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About Columbia Gorge news. (The Dalles, OR) 2020-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2020)
HoodRiverNews.com • TheDallesChronicle.com • WhiteSalmonEnterprise.com Columbia Gorge News Wednesday, October 21, 2020 7 OPINION when I have had questions. Prior to the pandemic, he Continued from page 6 had begun several projects which he would like to see to completion. He has an Saunders, Gladys Rivera, affinity for Parks and Rec., Mark Zanmiller and Kate and safety in the community. McBride for City Council From what I have seen, Rich and Mayor. They have a track is able to listen to both sides record of doing the work we of a situation and make rea- need. soned responses, also being Greg Crafts able to remain silent when it Hood River is prudent. There’s a line in an old Bob Dylan song that says, “I’ll I would like to let you and know my song well before Goldendale residents know I start singing.” That’s why I you have the best represen- research who I’m voting for. tative out there. I am very Yes, by the way, I’ve heard the grateful and thankful for Gina controversies. After looking who truly is a voice for the into those, I have decided people. I had written about that Rich Mays would be the animal abuse and how it most appropriate choice for needed a tougher penalties Mayor. Hope you do too. for the people who abuse Thanks for your time. them. She reached out and Widge Johnson met with me took lots of The Dalles notes and started the re- . search needed to make sure there were no surprises or anything to stop the pro-cess. She updated me through the legislative process and had I have talked to Joanna me come to Olympia and Turner. I found her to be testify. Scary but my wanting intelligent and a good lis- animals helped gave me the tener. She sincerely wants to courage and Gina was with do what is best for Klickitat me. The Bill passed and my County and all of its res- stepdaughter and myself idents. She wants to find were there when Inslee a solution to the county’s signed it. Such a great experi- housing crisis. She strongly ence for us! supports bringing broad- Gina Mosbrucker is the band internet to all parts of voice of the people! Vote for the county. She supports Gina! senior programs and wants to Jill Ketzenberg find solutions for the county’s Selah, Wash mental health and drug prob- lem. She won the support of 58 percent of the voters in So, many of you have seen her district. I believe that she deserves to be elected county me over the past 50 years, commissioner and that she standing on a street corner will serve us well. I will be protesting something or voting for her and en-courage another ... usually against you to do so as well. a war. I’m 73 now. I do a lot I recently received a letter of research before deciding what and who I will support. from Dan Christopher. It stressed that he consid- As a voter I try to educate ered himself a “bipartisan” myself on all the candidates candidate (he underlined it.) and ballot measures. I am an unaffiliated voter; Compare that to his state- ment in the Voters’ Pamphlet I cross party lines and try to where he states, “It’s time we vote for the person who will best support my country, my elect a ‘REAL’ Republican to represent ‘Real’ Republicans. community and my beliefs. Sounds a little two-faced. I have done that re-search I will vote to re-elect Jim again this year for the local Sizemore. Mayoral race. After hearing Roger Gadway differing opinions, listening White Salmon to candidates and watching what is happening with our city council, I will be voting to retain Rich Mays as our America is at a time of Mayor. great rancor and division Rich has a long history requiring people in Congress of community service and to come together for solu- administration. He has been tions. For 10 years Rep. Jaime accessible and responsive Herrera Beutler has proven LETTERS Vote for Gina Turner and Sizemore Retain Mays Voting for Jaime herself to be that person. She has sponsored or supported numerous successful bipar- tisan bills. Jaime is ranked among the top 15 bipartisan officials in Congress as well as the most effective legisla- tor from Washington State. She’s championed issues from maternal-child health and veterans to forestry and fisheries. As a senior mem- ber of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, she wields tremendous clout for our region. Critics complain she doesn’t hold town hall meet- ings, but Covid-19 prevents any large in-person gather- ings, so she’s used electronic means to connect with her constituents. Prior to the vi- rus, I had no problem speak- ing with her in public many times, including job fairs she sponsored to a pleasant half hour visit walking around the Clark County Fair last year. She listens carefully and gives honest, thoughtful responses. Being raised in Clark county and living in Battle Ground, she is in touch and deeply cares about southwest Washington. Her opponent is a recent Oregon trans- plant who has never won nor held a major office, but only taught political theory out of a book. This is not the time to learn on the job. We need Jaime’s experience, influence in Congress, and healing touch now more than ever. I support her without reservations. Pete Bartel Ridgefield Choices for wildlife I write concerning a letter in the Oct. 14 issue of Gorge News falsely claiming that Congresswoman