A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Saturday, January 31, 2015
O ur readers write
JOE PETSHOW
Publisher/President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
CHELSEA MARR
General Manager
JODY THOMPSON
Advertising Manager
DICK NAFSINGER
Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011)
TOM LANCTOT
Past President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
Services denied Closer look
needed
My brother, Keith Dunn, has been
a member of this community all his
life. He has developed dementia and
has been living in a group home for
the past few months. His disease has
developed to a point where the group
home can no longer care for him.
There is an Extended Care Services
bed available in Hood River. Howev-
er, the powers in Salem have decided
that, as he is developmentally dis-
abled, he does not qualify for it. He
will be placed in a care facility in
Hillsboro, away from his family and
friends. As usual, the powers in
Salem seldom make good sense.
R. Dean Dunn
Hood River
KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
Editor
TONY METHVIN
Columbia Gorge Press Manager
DAVID MARVIN
Production Manager
Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
Printed on
OREGON NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
recycled paper.
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
Road
suggestion
Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News,
P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796
Member of the Associated Press
Sunday drinking
Keep The Beast on the field;
after halftime, pass the dessert
F
ootball fans around Oregon are gearing up for
this weekend’s Super Bowl match-up on Sunday
as our neighbors to the north defend their title
in the big event.
According to National Highway Transporta-
tion Safety Administration, impaired drivers contribute
to Super Bowl Sunday becoming one of the most danger-
ous days on the road. Nationwide, approximately 48 per-
cent of traffic fatalities on Super Bowl Sunday involve a
driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol con-
centration (BAC) of .08 percent or higher. OSP, local
sheriff and police departments will be on the lookout
for impaired drivers and encourage everyone to place
the designation of a sober driver at the top of their
Super Bowl game plan.
Before choosing to drink, choose a sober designated
driver. If you’re attending a Super Bowl party or watch-
ing the game at a sports bar or restaurant:
■ Designate your sober driver before the party be-
gins.
■ Avoid drinking too much alcohol too fast. Pace
yourself. Eat plenty of food, take breaks, and alternate
with non-alcoholic drinks.
■ Make sure your ride is sober before letting him/her
drive you.
■ If you don’t have a designated driver, ask a sober
friend for a ride home; call a cab, friend, or family mem-
ber to come and get you; or if possible stay where you
are for the night and don’t drive until you are sober.
■ Use your community’s sober ride program.
(Gorge Yellow Taxi works with Hood River bars, tav-
erns and pubs to offer free rides.)
■ Never let a friend drive drunk. Arrange a safe way
for them to get home.
■ Always buckle up. It’s still your best defense
against other drunk drivers.
If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party:
■ Make sure all of your guests designate their sober
drivers in advance, or help arrange ride-sharing with
sober drivers.
■ Serve plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverages at
the party.
■ If you plan to stay sober, offer to drive guests home.
■ Encourage guests to pace themselves.
■ Host your party like they do at the stadium. Stop
serving alcohol at the end of the third quarter of the
game. The fourth quarter is perfect for serving coffee
and dessert.
■ Keep the phone numbers of local cab companies on
hand and take the keys away from anyone who is think-
ing of driving drunk.
■ Remember, you can be held liable and prosecuted if
someone you served ends up in a drunk-driving crash.
Support zero tolerance for impaired driving by re-
porting impaired drivers to 9-1-1 or OSP at 1-800-
24DRUNK (1-800-243-7865).
OSP and ODOT understand that not everyone will be
in front of a TV watching the game, so those traveling
are urged to “Know Before You Go,“ monitoring media
reports for weather forecasts and keeping up-to-date on
road conditions at www.TripCheck.com.
Considering the statistics, what we know as a culture,
and the advice above, on this — or any other — there is
no reason for anyone to drive while impaired.
Keep your drinking, or those of your guests, from
getting to Beast Mode — leave that to Marshawn Lynch.
Last time I called it a travesty.
