Editor’s note: Letters to the editor are published as space allows. Though deadline is noon on Thursday, receipt does not guarantee a run date. Increased printing costs prohibit the addition of extra pages. Any unpublished letters will be held for the following edition and placed first.
Be SMART
First and second graders at Hood River County and North Wasco County schools need community members to read with them weekly through statewide literary nonprofit SMART Reading (Start Making A Reader Today). Children learn to read and then they read to learn. When kids get behind in reading, they often start falling behind in school more broadly, so early support makes a world of difference.
SMART Reading volunteers get to experience the joy of spending time reading one-on-one with a child and helping them develop this critical skill at a very important time in their education.
SMART Reading is looking for volunteer readers to read with kids in two, 30 minute blocks at local elementary schools. Volunteers can commit to a weekly schedule or fill in as a substitute. The organization is also looking for site coordinators at Cascade Locks Elementary and Mosier Community School. This role (approximately four hours a week) matches readers up with students, helps organize the program at the school, and oversees the weekly reading sessions.
Readers report that this volunteer experience is so enjoyable to them. It is certainly my favorite volunteer experience ever! If this opportunity appeals to you, now is the moment to get involved. The program runs during the school year. You can sign up to volunteer at www.smartreading.org/volunteer or call 971-634-1634 to learn more.
You are needed to help our children become lifelong readers. Books and reading open up so many opportunities to our children! Let’s help them build the skills they need to thrive.
Nancy Johanson Paul
Hood River
Bassett for SD26
Nicole Bassett understands the importance of economic sustainability in the long-term success and strength of rural communities. I have worked in natural resource management, specifically forestry, for more than 25 years. During that time, I have seen rural communities suffer the effects of an economic system that values short-term profit over long-term sustainable growth.
It’s had negative consequences for the working landscape and families. Sustainability is a three-legged stool that stands balanced upon wise use and management of resources, the generation of long-term economic value, and community well-being and health. Nicole understands this and her track record proves it. She studied how business affects people and natural resources, both for better and for worse, and made that her professional focus. She founded a small business based on sound business principles. And she continues to work for the structural changes we need to create a stronger, more resilient economy in Oregon.
The ingredients for thriving rural communities are right here in the 26th District. We need leadership like that provided by Nicole Bassett to drive the structural changes at the state level to turn concepts into action, and to spearhead polices that drive sustainable economic growth for Oregon’s rural communities. This is why I am voting for Nicole Bassett.
Kelly Droege
Hood River
Hege vs. health
As a (retired) physician, I was grateful that my question on childhood vaccinations was among those chosen for our recent Candidate Forum (held Sept. 24 at the Hood River Valley Adult Center). The fact that Oregon is well below the Community Immunity (“herd immunity”) thresholds for measles AND mumps AND rubella is a public health crisis of our own creation, and needs prompt policy attention at the state level.
When asked if the legislature should therefore make changes to current school vaccination policies, HD52 candidate Scott Hege answered that he feels parents should be allowed to make their own decisions on vaccinating their kids. He is not alone in this thinking, of course, but he didn’t seem to grasp that that is EXACTLY why we have this crisis in the first place.
All states recognize medical exemptions for those (fortunately rare) childhood medical circumstances that make vaccination dangerous for the child. Many states also allow personal and/or “philosophical” exemptions. Oregon allows all of them, and in fact makes it easier to claim the exemption than it is to take your child in for vaccination.
Measles, mumps and rubella are all serious, potentially fatal, infectious diseases that are preventable by vaccine. Unfortunately, a parent’s decision to take an exemption and hope for the best with their own child puts every other child and adult in the community at increased risk, especially those who are already medically vulnerable.
Mr. Hege, other candidates, and our sitting legislators are not expected to be public health experts. But for their constituents’ sakes, they need to learn this from those who are: what is needed from the legislature is an immediate tightening of exemptions from school vaccination requirements, or even disallowing non-medical exemptions altogether, as six other states do. Parents could still choose not to vaccinate their children, they just couldn’t send them to public schools. That parental choice would still put others in the community at risk of dangerous infection. But Oregon can and should stop making the choice so easy.
Bonnie New
Hood River
McKinney a no
I have thought carefully about who I want representing Washington’s 4th District in Congress, and I will not be voting for Amanda McKinney. My concerns aren’t about party labels. They are about the policies and priorities she has expressed support for.
Here are some of my greatest concerns. Amanda voted to install Flock cameras in Yakima County, demonstrating that she isn’t concerned with the privacy of citizens. She supported offensive military policies, including the Iraq War, which resulted in enormous costs in American and civilian lives and taxpayer dollars. Her support for ICE deportations that separate families, remove productive members of our communities, resulted in more than 20 people shot, and two people dead, is deeply concerning.
