Pick Purser for PUD position

In 2016, I moved to the Olympic Peninsula. As a well-seasoned, 1960s vintage California tree-hugger, I’m concerned about climate disruption and ecosystems degraded just to produce energy.

Being a proponent of rooftop solar caused concern about net metering legislative changes. Attending PUD board meetings helped me to dig deeper and get first-hand facts from expert PUD staff. When I requested adding a second public comment session to the agenda, it was readily added.

Researching and learning about Northwest Public Power and federal and state legislated policies governing, it became an obsession. I’m still learning, but I know enough to realize PUD candidate Ken Hays doesn’t grasp the complexity of the Northwest power system or how it operates.

Hays’ statement that our PUD can’t move forward “based on the past twenty years of indifference” (on his campaign website) is devoid of basic facts about our PUD’s history or public policy. Throughout the campaign, a recurring observation highlights Hays’ lack of the basic awareness to know what he does not know about public power generally or the Clallam service area specifically.

I doubt Hays attended a PUD meeting before becoming a candidate, which explains a lot … like lack of knowledge regarding PUD’s position on Clallam’s future energy infrastructure or that until 2021 federal regulation prohibited utilities to retail broadband.

Clallam residents should be concerned about someone like Ken Hays spouting costly, grandiose political hyperbole.

Fellow PUD customers, we are fortunate that Commissioner Will Purser wants to continue to serve our best interests.

Krestine Reed

Carlsborg

Occam’s and Hanlon’s razors

Sometimes, when attempting to assess the relative explanations for various events, I use the philosophic principal known as Occam’s Razor, which posits that the simplest solution is usually correct.

Like, is the skyrocketing price of oil due to a complicated combination of alleged greed-inspired price raises by oil companies, output decreases by OPEC, Putin’s Ukraine War, and the impact of the “green energy” movement?

Or, simply, is it that President Biden’s oft-stated antipathy for fossil fuels has a chilling effect on the U.S. Oil industry thereby curtailing production/supply and resulting in catastrophic price increases?

Further, can we assume that the aggressive immigration (invasion?) at our southern border is best handled by a complex “catch and release” program — sometimes secretly relocating migrants in the dead of night — in the hopes that they may, in the undetermined future, present themselves for immigration hearings? (denvergazette.com) Or, simply, maybe building a wall to keep would-be immigrants from entering until given permission to do so?

Lastly, is our increasing crime best combated by decreasing police funding and focusing on various social/medical ills? Or, simply, just put the miscreants in jail, which worked well in the past?

At times, I wonder if our present administration has some hidden malice towards our democracy and would “reconstruct” our country in a much different manner even, perhaps, against our will.

But then I take refuge in another philosophic principal, Hanlon’s Razor, which states, “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Works for me …

Dick Pilling

Port Angeles

A majority should rule

I consider myself a moderate voter who pays attention to the welfare of the majority of people and our environment — at home and across the country. The will of the minority far right and far left should not govern the direction of our citizens and home.

I ask you to speak up and vote for the candidates who have faithfully represented us — the majority — in Clallam County. Let the majority be heard that we will not put up with the unrealistic proposals or unfounded claims spewed by some candidates.

Vote for Mike Chapman and Steve Tharinger to continue as our State Representatives who have brought much support to the Olympic Peninsula. Vote for Patty Murray as U.S. Senator and Derek Kilmer as U.S. Representative who will continue to speak up for our state in Washington D.C. We have benefited from their leadership at the state and national levels.

Our democracy and personal welfare depend on a logical and informed thinking about what is currently happening in our county and country. Personal freedoms are being threatened across the country, such as to vote without fear of reprisal or intimidation, to maintain clean air and water, to make decisions regarding our own bodies, and to hold dear … respect and support of those less fortunate and able.

Voting is fundamental to voice your freedom to choose! Vote for the will of the majority — Chapman, Tharinger, Murray, and Kilmer!

