Letters to the editor: June 7, 2019

News or opinion?

Tom Henderson’s Viewpoints article, “A threat to the free Flow of information,” was lengthy and convoluted.

I read the article three times to decipher its intent. If the intent was to blur the lines between news and opinion, then the article could have been more accurately distilled into the following:

“In a speech at Linfield College, Ginger McCall claimed that she was overworked as a U.S. Department of a Labor attorney. This situation occurred for two reasons. The Trump administration chose not to fill 40 percent of the high-ranking executive branch vacancies to save taxpayer money. The prolonged number of vacancies also was compounded by Senate Democrats’ slow-walking the approval process for political appointees. Ms. McCall loves her new job as Oregon’s state public records advocate.”

Instead, the staff reporter crafted his article into a criticism of the Trump administration that included the president’s out-of-context quote that brands the press  “the enemy of the people.” The president was referring only to the liberally biased and/or fake news media. Besides, the quote was an irrelevant lead-in for an article primarily focused on McCall’s speech.

The reporter’s conclusion that the federal government has become “increasingly hypothetical” makes no sense. Since the word “hypothetical” was not enclosed in quotation marks, I assume it was the reporter’s indecipherable interpretation of one of McCall’s remarks. Or, maybe the wrong word was used.

Ironically, if the liberally biased media did not make so many FOIA requests, there would not be a turnaround problem. However, in their endless fishing expeditions to find anti-Trump material, the media have overwhelmed the system.

Boo hoo!

Randy Johnson

McMinnville

Tap business for fair share

In response to the Viewpoints editorial of May 24 regarding the “massive K-12 package,” I must come to the defense of our Oregon schools and teachers. The editorial relayed too many false statements.

First, concerning Oregon schools allegedly suffering some of the nation’s lowest graduation rates:

Rob Saxton, past deputy superintendent of public instruction, said Oregon’s graduation rate actually falls more in the middle of our nation’s state rankings. He warned, “Definitions and requirements are not identical from state to state, so comparisons should be made with caution.”

Even the statement about Oregon’s length of school year is misleading. Washington, for example, includes activities toward instruction time in their calculation, whereas Oregon does not. And a recent report suggests, “Making students’ school experiences better, not longer, should take priority.”

Concerning the Public Employees Retirement System:

The editorial again calls PERS a “lavish and over-generous pension system.” Yet years ago, our state Legislature addressed the excessive amount going into this system. One only needs to do a bit of research to understand how much it has changed.

The editors say the state should first commit to “plug loopholes and stem abuses.” I would ask them, “What loopholes and what abuses?”

It is so important, when relaying information to the public, that complete and honest facts be given.

Why are teachers and unions always the bad guys? Why is PERS always equated only with our teachers?

And I will never understand why it is so wrong for Oregon businesses to contribute their fair share when they utilize our state services.

Liz Marlia-Stein

McMinnville 

Time to dump Trump

It’s an old truism that a person’s letter to the editor of a newspaper also represents the voices of a thousand others too busy to write. Today, I am that person.

My message, shared with U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, is this: Impeach Donald Trump now!

In light of what Mr. Mueller said for all to hear, as head of the Department of Justice’s special investigation team, the president did collude with the Russians during the election of 2016. And now Putin’s Russia, the country who brought us the Chernobyl nuclear incident, is poised to foment war in Iran, in the hotbed of the Middle East.

That means we must act now. It will be too late in 2020. Besides, the next election stands to be compromised as well.

Already, 68% of the people he has hired in his first two years have left his administration. He has attempted every way possible to hide his income tax filings from the public and Congress. Why are we allowing this person to remain in office?

By one count, Trump has lied to the American people  more than 9,000 times since being elected. Do we need to hear more? But, of course, there is so much more.

He hired surgeon Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Carson does know REO’s from Oreos.

That’s frightening, but what’s more frightening is his excusing the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi. And then there is the huge increase in hate-motivated crime and violence across the country, traceable to him.

Act now! Mr. Trump needs to go!

We’ll face far worse if we allow the bankruptcy king to continue residence in OUR White House.

L.J. Barnett

Lafayette

Don’t make free food a crutch

I see that 18% of Oregon’s children are considered in need of food. Who are they? And why?

I can understand hunger in some countries. But America?

When people say they need food, we give. We don’t ask why they are hungry, in order to address the root cause. We just push food to those who say they are hungry, no questions asked.

We need to think seriously about this. Nothing is accomplished over the long haul unless we work with those who have the needs.

A family of four living on one income of $12 an hour and paying $1,000 a month in rent would receive about $399 a month in SNAP benefits through the Oregon Trail Card program.

No one in that family should be going hungry, so its members should not be allowed to also make pickups at a food pantry. It’s a matter of budgeting the purchase of nutritious food and avoiding snacks. To supplement that, the WIC program offers free meals for children.

I am well aware of the price of food. I know I could provide a list of items that would provide a family of four with nutritious meals all month on $399.

Yes, as income goes up, the SNAP benefit goes down. But with careful budgeting, any family can get by.

Don’t forget that low-income families also receive Earned Income Tax Credit benefits at tax time. Most families receive $3,000 to $6,000.

Invest that in savings and draw out 1/12 every month. It will make living on a low income more workable.

Nothing is gained in the long term by simply giving away more and more free food.

Some feed their families on very little, so may need donated food on a limited basis. But as long as food is freely offered, many will neither budget effectively nor stick with nutritious fare.

Carolyn Sauers

Yamhill

We must all pull together

There is something called the tipping point. It’s where an issue stops being somebody else’s problem and becomes everyone’s problem, even the most reluctant and most distant from it.

Homelessness is an example. It is growing, is not going away. And it cannot be solved by shifting large numbers of people out of sight, whatever that may accomplish short term.

Its sheer scale demands that we as a community and state give up on cosmetics and politics and pay attention — that agencies, cities, counties and other parties recognize what started as a crisis for lots of unfortunate strangers has become a crisis for everyone, so everyone must own some part of if, even if only to protect his or her own self-interest.

The nature and scale, and certainly the solution, require resources beyond the local reach of even the largest communities. It seems, therefore, that along with short-term efforts, local governments should join forces with the state to create reqional facilities for the mentally ill and addicted, and explore ways to cooperatively assist the homeless and jobless.

It doesn’t matter if you or I created the problem, are part of the problem, or are spectators to the problem. We have a problem and it will require all of us it solve it.

Darrell King

McMinnville

No action from city

I have a parking problem where I live. Cars park too close to the exit, so I can’t see oncoming traffic when I am trying to pull out on to the street.

I contacted the McMinnville Public Works Department. In a callback, I was told city engineers had approved moving the no parking sign back somewhat, but no action has been taken on it and things have not gotten any better.

What is the problem? I’m tired of waiting.

What does it take? No wonder people think government sucks.

Michael Cornell

McMinnville