Published on Wed, Jun 15, 2011
Read More Letters
Read More Letters
Ships hurt fish recovery, too
I respectfully submit that the problem with salmon recovery is not just the lack of habitat. Ships in international waters harvesting anything that comes their way in the massive drift nets affects many fish specifies and marine mammals. Salmon have a range of migration falling outside the protection of national marine borders. These nets sit in the midst of
their migration despite UN resolutions and efforts to curb their use.
As long as these ships, legal or pirate, harvest unabatedly, we will have less and less salmon. Additionally the fish is under duress from its natural predators: squid and seals to name two. There is also the privilege extended by treaty to our aboriginal peoples which allows them to net at the mouth of the river. Salmon cannot complete their run and spawn if they are caught in the very advent of their return.
Interestingly, the piece (Billy Frank Jr.’s “Tribes are reacting to climate change,”
Sequim Gazette, June 8, page A-17) cites the stabilization of river channels as part of the tribe’s effort to deflect the increased sediment left behind melting glaciers. May I respectfully ask what do the proponents of dam removal think will happen when the Elwha dam is removed? How will the massive, fast-rushing waters careening through the river affect fish habitat as the water erodes the riverbeds? Glaciers melt slowly, rivers run quickly.
Furthermore, the result of environmental controls placed on property owners by governmental agencies does very little to restore the salmon. They have a massive impact upon land use vis-à-vis well water restrictions. I readily admit that I am a Realtor and part of my role in our community is to help protect private property rights.
My self-adopted role as a citizen is to help protect our environment. I am a pragmatist and while I support private efforts to improve habitat for all species, my support is tied to the word “private.” The tribes are working to restore habitat on their lands, which I support. Restoration is their right and some would say their duty. Our founding forefathers adopted as their motto, “Don’t Tread on Me,” leading me to suggest that when it comes to water and land use that same sentiment be applied.
Karen Pritchard
Sequim
Richard Gray’s commentary (“Our community needs a voice in America’s debt problems,” page A-17, June 8) may generate a “conservative” firestorm, but it’s hard to refute many of his conclusions.
In 1946, national debt was 121.7 percent of national income. Economic growth and fiscal responsibility by seven presidents from both parties reduced it to 32.6 percent by 1980.
With 12 years of tax cuts, spending increases and borrowing under Reagan/Bush, it doubled to 66.2 percent. It declined to 57.4 percent under Clinton, but with more tax cuts and new spending for Medicare Part D, Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush II raised it to 83.4 percent. Carter left Reagan $995 billion of debt; Bush II left Obama more than $10 trillion.
The increase happened from fiscal irresponsibility under Republican presidents, but Gray is wrong on the Congresses. Through seven presidential terms there were five Republican, five Democrat and four split Congresses.
In 1983, the top 20 percent of Americans owned 85 percent of America’s net worth and 93 percent of its cash. The bottom 80 percent owned 19 percent of the net worth and 9 percent of the cash.
By 2007, their net worth dropped to 15 percent, their cash to 7 percent.
With tax cuts for the rich and deficit financing, 80 percent of America’s people lost more than 20 percent of their wealth. In 1982 they earned 48 percent of the nation’s income; by 2007, only 39 percent. You can look this up.
The “class war” is over and the rich folks won; the numbers say so. Can the 80-percent majority ever reclaim some of their wealth that tax cuts gave to the richest among us?
Roy F. Wilson
Sequim
We are grateful for the leadership of Rep. Steve Tharinger in standing up for the integrity of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant program and fighting for conservation and recreation in our community. Preserving the WWRP goes beyond protecting our heritage in Washington state — thousands of jobs and small businesses rely on the recreation economy the WWRP supports every year. As a member of the House Capital Budget Committee, Steve is playing an important role in supporting diverse capital projects in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Pete Schroeder
Sequim
(Schroeder is a board member on the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Committee.)
“Some ideas are so wrong only a very intelligent person can believe in them.” — George Orwell
The politics of envy is part of the radical liberal arsenal. You saw an example of it in last week’s Sequim Gazette guest opinion by Richard Gray. You will see much more of it from extreme left-wing liberals between now and the 2012 election. Liberals will portray rich people’s wealth as ill-gotten gains and insist it be given to those less fortunate.
Envy is part of human nature. It’s also one of the seven deadly sins. Those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking and wish the other person to be deprived of it. Taken to extremes, envy results in hate. In his fallacious tale Mr. Gray deftly conflated the real issues and appealed to the envy within us.
Liberal government policies, regulation and intervention caused the current economic disaster. Both parties are culpable, but liberalism on both sides of the aisle is at the epicenter. It is the fiscal irresponsibility of liberalism and progressivism that harms the poor and our future. Gray said American taxpayers “… had no part in causing this economic meltdown …” I disagree.
American taxpayers who elect Democrats are greatly responsible. Electing conservatives from now on will help restore fiscal soundness.
Gray’s obfuscation is an attempt to misdirect your anger and encourage your envy. Great philosophers throughout history have warned us of envy’s perils. Don’t fall for the politics of envy.
