Letters to the Editor: Jan. 17, 2025
Lamenting lanes loss
A Joni Mitchell lyric in the song “Big Yellow Taxi” warns, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”
That will be true this spring when Walnut City Lanes close its doors after 47 years of Rettke Family ownership. The Retkes aren’t just owners of a business, they are lovers of the sport of bowling.
When the bowling alley is torn down, McMinnville and its surrounding communities will be without a bowling venue for the first time since as far back as the 1950s.
This bowling alley has brought thousands of people together from all walks of life. It has offered activities for league and tournament play, birthday parties, special needs groups, junior and senior groups, and just something fun to do when bad weather forced everyone inside.
Thank you Jerry and Sharri Rettke, along with your extended family, for bringing us all together for so many great years.
Blake Williams
Newberg
Trans targeting
House Resolution 28, amending Title IX to ban trans participation in sports, represents a dangerous attack on trans rights and civil liberties.
I played rugby in college, both in Oregon and Washington, both on and against teams including trans athletes. Those teams’ efforts to be inclusive added to the experience, building a strong sense of community.
Sex assigned at birth is only one small component of sports performance. Including trans athletes did not keep matches from being fair or challenging.
Everyone deserves access to the opportunities offered through sports.
The proposed amendments are not intended to support equal sports opportunities for women. They are aimed at laying the groundwork for ongoing discriminatory laws targeting trans people.
We must continue to support trans rights and trans people. Oregon’s congressional delegation must continue to hold the line for trans rights and oppose HR 28.
Join me in urging Rep. Salinas, Sen. Merkley and Sen. Wyden to vote no on a trans sports ban.
Katherine Gladhart-Hayes
Dayton
Remember in November
The president-elect promised to address the high cost of groceries, end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, fix healthcare, secure the border, and as he puts it, “Make America Great Again!” Yet, in the run up to his second inauguration, what has he been saying?
He’s been talking about seizing Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal and annexing Canada to make it our 51st state! He’s insulted the Canadian prime minister by calling him the “governor” of Canada.
For those of you who support Mr. Trump, is this why you voted for him? I think the master salesman has once again pulled the wool over the eyes of the American electorate by making false promises on the campaign trail simply to get elected.
The truth is, he has no plans to address the high cost of groceries, broken healthcare and immigration systems or other of the country’s problems, or to bring the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to a swift end. So he’s doing what he does well, using his megaphone to distract and deflect attention from his soon to be broken promises.
The American people will be wise to hold him and the GOP to account for their broken promises when voting resumes in November 2026.
Philip Forve
McMinnville
Comments
CubFan
Blake Williams... agreed... Walnut City Lanes was an iconic place, and will be missed. Best wishes to the Rettkes in retirement! You mentioned it was being torn down. Do you know what business is going into that lot?
Don Dix
My father and his company built the original Walnut City Lanes for the Arvid Ekman Sr. family in 59 - 60. 6 of those lanes were moved from their location out of a second-floor window above the recent NR building by crane. Those lanes were 60' long and about 3 1/2' wide, so a pretty cool thing to see as a little kid in those days.
CubFan
Years ago I saw the bowling alley above the NR building. It WAS pretty cool!
Otis
Phil, totally agree. Our allies are assets to us. Not liabilities. We are stronger together with our allies than alone. Teamwork is the best way to get big stuff done.
B
Mr. Forve, Suggest you do some research on Greenland and the Panama Canal. Seems like the president is diving head first in to the immigration debacle we have. He hasn't had much time yet to address the Ukraine but has taken an active role in the Gaza crisis. Groceries? The only thing any president can try to do is focus on inflation. Did you listen to his address today? Probably not.
tagup
And of course he would never exaggerate or say anything untrue…. Right?
Moe
Referring to Remember in November:
"He’s been talking about seizing Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal and annexing Canada to make it our 51st state! He’s insulted the Canadian prime minister by calling him the “governor” of Canada."
All good reasons to have voted for Trump.
Now 20 January ... Icing on the cake is restoring Mount McKinley & Gulf of America. And let's never forget, pardoning our J6 patriots.
tagup
No proof of the stolen election yet? What are you waiting for?
Moe
You think Trump stole the election from Harriss?
B
Tagup-
"And of course he would never exaggerate or say anything untrue…. Right?" He's a politician; they all exaggerate, unfortunately.
tagup
Nice backpedaling moe….when you have no facts you can always change the subject.
