Letters to the Editor: Nov. 10, 2023

Make Third car-free

I know I’m wasting my time voicing my opposition to the current plan for Third Street.

I have communicated with city hall, and talked to several neighbors who seem to be on the same page as I am, but any intellectual approach to enhancement of Third Street runs up against the entrenched pickup-truck mentality in McMinnville — and likely most of the folks who work for the city as well.

We have eaten several times at Third Street eateries offering outside dining on the sidewalk. But we have to put up with vehicles not up to passing an emission test if we had one in Yamhill County, or owners who think they need to prove something by driving down the street at speed, or revving their engines, or sporting a modified exhaust.

Seriously? Aren’t most of us adults, not teenagers out to impress strangers?

There are several times during the warmer months when Third Street is closed off to vehicles. Why not extend that closure year-around via pedestrianization of six or seven blocks?

The city could install automatic bollards at each end, which would allow access for emergency vehicles, as well as delivery vehicles before a certain hour of the day.

Pedestrianization is a proven solution for creating an attractive downtown. It has been done in communities large and small.

We don’t need six or eight parking spaces per block. People can park on the cross streets and still have access to the hotels and so forth.

Then, with the parking spaces removed, we won’t witness drivers cruising the street looking for an empty space.

An interesting pedestrianization study was done in Copenhagen, which is admittedly a lot larger than McMinnville. It can be found at https://globaldesigningcities.org/publication/global-street-design-guide/streets/pedestrian-priority-spaces/pedestrian-only-streets/pedestrian-streets-case-study-stroget-copenhagen.

Let’s create a wonderful traffic-free space in downtown McMinnville for everyone to safely enjoy. It would be unfortunate to miss this opportunity.

Philip Haynes

McMinnville

Leave it up to parents

I would like to challenge some of the things you said about book bans in your editorial of Oct. 27.

You listed several books you judged acceptable for high school students because they deal with searing social issues, have won broad critical acclaim and literary awards, sit atop leading bestseller lists and are included in many language arts curricula.

You continue by noting they are among the “most challenged or banned works of youth fiction in the U.S.,” and ask, “Why the controversy?”

I’ll answer with a list of questions: 1. Who gave them critical acclaim? 2. Who gave them the literary awards? 3.Who put them atop bestseller lists? 4. Who included them in language arts curricula?

It wasn’t the parents who made those decisions. It was the social left and the educational establishment.

You correctly list several elements that parents tend to resist and tried to justify their inclusion in our kids’ education.

You say some book challenges are frightening and anti-democratic. What’s frightening and anti-democratic about going to your democratically elected leaders and questioning their leadership?

You say the Idaho Republican Party’s stand on parental supervision, “makes parents the rulers of the realm instead of partners in the process.” I say that’s exactly where parents should be.

Teachers and the educational system are not partners in the process. They are support personnel for parents.

You say parents who restrict personal choice and question inclusion of some books “limit access to your own children in deference to your own views and values.”

I say that a parent’s main duty and responsibility is to instill their own views and values into their children. This is not the duty or responsibility of schools, teachers or librarians.

Ivan Brewer

McMinnville

Federal failings

The recent letter, “Eschew the WHO,” should serve as a wakeup call for all Americans.

The World Health Organization’s proposed Pandemic Preparedness Treaty is just the foot in the door.

It puts us on a path of subjection to the dictates of the United Nations. We would no longer have the liberty and rights we now enjoy.

We can still block this, but it will take all citizens contacting their congressmen. They should urge support for the American Sovereignty Act, as well as HR57 to impeach President Biden.

He has committed crimes and misdemeanors. After all, isn’t it treasonous to cede out sovereignty to WHO?

He is allowing and furthering the invasion of aliens, who drain off funds for their own care while our citizens live on the streets. That’s another mark against him.

And you no longer have control of your own money. Our government, BlackRock and the banks are working on a new monetary system, in conjunction with other nations, patterned after the Chinese system.

If we call on the Creator, as Washington and Lincoln did, we can pass HR 3712, HR 1122 and SB 8871. Then we can win, as Washington and Lincoln did.

But it will take all of us. United we stand, divided we fall.

Which side do you want to be on?

Talk to friends and relatives near and far. Share knowledge and research.

Mary Novak

Yamhill

Stop please

Q - Are you one of those?

A - One of those what?

Q - A bad driver. Someone who:

1. Drives too fast on city streets or rural highways.

2. Passes when he shouldn’t.

3. Fails to signal turns or lane changes.

4. Drives without headlights when visibility is limited due to rain, dawn or dusk.

5. Runs stop signs or traffic lights.

6. Engages in rude behavior.

7. Crosses the center line.

8. Follows too close.

9. Fails to yield.

10. Acts like he’s more important than others on the road.

11. Takes his eyes off the road to text or talk on his phone.

12. Drives without insurance.

13. Drives under the influence.

Ask yourself. Have you done any of these things? If so, are you a menace on the highway?

I see people doing these things on a daily basis on Highway 47, with no regard for other drivers. And my car was recently hit in McMinnville by a driver who failed to yield.

If you are among the guilty, stop before you kill someone.

David DeSau

Neskowin