I also question her commitment to families of Central Washington. She supports policies that have contributed to higher costs for families and greater uncertainty for businesses, including unpredictable tariffs. Finally, I have serious concerns about her position on energy, environmental protections, and AI regulation. She says she supports domestic energy production while opposing wind and solar development and supporting policies of forced acquisition of Venezuela’s oil. She has also supported reducing environmental regulations and opposes greater oversight of AI despite concerns raised within the technology industry itself.
These are not abstract political issues to me. They affect privacy, families, jobs, the cost of living, public health, and our everyday lives. For those reasons, I will not be voting for McKinney for Congress.
Summer M. Burdick
White Salmon
Dean for HD57
Josiah Dean is the best candidate for election to Oregon House District 57. You may have noticed he is not a Republican or a Democrat. Instead, he is a member of the Green Party of the United States. Here is how the Wikipedia web site describes it:
“The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a federation of Green state political parties in the United States. The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice, participatory democracy, anti-war, and anti-racism. As of 2023, it is the fourth-largest political party in the United States by voter registration, behind the Libertarian Party” (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_of_the_United_States).
The Green Party ranked third in the 2024 presidential election, ahead of the Libertarian Party. To learn more about the Green Party, or to offer your support, Josiah welcomes e-mail at josiah@josiahdean.com.
Our two-party system is not performing well, causing many to look for alternatives. As we look for those alternatives, R’s and D’s should be noticing and responding. Here are a couple of citations to articles on that subject:
Your vote for Josiah Dean is not only for the most qualified candidate, it provides a needed message to the troubled parties.
Keith Mobley
Dufur
AI concerns
If you’re concerned about data centers and AI, vote for Hank Sanders for House District 52.
Hank’s opponent, Scott Hege, has supported bringing data centers into our community despite the serious questions about how much water and energy these facilities will require and what that could mean for our environment, our farmers and ranchers, and our utility bills.
Hege tries to finesse his active role in promoting data centers by saying whether to impose a moratorium should be decided by each local government. This is a cop-out. A local government may reap the tax benefits of a data center, but the costs in utility bill increases and available water are imposed on all of us. A moratorium is needed at the state, and, better yet, regional level.
Hank Sanders is calling for a moratorium on data centers so we have time to step back, understand their environmental and economic impact, and make sure we’re not sacrificing our natural and financial resources for short-term development. That’s just common sense.
We can build a better future together, and I believe Hank Sanders is the representative eastern Oregon needs in Salem. That’s why he has my vote.
Buck Parker
Odell
Runaway debt
Perhaps worst of U.S. House of Representatives Republicans’ habitual votes contradicting their policy statements are their continually advocating for slashing federal spending but then voting for One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). This added $4.1 trillion to the national debt, which has doubled to $40 trillion since 2017, the beginning of President Donald Trump’s first term. The Re-publican-supported Iran war costing more than $75 billion and counting is another example raising the debt. Only two House Republicans opposed OBBB — neither being Dan Newhouse — and Newhouse could have killed it because it passed the House by just one vote. Democratic U.S. Representative candidate John Duresky says 4th Congressional District “working families are being squeezed by rising costs, stagnant wages, and an economy that rewards the wealthy while leaving everyone else behind.”
Sensing OBBB’s great unpopularity, congressional Republicans suddenly renamed OBBB as “Working Families Tax Cuts,” generally never admitting the renaming. This huge misnomer contradicted the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s determination that OBBB’s total impact makes the poorest working families even poorer, the richest CEOs much richer.
Reversing our huge runaway national debt problem needs immediate attention — repealing OBBB’s huge tax cuts for the richest should be a start. Clearly most House Republicans, contradicting their statements, have no interest in any of this, but rather just advancing their MAGA stature by gaining favor with Trump and his lapdog, House Speaker Mike Johnson. Just recall their recent positive responses to Trump’s ridiculous renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
Many congressional Republicans should be renamed “MAGA-man”/“MAGA-woman.”
Norm Luther
Spokane, former
Gorge resident
Egomaniac
Donald Trump is a egomaniac and the most destructive and embarrassing president this country we have ever had.
Gary Fields
Hood River
Vote Hege
We support Scott Hege because Oregon needs leaders who listen to their constituents and can use their experience and common sense to guide policy. We are farmers and have seen first hand how excessive regulation and misguided policies hurt our natural resource community. Scott’s experience as a business owner and his 16 years as a Wasco County commissioner make him the clear choice for Oregon House District 52. Scott’s integrity and personality will make him a valuable asset in Salem. Please join us in voting Scott Hege for Oregon House District 52.
Fritz and LeAnn Ellett
The Dalles
Builder for Hank
As someone who builds housing in the Gorge, I pay close attention to what makes it possible, or increasingly difficult, to build homes that working families can afford.
