This is not 1958

To The Eagle:

Ok, I get it. This is how politics works. I had a letter printed in this paper on 7/28 clearly stating that I had questioned the politicos in attendance at the ‘Meet the Candidates' gathering at the Skamokawa grange why Wahkiakum county wasn't receiving the 10 percent from the sale of legal and voter approved recreational marijuana.

Representative Brian Blake stated that Wahkiakum County had refused to allow the sale or cultivation of this legal crop. I questioned him and Mr. Rossetti as to what we, the citizens of our cash strapped county, could do to get our monies as the timber industry is staggering and we are cash starved here. They both said we needed to vote in people that would allow the sale of marijuana.

Had Mr. Cothren actually read my letter he should have been able to understand my point and not turned my words around to make it seem as though I had said we already receive these monies. George Orwell in his apparently prophetic novel, 1984, called that turning around of facts New Speak. Good breeding prevents me from questioning his reading comprehension.

Reefer Madness was a film shown to my eighth grade class to scare us into not using cannabis. It was so patently ridiculous that it was released as a comedy just a few short years later. For our elected officials to base their opinion on what has become a comedy is anything but funny, especially when it directly affects our county and funds available for our services.

This is 2016 and not 1958. If Mr. Cothren uses my name in an opinion piece, I would appreciate it if he used my words rather than ones he thinks I said. There is so much research available in regard to cannabis that it is nearly inconceivable to not be better informed. We need commissioners in our court rather than politicians in their own.

Respectfully submitted,

James Roberts

Cathlamet