Your voice: Sept. 24, 2025

Today (Sept. 15), you killed persons on a small boat more than 2,000 miles from this country which you claimed were “confirmed” to be transporting illegal drugs bound for the U.S. Please explain how this small boat could make such a journey and, if your answer is that it was going to supply a larger vessel capable of the crossing, why you did not order an interception of the second boat by law enforcement trained to process a crime scene in accordance with due process, so as to interdict, detect, and prosecute the leadership of an alleged smuggling operation? That would have been effective and lasting.

What you ordered is illegal and ineffective. It is clearly done to project an image of strength. In fact you are weak and unpopular, and this does not change that.

Jim Appleton

Mosier

Violations

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody….”, said the Coward and Thief in Norwalk, Iowa, Jan. 20, 2016. He has done it.

Here are undisputable facts: The boat was in international waters in the Caribbean sea; Trump ordered the attack because he bragged about it in a televised event as it happened; there is no evidence of who were the people in the boat at time of the attack; The Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, are complicit.

Perhaps Tren de Araqua operated the boat and carried illicit drugs. There is no evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, of this accusation. Tren de Araqua is a designated terrorist organization. This designation authorizes multiple levels of sanctions, but it does not authorize the use of lethal military force.

The Constitution and supporting statues bind everyone in the U. S. government everywhere, at sea, in air, on the moon. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) covers every member of the U. S. military. International Humanitarian Law applies as well. Nuremberg trials set the standard of the obligation to disobey an unlawful order. If the Coward and Thief ordered a Private to shoot someone on Fifth Street, the Private and the president would be guilty of murder.

Shooting a lethal weapon toward a fleeing, unarmed, non-combatant vessel is murder as defined by UCMJ article 118. Killing unarmed combatants to threaten other combatants is also murder. Beyond a reasonable doubt, this unarmed boat was fleeing, and non-threatening. Trump, although surely aware of Moranda Rights, bragged about the incident in progress to a national audience —  premeditation. Trump’s loud-mouth bravado is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

Trump took an oath to “…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” He and top elements of the government have directly violated these amendments: 5th and 14th of due process; 6th right to fair trial, counsel, and witnesses; 8th of cruel and unusual punishment, He has made himself the judge, the jury, and the executioner. The Coward and Thief is a rapist, thief, pedophile supporter, and chief instigator of lethal violence.

Terry Armentrout

The Dalles

Editor’s note: These letters reference the Sept. 15 attack of an alleged Venezuelan drug vessel traveling in international waters on the way to the U.S., killing three.

AI and Medicare

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed it would not cut Medicare benefits. Yet those benefits are now being chipped away. Beginning in January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will launch a six-year pilot program — starting in six states, including Washington — that uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to decide whether patients receive certain medical procedures.

This technology, already deployed by some private insurers, is notorious for swiftly denying care in bulk. To make matters worse, Medicare plans to reward these AI companies by giving them a share of the “savings” they generate through rejected claims.

In short, Medicare is adopting the very worst practices of private insurance — prior authorization by algorithm, profit from denial of care, and less access for seniors.

We did not vote for this. Call your legislators and demand they protect Medicare from being hollowed out by corporate profit schemes.

Source: bit.ly/4652wxh

Sandra Montag

White Salmon

Your opinion matters

Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation wants your opinion on potential concept options, including: new, renovated, or eventual closure of the pool.

Please visit hoodriverparksandrec.org, or go to columbiagorgenews.com to read a media release in English and Spanish, with survey links included. Or, drop by the pool to pick up a paper survey.

The survey closes Sept. 28, so please let them know what you think now.

Kate McBride

Hood River

Talk, don’t threaten

Imagine you worked for me and one day in 2023, I wrote to you, “Joe Biden is a bumbling, dementia-filled Alzheimer’s, corrupt tyrant who should honestly be put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.”

What would you do? Maybe you would have agreed with me, but if you didn’t, would you have talked to me about why you disagreed? If you didn’t feel comfortable talking directly to me, would you have gone to my superior or HR?

Or would you have screenshot that email and sent it over social media, tagging groups outside our community that you knew would respond in an inflammatory, even violent manner? Would you tag the governor in your posts, demanding that I be fired? Would you then stay silent when you saw that my family and I, including my kids, were being threatened with bodily harm, including posting pictures of nooses? Would you say anything when people from far away threatened to come to Hood River and murder me?

Thankfully, I work in an environment where people act like grownups and do not feel the need to threaten me when they disagree with me. The same cannot be said for workplaces all over the country, including Hood River, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s horrific murder. People are calling for others to lose their jobs and sometimes much worse because of objective statements about Kirk that mostly just point out what he stood for and words he said.