Land is one of the biggest pieces of that equation. So are infrastructure, water, electricity, and labor. When large industrial users come into a market as small as ours, whether data centers in The Dalles or the Amazon warehouse proposed near Odell, they compete for those same resources, and we need to think carefully about what that does to the cost of building homes.
The largest of these projects often come with large local tax breaks as well. Data centers in The Dalles received $50 million in property tax breaks this year alone. The city even went to court to keep their water use secret, while residents are asked to help pay for expanding the water system. Those are the same public dollars and the same water and sewer capacity that new housing depends on.
I believe we need a different conversation. Hank Sanders is asking whether more data center expansion is the best use of our limited land, water, energy, and infrastructure dollars when our communities so badly need housing people can afford.
As a builder, I want development that helps our communities grow without making it harder to build homes. I want a representative who understands that land and infrastructure decisions determine whether that housing gets built.
That is why I support Hank Sanders for House District 52.
Lach Litwer
Hood River
Backing Dean
Nearly 10 years ago, Josiah and I began what has become both a friendship and a working partnership. This letter is my endorsement of Josiah Dean for Oregon House District 57.
Many readers in Dufur already know Josiah from his years on the city council. We have served together on the board of The Dalles Art Center, and I had the privilege of helping him sell the historic Balch Hotel.
In every setting, Josiah has been the same person. He is kind. He is generous with his time and his resources. He is a man of his word: when he says he will do something, it gets done. And I have seen him stay true to his values in moments when setting them aside would have been financially rewarding. You cannot fake that kind of integrity.
Josiah also has an uncanny ability to listen. He is a passionate debater who genuinely enjoys putting himself in other people’s shoes, even when he disagrees with them. In a Legislature that too often divides along party lines, that is the skill that gets things done.
Voters in this district deserve a representative who works for them. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission reprimanded Rep. Greg Smith in January, and then in August fined him $12,000 for using his position at a public development authority to raise his own pay and approve his own paid vacation.
Josiah offers a different kind of leadership. He has committed to explaining every vote, answering every constituent and holding regular town halls. He wants to strengthen wildfire resilience and roads, protect family farms and water quality, and make sure community needs come first when data centers come to town.
Please vote for Josiah Dean. I know he will do good things for our community.
Philip Mascher
The Dalles
Duresky serves
I am writing to encourage the voters of Washington District 4 to vote for John Duresky as our Congressional representative. John served us all for 37 years. After a career in the Air Force that involved three combat deployments, John retired as a Major. He then worked at the Hanford site as a project manager. So he has seen the federal government as a career military officer, and as a manager of budgets and large projects. When he got the “Fork in the Road” e mail, denigrating that career, he decided to run.
John believes strongly that all the people of this nation that should choose our leaders, not billionaires and corporate CEOs. He is opposed to the Citizens United ruling that allows corporations to flood campaigns with money, is opposed to members of Congress trading stocks given their inside knowledge, and is opposed to retired members of Congress becoming lobbyists. He is in favor of term limits for Congress members.
He wants to protect our rural communities by encouraging federal funds for infrastructure development (like the Hood River Bridge) and protect small and mid size farms, rather than protecting the financial dominance of corporate farming. He wants to protect rural hospitals like Skyline and KVH, which will soon suffer financial challenges due to the reduction of Medicaid funding. We are also losing SNAP benefits due to the Republican’s short sighted funding bill. John wants to honor and encourage our federal workers, not denigrate and insult them.
His opponent, Ms. McKinney, says she is a conservative mom of faith, and that she proudly stands with President Trump on every issue. Does this mean that she is proud of the fact that it is estimated that 760,000 people have already died (65% of whom are children) due to USAID cuts, and that an estimated 14 million will die by 2030? Is she proud that hungry families are losing their SNAP benefits? Does she support tariffs that hurt farmers and consumers? Does she support runaway costs due to this foolish war President Trump started?
Please vote for John Duresky.
David Hindahl MD
White Salmon
Development
A state agency, the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), is writing rules that could urbanize rural Oregon. In Hood River County, that includes Oak Grove, Rockford, Windmaster Corner, Parkdale, Mt. Hood, Odell and Van Horn / Pine Grove.
The “Housing in Unincorporated Areas” Rulemaking Advisory Committee (RAC) is charged with allowing counties to place urban densities of housing in all types of rural communities, more easily expand their boundaries by rezoning surrounding rural residential and farm land, and requiring uses including, but not limited to, commercial and light industrial. Essentially, the charge is to allow individual counties to create mini-cities in rural areas, opting out of Oregon’s treasured land use system and choosing sprawl.
Here are a few of the issues.
1. The charge requires participating counties to zone for a mix of housing types and incomes, not just affordable housing.
2. Participating counties must allow light industrial, commercial, transportation and other uses. The proposed Amazon distribution center was approved as a light industrial use.
