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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2007)
The INDEPENDENT, September 20, 2007 Page 3 Letters Immigrants aren’t the cause of low wages To the Editor: What kind of country do we want to live in? Do we want to let political boundaries deter- mine who should be treated with respect and dignity? Historically, newly arrived im- migrants have been treated as scapegoats for whatever eco- nomic problems our country was facing. We look back and say “That was bad. We should never have blamed the Irish, the Italians, etc. for conditions that were not under their control.” But isn’t that what we are do- ing when we try to blame lack of jobs and poor pay on present day immigrants? There are real frustrations about employment and job se- curity. But immigrants, whether legal or illegal, are not the real cause. We should be looking at big corporations that out-sourc- ing jobs to areas where they can legally pay low wages. Not only do these policies take jobs away from Americans, but they also sustain the poverty in those countries, which then leads those people to try to bet- ter their lives in any way possi- ble, including illegal immigra- tion to the United States. Then once they arrive here, they are still paid at under min- imum wage salaries. Enforce our laws, make their employers pay a decent salary, and the immigrants will not have what some have called an unfair ad- vantage. Demand that the large cor- porations bring their jobs back to this country. The immigrants are as much a victim of this sit- uation as everyone else. Let’s not blame the victims. Instead, let’s treat all people with re- spect and dignity, regardless of where they were born. And let’s work together to correct the real employment problems in Between the Bookends By Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia Public Library A few years ago the Vernonia football team played a game in North/ Central Oregon (Heppner or in that area) and as the National Anthem was be- ing played, a bird hunter in the distance was ob- served as he stood at at- tention paying tribute to the song and what it represents. I did not witness this event but can see it clearly in my mind’s eye and to me it represents the very essence of au- tumn—football, the National Anthem, bird-hunt- ing in a field which has seen the last of summer’s production and is being readied for winter. With the advent of another autumn in Vernonia, we are also putting gardens to sleep as we harvest the corn and pumpkins and begin the task of rak- ing the fallen leaves. All of the library’s latest magazines ( Country Home, Cooking for 2, Birds & Blooms, Family Circle, Country Woman , etc) feature articles and pictures about autumn— home-cooked soups, decorating with pumpkins and cornstalks, making bird feed and feeders, and, of course, the lovely pictures of autumn in different parts in the United States. In the library, lovely autumn bouquets from Julie Prohaska’s garden will greet patrons until frost arrives and ends their bounty. The display table abounds with books featuring autumn sto- ries and craft ideas. The guessing contest for the month of October will be: Guess the number of black and orange candies, with the winner re- ceiving the container and its contents. The after school program (which resumes Monday, Octo- ber 1st from 3:30—4:30) will be featuring au- tumn stories and crafts. All youngsters ages 6-12 are encouraged to take part in this weekly activ- ity at the library. Until someone can be recruited to be in charge of Chess, youngsters may play board games such as Life, Sorry, Clue and Scrabble in the library on Friday afternoons. Family movie nights will resume on a monthly basis in October with Monsters, Inc. being shown on the evening of Saturday, October 13th at 7:00. Popcorn will be available and everyone is invited. Monday, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. will be the first Chautauqua program for this time frame, “The Portland Trail Blazers’ Championship Sea- son: An Oregon Story.” Matt Love of Pacific City will be mixing slides, lecture, oral histories, and audio and video clips of the Blazers’ memorable 1976-77 season. This event is sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities and, locally, by the library board and The Friends of the Li- brary. Refreshments will be served following the presentation. Montana 1948 , by Larry Watson, is the book to be discussed Monday, September 24th at 5:30. This is a novel, about a middle-class Mon- tana family torn apart by scandal, was awarded the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, making it one of the top 100 novels of the west. New acquisitions include Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke, Drop Shot by Harlan Coben, Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs, Pon- toon by Garrison Keillor, A Killer Kiss by William Lashner, Power Play by Joseph Finder, Strip Search by William Bernhardt and Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy. I’m currently reading a novel by Mike Doogan. Doogan’s protagonist is Nik Kane, a 55-year-old ex-cop who’s also an ex-con. Kane has been hired to find 18-year-old Faith, the daughter of one of the elders of a fundamentalist Christian community in Alaska’s interior. No one knows if Faith has simply broken free from the restrictive life of the community or if she has met with foul play. I am enjoying this novel so far and will be awaiting Doogan’s next Alaskan mystery. New riddles will be also be on the library’s bul- letin board. Guess correctly and win a prize. How do you fix a flat pumpkin? (With a pump- kin patch.) Vernonia Public Library: 701 Weed Ave. Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tues., Thur. 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30 a.m., when school is in session. Phone: 503-429-1818 this country. Please join me in refusing to sign any ballot measure peti- tion that targets immigrants. Help keep Columbia County a community we can be proud of. Becky Frazier St. Helens Supporters of aliens cut their own throats To the Editor: I have never seen so many Communistically indoctrinated, Frankfurt school influenced, Politically correct people who claim to have compassion, in my life, as the people who have written to different papers con- cerning illegal immigration. Most of them seem to be compassionate, but they seem to want to give away someone else’s substance, but “don’t you dare touch mine!” They seem to be compas- sionate for the illegal aliens, but have no compassion for their fellow U.S. citizens whatsoever. They are willing to saturate out all of U.S. substance, but what they do not realize is that when that is gone, their sub- stance will also be gone, along with that of the people they are willing to make destitute. Our traitorous leaders are willing to sell the ground out from under their feet for a Fed- eral Reserve one dollar note (which is worth .04 cents in re- lation to a 1913 dollar). It seems to me that they need to pinch themselves and wake up. The knife is at their throat also. Keith Carpenter Scappoose Undocumented aliens don’t receive services To the Editor: A Columbia County citizen has made a push for a ballot measure regarding illegal immi- grants in the county. The biggest of his complaints about illegal immigrants: that they are “taking” our services, leaving less for you and me. Let’s un- derstand this from the begin- ning: education, healthcare, and welfare are HUMAN RIGHTS not privileges of citi- zenship. And as you may recall from earlier Bush/Cheney cam- paigns, taking these “rights” away from illegal immigrants wasn’t their only agenda; they want to take these rights away from all poor U.S. citizens as well. From a federal perspective, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for any federal ben- efits. Period. They are not eligi- ble for SSI, Food Stamps, Med- icaid, etc. The fact that there has been no decrease in immi- gration since the passage of updated immigration laws in 1996, making them ineligible for these programs is evidence enough that the immigrants do not come to this country to ac- cess public benefits. The “facts” stated in propa- ganda for the county proposition are unsubstantiated and are Please see page 24 Policy on Letters The INDEPENDENT will not publish letters that include per- sonal attacks on private citizens. Because of space limitations, preference will be given to brief letters, 300 words or less. All letters must be signed and include a verifiable address or phone number; all letters are subject to editing for clarity or length. Dickerson files to replace sheriff Jeff Dickerson, a veteran state police officer and St. He- lens resident, has filed to run for Columbia County Sheriff in 2008. Although the primary elec- tion will not be until May 20, 2008, Dickerson kicked off the filing season on the first possi- ble day as “a step in the fulfill- ment of a lifelong goal.” Dickerson, who attended Scappoose schools and the University of Oregon, has been talking with area residents and has formed a campaign com- mittee with Andy Moyer, also a state trooper, as manager. In seeking to replace retiring sheriff Phil Derby, Dickerson said he knows well the difficul- ties created by budget con- straints. “You don’t just fold up shop and give up,” Dickerson said, “You give it your best shot every day, doing what you can to be professional and to pro- vide top notch service.” The campaign web site is: dickerson4sheriff.com.
