Letters to the Editor: May 26, 2017

Remembering the fallen

After storming the beaches of Normandy June 6, 1944, Allied forces crushed Hitler and restored freedom in Europe.

In a battle near the Netherlands, America lost more than 8,300 soldiers. The people of the Netherlands were so grateful for Americans who fought and died to restore their freedom, they came from all walks to help create the Margraten Cemetery in 1945. They respectfully buried more than 8,300 American soldiers.
In 1945, the Dutch started a program named Adopt-A-Grave to show their appreciation to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives. Each grave is adopted by someone who accepts the soldier as a member of his or her family. These people know the soldier’s name, his date of birth and his date of death.

On appropriate dates each year, they decorate his grave with American flags and flowers. The people there have a tradition to pass down the love and care for this soldier in their families.

There is currently a waiting list of Dutch people who wish to adopt a grave at the cemetery. You can see pictures of the Margraten Cemetery online. I hope everyone shares this story. Thank you.

Ron Simmons

McMinnville

It’s about the money

McMinnville City Manager Jeff Towery states the decision to eliminate Emergency Management Coordinator Doug Cummins’ position is not money-driven. I don’t see where the News-Register checked this out with Mayor Scott Hill or Cummins.

However, I’m sure this sticking point will just go away. Who wants to wash dirty laundry by contradicting Towery in public?

Towery states the emergency management operations were becoming more tightly coordinated among city police and fire departments and affected county agencies. What agencies? Department of sewers?

It is important to emphasize that his statements have nothing to do with CERT. For instance, he indicated that interagency cooperation would lead to more aggressive building inspections and greater coordination between agencies.

How is that going to help me when I’m trapped in my house under a collapsed roof and bleeding? Who’s going to come to my rescue if the fire department can’t get here because the roads are buckled or under water, and the police are busy arresting and jailing people?

And what does interagency cooperation have to do with getting citizens prepared for the 9.0 earthquake anyway? This is a citizen-based need, not an administrative paperwork need.

To add additional insult to our intelligence, Towery says no one addressed the issue in the Tuesday meeting. Perhaps the meeting is inconveniently scheduled? I couldn’t make it.

And who in the fire department, police department and “affected county agencies” is going to pick up the slack? They have full-time jobs as it is. Remember 2008, when so many people were laid off? The workload did not disappear. It was distributed to the remaining employees. That’s what will happen under Towery’s watch.

I’ll say it again: The city is two-faced. City officials say their mission is for our safety, but they don’t have our backs. They have administrative hoopla.

Sheila Hunter

McMinnville

Ground the helicopters

Some Yamhill County wineries allow helicopters to land at their tasting rooms, hauling tourists from many locations in the county.

Our farm is adjacent to a winery that engages in this practice. We are affected by the noise from multiple flights several times a day, with spring, summer and fall flights. This is not my vision of living on farmland and enjoying the beauty and serenity of beautiful Yamhill County. This peace and serenity, the hallmark of the Oregon wine country, is being polluted by these helicopters.

This negatively affects all of Yamhill County. To please a few tourists that can pay for this opulent lifestyle causes a huge impact on everyone in the county. The noise from the helicopters detracts from the customer base of people who want to come to the peaceful, quiet, natural countryside.

Further, the impact to wildlife can be a concern. We depend on the hawks and owls to control rodents. How will their nesting be affected by the noise of helicopters? Helicopters were banned by the city of Dundee last summer as a stream of helicopters landed at one of the restaurants, whipping up dust and causing noise. I do not oppose many of the advantages the wineries enjoy. Indeed, making wine is an industrial activity in an agricultural zone. However, helicopters cross the line. They are inherently more intrusive than other winery practices and head the industry in a bad direction.

Dave Weil

Dundee

Trump mentally ill

For a better understanding of President Trump’s behavior, I would refer the News-Register readers to the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.

Check out the mental disorder labeled Narcissistic Personality Disorder. This helps to explain his grandiosity and embrace of “alternative facts.”

It also should let us all know why he isn’t going to “grow” in his presidency. He will not change because he cannot change short of intensive psychotherapy, which he will not engage in because he is unlikely to ever see the need.

It will likely be a horrifying ride for our country.

Edward Fuller

McMinnville

Government off our backs?

It’s strange that many small-government devotees abandon that idea when it comes to the uterus. There’s nothing “small government” about interfering in the health-care choices I make. I have the right to safe, legal abortion as part of my reproductive system health care. The reason I might choose abortion is nobody’s business.

Wealthy women (and men) will always be able to obtain the care they desire. Health care is a right, not a privilege, so government should step in to help ensure equal care options.

As I was recently reminded, it wasn’t too long ago when women weren’t allowed to vote. It’s only been a few decades since we gained complete control over our bodies. We must resist all the retrograde forces at work out there.

Alisa Owen

McMinnville

We’re under invasion

Nearly all of the early immigrants came to the United States to respect our laws and become citizens. In the agricultural and forested areas, they tended to form colonies, but these colonies were not armed camps that other people dared not enter.

Their children were raised to speak English and be loyal citizens. Note the contrast with our current invasion. The Muslims want to replace our laws with their own barbaric and brutal system where women have all the legal rights of a horse or a camel.

They intend to take over our government and make us subjects of their laws. There has been a temporary setback to their plan that may or may not survive. RINO Republicans and Democrats are creating a reasonable doubt.

Elmer M. Werth

Grand Ronde

The geeks shall inherit

Lata Nott’s May 19 commentary “Why social media keeps failing us” goes to the heart of a situation that is a plague on our lives. It’s not the media. It’s the antisocial.

For a historical perspective, we might note that Facebook was designed in 2003 by a group of college roomies who used photos of their schoolmates to publicly identify who was hot and who was not. It is fulfilling its purpose beyond their wildest teenage dreams.

You can look it up.

Tony Roder

McMinnville