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Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
OPINION
The opinions expressed in the letters below are “your voice,” and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Columbia Gorge News, its staff, publisher or advertisers.
YOUR VOICE
Port Vote for Litwer
Lach Litwer is doing his home
work to become an excellent port
commissioner.
He has congressional affairs
experience that can support the
bridge replacement and ideas for
labor and housing solutions. Mr.
Litwer has relevant business skills
to guide the port's future, a strong
sense of community and a sup-
portive family. Please vote for Lach
Litwer.
Brian Shortt, Past Port
Commissioner
Hood River
No NORCOR
I'd like to suggest that the
Columbia Gorge News stop pub-
lishing the list of people placed in
NORCOR.
Those people have not been con-
victed of anything, and I'm certain
the paper won't publish a notice if
they've been cleared of the charges.
This has the possibility of
damaging reputations in an unjust
manner. Just because it's public
information doesn't mean you need
to publish it.
Dave Case
Hood River
Act on climate
I care deeply about our unfolding
climate disaster, and about the fact
that my generation has not taken
the needed action to remedy it.
Future generations are going to
have to deal with the results of our
negligence for many years to come.
It’s time for us to insist that our law-
makers put time, money and energy
into avoiding further damage.
I’m asking Senators Wyden and
Merkley to vote in favor of Senate
Joint Resolution 14, and Rep. Cliff
Bentz to vote in favor of its compan-
ion in the House, HJ Res 34.
These resolutions will adopt
critically-needed limits on methane
emissions. Methane is a potent
greenhouse gas and accounts for 25
percent of climate change effects
today. Support for reducing oil and
gas methane emissions is wide-
spread and bipartisan — includ-
ing the likes of Shell, BP, and the
American Petroleum Institute.
We had sensible methane regula-
tion that worked before Trump tried
to wipe it all away. SJR 14 and HJR
34 invoke the Congressional Review
Act and rescind the harmful meth-
ane policies adopted by the Trump
administration. Trump broke it; we
must fix it.
We are fully into a severe climate
crisis. It can not be ignored, and
Family Outing
all points of leverage in reversing it
need to be activated.
Reducing methane pollution
from the oil and gas industry is the
single fastest, most cost-effective
way to slow the rate of warming.
Our senators and representatives
in Congress have to act now, boldly
and quickly, to do all that can be
done to fix climate change.
If they don’t, we need to find ones
who will.
Beth Flake
Hood River
Vote for Swift
As a small business owner in
downtown The Dalles, I’m sup-
porting Marcus Swift for Port of the
Dalles Commission. Marcus is a
local small business founder and
owner who spends his free time
giving back to our local community.
I’m voting for Marcus Swift
because he is passionate about
revitalizing downtown The Dalles
to create a vibrant area for families,
shoppers, and tourists. Like me,
Marcus Swift knows The Dalles' best
days are still ahead of it. He loves
this community and is invested in
its success. He is committed to sup-
porting and expanding local small
businesses and attracting good
paying new jobs.
Marcus knows what it takes to
balance a budget and watch your
bottom line. He will be fiscally
responsible and he values transpar-
ency for taxpayers. He also knows
what it takes to navigate complex
land use issues, so he will be a vital
asset on the port commission.
Please join me — and over a dozen
other Wasco County small busi-
nesses — in supporting Marcus
Swift for Port of The Dalles in this
May 2021 election.
Matthew Ryan Thompson
The Dalles
A goose sets off on an outing with its goslings.
butter knives I suspect our elected
officials would be climbing over
each other in their rush to regulate
manufacture and distribution of
these implements. Put another way,
if the perpetrators of gun violence
don’t have easy access to an in-
strument that can be so efficiently
lethal (and from a distance), suicide
and homicide, would inevitably de-
crease. Given the numbers above,
how is this not an ongoing public
health catastrophe?