Peter Heisel
Sequim
I really wish I would have seen candidates for SARC in Sequim! It sucks that there are no candidates for this! SARC needs major changes! And no way does Sequim need to create a “Metro District” for SARC!
No on re-election for Ken Hays, Laura Dubois and Erik Erichsen! They are destroying Sequim’s small-town feel and appearance! They have voted for all the development going on right now! No on their re-election!
And no on Ron Fairclough! He was already on the city council!
Noelle Levesque
Sequim
I am still all shook up by the now confirmed death of Mr. Salinas (“Forks man found dead after running from Border Patrol,” Sequim Gazette, June 8, page A-3). This could have been me just before Christmas 2008 — very same method: pretending that they do not understand our English and then forcing us to run at gunpoint … unless, you, the reader of this, has gone through this standard Border Patrol procedure yourself, with all due respect, you can relate to this only in the similar manner you would when you order a “Big Mac “ while giving no thought at all about the poor cow/steer that had to die.
Please “pause” and weigh if we really want to live in a country where the weak and poor just vanish or are taken into this moneymaking, for-profit ICE Detention Center (run by GEO Group Inc., also run Guantanamo, Cuba) in Tacoma, and, having absolutely nobody whatsoever to help or get any information about their vanished loved ones.
We spend trillions of dollars on never-ending wars that are bankrupting our country, yet have nobody overseeing Border Patrol activities on the Olympic Peninsula where their reign has created a climate of fear and panic among the weak that somehow do not fit Border Patrol’s narrow-minded values — like singling me out because I have a Mexican (I was born in Brazil) first name (Carlos Jorge) and a German last name (Heine) — I must be a very dangerous terrorist!
Why have we become such a heartless nation where we allow injustices to prosper by ignoring what Border Patrol is doing here on the peninsula as long as only “the other guy” is getting hurt or killed?
Can we please petition our own government by stating that oversight of Border Patrol here on the peninsula is way overdue? A bully on the loose only gets worse if left unchecked …
Carlos Jorge Heine
I respectfully submit that the problem with salmon recovery is not just the lack of habitat. Ships in international waters harvesting anything that comes their way in the massive drift nets affects many fish specifies and marine mammals. Salmon have a range of migration falling outside the protection of national marine borders. These nets sit in the midst of
their migration despite UN resolutions and efforts to curb their use.
As long as these ships, legal or pirate, harvest unabatedly, we will have less and less salmon. Additionally the fish is under duress from its natural predators: squid and seals to name two. There is also the privilege extended by treaty to our aboriginal peoples which allows them to net at the mouth of the river. Salmon cannot complete their run and spawn if they are caught in the very advent of their return.
Interestingly, the piece (Billy Frank Jr.’s “Tribes are reacting to climate change,”
Sequim Gazette, June 8, page A-17) cites the stabilization of river channels as part of the tribe’s effort to deflect the increased sediment left behind melting glaciers. May I respectfully ask what do the proponents of dam removal think will happen when the Elwha dam is removed? How will the massive, fast-rushing waters careening through the river affect fish habitat as the water erodes the riverbeds? Glaciers melt slowly, rivers run quickly.
Furthermore, the result of environmental controls placed on property owners by governmental agencies does very little to restore the salmon. They have a massive impact upon land use vis-à-vis well water restrictions. I readily admit that I am a Realtor and part of my role in our community is to help protect private property rights.
My self-adopted role as a citizen is to help protect our environment. I am a pragmatist and while I support private efforts to improve habitat for all species, my support is tied to the word “private.” The tribes are working to restore habitat on their lands, which I support. Restoration is their right and some would say their duty. Our founding forefathers adopted as their motto, “Don’t Tread on Me,” leading me to suggest that when it comes to water and land use that same sentiment be applied.
Karen Pritchard
Sequim
Proof in numbers
Richard Gray’s commentary (“Our community needs a voice in America’s debt problems,” page A-17, June 8) may generate a “conservative” firestorm, but it’s hard to refute many of his conclusions.
In 1946, national debt was 121.7 percent of national income. Economic growth and fiscal responsibility by seven presidents from both parties reduced it to 32.6 percent by 1980.
With 12 years of tax cuts, spending increases and borrowing under Reagan/Bush, it doubled to 66.2 percent. It declined to 57.4 percent under Clinton, but with more tax cuts and new spending for Medicare Part D, Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush II raised it to 83.4 percent. Carter left Reagan $995 billion of debt; Bush II left Obama more than $10 trillion.
The increase happened from fiscal irresponsibility under Republican presidents, but Gray is wrong on the Congresses. Through seven presidential terms there were five Republican, five Democrat and four split Congresses.
In 1983, the top 20 percent of Americans owned 85 percent of America’s net worth and 93 percent of its cash. The bottom 80 percent owned 19 percent of the net worth and 9 percent of the cash.
By 2007, their net worth dropped to 15 percent, their cash to 7 percent.
With tax cuts for the rich and deficit financing, 80 percent of America’s people lost more than 20 percent of their wealth. In 1982 they earned 48 percent of the nation’s income; by 2007, only 39 percent. You can look this up.