Moe
Prima facie evidence of 2020 election fraud:
https://rumble.com/vdqh0r-election-fraud-2020-unmasked.html
Moe
Not only that, but Biden's dementia is Prima facie evidence of massive treason during his administration. Who was running the country? And how was it that V.P. Harris failed to invoke the 25th Amendment?
tagup
How did that rumble “prima facie” evidence work out in court?…..62 cases/ no winners as I recall.
Mayor Rudy & the My pillow guy seems to be having a hard time selling that steaming pile of “evidence” to a jury.
Moe
More evidence of the fraud of 2020:
BREAKING: President Trump Will Pardon 1,500 Jan 6 Political Prisoners and Commute Sentences of 6 Tonight—Tells Reporter Who Questioned His Actions “Go stand over there with your friends” [VIDEO]
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/breaking-president-trump-will-pardon-1500-jan-6/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
tagup
Is your law degree from trump university.....?
Moe
Even more evidence of the fraud of 2020:
Report: Jails refusing to release pardoned J6 hostages, MAGA army unleashes PIT BULL attack…
https://revolver.news/2025/01/report-jails-refusing-to-release-pardoned-j6-hostages-maga-army-unleashes-pit-bull-attack/
Otis
These are 3 massive milestones of our country:
-The revolutionary war - where we won against the British
-The Civil War - where we won against the Confederates
-WW2 - where we won against the Nazis
These events define us as Americans. They help form our constitution, our ideals, our hopes, and our dreams. They showed us how what we want to be as citizens...and where we want to go as a nation.
They were fought for with blood, and we will not turn our backs against our ancestor's ultimate sacrifices.
We are not monarchists, confederates, or Nazis....and we should never, ever support any politician that sympathizes with these ideologies.
Moe
Continuing ...
‘Intel’ Experts Who Influenced 2020 Election With Hunter Biden Lie To Be Investigated
https://conservativefiringline.com/intel-experts-who-influenced-2020-election-with-hunter-biden-lie-to-be-investigated/
Moe
And there's way more evidence of 2020 election fraud, but this is enough already:
Trump REVOKING Security Clearances ! ! ! !
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/national-news/trump-revoking-security-clearances
tagup
Maybe in your head…. But not in a court of law.
Judy
Re: Trump
Mt. Denali will always be Denali to me. I've been to see it and it merits
the name. McKinley did nothing for it and the original residents considered it sacred.
Lulu
I have to admit, Moe, you and the tangerine pantload deserve each other. He's not my president.
Moe
I guess Mount Danali could be renamed Mount Trump.
trandrw
So much for not pardoning felons who attacked police, I guess all you have to say is you support tRump and do whatever violent action you can do against the police.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/us/politics/jan-6-trump-pardon-capitol-riots-video-evidence.html
Moe
All J6 prisoners for whom due process was violated had to be pardoned, or in a few cases, instead have their sentences commuted. That's the law.
treefarmer
"That's the law." he observed. You have been holding out on us ”Moe.” You didn’t tell us you had attended all those trials to witness the legal procedures, the Grand Juries, the representation from highly capable defense attorneys, the troves of evidence, the guilty pleas, the sentencing ……because otherwise your opinion on the matter is about as credible as your ludicrous propaganda and conspiracy theories. Ain’t free speech a hoot!
Moe
Y'all going to think felon when Pam Bondi gets finished with the Biden-Harris DOJ - all i's dotted. and t's crossed.
tagup
Haha… He’s quite the legal scholar…I got a kick out of his recent post demanding the city utility fee be repaid with interest. I’m thinking the city attorney may have something to say about that pipe dream.
Moe
'... Peralta asserts that every dollar the city spends is “fundamentally accounted for”.'
Irrelevant. Mere gaslighting.
Suppose a bank robber was on trial, and as a defense, provided a 583-page budget showing how he spent every penny. Who cares. Gaslighting. A red herring. An attempted sleight of hand. He wasn't on trial for bad accounting. In fact, the 583-page budget would be evidence of the very crime for which he WAS on trial - robbing the bank!
The continuing W&L user fee is by definition unconscionable. Who cares how the city spends the money - the injury is the unconscionable fee. Note that a bond has a maturity date. No maturity date here. The payments go on forever, for what amounts to an already paid debt. At $100 / year for 70 years that would amount to $7,000 per head, $70 million per 10,000 heads, for which it is reasonable, and a duty, to file a lawsuit.
