Your voice: June 5, 2024

Without trustworthy local journalism, we are left with the bombardment of partisan national voices on TV, radio, the internet as well as national and international print media. Local journalism can provide a buffer from those who want to polarize America.

Local journalism provides and promotes information related to community and civic events, information that is important to our daily lives within the communities that we live, work, go to school and raise our kids in. It provides a platform where we can respectfully voice our opinion and consider the diverse opinions and perspectives of others in our community as they relate to local matters. Local journalism is essential in helping to build community, understanding what is at stake in local elections, it encourages citizens to vote and get involved with civic and community projects and it holds elected government officials accountable.

So, in my opinion, the $45 per year I spend on a subscription to Columbia Gorge News is a bargain. We need to support our local newspaper and the journalists who work hard to bring us accurate and balanced information.

We live in a world where there is an incredible amount of misinformation and people vying for our allegiance to their false narratives — having a source of local information provided by people who actually live in our community and have a vested interest in promoting a healthy community where we can feel some degree of connection and mutual respect is vital.

Nancy Hammel

Dufur

Elect leader with courage

I recently attended the military interment of a neighbor. He was 74 and his cause of death, kidney failure and calciphylaxis, was indirectly the result of a grievous injury he received in a fire fight in Vietnam July 27, 1969. The shrapnel in his body caused him to live with great pain. Nonetheless, you wouldn't know but for the scars on his legs.

As detailed in a newspaper clipping of the time, Marine Company L was occupying a night defensive position when they came under heavy motor and rocket fire coordinated with a ground attack by a large North Vietnamese Army Force. Although painfully wounded during the fire fight, he refused medical attention as he fearlessly assumed a forward position. From there he commenced to deliver accurate M-16 fire at the enemy while shouting encouragement to his comrades until the North Vietnamese Army attack was repelled. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and two Purple Hearts.

Those were tumultuous times with many for and against the war, but those who stepped up to serve like my neighbor, were truly courageous. He didn't seek excuses or medical conditions like bone spurs. He didn't ask, "What's in it for me?" He didn't have to ask because he knew that is the wrong question. We all know. Actions speak louder than words.

In the words of another president, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Please let us elect a president who faces the hard, the scary, the sad stuff of life head on with courage, and who has the strength of character to bring us together. Let us elect a president who puts America first and is worthy of the sacrifice and pain of those men and women who have served our country. Let us elect a truly courageous leader.

Rebecca Sonniksen

Lyle

Not fit for office

In June 2015, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders warned us that Trump is a pathological liar. In August 2017, 60,000 mental health professionals signed a petition stating that Trump is unfit for office (bit.ly/4dRj65p). No action was taken on this strong professional assessment, but Yale University fired the lead organizer, Dr. Bandy Lee (bit.ly/4aOp84p), because she violated the 1973 Goldwater Rule and invoked the “duty to warn” requirement for professional psychiatrists. Yale administrators believed she was being “political.”

Congressional members were warned by Lee and Sanders about Trump's psychiatric shortcomings. In April 2017, Rep. Raskin’s [D-MD] bill to establish a “commission on presidential capacity” (bit.ly/3QXHOat) died in committee. Congressional members concluded nothing could be done until informed Americans pushed Congress to act. Attempts to inform the public via major media were construed as “politically motivated” and thus ignored.

In September 2018, Trump’s cabinet members considered invoking the 25th Amendment to declare Trump unfit to serve as POTUS (bit.ly/3UXx510). Lacking the courage to invoke the 25th, they left Trump in office. He then further demonstrated his instability and unfitness as POTUS by provoking the Jan. 6 insurrection.

By 2022, Dr. Bandy Lee was fully vindicated (bit.ly/4by06re).

Nonetheless, Trump continues to be embraced by right-wing voters and members of congress despite the many continuing credible warnings about his mental instability. And despite his now-proven criminality and immorality, convincing evidence he’s a Russian asset, his disregard for the rule of law, his penchant for dictators, his strong support of Project 2025 and, last but not least, his many character flaws — explosive temper, tiny vocabulary, pathological lying, narcissism, whining, misogyny, and racism. And his clear goal of undermining our American democracy in favor of a dictatorship.

