The other day I overheard a conversation about the carbon footprints of the produce carried at grocery stores and the produce available at a local farmers market.

The folks talking were making the statement that the carbon footprint of the food at the large grocery store was less than the food at the farmers market. Their reasoning was that the food was already at the store and brought in on large trucks, as opposed to the local farmer who drives 40 miles to the market once or twice a week with a lesser amount of goods.

I am not going to point out the ignorance of these statements; though I am going to point out the fact that buying from your local farmers market (i.e. Gorge Grown Farmers Market) is a much better choice than buying your goods from a store that has brought in the food from Chile, New Zealand, California and/or Mexico.

The folks at the farmers market are your neighbors; the ones who shop at your stores and businesses; the ones who support other local business. The money you use to purchase their goods comes back to the community six times.

It keeps coming around and supporting all of us. Support your local farmers markets. Support your local goods. Support your local stores.

It’s better for our small economy and better for our environment. There is no reasonable argument against shopping at your local farmers market.

Keep it simple

Bad decision to continue the front page stories in the July 14 issue in the B section.

Our family splits up the paper for reading. That’s very hard to do when the A section stories are continued in the B section.

I’ve often commented how nice it is that all your page A1 stories are continued on the same page. It would be nice if that page was in the same section!

Support Mason

I think we should all support Erin Mason. Everybody makes mistakes and they don’t just hand jobs out with this much training to just anybody. He had to work hard to get there and I am sure he will learn from his mistakes.

Shocked by war

Last week my husband and I noticed a rather scruffy young man walking through Parkdale with a sleeping bag under his arm. He did not have a backpack.

Later that day we saw him walking toward Hood River on the Dee Highway. The following morning it rained heavily. As I drove to work I spotted him near Apple Valley, still walking, and dripping wet. As I drove by I got to thinking that he might need some assistance. I turned around, approached him, and asked him if he needed help of any kind. He responded with a snarl, and waved me away. He was absolutely not coherent. So I prudently left him alone. He was very thin, and his clothes were threadbare.

There is a man in Parkdale who (they say) was shell-shocked some years back. He wanders constantly around the surrounding roads winter and summer, rain or shine, carrying a guitar and usually a grocery bag of some kind. A compassionate orchardist lets him live in an outbuilding down by the animal barn.

There is no way to know if last week’s young man was a victim of the Iraq war. But he did remind me of his co-patriot from the last war our country took on.

As medical skills advance, we will observe more and more soldiers who survive our country’s best efforts to kill them outright. They won’t have arms, and they won’t have legs, and some of them will have lost their minds to the slaughter. They’ll have a small pension on which to live out their ruined lives. Governors will not attend their funerals. Their names will not be engraved on fancy war memorials in Washington, D.C. People might even laugh at them.

But get ready, folks. Get ready to welcome home those who, unlike the nearly 4,000 soldiers dead, have not paid the ultimate price for their service. They have paid much, much more!

Feeling neglected

I am writing concerning Greg Walden’s Medicare policy. It seems as though the office of our representative does not take the Medicare problems of its constituents seriously.

When my wife and I were having billing problems with our Medicare prescription drug plan, I made phone calls to both Sen. Ron Wyden’s office as well as Walden’s.

Within the next few days, I received forms from the office of Ron Wyden to rectify the problem. That was three weeks ago and I have yet to receive a phone call, letter, e-mail or form from the office of Mr. Greg Walden. Furthermore, I also was told by Medicare that Wyden had called their office to help with our billing issues.

The fact that one office in the state government was quick to help while another office made no such actions speaks wonders.

It is amazing how lopsided the government is in its actions. Greg Walden is not responding to the needs of his constituents. He lacks the understanding of what we in Hood River, at least, want to see happening. That or he simply ignores our problems and our needs as a people.

Delightful town

While traveling home to Tillamook from Idaho I recently had a problem with my pickup and pulled off the freeway onto the Port of Hood River property.

That Saturday, June 23, started a wonderful four-day stay in the area. I was helped by so many friendly people and had a chance to see some of your beautiful scenery. I would like to thank the Port of Hood River for letting me set up my RV, Hood River Ford in the service to my pickup and a loaned car, NAPA, The Hood River Inn for a map of the town, the public library for use of the Internet, the laundromat for a clean place, and Officer Grant Porter.

I was able to explore the town streets and take the most beautiful drive on Highway 35 and Eastside Drive. The red poppies along the way and the beautiful orchards, Mount Hood and Mount Adams, the shops and the parks, the walk along the boat basin and Columbia River were all enjoyed during my stay. You have a most delightful town and wonderful people in it.

Go with good idea

I had not realized that the Fourth of July had degenerated into gang warfare, killing of young children and burning down of houses.

Personally I think that instead of the former we are actually celebrating the birth of a nation. The abreactions occur because of individual decisions.

Do we really want to limit individual decisions, no matter what the cost?

I agree wholeheartedly that it would be a good idea to sponsor contests that would encourage young people to write about our democracy and the real meaning of “Independence Day.”

I encourage Mr. Jensen to step forward, join the Lions, and chair this activity.