Letters to the Editor: March 28, 2025
Healthy and wholesome
As an educator, parent and youth bike coach, I’ve been saddened to read recent letters in opposition to bike trails at Quarry Park.
The park is within walking and biking distance of many family neighborhoods, and the planned courses would provide a safe, healthy place for young people to exercise, socialize and develop bike skills.
Children and young people have a developmental need to take healthy risks, move their bodies and be with other young people — all of which have become increasingly difficult, due to phone addictions, scarcity of available public spaces and changing ideas about youth independence.
When young people are not provided such opportunities, they have two options: pursue unhealthy ways to take risks and hang out with friends or avoidance of risks and socializing completely. Sadly, the second option is becoming an increasing reality for many teens.
In his best-selling The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt warns the growing youth avoidance of risks and in-person socializing is causing rates of teen anxiety and depression to skyrocket. In fact, a group of McMinnville parents and teachers have been meeting regularly to discuss Haidt’s book and commit to helping young people have the important growth experiences they need to become capable, empowered, confident adults.
In my experience as a bike coach, riding bikes is an excellent, healthy way for kids to meet many of these critical developmental needs. Kids who ride bikes learn how to take safe risks, care for their bikes and be courteous trail users.
Riding is social too. Kids can ride with friends, teams or families.
Personally, I love to ride with my kids. They also have a lot of fun, which is a genuine need for all humans, especially the younger ones.
Quarry Park can become an asset for the entire McMinnville community.
Katie Kulla
Dayton
New vaccine needed?
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas said, “I’m really outraged at the behavior of our president ...” Is she outraged about:
Cutting wasteful or fraudulent federal spending?
Closing the border?
Deporting violent illegal aliens?
Prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports?
Defunding universities promoting terrorist causes on campus?
Trying to end the war in Ukraine?
Removing DEI departments from federal agencies and the military?
Returning responsibility for public education to the states?
Bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.?
Appointing RFK Jr to help make America healthier?
She said, “So I am pissed,” about passage of a bill to fund the government through September. But I don’t recall her having such objections when it was the Democrats passing interim funding legislation during the Biden administration.
It appears Rep. Salinas may be suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Perhaps RFK Jr should work on a new vaccine to counter its effects.
Steve Sommerfeld
Sheridan
A better way?
I am a huge fan of second chances and redemption. Addressing specifically those trapped in a substance-abusing lifestyle, I think a deflection program is one of the ways we can offer help.
House Bill 4002, passed in 2024, provided $477,000 to provide a deflection program in Yamhill County with a staff coordinator. But this paper reports that since Sept. 1, only 1 of 120 people referred to the program has stuck with it through completion.
This would be a great opportunity for some accountability and investigative reporting. Let’s have a follow-up article including a breakdown of how and where money was spent and the balance remaining.
So far, this is not looking like a success, thus not the best use of the money. Can we revisit the program and either get more people completing it successful or find better ways to allocate the resources?
Loretta Johnson
McMinnville
Echoes of Orwell
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
Those are government slogans from George Orwell’s novel, “1984.” They demonstrate how the fascist government in the novel confused and subjugated its people by using words against their common meaning.
Looking at how the billionaires running our government today use language, we could write an updated version of Orwell’s novel and name it “2025.” It could feature new slogans, such as: WASTE IS EFFICIENCY and TRUTH IS FRAUD.
Consider billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
On a popular podcast, he recently characterized Social Security as rife with waste and abuse, going so far as to brand it a “Ponzi scheme.” In a show of how DOGE plans to “fix” Social Security, he has cut staff, reduced phone service, listed 47 offices for closure and required recipients visit field offices in person to verify their identities.
But administrative costs for Social Security account for only 0.5% of its budget, and the new requirement for in-person visits will create unnecessary hardships for many seniors reliant on the program. Meanwhile, the IRS estimates activities of DOGE have resulted in a loss of half a trillion dollars in government revenue. WASTE IS EFFICIENCY.
Consider recent comments by billionaire Howard Lutnick, secretary of commerce, suggesting recipients who complain about missed Social Security are “fraudsters.” Genuine recipients would get by on their own.
But many Americans rely on Social Security as their sole source of income. If they don’t receive a check one month, they will either have to go without necessities, such as groceries and medicine or notify Social Security about the error, which according to Lutnick means they’ve committed a crime. TRUTH IS FRAUD.
Taken together, the actions and statements by the billionaires in power suggest another Orwellian slogan: CRUELTY IS CARING.
Adrianne Santina
McMinnville
Kicking and screaming
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick declared last week that only “fraudsters” would complain if their Social Security payments were cut off. Lutnick assured Americans that fraudsters would make “the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
His 94-year-old mother-in-law, on the other hand, would not “call and complain” if she did not receive her checks. He didn’t mention that his mother-in-law’s son-in-law is a billionaire.
