Letters: March 31, 2019

Floyd Gates due credit for ball field

Regarding the article on new fees for the ball fields in Richland, the original field at Jefferson Park was actually built due the perseverance and sweat of Mr. Floyd Gates and a few others and was completed in 1951.

It was the first baseball field built to Little League specifications in the entire Pacific Northwest. Because of this, Little League held a sectional tournament as part of its national playoffs in July of 1951 in Richland. The teams included one from Alaska, which had to withdraw after playing fewer than two innings because of the effect of that summer’s Tri-City heat on those youngsters. The next year the sectional playoffs moved to Portland as more and more Little League fields were built.

That first field at Jefferson Park was dedicated to Mr. Gates with a sign in the spring of 1994.

DNA structure same in embryos

“Women have the same rights as men do” (TCH, 2/14/2019) contends that embryos are not human because they have no arms, no legs, no heads, no nervous systems.

This is akin to saying that a tadpole is not a frog because it has no legs, or a caterpillar is not a butterfly because it has no wings. We know these are the same species, just at different points in their life cycles.

The author of the letter states that when she gazed upon an aborted embryo she saw “only blood clots.” I’d say that’s because she didn’t look closely enough. Had she looked down to the molecular level, she would have seen DNA characteristic of a human being — related to, but uniquely different than its mother’s. Yea verily, the structure of the DNA orchestrating the bodily functions of a retired RN today is exactly the same as that when she was but a wee headless and limbless blob in her mother’s uterus. It is the blueprint of her life that has been with her since the moment of her conception. This molecular biological characterization of human life is not documented in the Bible; it is not religion, but science.

Could light rail work for bypass?

When it comes to the bypass highway. Tri City Rail has tracks. Has anyone considered light rail cars and a north Richland bridge?

In Dallas, smaller cars are used. These don’t have to be big like Seattle or Portland. Have a park and ride on Stevens Drive and in the Richland Wye and in lower Kennewick. Forsythe, Ga., does this for buses into Atlanta,

When it comes to the bypass highway, why should it cost $280 million for a simple two-lane North Richland bridge — sans bike paths, etc.

My list of what separates U.S.

Our country is divided like only once before. Let’s look at a few reasons.

1. Immigration is good for our country. This is true for legal immigrants. An incursion of illegal immigrants changes demographics in congressional districts and makes them blue. Look at California that used to be a red state.

2. The Electoral College needs to change. No. Every president ever elected was elected by the Electoral College. To change it only empowers the high population states to control our country.

3. We are now told we have 12 years left (by Beto and AOC). Actually the 12 years is until we meet the Paris Climate Accord but we have to be scared to death in order to comply

4. We need common-sense gun control to end gun violence. Actually, gun violence is lower today than in 1990, but it doesn’t fit the narrative of progressives.

5. Now we have the Green New Deal. On the surface it looks benign, but with more in-depth study, it is an attempt to control the complete energy sector of our lives. Think about government control of your energy use.

Think about what is happening, challenge it and study. You may not like what is coming.

Urge Newhouse to back HR 763

The leadership of Rep. Dan Newhouse in passing legislation to fund the next phase of the Yakima Watershed Management Project is appreciated. This water storage project is deemed necessary because the predicted decline in mountain snowpack and increasing droughts will not provide for enough irrigation water in our area.

While this seems to be a necessary remedy, we need to take a broader approach by supporting policies that get to the root of the problems of a warming earth. Fortunately, we have the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, HR763, a bipartisan U.S. House bill, which will reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels while stimulating carbon-free energy, technology and the economy. A fee would be taken at the point the fossil fuel enters the economy; this revenue would be given monthly directly to the people rather than to the government. It is seen by economists and scientists as the best first step to stop climate change. Please urge Congressman Newhouse to approach solving the problem by looking beyond the costly stop-gap remedy of funding this water project to also supporting a more comprehensive, revenue neutral policy, the Energy Innovation and Dividend Act.

Thanks for report on BPA, nuclear

Thank you, Annette Cary, for your report about the Bonneville Power Administration and nuclear power. To this day, I do not understand why the SAFE project was stopped and the facility that housed it was closed.

Also, the advanced nuclear testing facility, FFTF, was shut down and destroyed.

Thanks again, Annette.

Benton GOP just might want you

If you believe that the safest place for an unborn child should be in the mother’s womb.

If you are sick and tired of being taxed every time you turn around to fund sketchy undefined government programs.

If you believe in free-market capitalism without undue government interference in your business.

