Support local food banks

The Dec. 7 “Picking up the tab” letter to the editor (Sequim Gazette, page A-10) concerning a recent Sequim Food Bank event begs a response. The letter suggests its author has never experienced real hunger or fear and anxiety over not being able to feed his children. Good for the author. The old saying, “One is but seven meals from crime,” comes to mind. Both the criminal and the victim may be affected by hunger.

I would bet food bank cheating is less than other forms of cheating; real crooks go for real money. I would also bet tax frauds have a greater impact on the author than food bank cheats. Yet, there is not a peep from the author over a recent high profile tax fraud involving an eponymous corporation.

We give monthly to local food banks. I like to help my neighbors. Donating to local food banks is an effective way to give to neighbors; overhead and fund raising is minimal and it facilitates lower crime rates. Please, everyone, donate to local food banks.

I will not accept conditions put on my donations. Most people use food banks temporarily during hard times. A child should not go hungry to prevent a few from cheating. Food banks should not discriminate because a patron’s car seems too new, or for any reason.

Sequim and Port Angeles Food Banks, their supporters and volunteers, all deserve big thanks from our community for nourishing our neighbors without making judgements.

George Titterness

Sequim

Circumstances may vary

This is my response to the person who wrote the Dec. 7 letter to the editor, “Picking Up the Tab,” re: Sequim Food Bank’s holiday food distributions (Sequim Gazette, page A-10). I respectfully (and adamantly) disagree.

These events are not a farce. Food insecurity has hugely increased in our community.

Far too many people (including kids) are homeless in Sequim. Their circumstances vary.

People with expensive, newer vehicles may have purchased them before their lives changed dramatically for the worse.

Or, they may be picking up food for family, friends or neighbors who desperately need food and have no transportation. (That happens often.)

The point is: we do not know their circumstances. Please don’t judge.

Jan Kreidler

Sequim

Water rights — and wrongs

Trailer traveling through Arizona this fall, I’ve learned what local people consider important. Water is primary.

Parts of Arizona, such as Page, are threatened with water shortages and see the steady drain of Lake Powell. Talk about a glass nearly empty.

At Vicksburg, Saudi Arabia leased 10,000-plus acres which produce “virtual water”: alfalfa grown to ship back home to feed cows. Water is taken from aquifers. That country drained most of its own groundwater.

Some local people’s wells are now dry, since the leasing began in 2014. When I traveled past the Fondomonte ranch, an exceptionally elongated queue of gigantic sprinklers sprayed wondrous columns of water onto lengthy, dry furrows during midday. Watering at that time of day won’t conserve water.

Arizonans have become alarmed about their precious water supply, how it should be used, and by whom. Do their wealthy neighbors, politicians and bureaucrats support foreign investments in the land and water over Arizonans?

In 2018, upset citizens near Ajo stashed water caches for refugees seeking sanctuary in the United States by crossing illegally through the Sonoran Desert. The hottest temperatures ranged from 104 to 118 degrees, in this prickly cacti landscape. Some Border Control agents destroyed caches, according to two humanitarian groups.

It appears the Biden Administration has abandoned the deadly tactic. The Border Control made a conservative estimate that 8,000 migrants perished between 1998-2019, about 4,000 walking the Sonoran Desert in their search for safety and opportunity.

So, which foreigners have a right to Arizona’s water?

Gayle Brauner

Port Angeles

Make coupons simpler, ditch digital option

Just watched a very senior hunched over lady in Sequim almost pay $6 more for a package of toilet paper because she doesn’t have a smart phone and has not mastered this price rip off program. I interceded with the cashier to get her the digital coupon price: $4.99 instead of $10.99!

Why should we, the consumer, have to work so hard to give grocers money?

Why can’t there just be one price?

Many people do not have smart phones.

Many people, especially seniors, are not digital savvy.

I hope more customers complain, especially if the QFC-Safeway merger gets by the anti-trust laws.

Ellida K. Lathrop

Sequim