Letters to the Editor: June 2, 2023

Loss and gain

I have good news for McMinnville and Yamhill County.

McMinnville needs to plug certain holes in its budget. Well, help may be on the way. The city may get a financial boost in the near future from a special and unlikely source.

For a variety of reasons, sinners are abandoning their respective churches and not looking back. Here’s the rub.

Last year, according to Nashville-LightWay Research, more than 4,500 American churches closed their doors for good due to loss of supplicants. In Columbus, Ohio, the Catholic Diocese is shuttering 15 churches this year alone.

Sinners are not showing up there either. Even Pope Francis recognizes the threat of revenue depletion.

These former fortresses of faith may soon have “For Sale” signs posted on their front steps. That means that the new owners will have to pay property taxes.

That’s good news for cities like McMinnville that are struggling with their budgets.

Of course, it isn’t going to happen overnight. We must have faith.

Dan Hilbert

McMinnville

Toughness and teamwork

Kudos to the staff of the News-Register for its season-long coverage of high school rugby.

Kudos to both the Valley Panthers, 2nd, and West Valley Rams, 3rd, for highly successful seasons. And kudos to their athletes and coaches.

As a former coach with Newberg High’s rugby team, I can said this: Rugby is a game that demands toughness, inclusivity, teamwork and respect. And these characteristics were brilliantly portrayed in the Rusty Rae photo that accompanied the May 23 article, “Panthers fall in state title game.”

Thank you for supporting great athletes and a great sport.

Rick Rogers

Newberg

Sounding the alarm

Too many people aren’t aware of the hidden dangers coming upon all of us — so-called ESG investment principles, which put more stake in environmental, social and governance values than in purely monetary values.

We all feel the pinch of the high gas, food and utilities, so it’s hard to stretch the dollar for our needs. But the hardest hit are those who are about to retire or already have, as they could end up dependent on ESG pension funds.

Many people aren’t aware, but this is a planned scheme by high officials in our own government, along with big corporations, big banks and the elite. They want to change our pension systems, even though it figures to decrease the value of our savings.

Most citizens don’t have a clue. These entities cleverly deceive us with their rhetoric and conspiratorial actions, thwarting us from seeking the truth.

This nation has been divided for an ulterior motive — so we won’t convene to discuss and share our knowledge of this planned skulduggery.

We also are to blame. This is a government of, by and for the people, but we are giving the power to government operatives.

We may not be able to stop private entities from employing ESG principles, but we can stop public entities. It’s for our own well-being.

It’s time to settle our differences, get together with our friends and neighbors, and confront and resist ESG influence in public pension programs. We should compel our leaders to do what those in seven other states have — take action through legislation or executive order to keep public pensions free of ESG taint.

Mary Novak

Yamhill

What the people want

Regardless which side of the aisle politicians are, though I would say more on the right side, the first and last claim they make is, “This is what the American people want.”

No, no. They are so wrong.

We don’t care about Hunter Biden or President Biden’s China policy. Those are nothing burgers.

They say, “We are going to investigate the military, because that’s what the American people want us to do.”

Our military is the strongest and the best in the world. What’s to investigate?

They say, “The American people want us to investigate the FBI.”

Baloney. The FBI is the greatest investigative body in the world.

Republicans want to investigate to determine why people involved in the Jan. 6 attack on our nation are in jail. The American people already know why they’re in jail: They broke the law!

It goes on and on.

This is not what the American people want. This is what Donald Trump wants.

So the very first hearing in the House is about Twitter, and the Republicans say, “This is what the American people want.”

Who cares about Twitter? We care about inflation, crime, the price of gasoline and the George Santos fraud.

Meanwhile, supposed whistleblowers seem to be mysteriously disappearing.

Let’s not forget the Durham investigation. After years of probing, it turned up no wrongdoing, despite engaging in some bad mouthing of the FBI.

Then there were the supposedly explosive Twitter files. Wow, nothing there either.

And this is what the American people want?

Paul Angerano

Carlton