Page 10
The INDEPENDENT, October 5, 2011
Letters
From page 3
don’t want to give bottles.
Thank you very much for
your support! I look forward to
learning about how our govern-
ment works as well as impor-
tant political figures like past
presidents and Martin Luther
King, Jr., as well as seeing Ar-
lington National Cemetery and
the Tomb of the Unknown Sol-
dier. I can’t wait to take the trip
and experience a ton of new
and interesting things. Thanks
again.
Sincerely,
Bradley Ely
Vernonia
Thanks for helping
make trip possible
To the Editor:
I would like to thank all of the
people in the community for
their support and sponsoring of
my student ambassadorship
with the People to People or-
ganization. Because of your
help I was able to go to Europe
and spend 14 days travelling in
England and France. While I
was there I kept a travel journal
of every day’s adventures and I
bought pins almost everywhere
I went as keepsakes! I would
absolutely do all of the work
again because I had an amaz-
ing time there and made so
many new friends while experi-
encing tons of new things.
On the trip we had 3 leaders
and a delegation manager that
spoke French and English and
each of them guided us
through our journey. But before
the trip had even started, our
flight got cancelled! When we
finally got on the plane it was
smooth “sailing” from there on
out. After 20 hours of traveling
it felt good to finally get to
France. However it took my
luggage another 4 days to ar-
rive! In France we went to Ver-
sailles, climbed the Eiffel tower,
and visited Notre Dame. I visit-
ed The Louvre (art museum)
where I took an art workshop
and saw the Mona Lisa. I
played at Disneyland Paris,
and saw the church where
Joan of Arc was burned. On the
last day in France we went to
the beaches of Normandy and
the American cemetery. I was
able to lay down a wreath to
honor the fallen soldiers there
and at that moment I felt very
proud but also very sad. It was
a very touching moment for
me. What I learned in France
was mostly a lot of respect for
the war that took place there
but also lots about art, in all of
its forms, both big and small.
From France we went on an
overnight ferry to England. We
then went to the lovely city of
Bath and saw the Roman
baths. While in Bath we did a
team building activity where we
made rafts and climbed 20 foot
poles and went punting (boat-
ing with a pole). We also visited
Warwick castle, one of my fa-
vorite stops, where we saw a
catapult throw a huge fire ball
and fought as knights with real
swords. I got to see Stone-
henge and the weather was
fantastic. Then, as a service
project, we went to a grade
school and spent the day with 7
year olds and asked and an-
swered
questions
about
school, family, food, pets and
sports, to learn firsthand how
our cultures were the same and
different. We spent the day with
these children working on their
reading skills and finding out
that they were just like us. An-
other day I had a drama work-
shop and saw the play 39
Steps in Shakespeare’s fa-
mous West End Theater. We
then went to Buckingham
Palace, rode the London Eye
Ferris wheel (and learned that
you can pay to have a wedding
on it), and talked to a member
of Parliament. And then, just
like that, I was homeward
bound and back on a plane for
9 and half hours with more
memories than I can count!
What I learned in Great Britain
was that people there really
feel like it’s their responsibility
to preserve old buildings and
churches so they can protect
their culture and history.
Fundraising for this trip
taught me a lot about responsi-
bility, money handling and how
I can achieve my goals. I’m
looking forward to my next ad-
venture and want to say “thank
you” to all of the people that
supported me! I couldn’t have
done it without your support
and encouragement.
Megan Ely
Vernonia
Is this the culture we
want for a good life?
To the Editor:
I have some thoughts re-
garding Michael Botchie’s pro-
posed additions to Columbia
County ordinances, which ap-
peared in the September 21 is-
sue of The Independent.
One in particular concerns
me: “The right to use deadly
force to prevent the criminal
that is fleeing immediately after
committing the crimes listed
above or when it is reasonably
believed the property cannot
be protected or recovered by
any other means.”
I support Robert Heinlein’s
concept of “An armed society is
a polite society. Manners are
good when one may have to
back up his acts with his life.”
But this knife cuts both ways.
I’d like to consider this all the
way through.
An example: You look out
your upstairs window one night
and see a figure running from
your house toward a vehicle
carrying your television set.