Beutler has helped our declining salmon and steelhead runs. Killing sea lions and additional spending on hatcheries are not going to recover salmon or prevent further decline. My letter published in the White Salmon Enterprise on Oct. 11, 2018, describes why previous comments by Rep. Beutler and those in a letter to me from her are erroneous. Many published scientific studies describe why preda- tor control is usually an inef- fective wildlife management strategy. More specifically, science has shown that sea lion mortality is a small per- centage of adult Columbia salmon mortality. Sea lions have a zero percent mortality on juvenile salmon. Bigger problems, greater sources of adult and juvenile salmon mortality, are the hydropow- er system, its management and river habitat (which includes water that is too warm.) Another difficult truth to understand is that our already huge and awfully expensive hatchery system is harmful to wild salmon, both young and adult. If hatcheries were the an- swer, we would not be in a salmon crisis; they have not been successful. See this from UW Fisheries scientist Ray Hilborn: www. seattletimes.com/opinion/ letters-to-the-editor/the- alaska-hatcheries-model-is- not-for-washington. Also, 90 percent of the time, Rep. Beutler has voted against bills friendly to fish and wildlife, for clean water and air and others for envi- ronmental conservation. This means that she has a 10-year League of Conservation Voters (LCV) score of only 10 percent. Please see www. LCV.org which tracks these Congressional votes. Both U.S. Senators and seven U.S. representatives from Washington have lifetime LCV scores of greater than 90 percent. I am sure candidate Carolyn Long would have a score of more than 90. So, if you support salmon recovery and a healthier environment in southwest Washington, vote for Carolyn Long. Oregon voters will also be interested to know that US Rep. Greg Walden also has a lousy lifetime LCV score of 10 percent. Candidate Cliff Bentz would continue that regrettable voting pattern; Candidate Alex Spenser will vote for conservation if elected. Felton Jenkins White Salmon enforcement officer and supports them. 5. He supports the Second Amendment. 6. He supports teachers and the improvement of schools and school choice. 7. He is for tax relief in Oregon. He opposes cap and tax. Donald Rose Hood River Mayor because much of the Council’s work is conducting complex public hearings on finalizing planning actions (zone changes, transpor- tation plans, economic inventories and land use decisions). Her background is invaluable to her current success as our Mayor. She has also been on the Budget Committee for seven years. I have read her opponent’s web page, and she brings up some good ideas about how Council and public participa- tion could operate differently, Kate McBride is running but did not see that she had for re-election as Hood the expertise or knowledge River’s mayor. I have known to jump in as Mayor of a city her for 15 years and during that time she has been active as busy as ours. Serving on in the City serving eight years other City committees first is on the Planning Commission a good way to start involve- ment in local government. and seven on City Council. Kate is smart, she is objec- On Planning Commission, tive, she has passion, she has she heard many, many legislative and quasi judicial knowledge and is the best person for the job. Vote for land use applications and under-stands and knows how McBride, City of Hood River mayor. to apply the laws governing Cindy Walbridge each. I watched her for eight Hood River years at public hearings listening to testimony from citizens, asking questions, and making well-informed decisions. This is import- ant knowledge to have as McBride for Mayor ‘Stories of Hope’ Each year, The Next Door hosts “Stories of Hope” to share firsthand narratives from Gorge community members who have been helped by the organization’s many services. “With the ongoing pan- demic, this year’s Stories of Hope will take place virtually Oct. 22-25,” said a Next Door press release. “The four-day event will include power- ful stories of resilience and triumph from the Next Door’s Bridges of Health program, Health Promotion Services department and more.” To participate in this year’s event and access the videos, visit givebutter.com/ VirtualStoriesofHope. Jeff Helfrich will get Stories will include this my vote for the following one from a young woman reasons: 1. He values unborn babies currently participating in The Next Door’s Bridges to Health and wants to protect their program: lives. “... For the last couple 2. He served in the US years, I was abused by my Air Force and supports the ex. Finally, for the safety of military. 