American values
Who are we, America? What is now defining us as a nation? How are we being seen by the world, and how do we want to be seen? Back in the 1950s, the actor John Wayne seemed to define the character of America through his movie roles — he was tough, fair-minded, honorable, generous, respectful, and courageous. He valued hard work, grit in the face of adversity, and doing the right thing. He portrayed the kind of idealized man that many of us thought back then defined the character of America.
But what defines America’s character now? Do we as a nation continue to practice (and display to the world) fairness, honor, generosity, respect for others, justice, and service for the good of all? Or are we now displaying vindictiveness, intolerance, cruelty, selfishness, and callous disregard for the well-being of all? If we read authentic news reports, particularly news coming from other countries, the behaviors in the latter list seem to be replacing the American values that John Wayne’s characters held dear — values that most of us, I suspect, still hold dear. If the true character of this nation matters to us, let’s continue to treat all people with fairness, dignity, and respect, and let’s always vote for leaders who unswervingly hold these values.
Tom Pierson
Glenwood
Taxpayer money
Republicans are always harping about government spending. Why is it that we don’t hear a peep out of any one of them about Donald Trump sending $15 million of taxpayers’ money to El Salvador to lockup Trump’s alleged criminals or gang member deportees to put them in one of the worst prisons in the world, all of this without due process of law (“Behind Trump’s Deal to Deport Venezuelans to El Salvador’s Most Feared Prison,” New York Times, May 1). Come on Republicans, show your concern, rally together and tell Trump stop deportations and payment with taxpayer money. All of this is caused by one man — Donald Trump.
Gary Fields
Hood River
Vote Erland
For those who do not know Mike Erland, who is on your voting ballots to serve on the board of Mid-Columbia Fire District, let me give you a brief review of his accomplishments and life qualifications. Mike was an educator, has an accomplished teaching career, was a college track star in his younger days and left teaching to try his hand at entrepreneurism. He and his wife, Lisa, purchased a small struggling business in Fun Country, The Dalles. Back then, it was a day by day, low-inventory operation. You see this business now, fully stocked, current and relevant in its success. Mike has built race teams and stands as a force in the Northwest with his race teams.
His children are skilled partners in that business. The family is kind, benevolent and socially friendly in all they do. They even have pet dogs that politely greet you when you enter, take their attention with you seriously and then go sit down as if they were people greeters. The dogs do that process without any guidance. I do not care who you are; if your business environment behaves like this, there must be a compassionate leader at the wheel. It is a refreshing experience to witness. His staff and mechanics are excellent at what they do. And their concern for the consumers acceptance is number one. Speaking of benevolence, you can thank the Erlands for saving Home At Last. Not just in a huge contribution, but helping to reorganize it to operate successfully. Mike had a large hand in that process. Mike’s cooperative leadership is very needed right now in our fire district. When he speaks of “how tos” in designing winning ways he is compassionate of all interested parties including the taxpayer, you. What an excellent choice for this board! Stellar. So happy he ran.
By the way, your property taxes have two fire district line items that take money from you, right now (one is the normal tax district contribution, and the other is a voted and passed bond measure). They may be working on a third one. I would prefer to have an accomplished leader on that board.
Terry Turner
The Dalles
Medicaid cuts
Congress is considering making up to $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years (“Republicans consider cuts and work requirements for Medicaid, jeopardizing care for millions,” Associated Press, Feb. 18). Who would these cuts impact?
In Oregon’s second congressional district, where I live, 272,200 people (or 38% of the population) rely on Medicaid to help them pay for medical care. Of the people who rely on Medicaid in this congressional district:
• 24,700 are seniors (many in long-term care facilities)
• 81,100 are children
• 24,500 are adults with disabilities
• 131,000 are low-income adults who obtained health insurance through Medicaid expansion of the Affordable Care Act.
Cuts to Medicaid would hurt individuals and families. Cuts would also stress the small rural hospitals across Eastern Oregon because fewer people would be able to pay for medical care.
