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Students get active
Many students from May Street Elementary, Hood River Middle School and
Westside Elementary will be walking or biking to school during the
week of Oct. 4 along with parents, teachers and community leaders.
Feedback gathered will be used to generate matching grants to improve
the walking and biking conditions for our children.
The event will begin officially on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 4,
with kids, parents and community leaders walking or biking to school.
Walkers and bikers will be greeted at school starting at 7:30 a.m.
prior to morning classes.
Please walk or bike to school with your child, fill out a survey and
participate in this important community event! “How walk-able is your
community?” and “How bike-able is your community?” surveys are
available at each school’s main office and online at
www.walktoschool.org.
You may drop off completed surveys in a box at the school’s main
office any time between now and Oct.18.
Walk to School events work to create safer routes for walking and
bicycling and emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing
physical activity among children, pedestrian safety and traffic
congestion.
The event is being organized by Healthy Active Hood River County
Coalition. For additional information, please contact your local HAHRC
member:
Orhan Beckman at 399-2813 for May Street Elementary; Alison McDonald
at 387-5083 for Hood River Middle School; and Kelly Chambers at
490-8603 for Westside Elementary.
Orhan Beckman
Hood River
Confusing issue
I’m confused. Carol York, who aspires to Rick Metsger’s state
senate seat, says the senator is opposed to residency requirements
for driver’s license applicants, while she feels residency should
be required.
Senator Metsger says that’s not true; and that, as a matter of
fact, during the last legislative session he introduced a bill
which would require proof of either legal residency or U.S.
citizenship.
Could the editorial staff of the Hood River News please un-confuse
me on this issue?
George W. Earley
Mount Hood
Toward dictatorship
George Bush has approved spying on us citizens, has given away our
freedoms through his Patriot Act, has stripped our social services
in favor of his Iraq invasion. He consistently lies to us and we
are supposed to believe his words, not his actions.
Finally, and most frightening to me, is his creation of a new
combined force of our police department with the U.S. Army under
the generalship of an Army General. We now have a true declaration
by George Bush of his dictatorship. Remember that the purpose of
the police is to protect us citizens, while the Army trains its
soldiers to kill the enemy. In this case that’s you and me.
A concerned senior citizen,
Anatole S. Fetisoff
Hood River
Ron is wrong
Ron Saxton is wrong for Oregon. Does he have any experience as an
elected representative? No. Does he have any experience as an
elected senator? No. Does he have any experience as an elected
anything? Yes, he was elected to the Portland School Board for a
three-year stint.
He was chairman of the board for two of those years. While
chairman, he helped hire the worst district superintendent in the
city’s history. Saxton claims that Kulongoski, as a career
politician, has “lost track of how the system (state government)
is supposed to work.” Saxton, as a career corporate lawyer, has no
idea how the system is supposed to work.
Saxton wants Oregon businesses to pay fewer taxes and have less
government oversight. You will be the one to make up the
difference and suffer the consequences. The corporate minimum tax
in Oregon was set in 1932 — at $10! Can you guess how corporate
lawyers (i.e. Ron Saxton) help keep this unconsciencionable
practice going?
Ron Saxton’s social program would be nothing more than Corporate
Welfare. We do not need someone in the governor’s office who is of
the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation.
Please, don’t vote for someone who has no experience in
government, wants businesses to freely pollute, strip our natural
resources and let you pay their share of state taxes.
Gary Fields
Hood River
Metsger no leader
It is with deepening concern that I have followed the back and
forth between Carol York and Rick Metsger regarding the fate of SB
819 and SB 586, two bills written to make it more difficult for
illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
As president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, I spent the
better part of 2003 lobbying the legislature on behalf of SB 819
and SB 586. Let there be no mistake: there was so little
leadership on the issue of immigration reform on the part of
Metsger’s Senate Committee on Transportation that I had to turn my
efforts to the House of Representatives, where I was able to get a
hearing.
The candidates can argue the semantics and details, but the record
is clear on the fact that no action was taken.
Rick Metsger has been no friend of immigration reform in the past.
He spoke very clearly when he voted to give in-state tuition
discounts to illegal aliens. Regardless of what he is saying now,
his record on the issue is seriously flawed.
Jim Ludwick
McMinnville
A good neighbor
With regard to Mr. Hickman’s letter, regarding the housing
development adjacent to my office and the middle school, I feel
compelled to let the community know how hard the developer, Mike
Kitts, has tried to be a good neighbor during the construction. He
moved a tree to my property that I had inadvertently planted on
his. He consulted me about a house color for a house facing my
office.
He has scheduled construction that would have disrupted my
business for off-business hours, and he hired a young man to
accompany my patients to my office when access to my office was
blocked due to constuction.
Gary Regalbuto, M.D.
Hood River
York understands
It is important to know what our representatives do after the
election. Carol York’s opponent has a voting record. He got a “D”
from Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an “F” from Oregon Farm
Bureau and voted 25 percent for the National Federation of
Independent Businesses.
He voted 45 percent for Associated Oregon Industries. The above
organizations represent the folks that provide jobs and a healthy
economy. As a small business owner, Carol understands these
economic factors. She is well-acquainted with our county and has
extensive experience with local government and problem-solving. I
hope you will join me in voting for Carol York.
Rita Swyers
Hood River
Film about courage
I rescued animals in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, then
co-produced and directed a film about the subject. A special
screening of “Dark Water Rising: The Truth About Hurricane Katrina
Animal Rescues” will be held at the Starlight Theater on Thursday
(Sept. 28) at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. I will personally be there to
answer questions from the audience.
FEMA’s failures concerning humans are well-documented, but the
animal issue has been ignored by the mainstream media. Therefore,
everyone who cares about pets should see this film and find out
more about this important topic. Sixty-percent of households have
pets, yet federal, state and local authorities failed to plan for
pets in emergencies. This deplorable situation continues since
Congress has not yet passed the PETS Act allowing for animal
evacuation, and Oregon has no such law allowing or requiring such
evacuation.
Many are afraid to see this film because of the preconceived
notion that it is too graphic, or that it is too difficult to see
animals in distress. But this voluntary ignorance and denial is
what got caused the problems in New Orleans in the first place,
and allows these problems to continue today.
Those who have seen the film have responded overwhelmingly
positively and critical reviews have proclaimed this a must-see
film. An Iowa critic recently wrote, “Sometimes, a film is so
compelling it’s difficult to find the words that describe it. Such
is the case with the superb but chilling “Dark Water Rising.” This
is a movie about courage. It could renew your faith in the human —
and animal — spirit.”
I hope Gorge residents will join me on Thursday night and judge
for themselves. I look forward to presenting this film and this
important topic.
Kim Upham
Co-producer and director
Portland
Vote out the GOP
Thank you, Alan Winans, for reminding us of the Republican Party
priority list: bigotry, racism, divisiveness, distraction from the
real issues through hot-button, mean-spirited politics.
Hispanic influx problem? How about the narrow-minded,
self-righteous problem!
Time was when the Republic Party stood for industriousness,
self-motivation, the entrepreneurial spirit and a hands-off
government.
We need to vote out these spoilers of our nation and restore
government for the People and by the People.
Eric Voigt
Hood River
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