This time I call the Cascade to Mt.
Adams to Wine Country to Country
Club roads just stupid design. I sug-
gest a solution — reopen the access
to Country Club and turn the whole
new interchange into a (one way)
round-about of sorts. A quick sketch
on an envelope shows the easy con-
version: Freeway on and off traffic
flows NON-STOP to town and out;
businesses maintain full, if not im-
proved access; west side users of
Country Club make one right turn
into traffic and go with the flow ...
not drag racing across two lanes.
And while you are at it, put in a
REAL bike lane with barriers and
maybe encourage ... but that’s anoth-
er letter.
Dan Baxter
Hood River
W HERE TO E-MAIL
For letters to the editor, guest columns, news items and
press releases, the e-mail address is:
HRNews@hoodrivernews.com
For e-mail letters to the editor, please include your name,
address and daytime telephone number.
Chelsea Marr
General Manager
CMarr@hoodrivernews.com
Founded in 1905
419 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
P.O. Box 390
Phone: (541) 386-1234
Fax: (541) 386-6796
Operations:
Joe Petshow
Publisher
President, Eagle Newspapers
(541) 386-1234
JPetshow@hoodrivernews.com
Chris Stenberg
Bookkeeper
CStenberg@hoodrivernews.com
Front Office/
Classified Advertising:
Stacey Methvin
Classifieds/Receptionist
HRNClass@hoodrivernews.com
SMethvin@hoodrivernews.com
Circulation:
Esther K. Smith
Circulation Manager
(541) 386-1234 Ext. 205
ESmith@hoodrivernews.com
For the past three decades, we
have seen a disturbing trend to-
wards increasing inequality in in-
come and wealth. Wages are flat,
the middle class is shrinking, and
families see the dream of a better
world for their children slipping
away.
As we pivot towards the 2016 elec-
tions, both parties are looking to
tap into concerns over inequality. It
will be interesting to see if Democ-
rats can move beyond gender and
identity politics to address the con-
cerns of middle-income workers
who have left the party in recent
years. Republicans face the more
difficult choice of continuing to
push an agenda tilted towards the
wealthy or pursuing policies that
benefit the poor and working class.
The first signs from a Republican
Congress are not hopeful. The re-
cent rule change requiring the Con-
gressional Budget Office to use “dy-
namic” scoring to determine the
budget impact of tax reforms opens
the door for politically driven ma-
nipulation.
Consider the words of Bruce
Bartlett, former adviser to Presi-
dent George H.W. Bush: “In prac-
tice, dynamic scoring is just anoth-
er way for Republicans to enact tax
cuts and block tax increases. It is
not about honest revenue-estimat-
ing; it’s about using smoke and mir-
rors to institutionalize Republican
ideology into the budget process.”
A rigged “dynamic” scoring of
tax proposals, based on the “supply
side” myth that “tax cuts pay for
themselves,” will worsen economic
i n e q u a l i t y, i n c r e a s e Fe d e r a l
deficits and increase pressure to
make cuts to Social Security,
Medicare and other programs. Vot-
ers need to look through the “pop-
ulist” rhetoric of both parties to
the actual impacts of tax and bud-
get proposals on middle and lower
income families.
Richard Davis
The Dalles
Pioneer
descendants
Kudos to Abby Walker for her
essay in Young Voices! It was inspir-
ing to read a true telling of pioneer-
ing ancestry from a young person in
the local community. Family seems
to be a very real structure in the
overcoming of adversity. The same
model could be used in modern
times.
We each have a path through this
world, and our families are an in-
valuable part for each individual.
Mike Teems, Jr.
Parkdale
Go Seahawks
God gave us the remote so on
Super Bowl Sunday we could avoid
hours of mindless analysis, inane
interviews, dumb questions to play-
ers, dumb answers from players,
opening ceremonies and coin flip,
another disrespectful rendition of
our National Anthem, commercials,
inane sideline commentary, half-
time analysis, and the half-time
show.