The “class war” is over and the rich folks won; the numbers say so. Can the 80-percent majority ever reclaim some of their wealth that tax cuts gave to the richest among us?
Roy F. Wilson
Sequim
Wildlife heritage
We are grateful for the leadership of Rep. Steve Tharinger in standing up for the integrity of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant program and fighting for conservation and recreation in our community. Preserving the WWRP goes beyond protecting our heritage in Washington state — thousands of jobs and small businesses rely on the recreation economy the WWRP supports every year. As a member of the House Capital Budget Committee, Steve is playing an important role in supporting diverse capital projects in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Pete Schroeder
Sequim
(Schroeder is a board member on the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Committee.)
The politics of envy/hate
“Some ideas are so wrong only a very intelligent person can believe in them.” — George Orwell
The politics of envy is part of the radical liberal arsenal. You saw an example of it in last week’s Sequim Gazette guest opinion by Richard Gray. You will see much more of it from extreme left-wing liberals between now and the 2012 election. Liberals will portray rich people’s wealth as ill-gotten gains and insist it be given to those less fortunate.
Envy is part of human nature. It’s also one of the seven deadly sins. Those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking and wish the other person to be deprived of it. Taken to extremes, envy results in hate. In his fallacious tale Mr. Gray deftly conflated the real issues and appealed to the envy within us.
Liberal government policies, regulation and intervention caused the current economic disaster. Both parties are culpable, but liberalism on both sides of the aisle is at the epicenter. It is the fiscal irresponsibility of liberalism and progressivism that harms the poor and our future. Gray said American taxpayers “… had no part in causing this economic meltdown …” I disagree.
American taxpayers who elect Democrats are greatly responsible. Electing conservatives from now on will help restore fiscal soundness.
Gray’s obfuscation is an attempt to misdirect your anger and encourage your envy. Great philosophers throughout history have warned us of envy’s perils. Don’t fall for the politics of envy.
Peter Heisel
Sequim
Vote wisely
I really wish I would have seen candidates for SARC in Sequim! It sucks that there are no candidates for this! SARC needs major changes! And no way does Sequim need to create a “Metro District” for SARC!
No on re-election for Ken Hays, Laura Dubois and Erik Erichsen! They are destroying Sequim’s small-town feel and appearance! They have voted for all the development going on right now! No on their re-election!
And no on Ron Fairclough! He was already on the city council!
Noelle Levesque
Sequim
Bullies on the loose
I am still all shook up by the now confirmed death of Mr. Salinas (“Forks man found dead after running from Border Patrol,” Sequim Gazette, June 8, page A-3). This could have been me just before Christmas 2008 — very same method: pretending that they do not understand our English and then forcing us to run at gunpoint … unless, you, the reader of this, has gone through this standard Border Patrol procedure yourself, with all due respect, you can relate to this only in the similar manner you would when you order a “Big Mac “ while giving no thought at all about the poor cow/steer that had to die.
Please “pause” and weigh if we really want to live in a country where the weak and poor just vanish or are taken into this moneymaking, for-profit ICE Detention Center (run by GEO Group Inc., also run Guantanamo, Cuba) in Tacoma, and, having absolutely nobody whatsoever to help or get any information about their vanished loved ones.
We spend trillions of dollars on never-ending wars that are bankrupting our country, yet have nobody overseeing Border Patrol activities on the Olympic Peninsula where their reign has created a climate of fear and panic among the weak that somehow do not fit Border Patrol’s narrow-minded values — like singling me out because I have a Mexican (I was born in Brazil) first name (Carlos Jorge) and a German last name (Heine) — I must be a very dangerous terrorist!
Why have we become such a heartless nation where we allow injustices to prosper by ignoring what Border Patrol is doing here on the peninsula as long as only “the other guy” is getting hurt or killed?
Can we please petition our own government by stating that oversight of Border Patrol here on the peninsula is way overdue? A bully on the loose only gets worse if left unchecked …
Carlos Jorge Heine
Sequim
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Your opinions on issues of community interest and your reaction to stories and editorials contained in your Sequim Gazette are important to us and to your fellow readers. Thus our rules relating to letters submitted for publication are relatively simple.
• Letters are welcome. Letters exceeding 250 words may be shortened. We strive to publish all letters.
• Letters are subject to editing for spelling and grammar; we contact the writer when substantial changes are required, sending the letter back to the writer for revisions. Personal attacks and unsubstantiated allegations are not printed.
• All letters must have a valid signature, with a printed name, address and phone number for verification. Only the name and town/community are printed.
• Deadline for letters to appear in the next publication is noon Friday. Because of the volume of letters, not all letters are published the week they are submitted. Time-sensitive letters have a priority.
• Letters are published subject to legal limitations relating to defamation and factual representation.
• To submit letters, deliver to 147 W. Washington St., Sequim; mail to P.O. Box 1750, Sequim, WA 98382; fax to 360-683-6670 or e-mail news@sequimgazette.com.
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