Sequim Gazette Editorial and Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor
Published on Wed, Dec 2, 2009Read More Editorial
Food bank flap
Steven Rosales, president of Sequim Food Bank, is taking the food bank truck and delivering bakery items from Safeway and Costco to the Boys & Girls Club in Sequim.
These items were given to the Sequim Food Bank for the underprivileged.
Also, Mary Budke, a food bank board member, witnessed this conversation when I asked him why he was giving these items to the Boys & Girls Club instead of the food bank and his answer was, "I'm trying to feed the community."
The people who donate to the Sequim Food Bank should know their donations may not be going to the food bank.
Debbie Reed
Sequim
Editor's note: We asked Rosales for his response to Reed's letter.
Because the Sequim Food Bank was closed Friday, Nov. 27, after Thanksgiving (for which it filled 900 baskets), its bylaws allowed him to donate food to other nonprofit organizations such as the Sequim Boys & Girls Club and a veterans' Thanksgiving feast, Rosales said.
The food he gave away - donated bread from stores - would have expired over the holiday weekend if it had sat until Monday when the food bank reopened.
"Bottom line is if the people are hungry, we are going to feed them," he said.
Debbie Reed is the daughter of Nina Fatherson, who resigned Oct. 31 as executive director of the Sequim Food Bank, along with 12 volunteers, citing differences with Rosales that made their jobs "nearly impossible and certainly unbearable."
Changes instituted by Rosales included opening
the food bank more days, distributing food in off hours and allowing families to visit the food bank more often each month.
Death, taxes and farms
It has always amazed me that, while trying to help farmers on one end through agriculture policies, the government punishes small farmers on the other end with this destructive tax. We make it impossible for the families to carry on one generation after another and then wonder why American's small farms are vanishing.
Today death and taxes on farms run as high as 55 percent, forcing many farmers to sell off land or equipment just to pay the government. We must phase out death taxes on farmers until this burden is eliminated.
Farmers are on the front lines of advancements in technology. This has led to new products and increased productivity. We need to support innovative uses for agricultural products and it's time to change some of our government policies.
Americans account for just 4 percent of the world's population and it's the greatest challenge and opportunity to gain ground in the markets feeding off the other 96 percent. American farmers are without rival in their ability to produce and compete. The only thing that stands in their way is trade barriers built by foreign governments.
The ecological agencies in government have decided to control the environment and water throughout the nation and dictate policy to the farmers when we are in need of growing food. We now know that there is a world shortage of water and land for growing food.
With the world population increasing every 24 hours by 2.1 million, the world has a big problem to solve.
Lloyd S. Pedersen
Sequim
Steven Rosales, president of Sequim Food Bank, is taking the food bank truck and delivering bakery items from Safeway and Costco to the Boys & Girls Club in Sequim.
These items were given to the Sequim Food Bank for the underprivileged.
Also, Mary Budke, a food bank board member, witnessed this conversation when I asked him why he was giving these items to the Boys & Girls Club instead of the food bank and his answer was, "I'm trying to feed the community."
The people who donate to the Sequim Food Bank should know their donations may not be going to the food bank.
Debbie Reed
Sequim
Editor's note: We asked Rosales for his response to Reed's letter.
Because the Sequim Food Bank was closed Friday, Nov. 27, after Thanksgiving (for which it filled 900 baskets), its bylaws allowed him to donate food to other nonprofit organizations such as the Sequim Boys & Girls Club and a veterans' Thanksgiving feast, Rosales said.
The food he gave away - donated bread from stores - would have expired over the holiday weekend if it had sat until Monday when the food bank reopened.
"Bottom line is if the people are hungry, we are going to feed them," he said.
Debbie Reed is the daughter of Nina Fatherson, who resigned Oct. 31 as executive director of the Sequim Food Bank, along with 12 volunteers, citing differences with Rosales that made their jobs "nearly impossible and certainly unbearable."
Changes instituted by Rosales included opening
the food bank more days, distributing food in off hours and allowing families to visit the food bank more often each month.
Death, taxes and farms
It has always amazed me that, while trying to help farmers on one end through agriculture policies, the government punishes small farmers on the other end with this destructive tax. We make it impossible for the families to carry on one generation after another and then wonder why American's small farms are vanishing.
Today death and taxes on farms run as high as 55 percent, forcing many farmers to sell off land or equipment just to pay the government. We must phase out death taxes on farmers until this burden is eliminated.
Farmers are on the front lines of advancements in technology. This has led to new products and increased productivity. We need to support innovative uses for agricultural products and it's time to change some of our government policies.
Americans account for just 4 percent of the world's population and it's the greatest challenge and opportunity to gain ground in the markets feeding off the other 96 percent. American farmers are without rival in their ability to produce and compete. The only thing that stands in their way is trade barriers built by foreign governments.
The ecological agencies in government have decided to control the environment and water throughout the nation and dictate policy to the farmers when we are in need of growing food. We now know that there is a world shortage of water and land for growing food.
With the world population increasing every 24 hours by 2.1 million, the world has a big problem to solve.
Lloyd S. Pedersen
Sequim
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