Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 1456 - 1480 of 2581
To the Eagle: Memo to Writer Roberts: Re: DDT (the polemic, not the pesticide). Hebdomadal? Eschew immanentizing the eschaton? Howard Brawn Puget Island...
To The Eagle: Thirty-eight years ago last April I was appointed by the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners as Wahkiakum District Court Judge. I have been elected and reelected in each election since then by the voters in the county. As a young child and fourth generation Wahkiakum County citizen I walked the streets of Cathlamet with eyes wide with wonder at the marvels of this community and its inhabitants. I have witnessed many changes in Wahkiakum County over the years. The independence and resilience of this community encourage me that...
To The Eagle: To the supportive and generous people of Wahkiakum County, On behalf of our whole Summer Lunches team, I would like to say thank you! We are so grateful for the overwhelming support shown for our Summer Lunches program. We have started serving free lunches to everyone 18 years and younger who come to J.A. Wendt Elementary Monday through Thursday at 12 noon. The real joy for us is to see the youth (and their parents) come and enjoy lunch. To all those in our community who have donated towards our program, we thank you! Due to your...
To the Eagle, First, thank you Howard Brawn for welcoming me to the fray, such as it is. Also thanks to Rick Nelson for allowing the opinions from all view points into print with his hebdomadal presentation. After noticing two other frequent writers using a word I needed to look up, I considered adding my own so people will have to use a dictionary. Let the dumbing of America stop here. I enjoyed Howard Brawn's letter as much as he seemed to be at least entertained by mine. That said I would encourage all parties that participate in any...
To the Eagle: I know how much our local editor loves to run any articles available from other sources, (AP or other Trump bashers) but last week’s AP piece regarding GOP health law was done in the dark, conveniently left out how Obamacare was contrived in the left wing darkness, and once produced, we stupid ‘deplorables’ were told they would make it law without reading its three thousand pages by the lovely and talented Ms. Pelosi--and that we would love it. R.A. Orr One of the adorable deplorables...
To The Eagle: I would like to provide some missing content and context to the 6/29/17 article entitled “PUD not interested in water system merge.” I attended the PUD meeting because I had heard differing accounts of a study conducted regarding the Cathlamet’s water system. I wanted to hear about the study, its purpose and conclusions. The commissioner’s comments in the article were in response to my inquiry. Bob Junger’s comments did not surprise me. He articulately summed up the frustrations I’ve heard from many others. I explained w...
To The Eagle: I try to get out and walk some part of Puget Island four or five times a week for exercise. Monday, while out on SR 409, someone in an older Chevy pick-up stopped to offer me a ride into town. I was immediately taken back to the days when this was such a common occurrence. Such a nice gesture and courtesy. Alas -- how sad we live during a time when many don't feel comfortable doing something like this. My hat's off to the man who stopped. As it was, I was practically home. But if I'd been walking into town, it would have been a...
To The Eagle: What I said in in my letter two months ago was that I am sick and tired of the whining from the superannuated fogies in our country (and county) who can't accept (boohoo) the results of our national election. What Reagan said was true: “You know so much that just isn't true.” Mike Swift Cathlamet...
To The Eagle: Finding nothing in The Eagle two weeks ago, we thought the great Wahkiakum DDT (Debate on Donald Trump) was off with the kids on summer vacation, but as of last week, it is apparently back on full throttle. Memo to James Roberts: Welcome to the fray. Good letter in last week's Eagle, but it kinda bent my psyche, 'cause I couldn't figure out whether I was writer 1, 2, or 3. Did a neighborhood survey and applied statistical analysis: Turns out I was writer number one and seven sixteenths. A more professional survey by Pew Research...
To The Eagle: You can tell that Howard Brawn is back in town. He's barely got his dogs back into their kennel and he's already poking holes in my little shibboleths with that sharp pen of his. Some neighbor. I'd never sneak onto his property and toss pebbles at his hounds. He ought to show more respect for the creatures I've spent years nurturing, preening and polishing. I feed my shibboleths an organic diet, comb their coats daily and give them plenty of exercise by trotting them out and around for other people to admire as frequently as...
To The Eagle, I wait patiently for our weekly source of local news but mostly for the opinion section with the ongoing battle of wits, although some seem to be a bit short of the requisite wits. One frequent writer seems to be articulate and knowledgeable. Another that comes to mind is articulate but seems to have confused socialism with various dictatorships around the world who claim to be socialist. These dictators have told their easily led populous that they are a socialist society but what they have is exactly the opposite. Cuba, North...
To The Eagle: Doing more with less is a constant in local government. Only when that option is exhausted should doing more with more be considered. In Cathlamet’s case, the proposal to hire a town manager seems ill-conceived and potentially undemocratic. My concerns are as follows: 1) What evidence is there that our quasi-volunteer system is broken? Today, council members and the mayor receive nominal pay for significant work. But is the level of service now provided so deficient as to justify a salaried town manager? 2) Why not increase the m...
To The Eagle: Before Cathlamet, our community was known as Birnie’s Retreat. James Birnie, a Scotch fur trader working for the Hudson Bay Company, is credited with landing his canoes on our shore in 1846. He didn’t come alone. Accompanying him were his wife Charlotte and a boat load of kids. Many boat loads, as the Birnies already had 10 kids and added two more after settling in. In addition to the Birnie Bunch, James brought along Native American slaves to cut down timber, help build shelters, dry fish and plant gardens and orchards for eve...