Since you are an armed citizen
well versed in this new law, you
shout for the thief to stop.
When the robber continues to-
ward the vehicle you open fire
bringing them down.
Triumphantly, you run out-
side to discover you’ve just
blown out the brains of a home-
less woman who lives in her
car with her two children – chil-
dren who just witnessed their
unarmed mother being gunned
down.
When your six-year-old sees
brains and guts on the drive-
way, you calmly explain that it
is all right because it was legal
for you to do this. One human
life for one television. If it had
been a wall-sized set, would
two lives have been justified?
Too bad the set was smashed
when she dropped it. Too bad
your kid is friends with the
homeless kids.
Really? Is this the culture
that we are living in now? Is
this the slope we want to go
down?
Really?
Erika Paleck
Vernonia
Lack of deputies can
hurt 1st responders
To the Editor:
As a citizen of Columbia
County I believe the actions
and decisions made by our
Sheriff’s Office and our County
Commissioners could create
some serious ramifications that
may affect many in this county.
The Sheriff’s office cut the
patrol deputies down to one
deputy to respond to 9-1-1
calls. Commissioner Fisher
made a public statement in a
letter to the editor, published in
the Spotlight on September 21,
stating that “the issue of the
number of deputies in the
CCSO have been an issue for
years and in 2006 we had six
road deputies, the same num-
ber projected for this year.
What is new is the way Sheriff
Dickerson is using his deputies
to deal with crime”. This state-
ment tells me that Commis-
sioner Fisher approves of this
new use of the deputies.
Here is an example of how it
could affect EMS First Respon-
ders: When a call comes into
the Columbia County Commu-
nications Center for any of the
following incidents; assault, do-
mestic violence with abuse, a
shooting, or a suicide, what
currently happens is EMS Per-
sonnel are dispatched to re-
spond to provide medical treat-
ment to the victims. They re-
spond and stage to a known
safe location within the area of
the call until law enforcement
can clear the scene and deter-
mine that the scene is safe for
the EMS Personnel to enter.
Now, with one deputy to re-
spond to all 9-1-1 calls, how
long are these first responders
going to sit along the side of a
road waiting for him or her to
respond? How long will some-
one that could be in serious or
critical condition have to wait
for medical attention? Has any-
one thought about this because
a lot can happen in a very short
amount of time to victims wait-
ing for help?
Are we now going to ask our
first responders to risk their
lives to save another life and
proceed into an unsafe scene
because our “Lone Ranger” is
in the other end of the county?
What happens if the deputy is
involved in a crime scene and
cannot leave it or has a prison-
er in the back seat? According
to what I have been reading in
the media, no other deputies
will respond. There are going to
be some 9-1-1 calls that go
unanswered. Our Fire Depart-
ments show up every time they
are summoned county-wide.
How is one deputy on or no
deputy available to respond to
these types of calls going to af-
fect them? Will our Fire/Med-
ical Responders now have to
leave the scene when another
call drops, or will they be con-
sidered unavailable for the next
call while they continue to
stage?
The current response time
for a deputy on these types of
calls can sometimes be as long
as 30 minutes. What will they
be come October 1st? 60 min-
utes? 90 minutes? Two hours?
What happens if the lone
deputy responds to a distur-
bance call in rural county that
turns bad and his nearest help
is where? Is it going to be 20,
30, 40 miles away? Is it worth
risking the lives of our deputies,
our EMS Personnel, and our
citizens because our federal
timber dollars were cut?
My desire is to see the prior-
ities on spending changed in
the other seventeen county de-
partments. Not the CCSO. Are
the county roads more impor-
tant than public safety? I am
sure the criminals that frequent
this county because of the lack
of law enforcement presence
will appreciate the newly paved
roads that make it easier and
faster for them to come and go.
I am not ok with five
deputies on payroll and only
one is going to respond to 9-1-
1 calls, but apparently our
Commissioners and our Sheriff
are. It is now time for the citi-
zens of Columbia County to get
a voice. Our Commissioners
meet every Wednesday, at
10:00 a.m., in room 309 at the
County Courthouse. I will be
there to find out the facts of
what is seemingly insanity. It is
time to stop the insanity.
Michael Botchie
Rainier