Letters to the Editor: Oct. 27, 2023

Overcharged in Mac

I owned a home in McMinnville for more than 40 years and always paid my tax bill when it came due.

Years ago, I wondered how my home was listed, so went to the tax office to see the records. I found my 2 bedroom, 1 bath house listed as 3 bed, 2 bath.

I pointed out the error, filled out corrective papers provided to me and got an assurance the building inspector would check it out. I assumed the tax office people would process the order and fix the error.

When I went to sell the house, the Realtor checked the records, only to find the error had never been corrected. She pointed it out, but no one seemed concerned.

I was overcharged on taxes for more than 40 years, but never received an apology, let alone refund of the overcharges.

If you own an older home, take the time to check it out at the tax office.

If you find an error, raise a fuss. Then, a few months later, check back to see if it’s been corrected.

Persist until you see proof of correction in the records. Don’t just trust them like I did.

We pay enough taxes without being overcharged.

Alice Howell

McMinnville

Wrong direction

Last Friday’s editorial, “Affordable housing taking center stage in McMinnville,” highlights the double-edged sword of tourist economies. The problem is, resort towns price workers out of housing.

A news article that same week reported on the city council’s vote to adopt new housing and economic plans that forecast land needs through 2041.

In 2021, the city added 605 acres of buildable land to its urban growth boundary, none of which has yet been developed. Additional land in the west hills has been in the city limits for 40 years and the city still hasn’t extended water or other services.

Last Friday’s editorial also notes the city’s push to add another 422 acres to the UGB, based on the new analyses, and states that “higher density is essential.” Unfortunately, though, the city is moving in the wrong direction.

Compared to the 2021 UGB expansion, the city is planning for fewer homes and fewer jobs per acre this time. So much for higher density.

McMinnville’s minimum lot sizes are significantly larger than those of similar cities, further driving up housing costs. Minimum lot sizes in McMinnville’s R-1 and R-2 zones are 9,000 and 7,000 square feet respectively. In Newberg, it’s 5,000 and 3,000.

Finally, the city is assuming there will be more parks than housing on the buildable residential land added to the UGB in 2021.

We all love parks, but this isn’t going to happen. Landowners aren’t giving away that much land and the city can’t afford to buy it.

Nonetheless, the city seems poised to perpetuate this unrealistic assumption with its new Parks Master Plan.

As the editorial states, “Continuing to plod along the same old path isn’t going to get the job done.” But it seems the planning department hasn’t gotten the message.

Sid Friedman

Yamhill

Another way

A front-page article in Oct. 20 News-Register reported the police department now has officers working overtime on abatement of the homeless camped on the city streets.

But where do the eviction officers expect them to go? Would it be possible to work overtime hours to instead find and create sanctuary property providing a safe and legal destination?

The current answer to homeless plight is to further punish and intimidate them by sweeping up their RVs, trailers, bikes and belongings. Homelessness is effectively criminalized in McMinnville, where confiscation of belongings and small bits of dignity is the law.

It’s heartbreaking to see people pushing carts filled with their belongings along the streets, or riding bikes piled high with pop cans, knowing there is no safe place for them. I believe it is wrong to herd the homeless from one block to the next until they land in jail or perish on the street.

Why is it that there is space to impound the RVs and belongings of the homeless, but no space for safe shelter? It’s not surprising that there might be attempts to breach the impound yard where their personal property is being held.

Please have compassion in your local ordinances. Instead of pushing the homeless away over and over again, with nowhere else to go, designate a space where they may find shelter, dignity, mental health treatment and hygiene resources. Homeless shelters and hygiene stations would be a much better use of the fenced property that now impounds their RVs and belongings.

Funding supportive community services would be more effective than funding overtime abatements.

Perhaps our enforcement units would take pride in contributing to the health and welfare of community members and our city overall. We could work together for homeless relief instead of further punishing members of our community who have no homes.

Patricia Fasana-Lynn

McMinnville

Flying high

I wish to draw the attention of our county commissioners to the off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to crash a plane full of 83 passengers.

According to news articles, he had been feeling depressed, so took psilocybin before the flight. Thankfully, he was stopped before anyone was hurt.

I would request our county commissioners stop the legalization and facilitation of psilocybin before anyone in Yamhill County gets hurt.

This is a dangerous drug. It divorces people from reality.

That is not a side effect. That is its effect.

Leland Thoburn

McMinnville

Getting worse

Back on Aug. 18, I wrote a letter to the editors of the News-Register. In that letter, I listed about a dozen examples of the moral decline and corruption of Joe Biden and Democratic policies.

I went on to predict things would get worse, and several readers pooh-poohed that premise.

Well, boys and girls, guess what. Things are getting worse.

The Ukraine-Russia war continues. We now have an active war in the Middle East as well, and Iran is itching to join that war. Meanwhile, China is chomping at the bit to invade Taiwan, Bidenomics is a disaster, America continues its moral decline, and the 2024 presidential election is a train wreck.

Yeah, I would have to say, things will get worse — a lot worse.

Robert Long

McMinnville

Where the blame lies

It’s all Biden’s fault that war has broken out in Israel.

It’s all Biden’s fault that Hamas has thousands of missiles.

It’s all Biden’s fault that Americans are being held hostage.

And it’s all the Democrats’ fault that House of Representatives doesn’t have a speaker — or so they say on the other side of the aisle.

The House of Representatives is worse than a side show at a crappy carnival. But the Republicans are blaming everything on someone other than themselves, including troubles in the Middle East.

None of the above is President Biden’s fault!

The Republicans can’t even pick a speaker. Are we to trust them to govern?

And still they keep repeating, “For the American people.” Every third sentence out of their mouths includes, “For the American people.

Nonsense!

Paul Angerano

Carlton

Eschew the WHO

Is the federal government the final judge of its own powers?

No. That would be a logical paradox if ever there was one, for then there would be no such legal concept as federal overreach.

Therefore, we stand on the following two principles:

1. The federal government is not the final judge of its own powers.

2. Thus, individual states can nullify federal laws.

Abstract those principles to the individual states vs. their counties. My point?

United States sovereignty is going to be handed over to the World Health Organization. This will be via amendments to international health regulations, as laid out in WHO’s Pandemic Preparedness Treaty.

The U.S. is going to sign on at the federal level. It’s going to happen.

Will individual states move to nullify this? Or will it come down to county sheriffs, backed by citizens?

Daniel Katz

McMinnville