Annette Hanson

Sequim

Consider your votes

Friends who vote Republican … Please think carefully about your votes this election.

Please don’t be on autopilot and vote Republican because that’s your identity, your family tradition, or your faith leader’s demand. The Republican party is no longer what it used to be.

If you vote for Republican candidates, you’re jeopardizing our democracy; taking away people’s control of their own bodies; harming the environment, and supporting racism, antisemitism and oppression of LGBTQI people.

It is so easy to blame others for our problems and to point the finger say, at Democrats, for inflation and high gas prices, which is happening all over the world, not just the U.S. It is easy to blame “the other” for high crime rates, immigration practices that do not work, taxation issues and so on. These are all legitimate concerns, but it is naïve to blame one party and proclaim that the other party will somehow magically solve our problems.

Today’s Republican party has become extreme and is threatening the core of our democracy and human rights. This is not an exaggeration. Listen to the Republican candidates around the country; I have been, and I’m very afraid. Too much is at stake.

Your vote is not an abstraction — it has consequences for people you actually know and may care about.

Kudos to my many Republican friends who recognize that their party is no longer what it used to be and that democracy is chillingly on the brink of demise.

I applaud your strength of character in your resolve to stand by your beliefs and to vote accordingly, no matter the party.

Leslie Saxon West

Sequim

What is prejudice?

A dictionary definition of prejudice is “an unreasonable inclination for or against something.” Almost every person has prejudices, which do not necessarily include hate or violence. So what is driving some people to give up our Democracy and adopt some form of autocracy? Is it fear that sometime in the future the majority population in the U.S. may be non-white? Why does that possibility (inevitability) matter?

Autocracy cannot possibly be an improvement to Democracy unless one aspires to live in a regime like Russia, China, North Korea or the like, where there are few human rights or freedoms.

If you live in such a regime: 1) Try risking “free speech” to criticize openly one of its leaders. 2) If you are not a member of the regime police, try risking walking around in public brandishing your assault rifle (or even buying/owning an assault rifle). If the regime has a constitution, it favors only the leaders; there will be no free speech, no Second Amendment for guns, and few, if any, civil rights or freedoms. You will have the right to vote only for the leader. The regime’s “Rule of Law” will be only what the leader says it is!

So, what does the U.S. reader/voter really believe? Is our Democracy really that bad? Are many of our Democracy’s benefits taken for granted? I recommend every reader of this letter look in the mirror and ask themselves, “Do I want to give up my constitutional rights and freedoms to vote for obvious lies made by those whose goals are solely acquiring power and wealth?”

Richard Hahn

Sequim

Helpful hearing aids

President Biden signed a significant executive order recently, allowing over-the-counter hearing aid sales. Started in 2017 but never pursued by the previous administration, this will save 30 million Americans thousands of dollars. More importantly, people will now be able to hear.

We flourish with meaningful, practical improvements.

Clallam County, not isolated from influence by what’s happening around our state and country, will hear:

A recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) report shows the past administration bullied and prevented impartial scientists from disseminating facts about the COVID-19 disease. Information needed to stop the pandemic didn’t reach vast segments of our population. Rather, deadly lies were deliberately spread. Sadly, trust in public health diminished drastically.

Around our state, some sheriffs refused to support education and prevention about COVID-19. People became deaf to common sense and compassion, instead listening to leaders influenced by nonsense, political scheming, and abandonment of their duties and responsibilities to Washington communities. Cock and bull stories divided family and friends from one another.

Whether we discover conspiratorial exaggerations about a pandemic, immigration, elections, gun control, or police reform laws, judging keenly the calculating strategy of “constitutional sheriffs” will arrest the spread of harmful, misleading messaging in Clallam County.

As we vote, selection of local officials becomes a matter of hearing exactly what values and goals each person will truly offer in their leadership roles. And aids us in selecting those who protect and serve us all.

Gayle Brauner

Port Angeles