If a creditor kept sending bills for an already paid debt, even assuming the original debt had an honest contract, the debtor would be within his rights to refuse payment. If sued by the creditor, PAID, relative to the original contract, would be a valid affirmative defense. A pretrial motion to dismiss, perhaps filed even before service of the complaint, after the action commenced, would stand a good chance of an ORDER dismissing the case with prejudice. After all, there is no wrong by the defendant for not paying a non-existent debt; the court cannot hear a case for which there is no "wrong" according to the law.
Similar comments apply to the dishonest $1.50/M.
Suppose at his trial the bank robber used as a defense that he told the bank in his note that he was robbing the bank; not his fault if they "agreed" to being robbed, even if the note was deceptive, which is the thinking of a sociopath.
Attorneys interested in filing suit are free to contact me via the N-R. Seeking a stipend.
tagup
So Moe, just don’t pay the charge…. And let us know how that works out…
Moe
Is W&L complicit?
Suppose a customer subtracted the user fee from payments, explaining why.
Most likely, past due notices on the way.
But past due for what - payment covered electricity services provided:
W&L could always pay itself first out of the payment.
Does that make W&L an "enforcer" for the city?
//
The basic elements for standing to sue are present:
Injury
Connection of injury to Defendant(s)
Remedy by monetary judgment
ORDER would include interest, according to Oregon law.
Probably accruing from date of injury.
Would interest accrue successively for each user fee?
Or on entire principle from the initial injury?
//
Will the city, on its own, make the taxpayers whole, without being taken to court?
What about bad intent?
Will nobody do nothing?
Many questions.
tagup
W&L is a branch of the city and commissioned by the McMinnville city charter. The department isn’t an “enforcer” for the city, they are a part of the city. The fee is listed as a “service charge” for the utility. The W&L commission ( section 53) allows the board to do business, establish rates, and make needed rules. The 5 members of the board (which includes the mayor) approved the “service charge” which is perfectly legal.
I don’t like the fee either, but I see no legal remedies when the fee is approved by the board.
Your description of the “elements of standing to sue” are complete fiction.
Moe
"Your description of the “elements of standing to sue” are complete fiction."
Really?
Then YOU cite the elements for standing to sue.
Moe
It was plausible that the generous voters of McMinnville approved the increase from $1.50 to $2.00 per $1,000 assessed value for fire. But NOT adding $2.00 without suspending the $1.50. In other words, it was plausible that voters approved a 33% increase on assessed value for fire (2 / 1.5 = 4/3 = 1.33). But NOT a 133% increase, 33% for fire, and the other 100% for ?? (2 + 1.5 / 1.5 = 3.5 / 1.5 = 7/3 = 2.333).
McMinnville's voters may have been generous, but they were not insane.
Therefore, the city's tax increase was, by definition, unconscionable.
And that opens them up to a lawsuit.
Similar comments apply to the subject W&L user fee.
//
News-Register • December 12, 2023
County commissioners accuse city of ‘bait and switch’
Following the budget committee’s vote last month to instruct city staff to prepare a budget with a 50-cent hike in property taxes for the next fiscal year, council received eight letters of complaint, including one from the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners.
Spearheaded by Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer, the letter signed by all three commissioners alleges the city was disingenuous about the use of tax dollars following the departure of the fire department from city tax rolls.
Voter approval of the consolidation of the city and rural fire departments in May resulted in a new $2 per $1,000 assessed value tax rate for city residents and removed the existing $1.50 in city tax.
City council voted to suspend the $1.50 for at least a year prior to the fire vote.
Moe
News-Register • December 12, 2023
The board of commissioners had “significant concern” over the rates during the voting process, the outreach was “grossly insufficient” and any increase in property tax should be put to a vote, the letter states.
“City voters were not presented with information by the McMinnville City Council or the fire department that said a vote of approval is a vote to raise taxes by ($2 per $1,000 assessed valuation.) To state otherwise is disingenuous and does not represent the understanding of or actions taken by this Board when we encouraged participation in the fire district election,” the letter states. “Frankly, we feel these actions constitute a “bait (and) switch” and unnecessarily anger those who supported the fire district formation as a way to prioritize public safety, not allow the city to implement a backdoor property tax increase.”
The majority of the other letters to council also asked for the tax decision to be put to public vote.
//
Was the failure to put the issue to a vote not evidence that the city knew the voters would not approve the actual tax increase of $2 per $1,000 assessed valuation?