Please speak up about the importance of Medicaid for the well-being of our neighbors and our communities. We can’t let this tragedy happen.
Judy Davis
The Dalles
Re-elect Nelson
Hey, fellow voters, John Nelson is running for District 21 School Board, zone 4 … again!
You know his name because he has been a board member for 12 years. He was a school teacher for 24 years prior to that. Many of you have worked with John in other capacities in community government.
If there is anyone out there who doesn’t know John, here’s what he stands for: Kids, schools and a good educational experience. He believes that every child deserves the best education we can give them, in the best schools that we can provide. He has a vast knowledge of local and state school systems and “works well with others.” As a team member on the school board, John listens to all community voices before making considered decisions. He is accessible and open to other’s ideas.
We know John. We know what he stands for. Vote for John Nelson, District 21, zone 4 school board.
Widge Johnson
The Dalles
Great?
Is a “great” nation one whose president so easily takes away vital protein supplements from children, increasing the suffering, hunger, infectious disease rates, and deaths of vulnerable people (the recent thrashing of United States Agency for International Development, or USAID), while working diligently to extend huge tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires (the extension of the 2017 tax cuts from the last Republican Administration)?
Kathy Pickering
Hood River
Don’t cut Medicaid
My husband and I have worked very hard earning and saving money over our careers, and while we might occasionally complain about taxes, we have never complained about where our taxes went. I always felt that our taxes were paying to help others that couldn’t always help themselves here and abroad. I can’t say I agreed with everything done with our tax funds, but I believed my money was going to help keep children, pregnant mothers, and people with disabilities alive, healthy, and educated. I was grateful when Medicaid was expanded so those with small businesses and people who couldn’t afford insurance could have access to healthcare.
The fact that Trump, Musk and the Republican Party want to cut $880 billion from the ENC that pays for Medicaid is scary and ridiculous. Here are some facts that those who want to make these cuts are leaving out: Medicaid covers one in five people in the United States, but it covers one in two kids. Children account for 50% of the Medicaid program and about 50% of all children are covered by Medicaid, which is 37 million children. Medicaid is a major source of funds for healthcare in small communities like ours, and if you cut Medicaid at the federal level, you will harm children — children already being harmed by misinformation happening at the federal level, children already being harmed by cuts to education and other health resources, children already being harmed by the loss of jobs and fear their communities are undergoing. The loss of ability to care for the health of those children will be indescribable in its far-reaching effects on their lifetime.
Please advocate for those who can’t vote and can’t advocate for themselves. Please advocate for their future. Call and write your federal representatives; get friends in other states to do the same. You can’t cut Medicaid and education and expect our children to be okay or our future to be stable.
Corinda Hankins MD (Pediatrician)
Hood River
‘It’s the design’
I appreciate the letter “More children?” in the April 30 edition of Your Voice, especially for calling out the incongruity of increasing American family birthrates while promoting contradictory policies. I would like to suggest, however, that these policies are not actually contradictory but a strategy to fight The Great Replacement.
The Great Replacement Theory is the idea that white people in America are being purposely replaced with Black and brown people. Tucker Carlson described it as “a recipe for social collapse.” So much for “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” In the words of Jason Stanley, an expert on fascism, “This great replacement theory is the core of the message of MAGA Republicanism.” So what is the connection to environmental contamination?
I am a hydrogeologist in groundwater and soil contamination. I’m also a published author on race and social justice. The reality of environmental contamination, such as the noted PFAS contamination of drinking water, is that it disproportionately affects marginalized communities. While noting this, Elsie Sunderland, professor at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and at the Harvard Chan School of Engineering, also notes that “marginalized populations are susceptible to greater risks of adverse health outcomes compared to other populations, even at the same exposure levels.” Health effects stemming from environmental contamination are partially mitigated by medical care that marginalized communities do not have the same access to. Chronic health issues, such as those caused by environmental contamination, is a known driver of both income disparity and of childhood mortality.
