Letters to the Editor: Sept. 12, 2025

Oregon, not Ohio

Thank you for highlighting in your Sept. 3 edition the quirk found in Dayton. When one sees these things every day, they can be taken for granted.

Regarding the sign:

When you Google “Dayton,” the city in Ohio comes up. The oldest neighborhood in that city is the Oregon Historic District, which adds to the confusion.

We even have vendors from Dayton, Ohio, seeking to take part in Dayton Friday Nights! They are surprised to find Dayton, Oregon, even exists.

Judy Gerrard

Dayton

Epicenter of lawlessness

I strongly applaud President Trump’s decision to send troops to enforce the law in areas where chaos reigns and flagrant disregard for the rules of civil society prevails.

I eagerly look forward to the National Guard occupying the White House.

David Pichette

McMinnville

Ludicrous

An open letter to my doctor:

I just scheduled a Covid booster vaccination and received a message from Walgreen’s that a prescription is required. That seemed puzzling, as I live in Oregon and am over 65.

Upon checking, I found the Oregon Health Authority has this message posted on its website:

“The Oregon Health Authority is aware that, in response to recent federal policy changes and lack of federal guidance, some pharmacies are limiting appointments for the new Covid-19 vaccines.

“The new Covid-19 vaccine was approved on August 27, 2025, but national advisors are still finalizing guidance on who should get it and how. Until that guidance is published, pharmacies in Oregon need a clinician’s prescription to give the vaccine. This delay is causing confusion and disruption in access at local pharmacies.

“Due to these circumstances, there are two ways to receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine: by provider prescription, fulfilled by a pharmacist; at your health care provider’s office.”

I have never needed a prescription for any vaccine in my entire adult life. It appears this is due to mismanagement at the federal level, starting at the top of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Why should taxpayers, not to mention the primary care providers, have to go through this at the beginning of the first Covid season of this administration? It’s ludicrous.

Please pass this up the chain so maybe someone will do their job. It’s about public health.

Charles Hottle

McMinnville

Reason for confidence

I was one of the volunteer observers of the processing and counting of votes in last year’s local elections. The county clerk’s office has a room for observers to watch live video of workers carrying out the process.

I witnessed mail-in ballots being delivered; trained staff verifying signatures on the envelopes against signatures on their records; and two people from opposite political parties opening the envelopes, separating ballots and envelopes and visually scanning the ballots for anything that would prevent the vote from being machine counted, such as coffee spills or illegible markings.

There is a process in place to contact voters whose ballots raise question or show damage and give them an opportunity to correct the problem. A supervisor is on hand to answer questions, respond to concerns and monitor the process.

When the ballots are ready for counting, they are brought to another room to be scanned by machine. About eight workers are engaged in feeding the ballots into the machines.

Of note, the workers processing our ballots have to leave personal belongings in lockers outside the ballot area. All I saw at the work tables were water bottles.

The people opening the ballots have to work in twos, and be from different political parties. If one needs to step away, the second person can’t resume processing until the partner returns.

I witnessed our democracy in action. We the people are that democracy, providing the checks and balances.

While I don’t always like the results, I am confident of our voting process and system. Vote by mail ensures all of us have a voice.

Kathleen McGrath

McMinnville

Eye of beholder

In reading a comment made by a loyal Republican about mail-in ballots, I was surprised that she equated physical appearance with being “best” or “worst.”

In her mind, attractiveness made you a good, intelligent person; unattractiveness made you a bad, unintelligent person. Aren’t MAGA supposed to be Christians?

Mail-in ballots are perfectly safe. Maybe, for her, the election workers just weren’t attractive enough to be trusted.

Sally Tucker

McMinnville

Value education

Analytical philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein used to advise his students at Cambridge University, “If you want to know what people believe, do not ask them; instead, observe their behavior.”

President Trump does not believe in making America great again. He is actually doing his best to diminish the future of our country, rendering it poor and ignorant:

- Education is an effective anti-poverty program, but Trump is cutting funds for education.

- Hungry children do not learn, but Trump is cutting nutrition programs, including the school lunch program.

Trump’s actions do not bode well for my great-grandchildren. They will be found sitting on an assembly line tightening bolts or in a sweatshop stitching pieces of fabric.

Let’s leave these jobs abroad and educate our children to be scientists or engineers or managers.

Robert Mason

McMinnville

Age of Unreason

The 18th century had its Age of Reason, The Enlightenment.

Now, as we are into the first quarter of the 21st century, we have entered the Age of Unreason, The Unenlightenment. Speculation, gossip and lies have replaced truth, science and humanitarianism

Florida just ended vaccine mandates for schoolchildren. This, along with RFK Jr., marks the beginning of the end for protection from childhood diseases.

A large number of Americans now oppose vaccines, after having avoided childhood diseases themselves due to a decades-long vaccination program, starting in the mid to late 1960s.

As a young child in the ’50s, before the advent of many vaccines, I contracted the measles. As a result, I became seriously ill and suffered profound and permanent hearing loss in my right ear.

Childhood diseases are more than a benign inconvenience. They can cause serious and long-lasting damage.

Stuart Gunness

Sheridan