Your voice: Oct. 15, 2025

Will I be able to vote? Will my vote be counted or will the current administration find a twist, an executive order that will nullify the only weapon I possess to fight this corrupt regime? I put nothing past this administration that lacks experience, compassion, and only loyalty to an ignorant personality disordered leader. Our nation is vulnerable.

We are divided and I fear Pete Hegseth is leading us by his thrill of violence to instigating war unnecessarily. And our once allies will not be there to support us. Trump, who claimed he knew nothing of the 2025 blueprint, is now following it and its creators explicitly. Their plan is to destroy government. A government by and for the people. A government that works for the good of the people and not the rich corporate heads that work to forever increase their bottom line.

I remember a time when I voted across party line. I voted on issues. Not a straight party line. I encourage people to listen to each side. Tune in to OPB News Hour. Tune in to Fox News and ask what seems logical. Listen to what our leaders are saying. Decide for yourself what to believe, not an interpretation from a third party.

I realize this letter is a little disjointed and covers a lot of concerns. But, that is what life is like now. Each day we are greeted by yet another unimaginable unconstitutional action.

Carol Earl

The Dalles

Rally planned

Protect Oregon’s Progress, The Dalles chapter of the national organization, Indivisible, would like to invite everybody to join us for a peaceful No Kings Day rally on Saturday, Oct. 18. Two hundred and fifty years ago, Americans made clear that we did not accept the authority of a king, and nothing has changed since then. President Trump has repeatedly violated constitutional separation of powers, and many courts have put a hold on his power grabbing agenda. Trump supporters call it the unitary president. We call it what it is: a king, and we don’t do kings in the USA.

With almost 2,500 rallies registered across the country, this will be the largest day of action to preserve our constitutional protections so far. In The Dalles, please join us on W. Eighth Street at noon on Saturday the 18th, between Cherry Heights and Webber. From there, we will march to W. Sixth Street to make our opinion known. Please park on Eighth or Webber streets and not in the business parking lots. Our rally will stay on the public sidewalk and volunteer “crossing guards” will keep driveways clear for business customers. Indivisible is committed to nonviolence as well as respecting nearby businesses.

We are also collecting for the local food bank. Please bring a can of store-bought soup. We will have a collection bin on Eighth Street. And please, canned soup only for this drive.

For details about rallies in Hood River, White Salmon, and Stevenson, visit nokings.org and enter your zip code. Remember: the best way to protect your First Amendment rights is to use them!

Dean Myerson

For Protect Oregon’s Progress

We are not lizards

This Trump administration can be confusing when trying to pair their words and beliefs with their actions. Here are just a minuscule number of Trump and MAGA’s troubling inconsistencies:

• Claiming to be pro-life while continuing to supply weapons for Netanyahu’s Gaza genocide.

• Claiming tariffs are bringing in “billion$, trillion$” while Press Secretary Levitt says we can’t afford the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and is a waste of money anyway.

• Sending $20 billion to Argentina as farm bailout while American farmers struggle as a direct result of tariffs.

• Republicans had six months to consider the budget but complain they didn’t have time while skipping negotiations before deadline with Democrats over healthcare cuts.

• Trump’s prescription for replacing of the ACA with space-age Medbeds that cure all diseases and can regrow limbs.

• Luring recruits to ICE with $50,000 bonuses while cutting money from FEMA and transportation needs like air traffic controllers.

• The Supreme Court allowing ICE to racially profile and detain all who look like they might be immigrants, legal or not, while Trump threatens to cut funding from universities that use racial profiling in admissions.

• Professing righteous disdain for homosexuals while protecting pedophiles.

• House Speaker Johnson proclaiming Republicans are the only ones who care about healthcare for the people while forgetting Republicans have unsuccessfully voted to repeal the ACA more than 62 times, but are now proposing to institute cuts to the ACA in their budget proposal.

• Trump designating Antifa as a terrorist organization while Defense Secretary Hegseth rappels masked men at 3 a.m. from Black Hawk helicopters down onto an apartment building in Chicago, kicking out windows and doors to drag all inhabitants to the street for detention. More than 300 men, women and children zip tied. Children zip tied together, separated from family for transport in unmarked vehicles.

Should we be confused, outraged or appalled? Space beds and protected pedophiles? Republicans wasting time to shut down our government? Racial profiling for ICE but not for education? Military zip ties on children? I can’t help asking just who the real terrorists are?

