What a cool thing to have a new toll booth for the bridge. I, however, have one complaint and that is the little booth on the west side of the bridge where the “ticket only” line is.

That particular booth has the hot afternoon sun glaring into the poor ticket taker inside the little booth. The gals that are taking the tickets are doing a great job, but I am very concerned about the sunburn that they must be getting while they are doing this great job.

Today the gal in the booth that so graciously took my ticket was a bright red sunburned color.

After having lost my sister to melanoma skin cancer last year, I cannot stress how important it is that people need to stay out of the sun and if they have to be in it, they should be sure and wear the strongest sun blocker that they can find.

When my sister passed away she had numerous tumors in her body including nine tumors in her brain. All this started by one little tiny patch of skin cancer on her arm from too much exposure to the sun.

I have taken it upon myself every day when I am returning home from working across the river that when I hand the poor, twice-baked, sunburned girl in the booth my bridge ticket I say, “Oh, you’d better get out of the sun,” or “I hope you are wearing sun block.”

Why, oh, why is there no shade for these poor gals? When the construction is complete, will there be some protection for the people in these booths? I sure hope my bridge tickets are not the cause if any of these poor workers get skin cancer.

Missing the Alleys

I am going to miss the Alleys, who sold the Mid Valley Market in Odell. I am going to miss talking to Kathie Alley who would check our groceries out for my dad and me.

The Alleys are the nicest people around. My dad and I have known the Alleys ever since we’ve lived in Odell.

Less red glare

One more time … let’s consider what the Fourth of July means to us. Sure, I’m respectful and reverent about the “rockets’ red glare … and bombs bursting in air,” but does that also mean we need to kill young children, burn down houses and condone riots and gang fights? What a way to celebrate. Not a year goes by without front page news about the carnage that occurs during this co-called celebration.

Wouldn’t it be better to sponsor a contest that would encourage young people to think and write about the real meaning of “Independence Day,” using the money that we spend to blow things up (and burn things down) to provide some scholarship assistance toward their education?

This is no “knock” on the local Lions Club. They mean well, but isn’t it time for a real celebration of what Independence Day should mean to us? Thomas Jefferson would appreciate that, I’m sure.

Don’t pass judgment

Shame on you, you who sit in judgment of a police officer. You know who you are.

I’d like to ask if you have ever worn a uniform, and duty weapon, and worked as hard as our officers do to protect you and your homes, families, and friends.

Have you ever responded Code 3, a hundred miles an hour, to a scene of a motor vehicle accident only to be there in time to pull a charred body from a mangled mass of steel? You think to yourself, if only I would have been a little faster, gotten here a little sooner, been on the closer side of town; if only.

How many children have you interviewed that cry and stutter out the atrocities that they have lived through, being beaten or molested by those they loved and trusted? Your heart aches, you go home and hug your children and promise to spend more time with them only to be called away to a fight in progress. Now, you have to arrest a man for slicing up his wife, only to be cursed by the woman you came to protect. And you wonder, what’s it all for?

You who have a regular “day” job, a regular “lunch-break”, uninterrupted, take your calls or let them go to voice mail. Not a cop. He or she always answers that call, hardly ever is allowed to eat a meal in one sitting. So you say, “too bad, that’s their job, their choice”. Yes, it is. It takes a special person to enter into the law enforcement field. A desire to help people, make things better, educate the public, hold accountable the ones that take advantage of the innocent.

You would be surprised at the number of police officers who commit suicide, unable to deal with the stress; the cops who close down to their loved ones and suffer divorce because the family can’t deal with the isolation. Maybe a little bit of “off-color humor” is the antidote to the demand. Maybe being able to laugh at life is the better decision when you get angry and frustrated, where others turn to abuse of alcohol or drugs.

The chief of police was hired to do a job. Let him do it. He has the experience, the training, the knowledge and the ability to lead his men and women in the direction that has been set forth from the Oregon Public of Safety and Standards, i.e., the people of Oregon!

What does an office manager know about police work and the people who dedicate their lives to serving the public? What does a newspaper reporter know about the tragedies these people face every day? Which of you have to make snap decisions that can affect people’s lives? Shoot or be shot at? Which of you would want to?

How ashamed I am of our hired city leaders, and our little hometown newspaper. How dare you sit in judgment without the benefit of actually being part of the profession! And to the police department whiners who started all of this: Look around you, find another career.