If you believe our nation’s borders should be secure and If you believe that the rights of citizenship should be granted to citizens and withheld from non-citizens.

And if you would like to join a group that doesn’t require a resolution to ban hate speech, because we don’t speak hate.

If you agree with all of the above, please let us be the first to welcome you to the Benton County Republican Party.

Our next meeting will be April 4 at 7 p.m. at the Benton PUD Building, 10th and Ely, Kennewick. Hope to see you there!

Why allow parents not to vaccinate?

Several children have been sick lately with measles and at least one case of tetanus. We have had vaccinations for these diseases for decades, so it should be unthinkable that anyone would get measles or tetanus. Apparently people are allowed to not get their children vaccinated. We do not allow people to starve their children or otherwise abuse them, so why are we allowing parents to let their children get these diseases? We should make laws that protect the vulnerable, including children.

April is month to tackle child abuse

April is Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It is important to raise awareness of child abuse within our community. Last year in Benton and Franklin counties, there were 321 interviews conducted of alleged child abuse.

Community members can take valuable steps to show support. One way to become involved is to simply talk about the issue of child abuse in our community. Bringing this issue to light can help others be aware and protect the children around them. If you suspect a child is being abused, report it! Reporting does not necessarily constitute a proven fact. it is raising a question about the condition or state of a child.

Another way to get involved is to participate in the many community awareness events happening in April. The Support, Advocacy & Resource Center is organizing several child abuse prevention events including the Clothesline Project, the Little Hearts Project and a community night, which will include dinner for families, parent and teen education, and activities for the younger children. The community night will be held on Thursday, April 18 at 6 pm. All are welcome to come and join!

For information, call SARC at 509-374-5391.

Germany’s use of coal declined

Tom Seim’s 3/17 letter to the editor said Germany’s decision to shut down its nuclear reactors meant they would use more coal and millions more would die from the increased pollution. Instead, Germany decreased its use of coal, replacing it with increased renewable energy.

Can we do the same, as the Green New Deal proposals suggest? Maybe not: unlike Germany, we can’t replace coal with imported energy from surrounding countries. We could move to an emission-free future by keeping our nuclear plants going and adding new ones, allowing us to eliminate the coal that we use in far greater amounts than Germany.

We have a significant anti-nuclear sentiment in our country, and new nuclear plants are expensive compared to natural gas and coal. The first should respond to education, and the second to a fee on carbon emissions, giving a financial advantage to nuclear power plants. HR 763 “Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act” now before Congress would charge a fee at the carbon source and return 100 percent of the fee to all Americans. This method uses the market to achieve its ends, create jobs and protect most of us from new energy costs, all without increasing government size.

A collective noun of pols emerges

A collective noun refers to a group that acts as a single unit, like a herd of cattle, a pod of whales, a coven of witches, a murder of crows, etc. Another week, another Democratic presidential candidate to add to the troop; or, better yet, to the yammer. (One of them can be referred to with the singular noun -- codger. You know who I mean!)

Many of the yammer just want to be named as the running mate with the eventual nominee. Each addition to the yammer causes one person to smile: the Donald.

Something Trump and I can agree on

For once, I agree with Trump. Waving hands and arms around while talking makes a person look crazy. I used to think the same about Trump himself until I realized it was what came out of his mouth that made him sound crazy.

Seriously. People need to control their body movements while talking. Pelosi does it, Rachel does it, Warren does it. I find it both annoying and distracting, to the point it’s difficult to follow the monologue.

Where do they learn this? Every. Single. Syllable, doesn’t need to be emphasized by body movements.

Different note: President Trump says white nationalism is not on the rise. Must keep his base happy if he wants to win another four years in 2020.

Let west side build its own power

I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one to make the connection between the BPA, Columbia Generating Station and all the anti-nuclear, breach the dams backers. A “no touch” order was placed on the generation station north of Richland. Management wasn’t to shut it down even if they wanted or needed to! Would love to see that same order applied to all the wind generators scattered across most of Eastern Oregon and Washington. We all know that can’t and will never happen. How many of them, including Gov. Inslee and those in our Legislature voluntarily cut their power use or implemented brown/blackouts to ease the burden of the power generating capacity that’s all on the east side of the mountains? It’s the power they depend on but conveniently want off the grid. I say let them develop and pay for what ever kind of power they want on their side of the mountains!

Oh, but wait, if my memory serves me right, Gov. Gregoire circumvented the legal system and forced wind generators into communities that didn’t want them on the east side of the Cascades. To bad we don’t have a big switch and let them sink or swim on their own, or maybe we do.