Lifelong struggles point to problems, solutions

To The Eagle:

I was born and raised on Puget Island and went to Wahkiakum High School. I'm of Norwegian descent and raised in a Protestant, commercial fishing family. I'm now 65 years old, and I see a lot of things that need to be fixed in this country.

I'm disabled. I want to go back to work.

Years ago, I was in a car wreck; a man came out of nowhere from behind at a high rate of speed as I was making a left turn in a 35 mph zone. The impact was so great that it knocked out the caps and fillings in my teeth. I was in severe pain with a back injury. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't work. I got tired of negotiating with his insurance company and settled for $15,000, a very cheap rate.

After 15 years of living in pain, I got a cortisone shot that made my spine feel like it spun around, and the pain went away somewhat. But a few years later, I had a second accident and was crushed by a truck, and for the last 15 years, I still have pain.

I don't like this new method of medical care, where they have people who don't know as much as a doctor. We used to have three surgeons here in Wahkiakum County. Now we have nurses. They look at your medical care in a different way than a doctor does. They're just not as well trained.

Everybody has been trained for the drug war mentality for the last 17 years that I've been here. I see things going awry with doctors and medicine. They're part of the plan to exterminate American Indians and northern Europeans who are so susceptible to alcoholism. The legal community has taken advantage of this to the hilt, and we have liquor on display and for sale in grocery stores.

The laws don't work well. I was parked well off the highway but got a ticket for expired tabs. It cost me a lot. The judge told me not to drive till I got everything fixed. But I had to go to work to pay my bills.

The second accident gave me some mental problems like dementia. I couldn't work. The pain is now cyclical. I was kicked out of treatment over a $3.50 bill. Because of bad insurance.

The medical community and the legal community just suck money out of us.

There are things we should do to improve this country. We should start a retraining/educational program for people 25 years old or above who can't work. We start a work camp; they do things like plant trees part of the day and have education the rest of the day. The people would leave the program with a work ethic and an education and be ready to work. The value of harvesting trees from the plantations would pay for the programs, and the trees would have a social benefit where they're planted.

Greg Wika

Cathlamet