I am proud to be a board member of HOPE. Housing is critically important to every working citizen in our community, and I am excited that 18 more families will soon be given the opportunity to own their own home, in Hood River!

Thanks to the city and HOPE staffs who have worked hard at making this project a reality. This is Hood River at its finest, joining together as a community and unselfishly building dreams for our hard-working citizens.

Pass Measure 50

Measure 50 will add 85 cents to the price of a pack of cigarettes. The funds will be used to provide health insurance to 100,000 uninsured children in Oregon and implement tobacco prevention efforts.

The tobacco industry does not want this measure to pass. They are spending record amounts of money — $9 million — to defeat it. I encourage a vote in favor of Measure 50 — for our children and for our communities. For more information, visit www.healthykids-oregon.org.

‘Wit’ riveting

After attending and participating in theater for over 30 years I feel that I have witnessed the most riveting performance from an actor that I have ever seen.

Our local actor/director, Mary Fassel’s performance of a dying cancer patient held the audience in pin-drop silence last night. We laughed with her, and also felt her pain.

Thank you to CAST for pressing us up to our comfort zones to bring us this play. People will be talking about Mary for a long time. Richard Parker, the director, made it all happen. Thank you and Bravo!

Tortuous proposal

Mr. Bush says we don’t torture, but I don’t see him offering to prove it by volunteering to publicly undergo the interrogation methods he says are so acceptable.

We could ask him, for example, for the true story of his oft-questioned military service while some CIA chaps give him the treatment ... publicly, of course, so there’s no question about what’s done.

‘Wit’ outstanding

“Wit,” the CAST season opener, deserves a full house every night.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be in the audience for this exceptional play! You won’t find a better performance in New York or London. I cannot overstate how deeply it moved me.

We are so fortunate to have a theater company like CAST in our midst. My thanks to Richard Parker, Mary Fassel, and all the other members of the cast and crew for their courage, talent, and dedication to bring us this outstanding production.

Big Box stores

Recently we decided to remodel our bathroom. Actually, my wife, with the help of a certain friend, decided and I refused to fight the notion.

We (my wife) decided that we needed a new sink and stool, this besides the painting needed to change the color scheme of the bathroom.

I realize that we have Tum-A-Lum and Krieg’s in Hood River. In fact, I have frequented these businesses many times in the past. They, however, have few visible selections to view of these items.

This time we needed a lot of choice.

We decided to go to The Dalles, specifically to Home Depot. This is an establishment that is not allowed in Hood River because of the so called “Big Box Law.”

While there we visited numerous other businesses in The Dalles. We ate out. We bought from other stores. In effect, we helped the overall economy of The Dalles.

It sure would be nice if we were able to do this in Hood River. I think that it is about time that we realized that Hood River needs to look at the overall needs of the community.

If we are truly trying to build affordable housing, then perhaps we need to look at affordable shopping.

Fire thanks

As the smoke curled up over the bluff with flames devouring everything in its path, we were evacuated from our homes on Underwood Mountain on Sept. 20. Rumors flew and hope came and went. We counted 12 fire trucks heading up the hill as we left with the few possessions we had to gather.

We watched and waited in terror as the helicopters dropped bucket after bucket of water, fearful for the homes above as the fire jumped Cook-Underwood Road. Now, as we work to clean up the damage, it seems appropriate to extend our thanks. Thankfully, DNR crews have continued to monitor hot spots the past two weeks.

Words somehow seem inadequate to express our appreciation to the crews who worked so diligently to save our homes. Our dear neighbors who, sadly, lost their homes, continue to be in our prayers. Information given at the Underwood Community picnic on Saturday, Sept. 22, noted that 30 units had responded to our emergency! Amazing!

Our deepest heartfelt thanks to each and everyone who helped!

P.S. A scorched car keys on a ring with a Full Sail bottle opener was found in the fire debris and is waiting to be claimed.

Override SCHIP veto

This is an open letter to our congressman, Rep. Greg Walden. I want to ask Greg to reverse his course by supporting the State Children’s Health Insurance Program expansion (SCHIP) through voting to override the president’s veto.

I also want him to use his substantial influence and leadership in persuading others to do the same.

The SCHIP expansion, which would finance health care insurance for so many more children than are now eligible, was passed by the U.S. House and Senate and has strong bipartisan support. President Bush’s veto was ostensibly on ideological grounds, that is, that the law would mean “too much government involvement” in health care. But this is an inconsistent position, to say the least.

When I was a high school debater in the 1960s, we wrestled with such arguments about Medicare and Medicaid, which, as we know, are now linchpins of health care provision in our nation.

Other examples of governmental involvement in health care financing include such invaluable institutions as the Veterans Administration, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Indian Health Service, the National Health Service Corps, graduate medical education, the Centers for Disease Control, and the network of community health centers (like La Clínica del Cariño in Hood River and The Dalles) which President Bush has championed and greatly expanded during his administration.

Congressman Walden is among the nation’s most experienced and savvy elected officials when it comes to health care. I count on his compassion for uninsured children, his knowledge of how the lack of health insurance is demonstrably linked to poorer health, and the courage of his convictions to affect an override of the president’s veto of the SCHIP expansion bill.

Workers care

In support of county employees:

I am not a resident of Hood River, but have had the pleasure of meeting, and receiving services from, county employees on numerous visits to your county.

I have always been greeted with a smile and treated with respect. This is why I am not surprised that they decided not to ratify a contract that was good for many (full-time employees) but a hardship for the 13 part-time employees.

These individuals care. They care about their jobs, their county, and their co-workers. If a contract is unfair to anyone, it is unfair to all. I think that full-time employees also know that the only thing that stands between them and a part-time position may be a couple of budget cuts down the road.

A county worker’s pay scale cannot compare to those in the private sector. On the other hand, they usually are given a benefit package to help mitigate this fact. To ask 13 people to pay nearly $200 per month, when their health benefits were covered up until now, amounts to a huge pay cut; upwards of 20 percent. The 3 percent cost of living increase does not come close to taking away this painful decrease in take-home pay.

To be selfish, I hope that both sides can come together to re-address these important issues. I want to see those same smiling faces the next time I visit your county.