Herald letter writers discuss fish bypass idea for the Snake River | Opinion

He’ll vote for levy for others’ kids

Vote “YES” for Kennewick Schools! I have called Kennewick my home for 36 years, have raised three wonderful children in Kennewick, and now have the pleasure of watching my children raise their children in Kennewick. And in those 36 years of living in Kennewick, I have always and will continue to vote “YES” for each replacement levy whether I have family members directly impacted or not.

Public education is not free and requires a community investment to supplement what the state fails to fund. The taxpayers of Kennewick have believed in funding the future hopes and dreams of children for decades and my family has benefited from that generosity. Taxpayers didn’t ask, “what’s in it for me,” but voted “YES” to serve this community’s student education, interests and opportunities.

If you, your children, or a family member have ever attended a Kennewick school, tens of thousands of taxpayers paid forward that education with their hard-earned incomes. I am grateful for the quality education that the Kennewick School District and taxpayers provided to my family. So, the Kennewick School District can count on me to show my thanks by voting “YES!”

Jim Millbauer, Kennewick

End overfishing, gill nets, not dams

Michael Harrington’s opinion piece on how to bypass Snake River dams contains some factual errors that can easily sway people in the wrong direction. Farm fertilizer in our area is not concentrated from runoff because our soil is sandy and has very little runoff. In the dryland areas with the heavier soils, most of the fertilizer is injected into the soil, so again, very little runoff.

The 99% of adult salmon pass the 4 Lower Snake River dams. The turbine blades in the dams are moving so slowly that you can walk as fast as they turn! Hence, they are not dicing up the smolt. The problem at the turbine blades is due to the pressure gradient at the ends of the blades. As the turbine blades wear out, they are being replaced with a new design that keeps the smolt safe. They used to barge smolt safely until they shut the system down!

We don’t need to decommission the dams. We need to look at all the systems that have been put in place to protect the salmon. The biggest impediments to salmon reproduction are the gill nets, the overfishing of an endangered species and the lack of predator control!

Paul Sullivan, Burbank

Let’s build those bypass channels

Finally a common-sense way about how to save our Dams on the Snake River and still provide an option for fish passage as put forth by a former BPA biologist! I just hope that those who care about the power, recreation and conservation get on board with this idea. We had the ingenuity to build these dams, so let’s use the same technology to successfully do it. So come on and step up, the time has been wasting for too long . Build those bypass channels!!

Dan Walsh, Pasco

Reflective duct tape saves lives

I read this morning about more homeless people getting killed because they can’t be seen at night. I think the solution is simple. The city should provide reflective tape to the shelters so they can distribute it. Just because you’re homeless doesn’t mean you deserve to get run over. Maybe they don’t want to be seen. But it’s cheaper to buy a roll of reflective tape than pay for a cremation. This is one way to keep people from being killed,

Linda Schoonover, Kennewick