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A macro problem
In response to “Stop illegals,” July 12:
No time is better to address the issue of illegal immigration, due to
the fact of the heightened awareness through media, lawmakers and the
reality of seeing immigrants day to day. Immigration occurs from
Mexico to the United States because of the harsh realities of not
being able to provide for one’s self or one’s family.
The fact that life is risked — risked — is something that American
citizens do not understand because the gift of being a U.S. citizen
blinds one to understanding the many lives that are lost to come to
the United States.
I understand that the U.S. is known for following through with
politics and laws. The conscious American knows that breaking the law
will lead to reciprocity through the state. But let’s think about the
others who die for once, what happens if you as a Mexican national are
aware of the fact that educated American multi-national CEOs make
arrangements with the Mexican government to allow sweatshops, also
known as maquiladoras, to be a key part of your economic system. And
you as a Mexican national know that the CEOs are aware they are
breaking the laws, either through low wages or unsafe working
conditions.
How are you supposed to respect the laws of a nation when its nation’s
citizens (corporation, which is also known as a body or entity) do not
respect yours?
Some citizens believe that placing people in jail will fix this
problem. Placing people in jails will never be a solution to this
“problem,” because this problem is not micro, it’s on a macro level.
It includes economics, politics, and social realities that occur in
foreign countries that push the immigrant to risk life, push people to
break the laws, and push people to stay here as well.
Lorena Martinez
Hood River
Bridge ideas
The other day I was stuck in the backup on I-84 trying to get off
Exit 64 in order to cross the bridge into Washington.
Being greatly concerned that someone would rear-end me doing 65
miles per hour and greatly annoyed at the time that was being
wasted prompted me to write this letter.
The Port’s last newsletter gave their plans for fixing the backup,
which happens while people are trying to cross into Washington.
They plan on spending $4,275,000 and “a lot of work” on re-doing
the toll booths to add automated lanes. While this sounds cool and
would no doubt help, it is going to take a long time and a huge
sum of money (if I did the math correctly it’s 5,700,000 trips
across the bridge worth of money).
Another idea I have heard is to charge people coming into Oregon
double the amount and allow people heading to Washington to go for
free. This would prevent the traffic heading to Washington from
having to stop at the booth which would help prevent the back up.
Below are the four reasons the Port feel this is not an effective
solution. Upon examination, none of their explanations seem very
convincing to me.
“People don’t like to queue on the bridge.” No, they don’t, but
there shouldn’t be any more people coming in this direction and it
doesn’t take any longer to give the collector two tickets so the
backup shouldn’t be any longer. If it does become a problem you
could easily add a second collector during busy times.
“Tourists often travel just one way.” Yes, but they probably
travel each direction about the same number of times and you will
probably end up with the same amount of income.
3. “Logging trucks sometimes have their wheels up.” This only
becomes an issue if they have their wheels up more often heading
into Oregon. If this is so and you are really worried, you could
devise a special 3/4 rate for logging trucks that would charge the
same whether or not their wheels are up or down.
4. “People perceive it as unfair.” I think people are a little
brighter than that. The vast majority would figure out a round
trip costs the same amount and would be happy if the huge backups
were alleviated before there is a horrible accident on the
highway. If there is a small drop in revenue it would likely be
more than offset by the fact that your payroll costs could be cut
in half. If you don’t want to downsize your staff you could always
keep them on in another capacity such as trying to find tenants
for some of the vacant buildings you own.
All this plus the fact that it could be started almost
immediately, with a minimal amount of hard work and money (let
alone the millions the automated lanes would cost). I urge the
port to reconsider giving one-way tolling a try. If it doesn’t
work you could always revert to the old way.
What do you have to lose?
Brian Chambers
Hood River
‘Envision’ credits
Thank you for your coverage of the successful Envision Oregon town
hall forum in Hood River on June 22. It was a well-attended event
represented by a diverse range of community perspectives. In that
regard, it is important to correct the list of co-sponsors
reported by RaeLynn Ricarte in her June 28 article “Taking a
‘look’ at livability.”
1000 Friends of Oregon, SOLV, Oregon Business Assocation, and the
League of Women Voters of Oregon were all co-sponsors of the forum
but so also were the Hood River Chamber of Commerce, Mt. Hood
Railroad, Hood River Valley Residents Committee, Audubon Society
of Portland, Bus Project, and Hood River Downtown Business
Association.
The Envision Oregon town hall was a truly collaborative effort
where Oregonians had honest discussions about how to make our
state and communities better places. Readers can find a report
from the event available online at
www.EnvisionOregon.org.
Michele Sliwa
Hood River Downtown
Business Association
Hood River
We all need love
A simple solution shared with you all — when China and Japan do
not want North and South Korea to unite because of cheap labor
benefits, is every one of us bent on making money, money from the
poorest of the poor laborers? Yes?
Are we all slaves and not free men. Slaves to money?
This means every nation is struggling outside love and being
helpful.
Why do we terrorize each other?
From a childhood need of not feeling love?
Any cause can unite us blindly, painfully feeding on our fear and
guilt and a dirty feeling about closeness including our
conception: When there is no love, understanding, respect, trust
in the family or nation of families.
When we do not fill our need for feeling loved there are too many
variations of wholeness and we are critically divided unless we
listen to the child in each of us.
What did we want as a child? We beautifully hold this simplicity
within.
Those who seek recognition, things, power are lacking one emotion:
love’s fulfillment.
What is life for, if we do not love?
Will we go then, back to family members in every country and fill
the need for being loved and trust by listening to the child in
each of us?
So doing unlock love within us.
Allison Andrus
Hood River
Immoral equivalent
It is hard for us to see the ritual beheading of American soldiers
as anything but a depraved and unspeakable atrocity. It shocks our
human sensibilities. We’re right to be deeply disturbed by it, for
it goes against the grain of what we consider central to our moral
values.
But there may be a message for us at the heart of such grisly
acts. From some Third World perspectives these acts may be seen as
a “moral equivalent” to how the richest nation in the world has
for this past century chosen to ignore the poor, when to
substantially lessen worldwide poverty and starvation has been
demonstrably within our means.
For us, on the other hand, there is perhaps no greater sin than to
torture and kill someone in cold blood. Yet in many parts of the
Third World what happens to individuals is less important than
what happens to populations.
It may seem a strange ethic, but allowing 19,000 children to
starve to death each and every day in Africa may be seen elsewhere
as the moral equivalent of these grisly slayings.
This is not to excuse these horrendous acts of individual killing.
It is simply a word to the wise: when we act immorally according
to the moral code of another culture, we should not be surprised
that they act immorally according to ours.
David C. Duncombe
White Salmon
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