It seems to me that the second
amendment and its subsequent in-
terpretations by the Supreme Court
assure my right to own a gun, not
the right to shoot it. Given that use
of a firearm implies capability to do
so wisely, shouldn’t I be mandated
First some numbers* As of April
to pass a test proving I know how
20, 2021:
use it safely, and then carry proof
• 12,889 total number of gun
of the same? You know, like my car,
associated deaths
that thing I use more often than my
• 156 mass shootings (4 or more
gun.
people injured or killed)
Owning a gun doesn’t make me
• 11 mass murders (4 or more
anything other than a gun owner,
people killed)
not a Second Amendment support-
*per “Gun Violence Archive”
And now some questions that
er. How this became an expression
are by now clichéd: Anyone else
of liberty or individualism is lost on
outraged? Embarrassed? Numbed? me.
How many more must die be-
Oh, and I should mention that
I have no desire to come and take
fore legislators offer more than
your gun. That trope and all the
“thoughts and prayers” and begin
drama surrounding it plays into a
to make gun ownership a right for
which you must prove competence? convenient conspiracy narrative but
is absurd at its core.
If the weapons used in this car-
Good guy with a gun stops a bad
nage were hair clippers, toasters, or
By the numbers
Photo courtesy Gary Elkinton
guy with a gun? Nope, again a con-
venient trope but if it has made any
difference, it has been minimal.
So, what now? Perhaps some
national legislative spine. Politically
expensive? Maybe, but aren’t we
out of options?
Mike Pendleton
Underwood
proper walk and bike path!
Alison McDonald
Hood River
Support for Swift
I’m writing to share my strong
support for Marcus Swift for Port of
The Dalles in the May 2021 election.
As a third generation Wasco County
farmer, I support Marcus because
he was born and raised in farm
country and understands the chal-
Safe walk and bike paths are
a great goal in Hood River. Post
lenges facing producers today. As
Canyon Drive from Frankton to
port commissioner, he will work to
Country Club has become a beau-
support local agriculture by explor-
ing opportunities for value-added
tiful parade during the pandemic:
ag production and continue to sup-
Walkers with dogs, parents with
strollers, parents with young kids
port the development of sustainable
learning to bike behind their parent! agriculture.
When traffic picks up post pan-
I’ve also had the opportunity to
work directly alongside Marcus
demic this will no longer be a safe
Swift on the Wasco County
haven, But I have always dreamed
of culverts on the south side of Post Planning Commission. In that role,
I’ve seen firsthand the skills and
Canyon, in the ditch. Now water
dribbles on and off, the grasses and dedication Marcus brings to under-
blackberries grow rampant: a waste standing complex land use issues.
of space, not friendly at all. So use
He is a natural problem solver who
our new infrastructure monies to
values collaboration and transpar-
finally build a path on top of the
ency for taxpayers.
culverts, maybe even with a divider
Last, but not least, as a fellow
from the traffic that can speed down owner of a small business in the
this Post Canyon corridor.
area, Marcus Swift knows what
We live on this corridor, lost a
it takes to start and grow a small
young dog to a speeding car. I fear
business from scratch. He knows
for the safety of our young kids rid- the importance of fiscal responsi-
ing bikes, and as always the parents bility and balanced budgets. He is
with babies in strollers. Let's build a
Improve bike path
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Rotary recommends vaccinations worldwide,
recognizes immunization week
contaminated water; it can then
attack the nervous system. Rotary
has been working to eradicate polio
of more than 30 years. Since 1979,
HE ROTARY CLUB OF HOOD we have vaccinated more than 2.5
billion children. But we haven’t
River, a part of Rotary
done it alone. Here is a timeline of
International, would like to
recognize the important work that is our partnerships.
1979-early 80’s: Rotary under-
being provided by health care work-
takes a series of polio immunization
ers. Worldwide, these workers are
campaigns throughout Southeast
addressing a multitude of diseases
such as malaria, polio, AIDS, and
Asia and Latin America, beginning
with one in 1979 in the Philippines
COVID-19. Health Care Providers
will be honored during the week
and followed by similar activities
of April 24-30. This week has been
in Cambodia, Haiti, Morocco,
designated as World Immunization Paraguay, and Sierra Leone.
Week. Rotary International is a
1985-1988: Rotary introduc-
service organization of 1.2 million
es PolioPlus – the first effort to
members, designed to strength-
immunize every child in the world
with polio vaccine – and aims
en both local and international
communities. There are over 30,000 to raise $120 million. During its
1988 convention in Philadelphia,
Rotary Clubs, like the one in Hood
Rotary announces it has raised
River, that can be found in 200
$247 million, more than double
countries world-wide.
