Letters: Nov. 25, 2018

Rivershore article was disappointing

As a speaker at the Badger Club event, I was deeply disappointed in your article on Columbia Rivershore Reconveyance. It appears written from a provided promotional script, and in no way captures the circumstances that prompted the event in the first place.

That fact is this: This most important Tri-Cities land use action since the 1960s was submitted this summer as a rider to a must-pass congressional bill in the U.S. House of Representatives without ever going through any of the citizen involvement mandated under Washington state law.

Despite our spending the last two years in required 10-year revisions of the Comprehensive Plans for Cities and Counties, there was no citizen input, no commission examinations, and no council votes taken on the proposed land transfer. Most significantly, there was no consultation with the Confederated Tribes, who as sovereign nations have guaranteed, century-old treaty rights to the use and preservation of this shoreline, their ancestral home. Yet this transfer was presented by our congressman as being solidly supported by the Tri-Cities.

What’s wrong with that picture?

The Badger Club event was about the way democracy is supposed to work in our community, and about how it should work now.

Deny U.S. entry to Hondurans

The current reports of a caravan of thousands of Hondurans making their way across Mexico toward the border of the U.S. is very concerning to me.

The timing of this event eerily coincided with the midterm elections and some, including the president, attribute this to the Democratic Party. The caravan of Hondurans is forcing President Trump to make a decision in which neither of his two options pose benefit over the other.

If Trump does put a hold on border traffic to prevent Hondurans from crossing the border, he will complicate the NAFTA deal and may cause the loss of potential support for Republican candidates from voters who are still on the fence. If he allows these Hondurans to cross the border, there will be the economic impact of unemployed, illegal, and practically penniless Hondurans entering the country who will need support.

The best choice for the freedom of legal American citizens is to deny entry of these Hondurans into the U.S.

Parks and paths too full of geese

Now that the midterms are over, it’s time to move onto more important things. Recently I was riding my bike along the river on the Franklin County side. Part of the ride was through Wade Park (Road 40 - Road 52).

It was a beautiful day, and I noticed the mass numbers of geese feeding in the grass areas. Now, I like birds and wildlife as much as the next guy, but the problem with a lot of geese is a lot of feces. It tends to make the park much less desirable for use, which goes against the idea of an outdoor recreation area.

In this day and age, one would think that someone would come up with a product that is both safe and biodegradable that could be applied to the grass that geese would find distasteful and deter them from feeding there.

Please smart person, come to the rescue.

Hoping for better on Thanksgiving

I so often hear this: “Why can’t we trust anymore?” “Why can’t we be kind and have respect anymore?” “Why has the word love been substituted with the word hate?”

Yes, here I go again! And I will continue to say it again and again, “Because we, as a nation, have turned our backs on God!” who is trusting, who is kind and who loves us all.

I pray that everyone will have a truly blessed Thanksgiving, giving thanks to God who is the Provider.

Sen. Flake’s view way too timid

Jeff Flake's view, "GOP must shed cult of Donald Trump (11/11/18)" struck me as odd. Mr. Flake was one of the more respectable Republicans before that party began to kowtow to Mr. 5-Time Deferment while falling to their knees en masse obsequiously.

Since Jan. 20, 2017, I've not seen, heard nor read of the GOP making any such move other than continuing to play huggie bear with The Man Who Wouldn't Pay Homage to the WWI American soldiers at Belleau Wood due to an invasion of rain.

Mr. Flake, you have got to be kidding! "Shed?" Really? Would you ever expect to see a news column with the heading, "North Koreans must shed cult of Kim Jong-Un?" How about, "Russians must shed cult of Vladimir Putin?"

Had Mr. Flake written "Leopards must shed their heredity spots" I would have given his thoughts more consideration.

Cars don’t belong in bike lanes

There has been a lot of news lately regarding vehicles passing school buses with lights flashing. I noticed during the summer Richland reconfigured several streets and added bicycle lanes. It seems people don't know what to do with these. I followed someone on Jadwin who was more in the bike lane than their lane of travel.

When leaving Fred Meyer today I was waiting to turn left onto Wellsian Way and had to wait for traffic to clear. At least three cars squeezed between me and the curb, using the bicycle lane so they could turn right. At least in both instances there weren't any people on bikes using their lane like what these lanes are intended to be used for.

This story was originally published November 24, 2018 at 11:44 PM.