Go Seahawks! Let’s eat!
Jerry Giarraputo
Hood River
W HERE TO WRITE
President — Barack Obama, White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington D.C., 20500
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
U.S. Senators — Jeff Merkley, SDB-40B, Dirk-
sen Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.,
20510. Phone: 202-224-3753; E-mail: ore-
gon@merkley.senate.gov; Ron Wyden, 717 Hart
Office Building, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244.Web
address:
www.senate.gov/member/or/wyden/general/
2nd Congressional District Representative
— Greg Walden, 14 N. Central Ave., Suite 112,
Medford, OR 97504. Phone: 541-776-4646;
E-mail: www.walden.house.gov/contactgreg
Governor — John Kitzhaber, 254 State Capitol,
Salem, OR 97310. Phone: 503-378-3111;
E-mail: www.governor.state.or.us/email.htm
District 26 State Senator — Chuck Thomsen,
900 Court St. N.E., S-307, State Capitol, Salem, OR
97301. Phone: 503-986-1726; E-mail
sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us
District 52 State Representative — Mark
Johnson, 900 Court St. N.E., Bldg. H-385, State
Capitol, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1452;
E-mail: rep.markjohnson@state.or.us
Hood River County Board of Commission-
News:
Kirby Neumann-Rea
Editor
HRNews@hoodrivernews.com
Trisha Walker
News/Features
TWalker@hoodrivernews.com
ers — Chair Ron Rivers, Vice Chair Maui Meyer,
members Les Perkins, Bob Benton and Karen
Joplin, Hood River County Courthouse, Hood River,
OR, 97031. Phone: 541-386-3970.
County Administrator — Dave Meriwether,
Hood River County Courthouse, Hood River, OR,
97031. Phone: 541-386-3970.
Hood River City Council — Mayor Paul
Blackburn, members Laurent Picard, Mark Zan-
miller, Kate McBride, Becky Brun, Peter Cornelison
and Susan Johnson Hood River City Hall, Hood
River, OR, 97031. Phone: 541-386-1488. E-mail:
cohr@gorge.net
Hood River City Manager — Steve Wheeler,
Hood River City Hall, Hood River, OR, 97031.
Phone: 541-387-5252.
Cascade Locks City Council — Mayor Tom
Cramblett, Glenda Groves, Jeff Helfrich, Richard
Randall, Bobby Walker, Bruce Fitzpatrick and Dean-
na Busdieker Cascade Locks City Hall, 140 S.E.
WaNaPa, Cascade Locks, OR, 97014. Phone: 541-
374-8484.
Cascade Locks City Administrator — Gor-
don Zimmerman, Cascade Locks City Hall, 140 S.E.
WaNaPa, Cascade Locks, OR, 97014 Phone: 541-
374-8484.
Production:
David Marvin
Production Manager
Adam Lapierre
Ailene Hibbard
Archivist
DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com
News/Features
Advertising:
Jim Drake
ALapierre@hoodrivernews.com
Jody Thompson
Advertising Manager
JThompson@hoodrivernews.com
Production/Commercial Printing
Liana Stegall
Advertising Sales
LStegall@hoodrivernews.com
Production/Commercial Printing
Ben Mitchell
News/Features
BenMitchell@hoodrivernews.com
Jim Drake
Entertainment
JDrake@hoodrivernews.com
Kirsten Lane
Advertising Sales
KLane@hoodrivernews.com
JDrake@hoodrivernews.com
Andy Taylor
ATaylor@columbiagorgepress.com
Allen Diers
Commercial Printing
ADiers@hoodrivernews.com
419 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
P.O. Box 390
Phone: (541) 386-1234
Fax: (541) 386-6796
Tony Methvin
Plant Manager
(541) 386-1234
TMethvin@columbiagorgepress.com
Andy Taylor
Commercial Printing/Production
ATaylor@columbiagorgepress.com
David Marvin
Commercial Printing/Production
DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com