Who’s minding the store and why doesn’t public opinion really count?

The Barrett Road controversy is only the most current of recent disregard of public best interest.

Local homeowners want a public park on a chunk of land out that way. However, yet another mini-mart and gas station seem to be what is being pushed down their throats.

A further current example is the proposed location of the waste transfer station in Sedro-Woolley. Across from the high school, in a neighborhood, opposed by the majority of the residents of the whole town? Really? Whose brain child was that? Evidently someone who has more money than common sense and is intent on proving it.

And how about the Mount Vernon expansion project? (I guess if you put the word “project” on something it sounds legitimate.) People were kicked out of their homes, which might have been tolerable if they had been properly reimbursed but money was a big issue, of course. Maybe the hospital had a limited budget — or did it? Did anyone see pictures in the paper or receive documentation chronicling the destruction of that neighborhood, or just the construction of the “project?” Complete houses, many filled with hospital cast offs (furniture, equipment, etc.) were demolished and hauled off to fill the local dump — oh my gosh, is there a connection to Sedro-Woolley? Too tight fisted to fairly compensate the displaced homeowners but more than willing to squander potential profit. Guess it was easier to make people and things disappear quickly.

So what is it? Ego, power trip, money and minions to outlast and bully the competition, or just a disregard for the human factor and the desire to trample the idea of fairness and democracy? Quality of life and future impact seems to be dismissed more and more often.

If it really takes a village to raise a child, what type of village do we want to be?

Change has to start somewhere. Why not Skagit County?



Sonia Harvey

Burlington



Ranker Rebuttal



Contrary to Bill Wright’s allegation that the injunction brought by San Juan County and three Washington cities against the PAC, No New Gas Tax, was not an action against citizens, as headlined in the Aug. 12 issue of the Skagit Valley Herald, but an attempt to uphold the Fair Campaign Practices Act.

The injunction was brought against Fischer Broadcasting for not reporting to the Public Disclosure Commission as an in-kind contribution the airtime spent by the talk show hosts, Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson, supporting I-912, an initiative to repeal the fuel tax passed by the state legislature. They urged listeners to contribute funds to the PAC, to circulate petitions and to gather signatures to the I-912 on the ballot.

The Public Disclosure Commission agreed that the airtime should be declared as an in-kind contribution and a trial court issued the injunction. Subsequently the Washington State Supreme Court overruled the PDC and reversed the decision based on federal campaign regulations even though No New Gas Tax revealed that the talk show hosts were indeed involved in the campaign.

I met my “moral obligation” and read the Supreme Court decision referenced by Mr. Wright and have concluded that his attack on Kevin Ranker is unfounded and no more than a cheap political smear.



Maura Marlin

Mount Vernon