Your voice: March 26, 2025

1) Why does the Granada Theatre state, clearly, for all to see, “Future of Spotlight Tourism Center,” when the tourism bids have not even closed yet? (It closes on March 25, and today’s date is March 19). Do they know something that the public doesn’t about exactly which entity will be awarded this contract? If so, how is this really a fair, impartial, and transparent process?

2) Can someone explain it openly and clearly as to exactly HOW a supplier (singular attraction) can be relied upon to fairly represent an entire community? Their first mission is to put their own business / attraction first.

3) Doesn’t this represent a direct conflict of interest? Especially if a competing business comes into town?

4) What kinds of assurances does the public have that the tourism funding won’t just line the pockets of that attraction or be used as an unfair advantage to market that attraction, if they are awarded the project?

In my opinion, this whole process appears to smack of a preordained back-door deal combined with the hatred of a certain three people in town who have had it in for the Chamber of Commerce for years, and who desperately want chamber efforts to fail.

It is my opinion that The Dalles is lucky to have such a dynamic chamber crew who are HIGHLY respected regionally and statewide for being innovative, responsive, and transparent in everything they do in terms of tourism promotion.

Ever hear of the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” This applies here.

Dawn Rasmussen

The Dalles

Water rights

Every Spring, when I open the spigot for Farmers Irrigation District (FID) water, I like to think that I am a farmer, even if I own only a “small property,” as accurately described by reporter Nathan Wilson (“Farmers Irrigation District explains rate increases,” Columbia Gorge News, Feb. 26). This novel idea first came to me when I signed the papers for my home purchase, including a first FID bill of $259.50.

Every summer, this small property produces a small abundance of delicious vegetables. It’s enough for me to enjoy and share, but not enough to sustain me as a commercial farmer.

And yet, when I opened my bill last year, I noticed the fixed account fee alone was $550. The per-acre fee (a fraction of an acre, in my case) is insignificant in comparison. The Feb. 26 article mentions Pacific Power’s electricity rate increased 50% since 2021. Looking back at my FID bills from the same timeframe, I see that it has increased 125%.

According to FID, three small properties (0.15 acre water right or smaller) completely “signed-off” their irrigation water right this year. Those property owners will never be able to get their water right back.

Is Farmers Irrigation District destined to become one without “small property” farmers, like me? This is an important question because, in the end, we are all farmers.

Bernie Yoo

Hood River

‘Disgraceful’

Wave your hands, mutter “DEI” and the Navajo Code Talkers disappear. Disgraceful.

Mary-Ethel Foley

Hood River

Veterans erased

Growing up, I remember a book on our book shelves about the Navajo Code Talkers whom my father, a World War II veteran, had always admired. In World War II, more than a third of Native American men between 19-50 joined the service and played a major role in the military efforts in the Pacific.

It was shocking this morning (March 20) to read that the names of these men, all veterans of color, and some top-ranked female military officers have been erased from U.S. military websites.

I also remember coming home as a know-it-all college student and getting involved in a discussion with my father, an attorney who had settled in Hood River after the war, about someone he was defending who seemed to be obviously guilty. I remember asking how could he defend a person like that. His answer has stuck with me all these years —“There are always two sides to a story and both need to be heard.”

Dad was white, a Christian and a Republican who strongly believed that our laws supported equal rights and, by extension, equal treatment for all citizens. He would be appalled at what is happening today, and he and I would have been in total agreement.

Cecelia Goodnight

Hood River

Life before MMR vax

I really like how Columbia Gorge News shares historical articles in “This Week in History.” Almost no one can remember life before the MMR vaccine, when measles would spread rapidly through communities, leaving significant numbers of people with pneumonia, with encephalitis, or dead. To remind us of the wonders of modern medicine, could you find an article about dealing with a measles outbreak before there were vaccines? That would be a great follow up to this week’s online article, “OHA urges people to check immunity against measles; get vaccinated.”

Thomas Hanlon-Wilde

Hood River

Greenland threatened

Looks like our neighbors to the north are not the only ones on King Donald’s list: Greenland is also in his sights. He is threatening sanctions and military intervention if they won’t give in and give him what he wants: their minerals and uranium (“Trump won’t rule out using ‘military force’ to acquire Greenland, Panama Canal,” New York Post, Jan. 7). Sure, we can say that Greenland’s geostrategic importance is key, but the rare earth potential is what he is after.

There is a slow push for sovereignty in Greenland, which has been part of Denmark for more than 800 years. They don’t want to be a geopolitical bargaining chip; they want to be their own country. The population is about that of Corvallis: 57,000 folks, and 90% are Inuit, whose culture will be totally destroyed if Trump succeeds in his quest.

He has said we’ll get Greenland “one way or another.” All major parties in Greenland oppose selling out to Trump. They want independence. Let’s hope we don’t manifest our destiny on these Natives as we did here in the USA.