Despite Trump’s many defects, Nikki Haley, the original “never Trumper” who rightly called Trump “unstable” and “unhinged,” now hypocritically doesn’t care about our democracy and plans to vote for criminal Trump.

Given all this evidence, why do so many Republicans still support Trump? What is it going to take to retain and strengthen our republic in 2024?

“Vote for Joe — Not the psycho in 2024.” — George Conway, former Republican.

Steve Heitmann

White Salmon

Learning experience?

On May 30, Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies by a unanimous vote of 12 jurors in New York. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11. Some legal experts have said that a prison term would be an inappropriately harsh sentence for Trump, given the nature of his crimes. That prompts a question about what sentence WOULD be appropriate.

Perhaps the most suitable sentence for Trump would be one day of hard labor — specifically agricultural labor working in the hot sun or in a meat processing plant alongside immigrants he repeatedly vilifies. Trump, a spoiled rich boy who never really grew up, probably hasn’t done an honest day of physical labor in his life.

In all likelihood, Trump would collapse or just lie down and start to whine after doing less than an hour of hard agricultural work alongside immigrants. Perhaps for Trump it would be a humbling experience and maybe — just maybe — also a learning experience.

In America, much of our food supply (especially fruits, vegetables, and meats) relies on the efforts of workers who are immigrants. If food prices seem high now, what will happen to those prices if Trump is able to carry out his threat to use military force to detain huge numbers of immigrants and then deport them?

Richard Iverson

Hood River

Destroyed

The systematic destruction of forests along the White Salmon National Scenic River is in full progress. Mature forests are being lost to greed and ignorance facilitated by clearcut, slash-and-burn logging.

Ecologically functioning mature oak-conifer forests working: to sequester carbon; to ensure water quality of the river; to support a myriad of wildlife, including state-listed species, are being transformed into a barren landscape of stumps, slash piles, and a tortured substrate. The slow-growing Oregon White Oak, critical to wildlife, revered by ecologists and conservationists, is also being cut down and piled to be burned. And it’s all happening in the face of a nationally designated Wild and Scenic River; an endangered species; and a human community, whose lives and property will be profoundly and irreversibly affected.

In a letter to the editor March 6, I warned that without intervention this forest would be intentionally destroyed, “eradicating” a resident population of the endangered Western Gray Squirrel. To my knowledge, zero intervention: Not by agencies of jurisdiction and authority and not by environmental/conservation interests. Why? The Forest Service (National Scenic Area Office), charged with managing the White Salmon National Scenic River where most of the logging is occurring, has failed to prevent, or even mitigate the damage being done.

Where are the enviros? Hiding out? Waiting for the logging to end so they might have a chance to acquire some of the cut-over land to restore and reintroduce the WGS? Their absence is shameful! And I’ve learned that the news media blackout on this issue may, in part, be their doing over concern that news coverage might draw attention to their lawsuit against DNR over the WGS (should they lose). Apparently, counsel for petitioners, including Friends of the White Salmon River, discouraged coverage.

The opportunity to preserve mature, low-elevation forests and their intrinsic values along one of America’s preeminent rivers is now forever lost. After the forests have been cut down and hauled off, residential development will follow.  I doubt the current landowners are much interested in forest management, just a collection of home-grown, money-grubbing investors with little regard for a living, functioning forest.

Dennis White

White Salmon

Don't judge

At 19, I saw what explosions do to people. The explosions and other items that would take some of the guys’ lives, I’ve lived with inside me. Then those memories came back after 9/11, and add to that taking care of my family, my wife, who was ill from medical issues, and my four kids, one son and three daughters. Even writing this letter, I get very emotional and teary eyed.

Most places in The Dalles are very supportive of me. But the people that judge me for my issues now come from the uneducated people about disabled veterans and non-veterans. The words that people throw at me might as well be bullets or knives — even from the religious.