According to a national poll, Republican support for the Great Replacement Theory has increased. The Trump administration does not just want more children; it, and the MAGA Republicans in general, want more healthy, white, Christian children. This is a stated goal of Project 2025. Indigenous, Latino, Black, and Muslim families are those most negatively affected by the Trump policies. This not a contradiction, it is the design.
Terra Kestrel
Hood River
Sources:
Trump and science
The Trump administration celebrated Earth Day 2025 by sending out the following message in its newsletter: “On Earth Day, We Finally Have a President Who Follows Science.” This is so outlandish it brought a smile to my face. I can’t imagine Trump ever following science, unless it starts printing cash or wearing a skirt.
The Trump administration has fired thousands of government scientists, including those at the National Park Service, NASA, EPA, NOAA, the National Weather Service, USGS, the National Science Foundation, FDA, CDC, and the National Institute of Health. It has slashed funding for hundreds of grants for scientific research at these agencies and at universities and other institutions. These include research on human health, climate change, weather disasters, pollution, education, agriculture, food safety, artificial intelligence, and environmental justice.
Many research projects and clinical trials were stopped immediately and abruptly this year, meaning the billions of dollars already spent have been wasted on unfinished research. Data collection, analyses, and reporting of climate change has been canceled, as if that will eliminate the warming, drought, wildfires, and extreme weather disasters we are experiencing.
The irony is that science does produce cash and sometimes wears a skirt, a tunic, or some other cultural dress. Economic analyses of returns from scientific research are complicated, but for every dollar spent, the estimated return is at least 250%. And this research has greatly improved our health, environment, and lives. Every time you talk on a cell phone, check a weather report, search the internet, use AI, breathe clean air, use green energy, or get an MRI, you are benefiting from research funded by the federal government.
The U.S. has long been the world leader of scientific advancement and innovation. We have received the highest number of Nobel Prizes in science (43%). Since 2000, 40% of U.S. Nobel laureates have been immigrant scientists working in this country. About 6.5% of those Nobel laureates have been women over the same period. We are ceding this leadership role to China and other countries, all to give tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest among us.
Tim Mayer
Hood River
Friday demonstrations
For those of you who are not happy with the direction our country going, please join us to demonstrate in front of the post office every Friday from 4-5:30 p.m. Signs will be provided, or you are welcome to make and bring your own.
Vincent Zanobelli
The Dalles
Local photographer Gary Elkinton saw two eaglets in a nest, with a parent standing by, earlier this month. Only one of the eaglets was willing to pose. Have a photo to share? Send it with a short description to news@gorgenews.com.
Gary Elkinton photo
Not a joke
So now we’re treated to Donny 2 Dolls posting photoshopped images of himself in full on pope vestments. Just couldn’t resist the temptation to insert himself in a news story that had nothing to do with his vile self. Of course, he said it was just a joke and I’m sure his MAGA gang and all MAGA-leaning Republicans found it hilarious. Almost as hilarious as his mocking of a disabled journalist during his first presidential campaign.
But I digress. That’s what I do sometimes when considering just what clownish, cruel or imbecilic stunt he’s puked into the public square. It’s so hard to choose since the stinking pile of his abhorrent antics is so incredibly large. During the dark days of the pandemic, he tried to cheer us up telling us that one day it would magically disappear. I can still see how he waved his hands as he delivered that gem. But soon he gave us a dose of Trump the stand up comic when he jokingly suggested we inject bleach in our veins as a “sort of cleaning,” I think. Did you know there were actually true blue MAGAS across the country that tried ingesting cleaning fluids, believing their Dear Leader to have a very big brain?
Oh look, I’m nearly out of space and I have yet to mention how the president of the United States answered this question in an interview last week: “Do you think you have an obligation to uphold the constitution?”
