicines. The proposed green energy project is the Goldendale Pumped Storage.

I’m all for creating green energy but, if approved, the project will destroy sacred land and with it traditions of Yakama Nation, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce that are integral to the tribal people’s way of life. This development is proposed on a natural seed bank that, once destroyed, can never be restored. This would have devastating ecological impacts on the area, including reducing plant genetic diversity and diminishing food sovereignty.

Like the destruction of Celilo Falls to build hydroelectric dams, this proposed project continues an unjust legacy of Tribal cultural resource destruction in the name of green energy. The lack of consultation with and consent from Yakama Nation violates their Treaty-reserved rights. Throughout the licensing process for the proposed development, Yakama Nation and Umatilla’s sovereignty has been ignored and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has wholly failed in its consultation duties. There are other potential sites to build the pumped storage that are not on sacred lands. To learn more, visit Columbia Riverkeepers’ website. “These Sacred Hills” will be screened at the Bingen Theater.

Bruce Ruttenburg

Hood River

‘Where to begin?’

This letter has been rattling around in my head for months! Where to begin?

Let’s start with the more than $61 million taxpayers have spent sending just Trump (not including security on his large and rich family) on 76 golf outings in the last year. Then we can jump to the untold millions spent on frivolous, vindictive lawsuits against government employees who are just doing their jobs. We can then be horrified when six legislators spoke to the military, letting them know that it’s their constitutional duty to defy an illegal order by the president, and Trump responded calling their behavior seditious and punishable by death.

The Republican Party seems to have little to no plan or platform other than forcefully removing innocent, mostly working immigrants at huge expense and hiring unqualified, ill prepared ICE agents at unprecedented taxpayer cost. How about glossing over the horrendous murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi while welcoming the Saudi crown prince, who ordered that murder, primarily to increase the wealth of the Trump family with Saudi investments. This “pay to play” White House is unconscionable on so many levels, from crypto currency deals to the ridiculous pardons of criminals who were tried and pled guilty at huge tax payer expense. Let’s talk Qatari jets, gold gilded ballrooms, tearing down the east wing of our White House, appointing unqualified cabinet members who’d rather destroy the departments they supposedly lead than work for the American people. Refusing for the first time to send a delegation to the environmental summit in Brazil, while pushing for drilling off the coasts of Florida, California, and in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge as China surges ahead of the U.S. in greenhouse technology should sicken us all. This is just a tiny list of the graft and corruption that you, Cliff Bentz, and your party are silently supporting. When will you gather your cajónes and stand up for our country, and frankly, the world. You are supporting a spoiled, vindictive child-called-president. We citizens deserve much more and you know it; please show it!

Sarah Bellinson

Hood River