Reinstate Battle Ground police chief
The recent termination of Police Chief Jim McDaniel by Battle Ground City Manager Dennis Osborn leaves me with one burning question: Why? McDaniel has built a strong, professional, progressive, community-oriented police department to serve the citizens of Battle Ground during a period of growth that Battle Ground has never seen before. This is one of the major things McDaniel was tasked with when he was hired, and he did it extremely well. McDaniel is respected by the community, the men and women he leads, and the local law enforcement community.
What is the “new direction” that Osborn has stated he wants to take the department? Tell us. McDaniel and Osborn are public officials, paid with public funds. The public has a right to know why this decision was made.
I would implore the Battle Ground City Council to take a hard look at this decision which was made without consulting those who were elected by the residents of Battle Ground to represent their best interests. I believe Battle Ground would be much better off reinstating McDaniel as chief of police and give Osborn a new direction … straight out of town.
Gary Spaulding
Battle Ground
Could security threat be any worse?
On Christmas Day a man on the terrorist watch list climbed aboard a U.S.-bound plane with a bomb on his body and attempted to set it off over American soil. The father of this man walked into a U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to warn us of the radicalism of his son. The British were wise to this man and would not allow him to board a plane in the U.K., yet he was able to get a multi-visit visa to the United States.
If the president were still George W. Bush, the left-wing nut jobs would be accusing him of allowing the terrorist in for his own nefarious reasons. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano doesn’t know if things are working or if they are not. American intelligence operatives do not know if they will be prosecuted by their own government in the coming years. Could we be any more messed up and at risk?
Glenn Durden
Vancouver
Contact kept too distant
So I am not alone in reaching the decision that my wonderful hard-working Congress members (a distinction they often make in their own newsletters about themselves) respond to letters with computerized automated messages. (Robert P. McFarlin’s Dec. 24 letter, “Health care bill needs common sense.”) When you go online you are asked to identify in a little box what your concern is. The computer identifies the concern and you get a computerized response.
I first realized this when I wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell regarding the war and received a response back thanking me for my concern about the high gas prices. I did once get a response back from Sen. Patty Murray’s staff when I wrote directly to the White House regarding a veterans issue and that person contacted Murray’s office.
They make campaign promises to keep in touch but redefine how that is accomplished. We did not demand how they were to keep in touch.
How many of you have ever seen Murray or Cantwell in person? How often do they meet with us in a town hall meeting as Rep. Brian Baird did? I’m beginning to believe they really don’t exist but are actually just some great big computer out there some place controlling us and our country.
Dale Shotwell
Vancouver
Zarelli’s hypocrisy is evident
Rep. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, proposes to deny custodians who earn $25,000 a year and other state employees a 5 percent contractual raise in 2010. (Dec. 16 story, “Many state workers in line for raises.”)
Per previous reporting by the Seattle P-I and The Columbian, Zarelli collected months of unemployment checks in 2002 without reporting his legislator’s salary of $32,800. He claimed that a legislator’s pay was inadequate to support his family. Zarelli said he didn’t list his legislative pay because he was certain the state “knew about it from a previous inquiry by him.” If the pay had been reported, his unemployment checks would have been reduced from $496 a week to at least $38 using the state’s formula. Zarelli was court ordered to repay $12,400.
Zarelli later reported income for 2002 of veteran’s disability checks between $3,000 and $15,000, his legislator pay, and between $30,000 and $75,000 from the job he lost. He also reported investments, ownership of Emmanuel Gospel Supply and a security-consulting firm he co-owned. It seems that Zarelli felt that over $32,000 from the Legislature was not enough to support his family in 2002, but others can live on less. A little hypocritical?
Melanie Kenoyer
Vancouver
Health care reform is needed
In response to the Dec. 23 story headlined, “Pain before gain in health care reform” by Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar, I protest. I am disgusted by the misinformation that Alonzo-Zaldivar continues to spread in regards to how the reformed health care legislation is going to effect the common individual, “even the tanning parlors.” If one were to Google search “Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar,” you would find that he has written often about the flaws in health care reform.
“Pain before gain in health care reform” is a vent in regards to how the top 2 percent are going to see a tax increase. How many reading this are part of the top 2 percent in income? Exactly, almost none of you. Also, how many of you are currently without insurance? You would be glad to get insurance, even if you had to wait until 2013.
Don’t allow Alonzo-Zaldivar to continue to tear down the opportunity of a lifetime. Health care must be for those who need it most. No, it’s not the best piece of legislation, but it is better than nothing. Those who have pre-existing conditions are breathing a sigh of relief.
John Brunzell
Vancouver
Health bill agenda not acceptable
In her Dec. 28 letter, “Why seek bishops’ approval?,” Roberta Upson is concerned that Catholic bishops might have a say in the governing process of our country. They, along with all of us, are citizens and have the right to their beliefs and opinions. Catholics cannot believe that killing unborn children is acceptable. If a “Catholic” states they are in favor of this agenda, they are not truly Catholic.
This new health care bill forces some of us to help pay for abortions that we believe to be against the moral law. I sincerely hope that our politicians indeed listen to the opinions of all the people of this nation as they make our decisions for us and not just attempt to put a milestone in their bonnet. It is, after all, as Ed Rush said so well in his letter, “Provide for the unprotected,” all about justice.
Susan A. Morgan
Vancouver