I’m writing this letter to educate people who judge others to stop and go to the mirror and judge the person in the mirror. “Thank you for your service, now get out of here!” Those are the words being spoken. I’m tired.

Steve Cochenour

The Dalles

34 for 45

While Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by almost 3 million votes and lost the popular vote to Joe Biden by 7 million, he won a unanimous 12 popular votes of his fellow New Yorkers on 34 felony counts for business and election fraud crimes that allowed him to win the presidency via the Electoral College in 2016.

Trump knows there’s a sucker born every minute — he built his failed business career on it.

I can hear the Sesame Street Count Dracula now doing a counting skit on The Donald's newfound no-hung-jury mathematics. And there’s many more criminal and civil trials to go, from leading an insurrection to overthrow the 2020 election, stealing and hiding top-secret documents, to interfering with the election processes in Georgia and other key electoral vote states.

Trump’s stooges in the Republican Trump cult are of course outraged that the rule of law continues to exist. His gerrymandered Supreme Court justices may decide he is indeed a king and immune from accountability to the law — that’s how it works in authoritarian countries with a veneer of democracy. If he’s elected president again, he’ll no doubt pardon himself — that’s what dictators do.

Thanks to being manipulated by a well-established con artist, the masses who watch or listen to Fox News and similar propaganda outlets are sure to fork out millions of dollars of their hard-earned money to support a pathologic liar porn star philandering convicted rapist and now felony convicted criminal who’s fond of fellow sociopaths like dictators Kim Jong Un and Putin.

As we approach the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and considering both my parents were WWII veterans who went to war to fight dictators wanting to rule the world, I can’t help but wonder what they would think about a home-grown "wannabe dictator" remaining so popular with a large swath of the American electorate.

But that’s the lesson of history of how Hitler became a populist politician in Germany — just keep repeating the Big Lies, and the masses eventually believe them. And when they eventually wake up, it will be far too late.

Bob Yoesle

Goldendale

Participate in democracy

Thanks for the local details on where to honor those who gave their lives for our country this Memorial Day ("Memorial Day ceremonies honor fallen," compiled by Trisha Walker, Columbia Gorge News, May 21, 2024).

Another way to honor these heroes is to participate in our democracy by voting and beyond. We can let those we elect know that priorities should be making sure all children have their basic needs met. For example, this means a strong SNAP program, so all get enough to eat; passing the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act that would help 16 million children in low income families meet basic needs; and of course, affordable housing. In this way we can work to protect the values the ones who gave their lives fought for.

Willie Dickerson

Snohomish, Wash.

Dear community,

I would like to ask you to take an interest in your local schools in The Dalles and our current district-level meetings, including, but not limited to, monthly board meetings, current bargaining meetings and more.

I would not rely on social media for your information, but I would get information directly from the source(s) by attending/listening to these meetings. Our children within our community now and in the future deserve quality teachers, and we have many dedicated and quality teachers in our school buildings. But with looming lower incentives compared to other districts in our state and neighboring states, it makes it hard for dedicated teachers to continue to choose our community year after year. For younger teachers in particular, it makes it even harder when the average home price in The Dalles is $429,000 in April 2024 (according to Redfin). Cost of living increases (COLAs) in public education never keep up with actual inflation, but a 0% COLA makes it hard to be a teacher in The Dalles when the cost of living and real estate continues to climb.

Current district meetings suggest something close to this happening in our district and more. It is my great honor to teach in The Dalles. I am so fortunate to have grown up here and had so many dedicated teachers who invested their energy into my public education. I am honored to do the same now and look forward to the option of continuing my work here. However, if the current situation does not change, I will be forced to move to another area where the cost of living is lower and the district I work for would be more fiscally sound.

How can you help? Show up to our meetings, support us, and ask questions directly to all district employees. I assure you that your investment of your time and energy will not be wasted by supporting local teachers. I have to stop writing, for now, as I have a math test to grade ... the kids will be asking for them tomorrow! See you at the next meeting!

Wesley Mitchell

The Dalles