Well, Mr. Lutnick, I am a senior who has earned her Social Security payment, and there are no billionaires in my family. If my Social Security checks are stopped, you can bet I will kick and scream.
You might as well just arrest me now.
Susan Watkins
McMinnville
Comments
treefarmer
Very provocative perspectives in Mr. Sommerfeld’s questioning of outrage originating from the Salinas quote. I can’t speak for her, but I share her outrage so I will respond the questions and assertions in the letter:
--surely every tax paying citizen wants the fat trimmed from government spending, the outrage results from the reckless chainsaw approach that destroys lives and denies us the programs we have EARNED and PAID for. (like Social Security and Veteran’s benefits)
--most citizens want a safe and efficient approach to border control, the outrage results from the unconstitutional gestapo techniques being employed to exercise that control.
-- deporting violent criminals protects everyone, no argument with that. The outrage comes from those same gestapo techniques applied in border control being used to do it. (Orwellian mass arrests with no concern for snatching up the innocent is how this is done in dictatorships.)
--the argument for prohibiting transgendered athletes from competing in women’s sports has merit. The outrage comes from demonizing them as an acceptable way to approach the issue.
--defunding universities seems more like extortion than a valid approach to curbing campus unrest. “Terrorist causes” should be the responsibility of law enforcement.
--Everyone wants to see an end to the war in Ukraine. The outrage comes when the cost of resolving the war is to just hand over the brave and struggling democracy to Putin as the reward for his brutal invasion.
--“removing DEI” is just a cover to justify discriminatory practices and deny civil rights. Some of us are definitely outraged by the gas-lighting and immorality of this scam.
--we can all agree that bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US is a desirable goal. The outrage comes from the illogical and destructive procedures being mandated to initiate the otherwise reasonable goal. (i.e. higher taxes masquerading as tariffs) This myopic scheme is destabilizing the economy.
treefarmer
And finally, while we may find a few areas of common ground, there can be NO AGREEMENT whatsoever on the appointment of RFK. The man with a dead worm in his brain is DESTROYING the health of this country.
So far he has arbitrarily killed:
-- 3,500 jobs at the FDA, which inspects and sets safety standards for medications, medical devices and foods.
-- 2,400 jobs at the CDC, which monitors for infectious disease outbreaks and works with public health agencies nationwide.
-- 1,200 jobs at the NIH, the world’s leading public health research arm.
-- 300 jobs at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees those essential programs (ironically, this arm of HHS monitors for fraud and abuse.)
He has advised parents to dose their children with massive amounts of certain vitamins to “prevent measles,” which has resulted in a distressing number of kids requiring treatment in hospitals for liver damage caused by vitamin overdoses.
He has prohibited meetings of scientists to address such vital concerns as the spread of bird flu or planning strategies for disease outbreaks around the world BEFORE they migrate here.
If anyone believes these facts improve your life and health in any way, I suggest there IS a derangement syndrome at play. The symptoms are: defending corrupt policies that greatly endanger the health and safety of the nation while ignoring and/or denying reality. No vaccine will save us from that. The inmates are running the asylum.
p.s. I sure hope everyone reads and appreciates the pertinent warnings shared in the letter from Ms. Santina. Orwell has much to teach us about sane-washing, and the consequences of misplaced trust.
Don Dix
Steve Sommerfeld lists 10 possibilities for outrage by the Ds. At least 7 of those are all the evidence needed to explain the results of the last national election - take your pick.
Otis
RFK, jr is not a doctor.....he's far worse.
Steve doesn't realize that 99% of us are on the same team.
Judy
Thank you Tree Farmer!
treefarmer
Most welcome! Pleasantly surprised to log in and see a kind reaction instead of the personal attacks and insults that can sometimes go with this territory. In spite of the haters, as a deeply concerned citizen I intend to continue posting my concerns because I was raised to believe that silence is complicity. This is far too dangerous a time to sit back and be quiet. I remain grateful for this forum and the opportunity to be a part of it.
Otis
Yes...Tree. Thanks for that post...very well written!
Earth 2.0 viewers aren't ever exposed to those counterpoints.
CubFan
Katie Kulla
You raise many good points about why young people should be provided healthy options for recreation. Please note, I am NOT opposed to the idea of a bike track in McMinnville. However, I feel strongly that Quarry Park is not the ideal location for a bike park. This park has been preserved for generations and is treasured for is natural beauty and peacefulness. It is a little known oasis in our city. To alter this park would destroy wildlife habitats. Rather than develop it as a bike park, the city should capitalize on the strength of this park and take steps to preserve the biodiversity of the park. The park is a peaceful environment enjoyed by many people who picnic, walk dogs, stargaze and admire the native plants, trees and wildlife. A bike development of this park would elevate bikers as being more important than existing users of the park. We all share in the benefits of this great city. I’m sure there’s a way to keep Quarry Park as a quiet natural habitat and develop a bike park at a more neutral location.
Lulu
Leave Quarry Park as it is.