3. DLCD does not have an accurate list of unincorporated communities that will be affected. DLCD has no data on how many homes can be built on parcels already zoned and available, statewide or county by county, either inside and outside of urban growth boundaries, nor any estimate of how many homes could be built on parcels already legislatively authorized but not yet locally zoned.
4. Individuals were appointed to the RAC using criteria unavailable to the public. Of the 19 people appointed, eight filled out nothing in the application form beyond their name and organization; apparently, they did not have to compete for a seat. Three seats were given to officers of the anti-land use organization Oregonians in Action / OPOA.
These and other issues with the charge of the RAC are detailed at the Thrive Hood River homepage, along with what you can do today. You can also sign up for Thrive’s newsletter to get an update when the rules are public and the official comment period opens in November.
Chris Robuck
Co-president,
Thrive Hood River
Youth beneficial
I am writing to urge you to Support Hank Sanders to represent us in House District 52. Hank has been knocking on doors, actively listening to the people he meets and is not set in his ways like his opponent. Hank’s youth will benefit us as he is willing to study the issues, understand various perspectives and eloquently voice his opinions. There is no doubt in my mind that he will represent us well and work to make the Gorge affordable, but also protect our amazing surroundings — the river, the salmon, and our mountains. His generation and future generations will be impacted by the decisions made in Salem.
Ruth Berkowitz
Hood River
Voting record
Rep. Jeff Helfrich likes to talk about supporting hardworking families. His voting record tells a different story.
As our state representative, Helfrich voted NO on numerous common sense bills designed to protect employees — and in each case, he sided with employers over the workers who elected him.
SB 906 simply required employers to give new hires a written explanation of their earnings and deductions. This is basic transparency — the kind of information every worker deserves to understand their own paycheck. Rep. Helfrich voted no.
SB 537 would have required health care employers to train staff and establish procedures for investigating and reporting workplace violence. In an industry where violence against healthcare workers is a well-documented and growing danger, this was a modest, protective measure. Rep. Helfrich voted no. HB 3187 would have barred employers from asking applicants their age during hiring — a straightforward protection against age discrimination. You guessed it, Rep. Helfrich voted no.
Three bills. Three chances to stand up for paycheck transparency, workplace safety, and fair hiring. Three no votes. Individually, each vote might be overlooked. Together, they form a clear pattern: when employees’ and employers’ interests diverge, Helfrich chooses employers, time after time.
As a retired bookkeeper and business manager, I dealt with over a hundred employees. I processed their paychecks, sent them new hire letters and watched many young people coming into the workforce for the first time. Taxes and withholdings from paychecks can be confusing and I took pride in helping explain these to many young and old workers. Treating employees fairly was always of the utmost importance during my own career. Voters deserve elected officials who will fight for basic protections on the job — not lawmakers who quietly chip away at them. These bills were not radical in what they intended to do. What is radical is Jeff Helfrich’s apparent aversion to protecting hardworking people.
Rep. Helfrich is now running to be our state senator. As you fill out your ballot, remember which side Helfrich stands on.
Rhonda Starling
The Dalles
Lisa stands out
I’m writing in support of Lisa Gambee for Wasco County Commissioner because she brings something rare and essential to county leadership: a deep understanding of public service grounded in fairness, transparency, and non-partisanship.
As Wasco County Clerk, Lisa oversaw our elections with a steady hand and an unwavering commitment to integrity. In a time when election systems across the country have been under intense scrutiny, Lisa ensured that every ballot in Wasco County was handled securely, every process was transparent, and every voter — regardless of party — could trust the outcome. Her work strengthened confidence in our local democracy, and that matters for all of us.
What stands out most about Lisa is her approach to decision making. She listens first. She looks at the facts. And she focuses on what will benefit the entire county, not just one group or political viewpoint. She understands that the role of county commissioner is not about partisanship; it’s about stewardship. It’s about making thoughtful, practical choices that support our communities, our rural areas, our local economy, and the people who call Wasco County home.
Wasco County deserves leaders who put people first. Lisa Gambee has already proven she can do that. The choice is clear for Wasco County’s future, and I hope you’ll vote for Lisa Gambee.
Roseann Smeraglio
Maupin
Gambee dedicated
My wife and I met Lisa Gambee and her husband John several years ago through the Wamic Grange as volunteers. Lisa’s volunteer efforts have helped maintain the Grange for Community meetings and family events in South Wasco County.
I also observed Lisa help the volunteers who established the South Wasco County Park and Recreation District. Without her able assistance, the district may not have been established.
Lisa’s dedication to the entire Wasco County Community grew over years through her service as the Wasco County Clerk. When elected, Lisa will bring competence, diligence and integrity to the Wasco County Commission. Please join me in voting for Lisa Gambee for Wasco County Commissioner.
Dan Van Vactor
Tygh Valley
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