Cody Yeager

The Dalles

Why no coverage for veterans?

I called and got the “I don’t know” from the insurance department. I asked around and no one could say for sure why. But for some reason, One Community Health (OCH) will not accept VA medical benefits through the Community of Care program. This program is serviced by Triwest, paying at least the same as the Medicaid and Tricare rate. They do take both of those. So it’s not money; Triwest handles the explanation of benefits for VA, the same as Tricare, so can’t be how the bill is paid. So why won’t they accept VA health care benefits through the Community of Care program?

They must not like disabled veterans?

OCH will financially help lower-income people without health insurance or little health insurance (which I think is great), but if you’re a disabled veteran with a service-connected disability, look elsewhere. If you’re a disabled, low-income veteran, they may cut you a break, but if you have a good job, and use your VA medical benefits, they will send you a bill. It is legal to only have VA medical insurance and not have any other health insurance.

It is really too bad they turn a blind eye to our disabled veterans. OCH has a large network of doctors and providers in The Dalles and Hood River that the smaller hospitals do not.

Mike Changar

Underwood

 Editor’s Note: Columbia Gorge News reached out to OCH Communications Manager Michele Shrum-Guerrero for comment. “We know how difficult the VA system can be for our veterans to navigate, especially living in a rural area,” she said. “This is largely an issue out of our control. The VA administration does not make it easy to become part of the Community of Care program. There is a great deal of red tape and administrative burden involved for the provider, and reimbursement rates are low. Because of this it is not a program that we are able to contract with at this time. It’s a great place for advocacy with the VA — make the system simpler for providers so that veterans can get the care they need, where and when they need it. We highly encourage anyone with questions about insurance or concerns about affording healthcare to schedule an appointment with one of our Patient Care Advocates — experts in insurance and assistance program navigation. This service is open to anyone — you do not need to be a patient of OCH. Appointments can be made by calling 541-386-6380 or online at www.onecommunityhealth.org/insurance.”

Billionaires and executive orders

The billionaires have taken over our country. They are buying elections, but they seem unable to enact their radical reordering of the government in the way changes have been made for decades, by respecting and following the legislative process, as it was designed by the framers of the constitution. They can’t seem to do it honestly.

The GOP have the power of a small majority, but they are relying instead on a flurry of executive orders by the president, most of which are probably illegal. They are rooting for an unelected billionaire, with a chainsaw, grinding away at veterans benefits, or SNAP benefits for families, or Medicaid, and more. The constitution was not designed for a king with unlimited powers in mind. The framers feared such a king, and they designed a representative republic instead.

Yet that appears to be what is happening: One executive order after another drops daily, killing jobs, dismantling agencies, withholding payments on completed government contracts, threatening First Amendment free speech rights, causing inflation and economic uncertainty with on-again off-again tariffs, robbing the less advantaged to give tax cuts to billionaires, threatening our allies, demeaning our friends (Canada), aligning with Vladimir Putin instead of Europe, and blatantly ignoring judicial decisions, and the law!

They have already weakened our country, and if they succeed in finally taking over, they will have done it by running roughshod over half the population, and the constitution.

Jennifer Ouzounian

Hood River

‘Make America Awful Again’

So, people, do you think our country is exhibiting the MAGA quote now? “Make America Great Again.” Well, if you believe that, you have not been paying attention! We are now in the country of “Make America Awful Again”!

To quote Jimmy Carter after he lost his second run for the president: “We’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect to get favors for themselves after the election is over.”

The current administration is not just morally corrupt but, in my opinion, is mean, nasty, and dangerous.

Ann Beug

Husum

Movie, message

The war between Israel and Gaza is once again spinning out of control as last month’s temporary ceasefire collapses. The death toll is now estimated at 1,200 Israelis and 70,000 Gazans, according to the British medical journal Lancet. But there is one thing we can do as a community to show concern for its many victims. For a week beginning Friday, March 28, our local Hood River theater Bistro Flix (formerly Andrew’s) will be showing the Academy Award winning film “No Other Land,” a first-person narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict jointly produced by a team of young Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers.

Attending the film is a statement in itself, so much so that the mayor of Miami Beach tried to cancel the lease of the theater that booked it. The Miami Beach city council refused the mayor’s demand. The New York Times reports that the film sold out.

If the film also sells out at Bistro Flix, it would be a testament to our community’s concern for the war’s victims, nearly half of whom are children. Please order your tickets today to hear what the young filmmakers have to say, and lend our community’s voices to the nation’s pleas for a lasting ceasefire and peace in Gaza.

Reserved seating tickets can be purchased online at www.bistroflix.com. Showings begin at 6 p.m. on March 28 and continue each night for a week. The young filmmakers’ moving Academy Award acceptance speech can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSvdSkanmIs. And be sure to thank Bistro Flix for showing this important award-winning film.

Susan Crowley

Hood River