To The Eagle: I’ve been the fair manager for five years. After reading what Mr. Backman had to say at the June 13 commissioners meeting, I would like to get some facts straight for him. At the May fair board meeting, there was a motion to call off the bull riders if a goal was not achieved ($15,000). It was also stated that there would be a committee meeting on May 30, and they were to decide if it went forward or not. At that meeting, it was decided by the committee to go forward. Therefore I allowed fundraising to go on for the event. If t...
To The Eagle: Perusing a foot-high stack of mail after a three-week marathon trip (New York for the national wolfhound show, then San Diego for our granddaughter's wedding) the accumulated editions of The Eagle showed that the Trump-inspired brouhaha continued unabated in our absence. First of all, we'll respectfully decline Dennis Gordon's challenge to a debate with a threefold rationale: strategically redundant -- we are already having that debate in these pages; tactically inept -- I'd be foolhardy to vie with the stentorian skills of a...
To The Eagle: Roger Ailes (deceased-May 18), Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump are men of the same cloth. The management or leadership of any government, industry, academia, religion or religious groups, community and or public service groups, and all families, would not tolerate the actions of any of these three men. Fox News, even with its successful programming of fear with Ailes and O’Reilly could not allow itself to tolerate the actions and behavior of either man. Both sponsors and consumers demanded change. However, it is amazing that app...
To The Eagle: I really appreciated Poul Toftemark’s erudite summary of the many issues we editorial letter writers have been addressing in previous editions of this great small town newspaper. This fellow has been listening closely. He deserves being listened to just as carefully. Poul's elegant definition of a liberal as someone with "obvious leanings toward betterment of our environment, health and general well being while here on this beautiful earth" has marvelous depth and simplicity. As Mr. Toftemark stated, the election is over. My d...
To The Eagle: It is my understanding that “Letters to the Editor” is a place to vent personal opinions. So here it is. I have been a supporter of the Wahkiakum County Fair since I moved here 47 years ago; I have served on the Fair Board and as a Fair Manager; also I have been a 4-H Volunteer Leader for 40 years. During that time I have worked with county commissioners who were very supportive of the fair as a county tradition. I am sorry to say that I do not feel that the current board of commissioners feels that way. The fair receives no fun...
To The Eagle: The latest phone scam is alive and well in Wahkiakum County. The caller will state that the reason of this call is to inform you that IRS is filing a lawsuit against you. The IRS will not call you. The "Department" phone number they want you to call is 719-387-0327. This area code is from Colorado, but the call most likely is generated somewhere else. People will note that the grammar used is awkward, indicating someone not familiar with American syntax. The IRS is asking that you use the TIGTA's IRS Impersonation Reporting web...
To The Eagle: The Skamokawa and Grays River Granges have played an important role shaping our Wahkiakum community. But, there is very little information available at our museum in Cathlamet concerning the Grange and its history. We are requesting the community share any memorabilia you may have that will preserve and honor the Grange. Any photos or information will be shared with the Wahkiakum County Historical Museum. We are interested in the active Skamokawa Grange #425, active Grays River Grange #124, the closed Elochoman Grange and Puget...
To The Eagle: Just a reminder to everyone about the PIGYS sale coming up June 23-25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those interested in having a sale need to contact me by June 16 to ensure you get on the map. My number is 360-430-0951. Sandie York Puget Island...
To The Eagle: I am really excited about the upcoming 2017 season at the Julia Butler Hansen Swimming Pool. Last year we invested in an excellent pool liner, two new water heating systems for our showers and a new locker room floor for the ladies. This year we will have a fantastic new pool heater system. Perhaps more significantly, I have chosen to change the lifeguard training and the swim lesson programs to what I think will be a very successful system for us. I signed up for the Starfish Aquatics Institute programs to train guards locally...
To The Eagle: After reading the opinions of varying people, presumably all Americans, I will do my best to stick to that label, though I have been labeled something else, at different times. I, and I believe most, except perhaps Hillary, are way over the election. That said, do not expect that we will all of a sudden be lockstep with Trump’s policies. Once the election surprise was over, hoped for some good changes. In particular to the EPA and in my opinion over-reach of regulations. Instead it has been a baby with the bathwater approach, v...
To The Eagle: This is a suggestion for your reader, Mr. Bouchard: Why not calm yourself about president Trump, elected legally by many of our neighbors? We put up with your guy and his incompetence for eight long years. Eight years of low employment and weakness in our society. Your side lost the election and refuse to accept it. You would rather bellyache and wear your pink hat, or is it the black mask and hoodie? It seems you would rather have a failed and crippled country than a successful one. The narcissism and hubris old hippies like you...
To The Eagle: It's important to us as recent Cathlamet residents to thank all that have played a part in helping the Cape Horn area property owners sign the Right of Entry document. This last effort has taken all of us over two and a half years to finally get to this point of achievement, and because of this time invested for our need of the sand replenishment, we can finally move forward with the final details to get on the Corp of Engineers’ calendar. Thank you to all of County Commissioners; Blair Brady, Mike Backman and especially our D...
