Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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To The Eagle: Several weeks ago Rick Nelson enumerated several changes to LTE policy. I welcome them but propose another to enhance civic discourse and further minimize ugly and divisive rhetoric: “LTE’s must address a singular issue or idea, and make a sincere effort to persuade readers with facts and reason. Overly-broad, generalized lists of grievances and catalogs of personal beliefs will not be printed.” Limiting letters to a single issue is necessary because many these days simply enumerate dislike of the “other” without any apparent defi...
To The Eagle: Some weeks ago there was an article about turning democracy into autocracy. My letter along with my friend’s letter were both in the following week. What I found interesting is the diametrically opposed interpretation of the same information available to all who seek truth. Seems that truth is more subjective than I had imagined. When asking friends what they are making of the January 6th hearings, some say that they don’t listen/watch because it’s obviously fake news. How would they know that without attending to them? Becau...
To The Eagle: For the incredible things Donald Trump has done to make our country great when he served us as President, it is troubling to read a whole page by the AP in The Eagle reporting about evidences that the January 6th Committee came up with to get Donald Trump impeached. Just how truthful are these evidences? How sad it is to read and listen to such hate. With the collapse, disgrace and chaos going on in our country right now caused by Biden and his party, his son Hunter included, you would think the AP would report about that. Today’s...
To The Eagle: Wahkiakum County proposes a two-tenths of a percent increase in sales tax charged within the county. The county’s current sales tax rate is 7.6 percent. The proposed increase would increase that rate to 7.8 percent. While my general reaction is one of opposition to every tax increase, this proposal has my support. Its goal is to generate funding specifically earmarked to maintain a workable, county-wide emergency radio system. This system is a critical factor in providing residents and visitors to the county with timely e...
To The Eagle: If you get a chance to support our local volunteer fire departments – please do so. Here’s one reason why they deserve it. On July 10, I took a CPR Cerification class at the Cathlamet Fire Department. Volunteer EMT Justin Roberts was the instructor. EMT Steve Lewis was there to help with questions and demonstrations. Justin was obviously very comfortable with the subject matter. He was friendly, informative, encouraging, open to questions and included just enough “war stories” to keep us entertained. The fire department has inv...
To The Eagle: We arrived here 31 years ago, greeted by the slogan "a unique experience awaits you." I was newly retired from 33 years of aviation and Judy from 25 years of law enforcement (though she ended up working 10 more years) so we doubted we'd find much that was truly unique -- but we did. Besides being laid back and friendly, town and county leadership proved to be competent and professional. Response times to both general disasters and personal emergencies were amazingly quick, and if you had a medical emergency, you'd find yourself...
I've decided to implement some changes in The Eagle policy for letters to the editor. First and foremost, letters need to be shortened. In the past, the limit has been 350 words; starting with the July 23 edition, the limit is now 250 words. We seem to have lots of people who want to comment; space is tight. Second, letters laden with disinformation won't be published. The Eagle won't be party to poisoning reader's minds with cons and conspiracy theories. Of course, there's room for debate on issues, but remember to keep it civil and avoid...
Here's a short commentary coming from Tuesday's House Jan. 6 Committee. It's testimony from witness Stephen Ayers: "People dive into the politics, and for me, I felt like I had horse blinders on. I was locked in the whole time. The biggest thing for me is take the blinders Here's a short commentary coming from Tuesday's House Jan. 6 Committee. It's testimony from witness Stephen Ayers: "People dive into the politics, and for me, I felt like I had horse blinders on. I was locked in the whole time. The biggest thing for me is take the blinders...
To The Eagle: Last week’s AP (Jan. 6th Hearing) article had three paragraphs on “sworn testimony” of 2nd hand hear-say. A witness who saw nothing and wasn’t present during the event repeated what others had said, and they were just repeating what they had heard. Hear-Say = Rumors. Sworn testimony needs to be directly from people actually inside the vehicle. Media hyped the rumor testimony as being the “whole picture” of what happened. That created desired public prejudice and a rumor based reality. One writer forgot that the 2nd Amendment w...
To The Eagle: Our neighborhood troll’s “truly amazing” rejoinder to the previous week’s editorial reads like a MAGA rally speech, declaiming election fraud (disproved in every swing state), deriding the “false narrative” of climate change (on the way to making the Southwest uninhabitable) and declaring the 1.02 million fatalities caused by Covid to be part of some ”false narrative,” as well. Calling the Capitol riot of January 6th an insurrection, is not, a “false narrative.” That ongoing Congressional investigation is revealing it to hav...
To The Eagle: A writer in this column recently sought to remind us that the constitution has been amended 17 times, drawing the conclusion the Bill of Rights is not inalienable and insinuating these rights can be “amended.” The fact is if we look at those 17 amendments we will find nearly all of them are written to limit or control the government, not the people. Only one of those 17 amendments limited the freedom of the People. That was the 18th amendment which banned the sale and consumption of alcohol. This amendment proved to be such a bad...
To The Eagle: Dan Bigelow is a proven asset to Wahkiakum County. Dan has provided guidance through difficult union issues and shared his knowledge of proper reserve source usage. Dan is always available to advise our elected officials on legal issues pertaining to maintenance of our county government. Let’s show our gratitude to a job well done by re-electing Dan Bigelow as Wahkiakum County Prosecutor. Thank you, Dan Cothren Wahkiakum County Commissioner...
To The Eagle: All this talk about Roe vs Wade, how about preventing abortions? We all know it takes a man and a woman to make a baby. If you need sex and don’t want babies, it is the responsibility of both men and women to use condoms, diaphragms, or any form of birth control or just plain abstain to prevent making a baby. There was a time we saved intimacy and shared that with a mate we love. I hope it still exists. I understand tragedy can happen such as rape or a woman’s health is at a life and death situation. That’s different. Babie...
