Support both school levies
I encourage Sequim residents to vote yes on the Educational Programs &Operations (EP&O) Renewal Levy and the Capital Projects Levy.
I have been a homeowner in Sequim since 1987. I am currently a working, single-parent.
For me, like many others, it is especially important to know that the Sequim School District is fiscally responsible and has clean audit reports.
My daughter is a graduate of Sequim High School. My son attends Sequim Middle School. We have all benefited from Sequim School District programs and facilities.
As a human services professional, I am pleased that school leaders are taking time to connect with community members through listening sessions and coffee chats.
The feedback shows that the last number of bond proposals seemed overwhelming for many citizens. I have toured the schools including the central kitchen. The needs still exist.
With more recent input from community members, the two levies provide for current student needs, that are not provided for in state funding, and pave the way for future growth — without overburdening property owners paying taxes for these levies.
The EP&O Renewal Levy will allow the Sequim School District to retain staff in keeping classroom sizes manageable and help students with learning. The current EP&O levy expires in December 2017.
The Capital Projects Levy will allow modernization and increased efficiency of the central kitchen, which potentially serves all students and is, therefore, inclusive. Also, it will provide for removal of the 1949 portion of the Sequim Community School.
$4.3 million in state matching funds will be available once the old Sequim Community School is removed and a construction bond is approved for, potentially, a new centrally located elementary school.
Passing the EP&O Levy is essential. Passing the Capital Projects Levy is a step in the right direction for the nutritional needs of our children and future expansion.
Election Day is Feb. 14, 2017. Listen to your heart.
Please vote yes on both levies.
Karla Richardson
Sequim
Peninsula reps fail in ‘paramount duty’
This is in response to “Will students pay steep price for Republican inaction?” (Sequim Gazette, Feb. 1, page A-13) by Republican-turned-Independent-turned Democrat Mike Chapman and Democrats Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege.
They need to be called out on their propaganda.
Van De Wege and Tharinger were reelected last November. Both had failed in their jobs as legislators to accomplish their “paramount duty” — adequately fund basic education. This state’s legislature is a national laughing stock because of this debacle — having never adequately funded basic education, losing in the state Supreme Court, losing on appeal; being held in contempt of court; and fined $100,000 per day since 2012 over the McCleary decision.
This decision also dictates that local property levies are unconstitutional to cover the cost of basic education.
Van De Wege should be singled out for particular scorn inasmuch he was a “leader” in the state House for several years before his move to the state Senate after the November election. He also has been quoted in the Peninsula Daily News after McCleary, stating that this is not the business of the state Supreme Court! Utter arrogance.
Tharinger was reelected again in November. Where were the so-called “school supporters” then? Maybe those that think they are, yet voted for these two, need to look in the mirror and ask themselves why. They’ve made their bed.
For Tharinger and Van De Wege to point a finger at Republicans at this late date is desperation and weakness — especially after many years of failure to accomplish their paramount task; and the elapsed time since McCleary.
Richard H. Lohrman
Sequim
Pass levies now
We can’t wait until the state better funds Washington schools — we need to pass the Sequim School levies now.
The Educational Programs and Operations Replacement levy is 22 percent of the district budget and absolutely needs to be passed. The capital levy is an important step toward improving the condition of school buildings and will allow the badly needed renovation of the district kitchen.
Please vote yes.
Genaveve Starr
Sequim
Young voter supports levies
My name is Hannah Warren and I am a senior at Sequim High School. As a senior, I believe that it is my job to make sure that our younger students see a better school to obtain a better future.
While reading the levy paper and learning the facts, I think based on factual evidence that our levy is a good idea and could benefit the students here a lot.
With more funding created that could open a lot of possibilities and improve not only the outside of our school but the student body as well.
As well as it being my job, it is my right to vote “Yes” to our school levy. I would also recommend anyone over the age of 18 to do your research and get involved. You never know what kind of difference you can make.
Hannah Warren
Sequim
Consider impact of the Capital Projects levy
I urge everyone to vote Yes on the EP&O Levy. We need to keep paying our teachers and keep the programs for our students — this is critical to successful education of our children.
At the same time, before you vote on the Capital Projects Levy, take the time to go to the tax calculator and see what your estimated taxes will be. I was shocked to see that in the third year, my taxes on this one levy would double.
An increase of $800 a year dramatically impacts anyone who lives on a “fixed” budget. Even if you have a “comfortable income,” you need to consider that President Trump is about to put even more education funding back to the responsibility of the local levels … which is us.
It may behoove us to wait and see just how much that responsibility is before we sign up for yet another tax (or levy) that increases so much in the third year when we don’t know what else we will be responsible for.
Please consider these things before you vote.
Rebecca Davidson
Sequim
School conditions appalling; support levies
My fellow citizens of Sequim:
We recently relocated to Sequim from Saigon, Vietnam. I am an American who attended Snohomish High, but have lived all over the world.