The work of Rotary International the target amount. Rotary pushed
forward the global resolution to
is a great example of how immu-
eradicate polio at the 1988 World
nizations can reduce, control and
Health Assembly in Geneva. It also
eventually eliminate diseases like
spearheads the launch of the Global
Polio. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a
paralyzing and potentially danger- Polio Eradication Initiative with the
World Health Organization, U.S.
ous infectious disease that most
Centers for Disease Control and
commonly affects children under
the age of 5. The virus spreads from Prevention, and UNICEF.
2002-2003: Rotary launches
person to person, typically through
and John Weting
■ By Hood Bob River Sharkey
Rotary Club
T
the Polio Eradication Fundraising
Campaign with a fundraising target
of $80 million. The campaign, net-
ting $135 million, eclipses Rotary’s
goal. The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation contributes $1 million
when it honors Rotary with its Gates
Award for Global Health, its first gift
to Rotary’s efforts to end polio.
2007: The Gates Foundation
announces its first major grant to
polio eradication — a $100 million
challenge to Rotary, promising to
match funds raised by Rotarians.
2009: Bill Gates pledges an
additional $255 million at Rotary’s
International Assembly, and Rotary
increases its fundraising goal to
$200 million.
2011-2012: Bill Gates speaks
at the Rotary International
Convention in New Orleans and in
2012 Rotary raises $228.7 million,
surpassing the original goal of
$200 million. In the same year,
Jeff Raikes, then CEO of the Gates
Foundation, announces an addi-
tional $50 million contribution to
polio eradication efforts at Rotary’s
International Assembly.
2013-2021: An announce-
ment at the Rotary International
Convention in Lisbon sets the
stage for a new extension of the
partnership between Rotary and
the Gates Foundation. The Gates
Foundation agrees to match 2-to-1
every dollar committed by Rotary,
up to $35 million per year, through
2018. Throughout the campaign,
Rotary exceeds its annual fundrais-
ing goal. On the heels of the success
of the 2-to-1 matching grant, Rotary
and the Gates Foundation an-
nounce an increase of up to $450
million at the Rotary International
Convention in Atlanta. Rotary’s new
goal is to contribute $50 million per
year over three years. With the 2-to-
1 match, the Gates Foundation’s
contribution will increase to $300
million when Rotary reaches it
fundraising target.
Rotary has been working to
eradicate polio for more than 35
years. Our goal of ridding the world
of this disease is closer than ever.
As a founding partner of the Global
Polio Eradication Initiative, we’ve
reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent
since our first project to vaccinate
children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed
$2.1 billion and countless volunteer
hours to protect nearly 3 billion
children in 122 countries from
this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s
advocacy efforts have played a role
Regional news for the Gorge
in decisions by governments to
contribute more than $10 billion
to the effort. Today, polio remains
endemic only in Afghanistan and
Pakistan. But it is crucial to contin-
ue working to keep other countries
polio-free. If all eradication efforts
stopped today, within 10 years,
polio could paralyze as many as
200,000 children each year. Thanks
to Rotary International and their
partners, in 2020 there were only 41
cases of Polio in the world. Polio is
on the cusp of becoming the second
disease to be eradicated, Smallpox
being the only other disease to be
eradicated by vaccine.
During this critical time, it is
important that we take advantage of
the opportunity to receive COVID
vaccination. Through effective vac-
cinations, we can gain control over
the COVID pandemic and return to
a more normal pre-COVID lifestyle.
The Rotary Club of Hood River
supports and encourages all adults
to attend one of the many vaccina-
tion clinics in the area and receive
the COVID vaccination. Together
we can gain control over the COVID
pandemic but to achieve this goal
we need to receive our COVID
vaccination. Please do your part by
getting vaccinated.
Mailing Addresses:
PO Box 1910, The Dalles, OR 97058
PO Box 390, Hood River, OR 97031
PO Box 218, White Salmon, WA 98672
Columbia Gorge News
HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON
Columbia Gorge News (ISSN 0747-3443)
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