I understand that some people are very upset about what happened, but I’m really tired of the cover that social media gives people so that they don’t have to address others face to face, especially when those posts genuinely scare people. I’m losing hope for democracy in this country for many reasons lately, but the inability of people to listen and talk to one another without anger or judgment is one of the greatest losses of my time.

Oh and by the way, I didn’t write that sentence in 2023. Charlie Kirk said it on his podcast.

Jennifer Hackett

Hood River

Kirk’s death

Too many Americans are using the assassination of Charlie Kirk as an opportunity to drive the wedge between Left and Right even deeper. Very sad.

Those on either side who would “save” us from the disaster plotted by the other side would do well to take a long, deep breath. In the Braver Angels organization, we believe that all of us have blind spots and none of us are not worth talking to. That’s a huge belief to live out, and few do it consistently, but we try.

When you grow weary of lobbing verbal grenades at the other side, or simply grow weary of your daily pummeling by the news headlines, consider a better way of dealing with all that. Check out Braver Angels at www.braverangels.org or reach out to me at droof@braverangels.org.

Doug Roof

Hood River

Saddened

It’s been several weeks since Charlie Kirk was murdered. Every opinion and commentary has been aired over and over on the news feeds. I didn’t know Mr. Kirk and had never heard his message. But I know what I hope people draw from this tragedy.

I hope we see clearly that violence, be it verbal or physical, has no place in our society and especially now in our politics. That no matter what your opinion you have a right to voice it if it causes no harm to another person. But I hope we become more careful of the words we choose to use.

I hope we become more inclusive and less exclusive, inviting everyone to the big table. I hope we can see that every person is unique and that it’s important that each one has the opportunity to express their uniqueness without being bullied or called names. I hope we choose to follow people who model respect and integrity and who ask each of us to be the best person we can be. I hope that each of us takes seriously the call to treat others as we wish to be treated, to be tolerant and accepting of differences.

I hope that we reach out to those who feel threatened and fearful and try to understand their feelings. We are all in this together and life is too short to be taken up with hatred. In the end, I hope people choose respect and kindness. I think Mr. Kirk would want that, too.

Karen Jaeger

Hood River

Friends of Eric Tamiyasu

I went to college with Eric for three years and we were housemates for two, and I still consider him one of my life’s best friends. Recently I, along with family, attended a wedding just outside of Hood River. The wedding was in a beautiful orchard setting, with flowers and Mount Hood in the background. We spent a few days in Hood River and I found it very much unchanged from what I remember from the 1980s and ‘90s. The Columbia River is beautiful and the people of Hood River are so friendly, it seems like a little paradise to strangers. But the visit to Hood River also presented the opportunity to remember a not-so-pleasant event from the past. Before the wedding, I had to find out what was new with the investigation into Eric’s murder in 2001 so I stopped in, unannounced, to the Tamiyasu orchard outside of town. Ramona Tamiyasu was so kind to receive me and my family and spend a few minutes talking about the latest developments. She told me, with the help of District Attorney Matthew Ellis, his case was being reviewed by the Major Crimes Team for the Columbia Gorge and maybe they would find some reason to reopen the case. My wish is for the people of Hood River and the nearby areas to support the further investigation in Eric’s death. Eric was a great friend and person and his family and friends deserve to finally find out what happened back in June 2001. I miss the 24 years of friendship that could have been.

Keith Zimmerman

Union City, California

Indivisible

Rep. Cliff Bentz is claiming he cannot hold in-person town halls because they are being disrupted by Indivisible. Indivisible is a volunteer-driven, nonpartisan organization focused on voter education, organizing, and peaceful protest in support of human rights, food assistance, healthcare, disability rights, gender equity, women’s rights, bodily autonomy, and environmental protection.

I am a co-leader of ORD2 Indivisible. Our Federal Team meets with Bentz’s staff a couple of times a month because he refuses to face us — even on Zoom. For months we have requested meetings with him, but we are continually denied. His staff says we are among the most polite and respectful constituents they meet. We come prepared with information, news articles, and studies from reliable sources such as the Congressional Budget Office. Where is Bentz’s proof that we cause disturbances? He blames us for any disruption, regardless of the source.

What he is truly upset about is that we are educating voters and showing he is not representing them—he is representing the Trump administration and billionaires. He tells constituents he is not cutting SNAP, Social Security, or healthcare, yet he voted to cut $880 billion from these programs.

Oregon deserves a representative who listens and tells the truth. We need new leadership in 2026. If you know someone who would serve the people better, please contact us.

Eric Lindquist

ORD2 Indivisible federal team co-leader