Two things have struck us about the situation at Sequim Schools:
1) The appalling physical condition of the schools here are as bad or worse as schools in Vietnam, a struggling Third World country. Overcrowded classrooms, sewers backing up, ancient equipment … Surely we in America can and must do better than this, no?
2) The incredible commitment and hard work of the teachers. It is truly inspiring that so many, do so much, for so little. They deserve our support and better facilities, to do their and our job. I say “our job” because surely providing the best education possible for our young people, should be job No. 1, for all of us.
It is our civic and patriotic duty.
Finally, if patriotic duty will not move you, how about self-interest? Better schools mean higher real-estate values and more doctors.
Consider it an investment in your own future, as well as the future of our young people and country.
So when that ballot arrives, please, do the right thing and vote yes. The future of our town and our country depend on it.
Don Baron
Sequim
Support both levies
I am writing on behalf of the Feb. 14 levies.
I believe that we should pass the next two levies.
Usually, I don’t agree with the levies because they try and get unneeded things, such as a new field.
This year, I think they are asking for well-needed things, such as money to keep our teachers, or money for heat and electricity for our classrooms. These are all basic needs for a good learning environment.
The second levy is needed, too. They’re planning on getting a new kitchen and rebuilding a new school around it. The old kitchen is too outdated and the freezer only holds food for two days; that’s not enough for the district.
Right now we pay $1.61 per $1,000. If we pass this levy by 2020 it goes to $2.36 per $1,000. This may seem like a lot especially to people who live around here because they tend to be elderly and not have kids, but the schools really need these levies to pass for the basic educational purposes of the students!
Cody Henning
Sequim
Shoddy environment affects students
I’ve had the privilege of attending schools in the Sequim School District for the last 10 years and as I sit awaiting graduation as a senior, I look back on all the things that I’ve seen while getting to my graduation year. For as long as I’ve lived here I can remember all sorts of bonds as well as other things, trying to be passed to better the conditions of our schools. Along with that I’ve seen almost every proposal fail to convince the community of what it stands for.
From a very young age I witnessed poor conditions from rusty, broken swing sets at my old grade school, to our poor excuse for a track and field. Conditions like these don’t only affect where students learn, but how they learn and the values they take away from being in such an environment.
When I look back on these failed bonds and levies, I can only wonder why the community doesn’t realize these are issues that need to be taken more seriously.
I believe the levy is completely necessary to have. Not only will this levy keep us warm and provide lighting, it has the potential to update kitchenware that has been in use since World War II, as well as demolishing the condemned building that surrounds it.
The levy will keep much needed staff employed and eventually work toward providing better resources for our students and give them a new place to learn.
River Hardin
Sequim
Stand behind your students
The Sequim School District has failed four bonds now. This is mainly because the community simply doesn’t trust our schools.
Why should we get a new elementary school? Why do we need to add on to the high school? Will the precious low taxes be raised? Why should we care, we aren’t in school anymore.
All these questions and yet, no one takes the time to really get educated. Our students are in dire need of help. There are currently two classes of fifth grade at the middle school because Helen Haller Elementary is beyond crowded and the high school is slowly deteriorating.
Our new superintendent Gary Neal has a plan to start clean and gain the community’s trust. There are two levies going on the Feb. 14 ballot, an EP&O (Educational Programs and Operations) and a capital (projects).
I strongly urge you to vote yes. Please stand behind your students. They are the future of this community.
Emily Straling
Sequim
Reader thinks coverage unbalanced
I think that you set a very bad example when you filled the front page with the pro-abortion (pro-abortion) women’s movement photos and articles and also several more photos and articles inside the Jan. 25 Gazette and then the following week you only gave the pro-life (March for Life) women a much smaller article on page 3. What kind of fair and balanced news reporting is this?
Jerry Dow
Sequim
Abolish Electoral College
Whenever I spot the Clint “Dandy Digger” in our tool shed I remember Clint Jones, the Sequim gardener who invented this ingenious tool for eradicating dandelions.
Actually, Clint had a passion greater than weeding. He was obsessed with ending the Electoral College system that, he charged, opened the way for demagogues to worm their way into the White House even though they lost the popular vote.
Clint Jones delivered his harangue against the Electoral College at dozens of mass meetings here in our valley before he passed away. The Electoral College disenfranchises millions of voters and is a flagrant violation of “One Person, One Vote.”
The voting power of a voter in a battleground state like Florida, and Ohio, actually far exceeds the voting power of a voter in more populous states like California.
The only remedy is to amend our Constitution, abolish the Electoral College and institute election of the president by popular majority.
I thought of Clint’s warning when the Electoral College delivered victory to Donald Trump with a combined 70,000-vote majority in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin. By contrast, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote majority by nearly 3 million votes.
