Major issues: PSE, fluoridation

We in Skagit County are facing a couple major issues at this time. They both concern matters that will affect our lives and the lives of our loved ones well into the future. One is the proposed foreign takeover of PSE; the other is the longstanding issue of water fluoridation. When a person takes the time to consider the implications of either issue, it doesn’t take very long before the element of risk involved begins to emerge and grow.

Some of the health hazards of fluoride are very clear. However, according to the National Research Council’s new report, more research is needed to more fully understand fluoride’s impact on health. As for foreign ownership of a local basic utility we all rely upon, doesn’t the concept itself just about say it all?

The only way either of these issues have managed to rise to the level they have is the overly emphasized value that is currently given to material wealth. Over and over again we are showing a willingness to turn our backs on aspects of our world that are critical to our well-being in deference to the unrestrained, too often ill-considered pursuit of financial profit.

In the case of the proposed foreign takeover of PSE, two of the things we’re asked to risk are affordable and reliable electric service. In the case of water fluoridation, it’s our very physical health that is directly on the line.

We need a communal reality check on our values: Is material wealth worth the sacrifice of personal health, healthy communities or a healthy world in which to enjoy it? And we need to understand that all those areas of health are interrelated and interdependent.

Kenneth Dunning
Mount Vernon


Need smart hunter/hiker law

When I was 12 years old, we ran wild in the woods with .22s and 12 gauges. Anything that moved or blew up real good was open season. In those days, there weren’t so many people in the woods. Back then the odds of accidentally killing somebody were a lot smaller.

I apologize to the Almli family for commenting on a tragedy that’s really none of my business. But the death of Pamela Almli by a young hunter’s deadly mistake is quickly becoming a political issue, thus, I feel compelled to comment.

At the sake of being drummed out of the club, I have to start by saying that I know from experience that there is no gun safety training course that can give a 14-year-old the level of experience one needs to truly understand tragedy. That it strikes in the blink of an eye — at any time — and there’s no going back. In this day and age, I could support an age restriction for unsupervised young hunters.

On the other hand, if nature lovers aren’t smart enough to wear fluorescent orange in the woods, then that law should be tacked onto the same bill.

This was a typical hunting accident. That’s all it was. You can be sure this young boy will suffer his own tragedy dealing with this his whole life. Nothing will come of his bogus prosecution.

Nothing can cure the sorrow of this kind of tragedy, and I apologize again for even commenting. I know it’s small consolation, but hopefully this can lead to some sort of commonsense compromise between hunters and hikers that will allow everyone in this crowded world to enjoy the woods safely at the same time.

Jerry Hansen
Burlington


14 too young to be responsible

I was heartsick when I read the headline “Teen to face manslaughter charges” in Tuesday’s paper. A crime has been committed and someone must be held responsible but in my opinion it is not the 14-year-old boy. He was told by people of power that he was adult enough to be handed a high-powered weapon and to go have fun.

A 14-year-old is not deemed responsible enough — nor to have the judgment — to drive a car, vote or make his own decisions in other areas of his life. So what intelligent adult believes him old enough to know when it is safe to fire at a moving object too far away to identify with certainty? He’s a boy! They get excited, “Look, Ma, I shot a bear.”

Surely it is time for the NRA to be held responsible and/or the rulemakers who allow such accidents to happen. He had classes when he was 9 years old. What has he been taught lately? Who sat him down and told him he had to study the rules, lax as they are, and why are two such diverse and opposite activities allowed in the same woods at the same time? That was not the teenager’s decision.

My heart aches for the family of the lovely lady who was so carelessly shot, and the boy will carry that burden for the rest of his days and needs no further punishment. The powerful gun lobby should be made to face the realization that their agenda is not above the safety of the rest of us.

Joyce Johnson
Mount Vernon