Recent letters to the editor have shown that a few vocal people take a very short-sighted view of the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center project. The Reach, as Jim Watts' recent In Focus column argued, must be built.

The Reach will be a world-class facility. The museum-quality changing exhibition gallery will raise the profile of the Tri-Cities in the Northwest. It will keep the tourists, who come for wine and golf here longer and bring new visitors to our community. The benefits for our economy cannot be overstated.

For those concerned about funding of the museum, I can only encourage them to inform themselves. The Reach is being funded primarily by donations made to the project by individuals, corporations and foundations that believe this is the project the Tri-Cities deserves. Letter writers who argue that we "can't afford" a project like this misunderstand the ways in which the project is being funded.

This is about much more than the Reach, though. This is about the Tri-Cities' future and our ability to do great things. If the Reach fails, any future large-scale project attempted in this community will be doomed. I won't accept that, and neither should you.

Jay Clough, West Richland