Letters to the Editor: Oct. 29, 2021

Please resign

Open letter to Lindsay Birschauer:

Please resign. We can’t afford to have you in office.

Your actions on the board of commissioners have cost Yamhill County taxpayers more than $3.5 million and counting. Included in this estimate is the special deal to Waste Management, costing the county more than $2 million.

Because of your vote on the Yamhelas Trail, we also have to pay the state back for more than $1 million in grants. Because of your vote on the gun sanctuary ordinance, we have a pending suit which could potentially cost us millions to defend.

That doesn’t include staff time taken up to deal with these unnecessary and wasteful “proclamations.” All of these I consider gross mismanagement of Yamhill County’s financial resources. 

You claim to represent all of Yamhill County, but clearly don’t. You don’t represent anything I stand for and you don’t care.

I’ve read your posts on Facebook, which appear to be the only way you deign to communicate with constituents.  You use them to deflect, defend and blame. 
You talk about having “defended our values in the face of #SaveYamhillCounty’s lies and bullying.” Whose values are you suggesting? People who look like you and think like you?

Is this what you meant when you supported Powell and DeHart for the Newberg School Board? We know they have voted to ban anything related to BLM and LGBTQ+, sending a message that students and staff of minority color or gender don’t matter. Is this how you represent all citizens?

Who’s bullying who? I have been canvassing and heard people express fear of retaliation from you should you see their name on a recall petition. No citizen should feel their rights must be forfeit because they fear retaliation from an elected official, in this case, you. 

I’ll ask again, please resign. In the interim, I’ll keep collecting signatures.

Lu Ann Anderson

McMinnville

 
Enough enabling

A recent letter talked about Black Lives Matter and critical race theory. Except in constitutional law class, I never heard in my years about Black votes counting less to keep slave states from using them to control the legislative and executive branches, let alone that without such votes being counted, Jefferson would have lost to Adams in 1800.

We rarely hear about Brown vs. the Board of Education, and our exposure to the history of Black rights and abuses has been almost non-existent. Black Wall Street and events around Compton, California, are rarely mentioned. We don’t even talk about the first child put to death for murder, who was Black and turned out to be innocent.

How come? Many people don’t understand where the Black Lives Matter movement came from. It emerged after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager going on a late-night snack run after playing video games with a friend.

Martin wasn’t committing any crime, he was just doing what any kid does. By all accounts, Zimmerman initiated the contact after being told not to by the police, whom he had called prior.

But Zimmerman was acquitted on the basis of “stand your ground” law. I am among many wondering why Mr. Martin wasn’t entitled to stand his ground as well. The majority of wrongful convictions involve Black males.

Blacks are sentenced 19% higher for same crimes with the same criminal history than whites. They are three and half times more likely to be killed by police officers than white people, and are subject to vastly more Terry Stops alleging “reasonable suspicion.” There is a reason behind all of this, and it’s cognitive. Stop enabling it.

Troy Prouty

McMinnville

Not Trump’s fault

What is it that fuels your obsession with Donald Trump? He is not president any more and his words and actions are only relevant if they contain truth.

Every leader makes mistakes. General Powell made his as well, though his contributions to America are far greater than his mistakes.

When Trump left the presidency, our country’s main problem was the COVID virus and vaccines were already being distributed. Since then, the southern border has been opened to massive illegal migration, which has created humanitarian and security disasters.

The botched Afghanistan exit removed our military troops before we extracted our equipment, citizens and supporters. We now have near $4 gasoline, doubled food prices and empty store shelves.

Crime is rampant in our cities and fentanyl and other illegal drugs flood our streets. Our weak response to Chinese military, economic and technical theft has shifted the balance of power and may lead to the invasion of Taiwan.

Do you really believe Donald Trump is the root of all our problems?

All of the problems I listed, and many more, have been inflicted by Joe Biden and the Democrat administration. Most Americans are seeing that, and an accounting will take place in the upcoming elections.

Please stop hiding the truth.

Steve Wozniak

Newberg

 
Condescending attitude

I have been watching and taking notes during the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners meetings almost every week for nearly a year. For a number of months, I have become increasingly concerned about the condescending attitude Chair Mary Starrett has been displaying toward Commissioner Casey Kulla.
I was especially appalled during Oct. 21 discussion of a letter protesting Gov. Kate Brown’s mask mandate.

Starrett cited a study she claimed supported her belief that vaccines are not as effective as previously reported, but cherrypicked sentences from a two-page synopsis. Kulla said he didn’t agree with her take and asked her to read the conclusion provided at the end.

She instead continued to cherrypick passages, then moved on to herd immunity and alternative therapies. Kulla asked her several times to read the conclusion, but she brushed him off.

Vice-Chair Lindsay Berschauer moved to approve. Commissioner Kulla asked for a chance to first read the report’s actual conclusion, as Starrett had not, but Starrett called for a vote that left Kulla on the losing end. The letter was railroaded through with little allowance for discussion or input.

Here’s the missing conclusion from the study:

“In summary, even as efforts should be made to encourage populations to get vaccinated, it should be done so with humility and respect. Stigmatizing populations can do more harm than good. Importantly, other non-pharmacological prevention efforts (e.g., the importance of basic public health hygiene with regards to maintaining safe distance or handwashing, promoting better frequent and cheaper forms of testing) needs to be renewed in order to strike the balance of learning to live with COVID-19 in the same manner we continue to live 100 years later with various seasonal alterations of the 1918 Influenza virus.”

Sheila Barnes

McMinnville

 
Scary industry

Little scares me about Halloween or trick-or-treating. Ghosts, zombies, skeletons and witches have nothing on all the milk ingredients in candy and the frightening truth about the dairy industry.

This industry has spent billions convincing humans that drinking the milk of another species is OK. That feeds millions of dairy cows in favor of feeding starving humans. That creates dairy cow pasture accounting for a substantial reduction of forestland and other wildlife habitat. That perpetually impregnates cows in order to keep them lactating with milk meant for their offspring, then kills them off after they are “spent.”

What’s more, the digestive system of cows discharges large amounts of methane, and their waste discharges nitrous oxide, both contributors to global warming.
The dairy industry is more frightening than any Halloween nightmare.

But, we’re lucky. Our local supermarkets offer a selection of plant-based milks, cheese, and ice creams, as well as a colorful display of fresh fruits and veggies.
The dairy industry reporting slumping sales is the treat we need this holiday season.

Milo Nakamura

McMinnville