Incidentally, I am proud to say that I am the wife of David Thompson, lieutenant of the Hood River Police Department. Yes, his job performance is under scrutiny at this time. I will also add that I have been in law enforcement for 20 years, seen a lot, worked with many, and I can honestly say that David is a good, honest man and a good cop.

Officers work hard

In response to Mr. JuanCarlos Jose Rivera’s comments: I too agree that all officers should be held accountable for their actions. But that the only solution for Officer Mason is to either resign or be discharged is not only your opinion but it’s also the wrong one.

Mr. Juan Carlos Rivera also stated that Officer Mason is making “the honest hard-working police officers look bad.” I read this to say that you believe Officer Mason is dishonest and lazy or am I assuming also?

As a newly sworn-in reserve officer for the City of Hood River, I felt compelled to write in response to Mr. Juan Carlos Jose Rivera’s comments. Putting personal agendas aside, I would challenge Mr. Rivera and anyone else of the same mind frame to look up the City of Hood River’s Reserve Officer program so that he may find out for himself exactly what amount of hard work and dedication it takes to be a police officer these days.

I can tell you from my reserve training that any opinion I had as far as what a law officer was or should be is completely different now than when I started. The fact is, we don’t know and that is why we assume and as the saying goes “never assume as it makes an … ” — I won’t finish the saying but you get my point.

See ‘Monologues’

First, I want to congratulate your paper for having the courage to publish such a favorable and prominent article about “The Vagina Monologues.” You did a beautiful job! Second, I want to mention that I am a visitor from out of town, and I had the opportunity to see a dress rehearsal of the play and I was extremely impressed.

Having seen it performed before, I did not expect any surprises, but I was amazed by the quality of this performance in the little town of Hood River. I would not expect to see anything more impressive on Broadway.

You are truly blessed to have a director like Judie Hanel in this town, as well as the three actresses who portray the various women who dare to tell the most touching and painful and delightful stories of their entire lives. I came away from this performance fully remembering most of those stories, as if I had heard them directly from the lips of the women who had had these experiences.

I still feel a sense of awe at what women live through, and how this part of our bodies has been so repressed, so hidden, so shamed, so uncelebrated.

I feel such gratitude to Eve Ensler for daring to write this play, for spending so many years of her life interviewing women about a topic that has been so taboo for so many people for such a long, long time.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved in this project. And I want to urge you to see this performance. I am an author of many books about holistic healing. If the idea of talking about vaginas feels somewhat repulsive to you, then it’s even more important for you to go, because experiencing these monologues might just change your life.

Leave Mason alone

Well, I’ve held my tongue much longer than many of my family and friends thought I could, but I just can’t keep silent any longer.

I’m writing about the recent articles about my nephew, Erin Mason. This article never should have hit the front page, and it shouldn’t be dragging on and on.

I’ve lived in this community for 45 years and I have heard many stories that are far worse than this, that NEVER hit the front page, let alone a page in the back of the Kaleidoscope. There have been officials stalking women while intoxicated, town leaders involved in adulterous affairs, and yet we choose to vilify a police officer who made a bad choice one night. Shall we all start pointing fingers?

I don’t condone what he said or did, but let’s face it, nothing he did was illegal. He had too much to drink while off duty and made a phone call. He didn’t get behind the wheel in that condition and cause an accident, he didn’t have an affair or ask anyone to engage in one, he celebrated more than he should have and now he’s being dragged through the mud and people are asking for his resignation.

Why don’t we just put him on a stake in the town square and throw rocks or better yet, tar and feather him and run him out on a rail? C’mon, folks.

I am far more concerned about the reporter’s choice to run this story, in what appears to be an attempt to end a career; because he got appointed to a job someone else wanted.

More than that, I’m concerned about the person who indicated that she should go listen to that particular tape. Seems to me, that information must have come from within, someone who is supposed to be a “part of the team.” (I’m pretty sure the reporters don’t have time to go listen to every 9-1-1 tape that gets made.)

Police work is a dangerous profession; one where the officers need to rely on each other, because they aren’t getting any sympathy from the criminals. They are out-gunned and outnumbered. If you have to watch your back as well as your front, you are in a dangerous situation. I’m sure all of those who served in Vietnam remember.

Let’s let Officer Mason work through this and let the dead horse lie.