Your Voice: July 20, 2022

Old ones worked great! New ones are useless. They are 4G, and 5G when it is available to our area. What a racket! Can’t receive phone calls, can’t send them, and 911 did not work when needed either. Of course, they work fine when you are at the store.

Had to pay fees like “upgrade” and “in store fee” for transfer of phone data. Our bill went from $57 to $149 a month. Oh, but wait. Our phones were “free." They are free until you want to cancel and then you pay every last penny on those phones to the company. You are stuck for three years.

So, buyer beware as you do the mandatory update — it is all a scam. Oh, and did I mention that if you can get someone from customer service on the phone after you have waited for however long, it will most likely be someone that you cannot understand their pronunciation of words? In store, just plan on taking your lunch and dinner with you. It is a long wait and be prepared to feel rushed through your service time.

Where is our government in all of this?

Wendy Huskey

Mosier

Candidate statements

As an Independent voter, I recently read all of the candidate’s statements for the upcoming Washington primary. I have to say I was both amazed and dismayed at who has filed for political office.

Every American needs to pay attention to who is running for office and more importantly, look closely at their reasons for running and their beliefs.

As we are learning the details of an insurrection fully supported by GOP elite, either in direct action or via their silence, including the former president, I am paying special attention to who is running for local and state offices that are involved in elections and voting access.

I am also eliminating any candidate who believes that their religion should accompany them in their political service and who wishes to force their religious and Christian nationalist beliefs into our personal lives and public institutions.

I also review each candidate’s website and social media which I have found to be far more revealing than most of the content submitted to the Voter’s Pamphlet.

Social media is where I found evidence of a complete lack of knowledge about our Constitution, our political systems, checks and balances and disregard and contempt for the press.

Many of the extreme right candidates are only concerned with fighting cultural wars; they say nothing about the everyday issues that Americans struggle with much less any of the bigger life-threatening problems.

Be careful what you wish for …imposing their religious beliefs, denying science and facts, taking over the press, eliminating freedoms and rights, and mandating laws to control how you live in the U.S. is the apparent goal of the GOP given that they have just announced that Hungary’s Christian Nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban will speak to the CPAC meeting.

The message is clear: The GOP has decided that only they should rule and will do what it takes to eliminate democracy, including aligning themselves with dictators, paramilitary groups and religious zealots.

Sue Kusch

White Salmon

Vote for the best

Vote for William J. Morris for Klickitat County Commissioner District No. 2.

William has a desire, energy and experience to help make the county operate the way it once did, for the people. Not like it is now, with each district pitted against the other district and the commissioner just caring about their own district. Klickitat County residents deserve a Board of County Commissioner that works for the good of the people and the good of the entire county.

William is a U.S. Navy Veteran.

William has 46 years of experience in the private sector dealing with billion dollar budgets. He has been a supply chain specialist and tax compliance officer for international import and export, with responsibilities for reporting local, state and federal taxes for more than 40 counties. He worked as a California state auditor specialist and supply acquisition and distributor manager for seven facilities for National Medical Enterprises. He has also worked in other corporations training employees and managing large teams of people.

All that being said, William knows what it takes to balance a budget and how to make rational decision on what is and what is not needed. He is someone that can bring priorities into focus and act for the benefit of the county as a whole.

He is an elected Dallesport Water District commissioner. He has chaired the public budget committee at the water district. He has been chairman of the Dallesport Water District Commission.

William has the most experience and is the most qualified candidate. He is the only candidate in this race that can hit the ground running from day one. He is dedicated to see this county run efficiently and be prosperous. The Morris family have been in this county since 1850 and William has the determination, energy, experience and leadership skills to see that this county be reinvigorated to where people come together for the good of the entire county.

Delmer Eldred

Goldendale

River Democracy Act

As a business owner in Hood River County and long time river enthusiast, I was happy to see so much discussion about the River Democracy Act at Senator Wyden’s recent town hall meeting on June 3. I’m a co-owner of Immersion Research, a kayak equipment company that employs about a dozen people here in town. We’ve been in business for 25 years and are happy to call Hood River home for many reasons — including the excellent whitewater access, abundant natural beauty, and thriving river community in Oregon.

I’m excited about the River Democracy Act because it protects places I love, and it’s good for business. My business is one of many that makes up Oregon’s “recreation economy.” In Hood River County alone, our recreation businesses support 3,500 jobs and bring in $283 million in spending. This is only a fraction of the total 224,000 jobs and $15.6 billion in spending statewide. These exist only because Oregon has beautiful public lands and rivers for locals and tourists alike to enjoy.

Oregon is a paddling destination because our communities and politicians have been forward-thinking and proactive in protecting special places. When the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act was first established in 1968, the Rogue River was on the list of the first eight rivers protected, and for good reason. Today, the Act has gone on to protect many other of Oregon’s most treasured rivers, including sections of the Clackamas, Grande Ronde, John Day, Owyhee, North Umpqua and Deschutes Rivers, among others.

Protecting Oregon’s rivers and streams is good for businesses, and great for our communities. I thank Senator Wyden for taking the time to answer my question about this bill, and hope to see the River Democracy Act become law this year.

John Weld

Hood River

Vote Doug White

Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) has introduced HR705, named the Heartbeat Protection Act, making abortion illegal everywhere in the U.S. Here in CD4, which includes all of Klickitat County, we only have one candidate who will vote against this bill, only one candidate who will vote to protect the health and wellbeing of raped 10-year-olds. To protect our reproductive and civil rights, vote for Doug White in August and November. Our personal freedoms depend on it.

Sandra Montag

White Salmon

It's past time

The Klickitat County Sheriff’s Department is in an election this year. It’s time for new, much younger blood in the sheriff’s chair and it’s time for someone who will uphold the laws of the State of Washington instead of someone who upholds only the ones he likes. It’s definitely time for a change. Please vote responsibly.

Bev Elsner

White Salmon

Constitutional sheriff

What's wrong with being a constitutional sheriff? Decide for yourself:

The “constitutional sheriff” notion is tied to the “county supremacy movement.” This posits the county, not the state or federal government, should control all county land, and the county sheriff is the ultimate law enforcement authority in the U.S. This idea was pioneered by William Potter Gale circa 1970, a white supremacist, involved with Aryan Nations, Christian Identity, and the Posse Comitatus (bit.ly/39lfRqj; origins associated with 1878 Posse Comitatus Act and Jim Crow).

What is a “constitutional sheriff?" The American Police Officers Alliance (APOA) supports the constitutional sheriff notion. Read APOA’s definition for yourself: bit.ly/3EQmnRp.

Sheriff Songer is a self-proclaimed “constitutional sheriff.” He was honored as the Constitutional Sheriff of the Year in 2019 (bit.ly/3zcJq7M). Consistent with this award, his actions and public statements have unequivocally demonstrated that Songer chooses which laws he will or will not enforce.

Songer, like constitutional sheriffs in general, use their elected positions as law enforcement officers to pick and choose which laws they will enforce based on their personal preferences, often ignoring laws established by the will of the people.

Although constitutional sheriffs are neither constitutional scholars, political scientists nor lawyers, they nonetheless are arrogant self-appointed arbiters of legislative authority.

This is antithetical to our system of government, the U.S. Constitution, and every state constitution. At best, constitutional sheriffs are ignorant of how our state and federal governments function under the rule of law. At worst, they are hypocrites or anarchists or fascists or combination thereof.

In any case, constitutional sheriffs work to erode your rights and protections under the law, not to protect all of them.

Be an informed voter. Vote.

Steve Heitmann

White Salmon