3. He is a devoted husband my kids, I left and moved to and father and values work- another city ... I found a job, but my kids and I had almost ing families. nothing and couldn’t find a 4. He served as a law Helfrich gets vote place to live. Some nights, we slept in my car, my babies (ages 6, 2 and 1) all sharing one blanket ... I felt like I was holding my breath just trying to make it one more day.” Since the COVID-19 pan- demic began more than six months ago, The Next Door has added 13 programs to meet new and urgent needs, bringing the total number of services it provides to 45. The new programs include The Next Connection, a bilin- gual information and referral phone line, as well as Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Outreach Coordination and contact tracing script support. The Next Door relies on sustaining monthly gifts to ensure the survival of these programs, and others, in the Gorge community. The goal of this year’s Stories of Hope event is to engage 30 new monthly donors. Visit next- doorinc.org/donate to sign up. For more information contact info@nextdoorinc. org or 541-386-6665. In Baja’s ‘Hood River South’, Gorge residents’ good life can make things harder for the locals ■ By Alison MacDonald First of all I must apologize for how my anger slips out about the gringo presence in Baja. At one in the morning, I wake to a painful echo of my snide comments to some neighbors about shrimp tacos. It is not kind to mock, nor is it useful. Creating resentment is not the way to help improve the situation in “Hood River South.” A large contingent of Hood River water sports enthusi- asts go to La Ventana and Los Barriles during the winter. Many also bike in the desert or mountains as well, and there are plenty of partners who just SUP, snorkel, and hike. More recently people also go to play pickleball, es- pecially in the 10-court resort in Los Barriles. It certainly is a way to escape the harsh winters of our area. The problem is the unin- tended impact on these small Mexican towns, and lack of awareness of the locals’ ambivalent feelings about the foreigners’ presence. The Gringos bring money and spend it on food, lodging, and construction of their large houses and gardens. Many locals must be happy to have work. However, the impact of the U.S. and Canadian dollars on their community has large downsides. The prices of food and housing are rising astro- nomically. The houses built by the foreigners are huge. They use a lot of precious wa- ter, and the hotels now have swimming pools. Meanwhile the locals cannot always afford to buy the bottled wa- ter, and their own tap water is getting more and more salinated due to over use of the aquifers below ground, which then draws the Sea of Cortez’s salty water into the underground reserves. Local people are said to be having increasing kidney problems from drinking their tap water. The overfishing of the Sea of Cortez has put local fish- ermen out of business. The tourists love to eat fish and shrimp, oblivious to the harm to this precious resource for food. Many locals see huge two-story houses appearing between their modest houses and the sea, pushing them out of their own town. Many give up and sell their meager houses for what they see as huge amounts of mon- ey, and move their families to the north and western dry hills. They later find out they sold their property for a pittance compared to the gringo marketers, and one more modest local house is demolished to make way for another huge American “second home” in Baja. Many of us have tried to bring improvement projects for the towns and the locals. One conscientious American couple decided to install a system for recycling their grey water to use on their landscaping gardens. They trucked in water from a town on the other side of the bay in order to have non-salty water for their vegetable garden (the local tap water being too salty!) There are projects by well-meaning visitors to spay the local dogs to reduce glut of puppies in the streets, some of them bred by Americans’ large, long haired dogs — not a good look for dogs in the desert. This effort, plus garbage pick up pro- grams are something I have participated in. However, come to find out that there is no public place for locals to take their garbage, and they cannot afford hauling fees, so the problem is not truly addressed. The locals and the foreigners often have little conversation. I know a lot of Americans have taken some Spanish in school, but few seem to make an effort to communicate, get to know the local people, to listen to their concerns. There is now a demand from the gringos for good organic produce, and the Saturday markets offer a venue for a few local farmers to sell their veggies — but lo- cals cannot afford the prices that the Gringos pay. The cost of food in their lo- cal stores has gone up due to the catering to gringo tastes and specialty items. I think perhaps the ejidos (local business/governance groups) are profiting from tourist business but the locals are mostly suffering. Yes, some work for the gringos: Building their houses, cleaning their houses, tending their gardens, feeding them their much loved “shrimp tacos”, etc. in a frenzy of tourist busi- ness during the few months of acceptable weather. Local taverns offer American mu- sic, and beer and cocktails. La Ventana and Los Barriles have become party towns for the rich Northerners, much like the hugely expensive and built-up tourist havens in Cabo at the bottom of the peninsula. I call it the Cabo Creep. Does all this improve the lives of the locals? Are they just there to serve the Gringos during the season, and hope to have enough savings to last through the broiling summer and fall, until the next invasion arrives months later? Foreigners will then spend their U.S. dollars to play and party in their “Hood River South.” Is all of this sustainable? I think not. Global warming will have it’s way with the desert and the water shortages. Is it fair, is it ethical? Could the situation be improved? Alison MacDonald is a retired teacher who lives in Hood River.