Chris Connolly

White Salmon

Letters?

Do Hood “Riveranians” accept conservative letters to the editor? Just checking.

Mike Goodpaster

Goldendale

 Editor’s Note: Columbia Gorge News accepts letters on all topics from readers around the Gorge. Letters running in each edition were submitted by deadline the previous week.

Affordable energy

I’ll start with something we can all agree on: every American family deserves reliable, affordable energy. That’s not up for debate. The question is, how do we get there in a way that protects our communities, keeps jobs at home, and makes America stronger?

We’ve heard claims that renewable energy drives up bills and hurts families. But in states like Texas and Iowa, where wind and solar are booming, energy prices are lower than the national average. Renewables are now the cheapest new power source in America (cheaper than coal or gas). And when you put solar on your roof or your town builds a local wind project, you’re not paying Moscow or Riyadh a dime. You’re generating your own power right here at home. That’s true energy independence.

We’ve also heard that clean energy is killing factories. Tell that to the workers in Kentucky building batteries, or those in Ohio making wind turbines. These are good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced. The truth is, if we don’t build the technologies of the future here, China will. And they’ll sell them back to us. That’s not competitiveness, that’s dependence. And America did not built our greatness on dependence.

And let’s be clear: rural America isn’t being replaced, it’s being revitalized. Farmers leasing land for wind or solar earn steady income that keeps family farms afloat. From coal in Appalachia to oil in Texas to wheat in Kansas, rural America has always powered this country. Now it’s powering it again, in new ways.

I’m not saying the world ends in 10 years. But we’ve all seen floods, wildfires, and hurricanes that left families without homes or power. We can’t stop every storm, but we can be prepared, reduce risks, and protect our communities.

This isn’t about being “woke.” It’s about defense, against foreign energy dependence, and floods, fires, and blackouts. That’s just common sense.

This is America doing what we do best: innovating, leading, and protecting our own. We put a man on the moon! Don’t tell me we can’t build an energy system that’s cleaner, cheaper, and better than anything before.

Kathleen Bennett

White Salmon

Firearm safety

I want to make people aware of a great service that is being offered through Columbia Gorge Community College this fall. If you have any firearms in your home — whether you know how to use them or not — there are two classes related to firearm safety being offered at the Mid-Columbia Senior Center in The Dalles.

I grew up in a household in Eastern Oregon where all the male members of my family were hunters. I shot a small bore rifle as a child, but never did any shooting later in life. In fact, I realized after our son moved from Seattle to The Dalles in 2020 that I was actually afraid of guns. No need to try to psychoanalyze me, but just let me say that just looking at a pistol at my dining room table after dinner one night sent me into tears. Yes, looking back, it is a bit comical, but at the time I was completely overwhelmed.

I realized then that my fear was “probably a bit irrational” and that it would be to my benefit to learn more about pistols and rifles, which were in my home and had been for almost my entire life. I became aware that should I need to defend myself or my home or my family, I was ill prepared to do so as I had no idea how to handle any of the guns in my home.

Thus enters CGCC and the classes offered almost every semester. This fall, “NRA Home Firearm Safety Class” and “Women’s NRA Pistol Safety Course” are being offered. Yes, I hear you — I’ve not particularly been a fan of the NRA, but these classes are excellent.

I am no longer intimidated by guns; however, I have a great deal of respect for them and now know how to properly handle them. SAFETY is paramount and if you don’t know nothing about the guns in your home, it could be devastating to you and yours in the future.

Please consider these courses.

Lynne Allen

The Dalles

Meeting notice

Farmers Irrigation District (FID) will have their second budget committee meeting on Oct. 15 from 11 a.m. to noon at the FID office: 1985 Country Club Road, Hood River. They are looking at a 2% increase to the base fee and the per acre fee, which keeps the special assessment at $40/acre as it was originally planned.

The public can attend. Visit their website, www.fidhr.org, for more information.

Tina Dye

Hood River

Newspaper revamp

Columbia Gorge News is revamping its pages, and we’d like to hear from you. Story font size has increased — is it easier to read, or does it need to be bigger still? Any comments on design, good or bad?

Email your comments to Managing Editor Trisha Walker at trishaw@gorgenews.com. We want to hear from you!

Columbia Gorge

News staff