Letters to the Editor: March 29, 2024

Dress ’em up

I read with interest the reader’s letter about the necessity of having awnings on the storefronts on Third Street.

It is important. But why can’t these awnings be colorful instead of dull green or gray?

Is there a creative way that the shop keepers can do this? I think it would just look great.

Does anyone agree? Maybe someone has some other creative ideas, because it will become way too hot to just eliminate the awnings.

Judy Buchholz

McMinnville

Common sense

I appreciate Yamhill County Commissioners Berschauer and Starrett. I support Lindsay Berschauer for re-election, and was pleased to see she is also being supported by our county sheriff, Sam Elliott.

With all the varied comment regarding the commissioners’ position on vaccination and public health messaging, I decided to go to the courthouse to see what was in the public record on the board order. The entry reads:

B.O. 24-56 — Consideration of a policy stating Yamhill County HHS/ Public Health vaccine and pharmaceutical product social media and internet messaging will not contain attempts to influence people for or against a particular product or intervention, emphasizing individual choice and informed consent. [Motion passed 2:1].

I just don’t understand why anyone could find fault with a board order that informed their public health director to advise clients they need to get informed information from their personal physician and not rely on government preference. The COVID 19 mess — with government preference interference and, in many cases, loss of jobs — has shown us how important personal choice is in the medical field.

Thank you, Commissioners Berschauer and Starrett, for bringing common sense to Yamhill County government.

Dennis Goecks

McMinnville

Beware the overzealous

While driving from the north end of Newberg to downtown McMinnville, I passed about 40 big, colorful campaign signs adorned with a larger-than-life portrait of the incumbent county commissioner.

They were so abundant that some were no more than a few feet from one another. It was an overwhelming reminder that a county election is on the horizon.
The printing and installation of those signs is costly, so the message I received was not that this candidate is really popular, but that she has lots of money!
Usually candidates in small county races, relying largely on contributions from local folks, have a modest budget. The question here is, where is all that money coming from?

My guess is special interests. Maybe Big Timber and Big Ag.

I’m not the only one who’s skeptical about this super-flush campaign. The last time I looked at the NextDoor neighborhood hotline, more than 50 mostly negative comments had been posted about this tsunami of signs.

My message to Yamhill County voters is this: Beware of overzealous candidates!

Phyllice Bradner

McMinnville

Deja vu

I was reading a book about the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787 and found a curious quotation from George Mason, a delegate from Virginia who attended along with such luminaries as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and others.

He was opposed to the Constitution in its draft form, cautioning about the power it would give to the president. He wrote, “The president of the United States has the unrestrained power of granting pardons for treason, which may sometimes be exercised to screen from punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the crime, and thereby prevent a discovery of his own guilt.”

Hmmm...

That brings to mind another quote, this time the familiar one commonly attributed to George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Robert Porath

Amity

There’s still time

Everyone please go to https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-main-street-2024 and vote for McMinnville — before our local politicians take down the trees and awnings, ruining our great downtown’s looks and making it the worst downtown instead of the best.

Terry Davis

McMinnville

Tools of control

We are a republic, a government of, by and for the people. We are a government of law and order, with a God-inspired Constitution.

As long as we abided by these precepts, we enjoyed rights, freedom, safety and a healthy economy.

But now we are labeled a democracy, whereby we experience chaos, riots, break-ins, arson and more. The perpetrators are not brought to justice, and if you try to protect yourself, you are brought to justice instead.

I have lived on this planet 100 years, so have read, heard, seen and experienced much.

I grew up during the Great Depression, when citizens were defrauded by the banking system. And I experienced the same type of defrauding again in 2008.

The next wave will be electronic, leaving us no longer in control of our own earnings. I hope there will be an outcry.

In fact, that bill you hold is just a promissory note. I remember a time when it read, “redeemable for silver,” but that time is long gone.

At a young girl, I was employed at a steel mill as a skip oiler. I had to oil all the joints and hinges along the line.

At lunch time, I heard conversation commonly termed discriminatory today. The men called each other Polack, Dago, Hun and so on, but none of them were offended, because that’s what they were.

According to Texe Marrs, many tools are being employed to gain control of the masses, including climate, sustainability and anti-discrimination measures. These tools are being used not only to divide and segregate the people, but also the nation.

With more research, we might not be in the state we now find ourselves. If we don’t drop the axes and shake hands, we will lose a precious gift given to mankind — freedom.

Mary Novak

Yamhill