“I don’t know,” said Donny 2 Dolls. I don’t know? What a very, very big brain.
Sheila Cooper
The Dalles
For Thomas
I think we are lucky to have two good people running for seat Port of Hood River, position 3. Kathryn Thomas is the clear choice for me. She has strong support from both sides of the aisle for this non-partisan position. She dove head first into serving our community the moment she and her family decided to call Hood River home. Beyond this exemplary service, she has the unique background and drive to ensure progress and improvements within the port. Currently she is a commissioner on the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority. Kathryn is a retired naval helicopter pilot and runs her own company that deals with environmental permitting and acquisition of funds; invaluable skills and perspective to get this new bridge and many other improvements done!
Deb Traver
Hood River
Nelson for D21 board
For the United States to have a strong republic, we need highly-educated graduates who will innovate the future and provide the critical thinking skills needed to solve the upcoming issues they will face. You can’t do that if you have uneducated “graduates.”
Currently, MAGA-focused people are running for office to presumptively bump out rational, civil people who have volunteered to serve on the North Wasco County School District Board 21 (NWCSD) in order to move their anti-education agenda forward.
John Nelson, a former educator himself, has devoted a huge amount of time and energy serving on this board already from his current and past service in this capacity. As a former board member, I have had the opportunity to see his thoughtfulness, concern for children and educators alike, and a genuine interest in helping improve the educational system in action.
I heartily endorse John Nelson for zone 4 to protect our schools, students, teachers, professional staff, and administrators from candidates with irrational ideologies who hope to move Project 2025 agendas into the classroom. Their goal to dumb down the general population to erase critical thought and intellectual freedom has to be stopped.
Vote for John Nelson, Zone 4, NWCSD.
Dawn Rasmussen
The Dalles
Press release?
I appreciate your reporting on local government meetings. Yesterday, as I read “HRCSD budget committee approved 2025-2026 budget” in the May 7 issue, I was surprised that the coverage it didn’t mention the biggest topic of the evening. The proposed budget included several significant changes intended to address the upcoming financial constraints that the Hood River County School District faces. One of those changes is to move Cascade Locks Elementary School to a “multiage classroom model,” due to the school’s low enrollment. Most of the public commenters spoke passionately about Cascade Locks Elementary, and the issue consumed most of the committee’s discussion. The proposed budget was ultimately approved with a 9-3 vote. The three dissenters presumably voted no because of the Cascade Locks issue. (I am on the budget committee and I voted to approve the budget.)
I couldn’t understand how a reporter who had seen enough of the meeting to write the article could have missed the issue that dominated the evening. I only then looked to the byline and saw that the report was written by the school district’s communications director, and not by a journalist. I realized that I was looking at a press release, not a piece of independent journalism. I ask the Columbia Gorge News to clearly mark press releases as such, so that a casual reader doesn’t unknowingly think they’re reading an unbiased article when they’re actually reading a press release.
Thank you.
Peter Harman
Hood River
‘I don’t know’
In an interview with Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press,” President Trump was asked if he would uphold the Constitution.
“I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know” (Amanda Terkel and Lawrence Hurley, May 4, “Trump, asked if he has to uphold the Constitution, says, ‘I don’t know,’” NBC News).
The Fifth Amendment states that every person shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, ensuring fairness in our legal system. It says nothing about having to be a citizen.
President Trump promised to implement the largest deportation operation ever. He committed to arrest, detain, and deport the most violent of criminals. Instead, ICE, the FBI, and Homeland Security are rounding up immigrants and holding them in detention facilities with no chance to prove their innocence. Many were rendered to CECOT, a prison in El Salvador that is reserved for gang members. CBS reported that of the 238 Venezuelan migrants sent to CECOT, “Three-fourths of the prisoners had no apparent criminal record” (Russell Contreras, April 7, “Report: most migrants sent to maximum security prison have no criminal record,” Axios).