If she had won, low-income people would not be facing loss of medical care with repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Immigrants would not be facing deportation. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, women’s reproductive health, the Environmental Protection Agency, would not be targeted for cutbacks or even repeal.
More than 1 million women and men marched in Washington, D.C., Seattle and other cities the day after Trump’s coronation to say “NO” to Trump’s corporate agenda.
Clint Jones must have been looking down from the Pearly Gates, proclaiming, “I warned you!”
Tim Wheeler
Sequim
Sequim OTA production worth a watch
Oscar Wilde is in town. Or at least his most popular play, “The Importance of Being Earnest” is in town and showcased at Olympic Theatre Arts, our community’s gem of a theater.
The acting is first class. Leads include Randy Powell as John, or Jack or is he Earnest? Ben Komar is Algernon, or is he Earnest? Lady Bracknell, played by Josh Sutcliffe, is Gwendolen’s aunt who loudly objects to any romance developing between her niece and John-Jack-Earnest. The reasons for which will most assuredly be revealed, as well as the importance of being “Earnest.” The theme is built on Victorian England’s leisure class and the manners and mores required to “work the system.”
The play is witty and fast-paced. All cast members demonstrated superb comedic timing and the stage management was entertaining and precise. The director, Anna Andersen, has a hit!
Go see it.
George Will
Sequim
Follow letter of the law
Who decided to make Clallam County a sanctuary county? I want the politician that is responsible to make himself or herself known.
I was drafted in the U.S. Army at 19 and sent to Europe to protect the borders of nations there. Why are our borders not protected?
I cannot decide which laws to obey or ignore. When the laws of our nation are broken, the violators must be apprehended and punished.
Sam Serra
Sequim
Residents send joy around the world
I am writing to thank and celebrate Olympic Peninsula residents for spreading joy to children around the world this Christmas season. The generosity of local volunteers, families and groups from the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas was turned into nearly 12,000 shoebox gifts for the Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child — the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind.
Thank you to Cookie Allison and Swain’s General Store for their contributions. Cookie hosted an all-day information booth where shoppers at Swain’s General Store learned first-hand how they could transform empty shoeboxes into gifts. Cookie has served Operation Christmas Child for four years as drop-off team leader. Thank you to all the individuals who took information and returned filled boxes during Collection Week.
The gift-filled shoeboxes are tangible expressions of God’s love for children around the world suffering from poverty, natural disaster, war, disease and famine. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 135 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 150 countries and territories.
Thank you again to everyone who participated in this project and for those who do so year after year. All are welcome to join us in our Operation Christmas Child Celebration, at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at North Kitsap Baptist Church, 20516 Little Valley Road NE, Poulsbo. You will hear first-hand the impact of a shoebox gift from someone who received one as a child.
It’s not too late for people to make a difference. Anyone can conveniently pack a personalized Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift online at samaritanspurse.org/occ. These simple gifts, packed with love, send a message of hope that transforms the lives of children worldwide.
For information about volunteer opportunities, call 360-509-4338 or click on samaritanspurse.org/occ.
Susan Hedding
Sequim
Kudos to our AG
I would like to publicly state my support for the actions of our state’s Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, in challenging President Trump’s blanket and ill-conceived ban on Muslim immigrants from certain countries. I also applaud the actions of our governor in attempting to help those suffering from this ban.
No country should have a blanket ban on every one of its citizens, with the possible exception of a country with which we are currently at war. (As we are not currently at war with any country, there is no justification for such a ban.)
Yes, people should be checked out before being allowed into this country. The Obama Administration had such checks in place and no terrorist came into this country from any of the banned countries during his administration.
Imagine how an Iraqi or Afghani soldier fighting alongside of a US soldier might feel when he and his countrymen are part of a team fighting ISIS, but are told that no one from his country is allowed entrance to our country.
Also, why would Iran want to follow through on a sales deal with Boeing or uphold the nuclear weapons agreement when all citizens of that country are prevented from entering ours? The Trump actions will appeal to some of the Trump base. But, appealing to a base in a way that is dangerous to our country may be good politics, but it is bad governance!
I am proud of our elected officials and the Republican-appointed judge who stands up to such dangerous actions.
Jim Dries
Sequim
YMCA should raise stars, stripes
Why doesn’t the YMCA fly the national flag?
Is it because it’s a franchise of an international corporation based in Geneva, Switzerland? The international and national YMCA’s franchise is its logo, much like the McDonald Corp., with the corresponding yearly remittance.
I would believe, even though the YMCA is a not-for-profit corporation, but after receiving city, county, state and several hundred million of federal monies to support them, the local YMCA could show some gratitude to the American people who have had their tax money spent to felicitate them.
I’ll pay for the flag!
Jan Richardson
Sequim
Richardson is a Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center/Clallam County Parks District No. 1 board director.