To The Eagle: I'd known Dan Bigelow for several years and always knew he was the coroner and prosecutor but had no idea that he was an emergency medical technician here in Wahkiakum county. A few years ago I showed up at our health clinic so ill with pneumonia that an ambulance was called to transport me into PeaceHealth in Longview. I imagine that, partially due to my very compromised condition, was the reason I initially freaked out when I saw the coroner come in. He quickly assured me that I wasn't actually dead and he in fact was the ambula...
To The Eagle: Wow; Rasmussen (July 11th) says President Biden’s job approval rating is 37% and his disapproval is 61%. Rasmussen (July 11th) says direction of USA on the right track is only 19%, while 76% say we are on the wrong track. The nation is hurting as the value of each US dollar is still dropping, which artificially triggers more inflation. Fuel costs are still rising, as our president has now started exporting our national oil reserves. The Biden and Patty Murray supported plan to begin taxing unrealized capital gains, is coming to l...
To The Eagle: I am writing regarding the issue of the PUD joining Northwest River Partners (Eagle, 6/23/22). The latest study, Draft Report by Ross Strategic/Kramer Consulting firms, Lower Snake River dams: Benefit Replacement Draft Report, 6/9, 2022, is quite clear there are few to no options left to save S.R. stocks, particularly steelhead, from extinction, without dam breaching. The lower four Snake River dams were situated right on top of salmon spawning and rearing habitat, and removed nearly 140 miles of the best habitat in the Snake....
To The Eagle: Over the last couple of months I have written a couple of opinion letters to The Eagle, unfortunately neither were printed. It seems a few of the same people are consistently having their letters printed in The Eagle. I am a Gold Star Family member. My father, Larry S. Pierce, was killed Sept. 29, 1965, fighting for his country in the Republic of Vietnam. During his service in Vietnam he was awarded the Silver Star. On Feb. 24, 1966, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. I have a huge amount of respect for our country...
To The Eagle: Some of us may remember when the Pledge of Allegiance was spared the ignoble Under God. It was slipped in during the time when Ike was president. It seemed innocuous at the time but time has shown it was the camel's nose under the edge of the tent of separation of church and state. Followed a few years later by In God We Trust on our currency. Now it seems that anyone that wants to be even considered for political office needs to approach the voters on knees bent in prayer. Just last week the supreme court decided that it was...
To The Eagle: We’d like to celebrate and commemorate the appearance of a truly amazing editorial in last week’s Eagle. In a dazzling display of journalistic virtuosity, our editor succinctly and accurately outlined the five steps Joe Biden took to transform our nation from the world’s leading democratic superpower into a third world authoritarian basket case, and then performs an astounding feat of literary prestidigitation to proclaim that what happened didn’t happen. The five steps: (1) establish a scapegoat (which in this case was Trump a...
Here's how you turn a democracy into an autocracy. Follow these steps: --Identify a group of citizens to vilify as The Enemy; it can be an ethnic group, immigrants, a political group/party, or other, such as the LGBTQ+ community. Identify them as threats to the nation and stir up anger against them so that the public will support you as the protector of the nation. Invoke religion to set the standards men and women must meet to be considered legitimate citizens and not part of The Enemy. --Take control of the media so that only your messages re...
To The Eagle: I disagree with the fellow who stated that the constitutional right to keep and bear arms is inalienable. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 declared four basic human rights, to life, equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to be inalienable for their having been “endowed to us by our Creator.” Later, a supporting document, the 1787 constitution, specified protected civil rights inherent to that pursuit. That constitution’s preamble states that "We the People” ordained and established it “in order to form a more perf...
To The Eagle: I’m not for abortion; I’m not against guns, but I am for using sensible choices and freedom for such choices. Republicans are right, “Outlaw guns; only outlaws have guns,” but outlaw abortion, you will go to back alleys, coat hangers, Mexico or unregulated drugs. Guns will never be gone or will abortions. Once again the minority wins; remember 45 did not win majority, nor did Bush. Together with sleazy conduct of Mitch McConnell, they now account for five of nine justices. The last three had no qualms of deceiving (lying) at thei...
To The Eagle: I recently learned that Port 2 decided to name the Skamokawa Church building after Carlton Appelo. I know he was actively supporting Port 2 and he really liked Vista Park. Carlton was a fine example of a local businessman who supported public projects. His name exemplifies community support. Our area needs these reminders of names and stories of those who worked to build up our county as he did, from Wahkiakum West to the Grays River Grange, to the Archives Center, American Legion, and other non-profits in our area. His...
To The Eagle: Field Day is again here this coming weekend, June 25-26. During the 24-hour period from noon Saturday to noon Sunday amateur radio operators flex their antennas to see how many other radio operators from around the world they can talk with. This year we have seven members of our local club tuning up: Richard KC4ONA, Steve K7SH, Bob WB6AGE, Bill KJ7KMP, Gordon WA6TTR, Jim KG7WSQ, Ron W7ERY. Gordon is our safety coordinator. Our satellite contact coordinator is Richard; come out to see his "ray gun antenna" in operation. We will be...
To The Eagle: It seems that America has come to a place where we as a nation either continue united or end up just another Banana Republic. The attempted coup on January 6, 2021 was certainly more than just a normal tourist day as proposed by some. The hearing presented to we the people on every TV station except FOX was shocking and frightening to the point that FOX wouldn't air it. Even went so far as to give Tucker Carlson an entire show without commercial break, unheard of in broadcast TV history. Was FOX afraid that during the commercial...
