Kaleidoscope, Wednesday Sept. 26, pictures five stately homes in Hood River County. These homes are all exceptionally valuable today (as most real estate in Hood River County is) and will remain so into the future if M49 passes in November.

Oregon land-use laws for the last 30 years have increased home and land values exponentially in this county. Why? Because land-use laws allow growth gradually with careful thought and with consideration to citizens.

If M49 does not pass and fix M37 this fall, all home owners in Hood River County should be aware that the value in their homes they thought they could bank on, will be a fraction of what they once were.

The demand for homes that exist today will drop if M37 does allow thousands of tract homes to flood all over the Hood River Valley, as soon as M49 is defeated, without any planning and input from neighbors.

M37 presently allows 7,500 claimants in Oregon to become extremely wealthy very quickly at the expense of the rest of us. Protect your investments and your property rights with a Yes vote on M49.

4-H, FFA are good

Barb Basco’s “Fair’s cruel side” letter in the Sept 29 paper: I just want to ask: “Do you eat meat?” If so, why are you complaining? At slaughter houses the cow is shot in the head, quick and painless. The 4-H and FFA kids have a choice if they want to show a market animal or a breeding animal. It is clearly up to them. I am a proud 4-H and FFA alumni and proud that my daughter is enjoying the life experiences and fun 4-H and FFA provide.

Forgive insensitivity

After reading Sue Faulkender’s letter (Sept. 22), I must offer a different point of view on compassion and forgiveness.

On Nov. 9, 2006, Jerry Phelps died suddenly and violently after allegedly being run over by the vehicle owned and driven by one of Ms. Faulkender’s family friends. Other felonies are involved and the investigation continues. So far the alleged perpetrator has not offered any explanation as to how it happened. After nearly a year, legal action is about to proceed.

Her letter was full of words of support for the person charged with killing Jerry Phelps. As it didn’t come many months ago, her letter was evidently timed to influence public opinion (and therefore potential jurors) who may be called in the case.

Not only did Jerry Phelps lose his life, his wife and three young children had their world shattered and are left with the bleak prospect of living the rest of their lives without their husband, father and best friend. The Phelps’ extended family has suffered the agonizing fate of knowing that the man who took everything from them is free to this very day. He has offered none of them a word of explanation or a single breath of remorse.

As Ms. Faulkender didn’t even know Jerry, imagine how the grieving family felt reading her letter to the editor dismissing the crimes that killed the man they dearly loved as some kind of happy accident. She even goes as far as to put thoughts into a dead man’s head by insisting that Jerry would want the person who killed him to get away with it. Imagine how Ms. Faulkender’s letter was like a vicious slap in the face of all who actually knew Jerry Phelps. Imagine how her statements made Jerry’s wife relive (yet again) the nightmare of his tragic death.

If there is an ounce of justice in this world, the person who took Jerry Phelps’ life will receive the maximum penalty allowed by the law.

Practice forgiveness?! Learn compassion?! Perhaps Ms. Faulkender could use her learned compassion to set up a college fund for Jerry’s children. I won’t hold my breath.

I will, however, take some of Ms. Faulkender’s advice from the last paragraph of her letter “Practice Forgiveness.”

I forgive her for dismissing Jerry’s death as nothing but an inconvenience for the man who killed him. I forgive her for not caring enough to pick up the phone and offer sympathy to those whose lives where crushed. I forgive her for forcing Jerry’s wife and extended family to publicly relive the agony of his untimely and wholly preventable death. Finally, I forgive her for being so insensitive to the feelings of all who actually knew and loved Jerry Phelps.

Honesty first

Practice honesty; forgiveness will follow.

Forgiveness needs to be practiced. Honesty needs to be practiced more. Accidents happen to all of us. I would hope that no one would ever have to live with the burden of being involved with an accident that caused the death of friend, son, husband, and father.

What makes this an unforgivable crime and no longer an accident are the lies being told by all of those involved (the friends he held so dear). Everyone affected by this would like it to end. Unfortunately, those hurt by the lies need the truth for absolute closure. No matter how grim the details are it is their right as a widow, a mother and father to know the truth. I know I speak for others when I say I will not be practicing forgiveness, until the truth is told.

Work for 49

Imagine for a second that we are all in outer space, and that we are all, somehow, on a planet with limited resources.

Wouldn’t we be wise if we decided to use the best farmland for farms and the best timberland for timber, and the best habitat for a combination of human and wildlife to live in? And if this had been the case for quite some time, what would we do if someone came along with a reasonable-sounding request to build another house on her farmland for her kids? And if THAT were the case, what would we do if the reasonable-sounding request was actually a veiled attempt to convert what was, once upon a time, the best timberland and farmland and habitat into huge tracts of subdivisions and mines and business parks and gravel pits and pig farms that upset the delicate balance?

What if the developments gobbled up our community resources like drinking water, tax money, clean air, and the ability to farm nearby? That is what we all face today. Not tomorrow. Here in outer space, on our planet, in our valley with excellent farms.

Don’t just support the passage of Measure 49. Make sure your family and friends all vote for it. And go to yeson49.com to make your commitment to assist in the passage of this bill. Hurry it up. Last chance. We are circling the drain and Oregon should be the last state to go down.