State, cut back

I urge everyone undecided on Measures 66 and 67 to vote no because I don’t have a whole lot of faith in our state government.

I see the state making sweetheart deals with the unions at our (taxpayer) expense. PERS Tier 1 is a classic example of gain for union members at the expense of the rest of us.

Just recently our governor worked out a deal with SEIU for existing state workers to take mandatory furlough days. Now there’s a net gain of 3,000 workers for the state government. Here we go again. Of course, the state has work they need to do and they need people to do it; but is it real work? Is there a more efficient way to get the work of the state done?

Those of us in the private sector have become more efficient over the past 20 years or more. We’ve seen our margins shrink and we’ve had to increase our volumes. We’ve had to do more with less. It’s time for the state to get on board.

Brian Steeves
Hood River

Very disappointed

I want to state that I am very disappointed in your lack of coverage of the Cascade Locks IAMP held on Jan. 14.

Not only was this workshop not mentioned in the events section, no reporter from your publication was present, unlike the Skamania Pioneer — a welcome presence; although from a different paper, different county and different state.

This is a very important issue facing the City of Cascade Locks and the main reason I stopped by the offices of the Hood River News to talk with Editor Kirby Neumann-Rea about six weeks ago. I tried to stress to him the role that the Hood River News plays in our community and the inability of our local Channel 23 or the Web site to reach most of our residents.

I was concerned that the visit from our mayor, fire chief and city administrator had convinced the owner and editor to no longer cover contentious issues in our town. I now fear that they did have an impact.

These workshops are being held to acquaint our community with the process and impacts that the now-apparently-agreed-upon closing of the east Cascade Locks interchange.

At the same city council meeting, we voted to both proceed with this process and to fund a lawyer researching ways to challenge the outcome. A mixed message indeed; yet one that this community has been plagued with for the last 10 years.

One citizen stood up and asked why we were proceeding with this now; why not wait until the casino was approved? I must agree with him. Why are we sending the message that our downtown may be bypassed at a time we should be encouraging merchants? Why waste another decade on this project with nothing to show for it?

Kate Stuart
Cascade Locks

Record, revised

The partisan politics and finger pointing between parties is frustrating, and as far as I’m concerned, part of the problem. But Rich McBride’s letter (“For the record,” Jan. 20) goes too far.

Mr. McBride points out each U.S. recession over the last 56 years, and lists the Republican president in office at the time. Here is the same recession list, and the majority held in the Senate and House of Representatives at the time:

Recession of 2007: Both Democrat

Recession of 2001: House: Republican, Senate: 50-50

Recession of 1990-91: Both Democrat

Recession of 1981-82: House: Democrat, Senate: Republican

Recession of 1973-75: Both Democrat

Recession of 1969-70: Both Democrat

Recession of 1960-61: Both Democrat

Recession of 1957-58: Both Democrat

Recession of 1953: Both Democrat

If you’re going to point fingers, sometimes it’s best to step back and take a broader perspective.

Jon Laraway
Hood River

n

'The situation is critical'

This e-mail arrived Thursday morning from Kathy Carlson of Hood River, now living in Haiti:

I keep hearing that so much help is coming, so why isn’t it here? All day today on the local radio station here in Port au Prince there was call after call from people around the city saying we are here, giving their exact location, the number of people at that location; SOMETIMES IN THE HUNDREDS, SOMETIMES IN THE THOUSANDS!

We have no food, we have no water; we need medicine. The children here are starting to die from malnutrition and dehydration. They have been without now for almost 10 days. I have seen no fighting, rioting or violence since I have been here. I have seen incredibly kind, loving people who have been exceedingly patient. There are two camps a short distance from our camp that have at least 2,000 people in them.

I walked through one of them last night. I was amazed at how peaceful it was ... The people share everything with each other … The news is full of sensationalism, not the true story of what is happening here.

The people of Haiti may be poor by monetary standards but they are rich in caring, loving and sharing. They deserve our help, not rhetoric. I understand that there is a power struggle between the U.S. and France as to who will oversee the rebuilding of Haiti, and this is why most of the aid is still at the airport. Meanwhile, children are dying while others are being born in the street. And the rest have been without shelter for the past 10 days and are getting sicker by the minute while the powers-that-be feed their greed with the lives of these children.

Please forward this message on and write and call your senators, congressman, and the president. The situation is CRITICAL.

 

Life begins at 40; ends at 140

By RICK MCBEE

It was a full house in the Izumi Room of Asbury United Methodist Church on Wednesday, Jan. 20, as 17 people gathered to take a food handler’s class and become certified to cook, handle and serve food in their benevolent organizations.

Participants included members of Asbury, Soul Café, the Elks, Parkdale Community Church and Gorge Grown Network with a class goal of certifying them so that they can handle food  at a variety of community events.

Instructor Ian Stromquist of the Hood River County Health Department gave a two-hour, PowerPoint presentation full of examples, practice questions  and health tips for the would-be food handlers.

At the end of that time; following a thorough review of correct handling techniques, hand washing procedures, temperatures for holding food and food poisoning, the participants were each given a written test of knowledge.

Following the test, while waiting for final grades the group satisfied their hunger on cookies and coffee provided by Asbury and discussed a number of points from the class.

As was pointed out by one member of the class, life really gets good for microbes at 40 and ends at 140 (that’s of course degrees Fahrenheit; not years) and gives a good way of remembering those two key temperatures for keeping food above 140 degrees or below 40 degrees in order to prevent any growth of food poisoning microbes.

One hundred percent of the participants passed the test and received their food service cards.

The total community will benefit as more persons in Hood River become knowledgeable of these important rules for cooking and food handling. Certified members will now be able to cook, handle food and serve at the Soul Café and other benevolent occasions and fill a vacuum that has existed and made it difficult to hold several community food events during the past year.

Organizers of the class, Ian Stromquist, Perry Cole of Soul Café and Rick McBee of Asbury, were pleased that so many persons answered the call for certification and hope that Soul Café will be better able to achieve its mission in the community as more volunteers step forward to cook and serve the Sunday meals.

Persons wishing to take a class in the future should contact the Hood River County Health Department, which offers one class each month. Benevolent organizations wishing to schedule a special class can contact Stromquist at the health department to make arrangements.