When Trump was inaugurated, he took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Though he chose not to place his hand on the bible while making that sacred promise to the American people, “I don’t know, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” is the wrong answer from a sitting president.
April George
White Salmon
Thomas for port
I’m writing to endorse Kathryn Thomas for Port of Hood River Commissioner, position 3.
The port faces significant financial and strategic challenges, including the loss of toll revenue for general fund expenses starting in 2026 and delays in the construction of the new Hood River-White Salmon Bridge. These issues will affect our port-owmed waterfront parks, marina, and recreation areas, and we need a commissioner with the experience and qualifications to lead us through them. Kathryn is that leader.
Kathryn brings nearly two years of experience as an alternate commissioner on the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority, where she serves on the engineering and construction committee. In this role, she’s gained in-depth knowledge of one of the region’s most complex infrastructure projects, navigating the challenging dynamics between state and federal agencies, environmental regulations, and construction planning. Her background and ability to manage these complexities will be essential for addressing the port’s future challenges.
Kathryn is also a strategic thinker with project management skills. She’ll be able to dive into the port’s budgets and make informed and tough decisions that balance fiscal responsibility with the long-term goals of the port. Her collaborative approach and proven ability to work well with others highlight her commitment to finding common ground on critical issues.
In her dedication to public service, Kathryn engages with the community in a meaningful way. Whether traveling to Washington, D.C., to advocate for bridge funding, or going door to door and sharing coffee downtown as she listens to others, she’s committed to ensuring the port reflects the values and needs of Hood River residents.
With her professional experience, strategic thinking, and community engagement, Kathryn Thomas is uniquely qualified to guide the port through its toughest challenges. I encourage you to vote for her as your next port commissioner.
Tracey Tomashpol
Hood River
Vote Thomas
I’m writing to share my support for Kathryn Thomas as Port of Hood River Commissioner.
Kathryn is someone who brings people together in all aspects of her life! She listens closely and takes thoughtful, purposeful action. Her continuation of work with the port would be a benefit to us all!
Kathryn’s commitment to finishing the new Hood River–White Salmon bridge goes beyond infrastructure — it’s about the connection of our communities. She knows how important the bridge is for our local economy, emergency services, and commuting to work reliably and safely. I’m grateful for the energy, humor, and tenacity she demonstrates daily — in all she does.
Kathryn shows up for people, she listens to all sides, and she’s genuinely excited about the work and collaboration ahead! She doesn’t back away from tough issues, in fact, they motivate her.
I hope you’ll join me in voting for Kathryn Thomas!
Heidi Chapin
Hood River
Keep Nelson
In the current election, four out of seven positions on the The Dalles District 21 School Board are on the ballot, so there is potential for extreme turnover and the loss of many knowledgeable seasoned board members. In the case of John Nelson, we must not lose the perspective, judgment and wisdom of a career educator and public servant who has served our community with dedication for 12 years.
I have known John Nelson and seen his dedication and community values in many contexts from school district to watershed council to urban renewal to traffic safety to the Wasco County Forest Collaborative.
John Nelson brings a clear vision of the mission of District 21 schools and a dedication to listening to community concerns and objectives. He has made the effort to connect to his Zone 4 constituents directly by canvassing personally. John understands the value of our educational investment and I recommend investing your vote in his reelection to the District 21 School Board.
Mike Ballinger
The Dalles
In-A-Chuckhole?
Travel north from Highway 14 at Bingen, you will be on Highway 141, also known as Chuckhole Boulevard.
If you can make it up the grade without hitting a chuckhole, you’re doing diligent driving. When you enter chuckhole better known as the City of White Salmon (since 1907), you should be very alert, because most any point of ingress or egress will lead you to as many chuckholes as you can find anyplace in Klickitat County.
It seems we patch and patch and re-patch until the patches are all worn out. Then we can go and have a front end alignment and check the tires for damage. But, we welcome you to this (maze of chuckhole).
Clyde Knowles
White Salmon
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