Lingering county complaint unfair

Will Skagit County officials allow us to continue farming? In 2005, we received a notice of violation of Skagit County code concerning livestock access to a creek for watering purposes. We attempted to acquire a grant, but that process became too costly.

We received no other communication from Skagit County until three years later, when we received a notice of correction from the Department of Ecology accompanied with Skagit County’s original notice, this time with threats of $10,000 daily fines. This was not a water-quality complaint. Private monitoring and testing were conducted and showed no E. coli pollution. There was no data to justify water pollution, just an order to correct a water gap.

Skagit County and the Department of Ecology issued a notice of correction and only allowed 30 days to correct the problem. The problem was corrected within 30 days. Ecology agreed the complaint has been satisfied, but it’s been almost seven months and Skagit County has failed to close its complaint against us.

Will we be able to save our farmland from the county officials’ hidden agenda and continue farming? Or is our farmland destined to be another flood-control project turning our third-generation farmland into wetlands? It’s time for a change at the courthouse.

Bev Macken
Bow


Shouldn’t bail out foolish buyers

Kudos to Richard Kruml Sr. for saying in the Wednesday, Oct. 1, edition, what a lot of people are thinking, myself included. I live in a modest home, and years back, I would have liked to move into something bigger and more beautiful. But my common sense told me that I could not afford to do so, even if the rates were enticing.

Today, I thank my lucky stars that I had that common sense to hold me back because I could be one of the many in trouble now. I, too, have no remorse for those who tried to live beyond their means. They should take responsibility for their actions and not ask the responsible public to bail them out.

I have enough bills of my own to take care of; I don’t need another burden put upon me.

Linda Tropak
Concrete


It’s a good time to quit smoking

Recently, a woman rear-ended me as I was waiting for a light to change. She came out of her car puffing on her cigarette, letting me know she could not afford car insurance and was on limited income. Figuring she smokes a pack a day, that adds up to $1,825 annually for which most insurance companies would cover even a high-risk driver.

Last month, the state released a smoking rate for Skagit County that made us look worse than we actually are, both because it miscalculated and because it used too small a sample of the population. To set this straight: Based on a three-year average (2005-07), 17.9 percent of Skagit residents smoke. That is in line with the statewide rate and reflects a gradual continuation of a downward trend in smoking. The smoking decline is one of public health’s nationwide success stories. 

The current economic downturn provides an opportune incentive for smokers to quit, save some money, improve their health — and buy car insurance. 

Alex von Cube
Skagit County’s population and health information manager
Mount Vernon


America always needs statesmen

Our American Founding Fathers would today be amazed and pleased if they could only see that the system of government established so long ago still works.

Today, they would view a diverse political process with a liberal Democrat, a composite African-American first-term senator from Illinois running for president, and in opposition, a female executive, a governor from our largest state running as a vice presidential candidate.

We are a country in continuous transition in demographics, language and in leadership. These seasoned great leaders and thinkers will always be remembered for their sacrifices in putting our country’s interest first so that so many of us can enjoy and cherish liberty and freedom today.

Through our system of checks and balances it is still possible for someone not encumbered by race, religion, age or sex to attain goals and visualize a future of unlimited expectations.

Nations may rise and fall based on social and economic factors influenced by individuals. America always needs statesmen — executive, legislative and judicial — who possess moral principles, values and future vision along with the desire and ability to unify, compromise and finalize that vision.

Churchill at 71 rallied the citizens of the British Empire to confront and win a war over the greatest threat they ever faced. In defense against tyranny, he put the interest of country first, with a vision that allowed Churchill to lead his people and at the same time prove his merit as a great statesman until age 79.

Meeting the challenges that face us today, we should understand and apply the lessons of history. If we ignore these truths of history, either by choice or ignorance, then we risk repeating mistakes that have toppled leaders, nations and empires in the past.

John Wilkinson
Anacortes


Is Sen. Obama trustworthy?

Sen. Obama’s past relationships have been expounded upon numerous times in the newspapers and on television. After years of friendship and association, he has distanced himself from the Rev. Wright, William Ayers and Father Pfleger, when they were exposed as having radical political beliefs.

Then he said he didn’t know about them being radical. How do you have years of association with someone without getting some kind of clue as to what they stand for? That doesn’t seem possible to me!

The $700 billion question in my mind is, do I trust Sen. Obama’s answer that he really doesn’t believe the way they do, or do I think he is not being honest and that he is actually a radical himself? There is an awful lot at stake to make the wrong choice.

I don’t know about you, but I know what Sen. McCain’s political stand is and that he has the experience to back it up. I know I don’t have to worry about whether or not he is honest. I’m not hoping or guessing with a candidate who is for change and has a question mark for a political past.

Please think about this before you vote!

David H. Bates
Sedro-Woolley


Guess who ultimately pays?

I am amazed by the huge amount of cash PSE is spending on its scare campaigning in Skagit County and on Whidbey Island.

Guess who ultimately pays?

I have lived in three districts with PUDs and was very pleased by how efficiently they all operated: Chelan, Snohomish and Seattle.

Also, living at Snoqualmie Falls was good. Back when Puget Power was there, life was good — until PSE cast a plague upon us.

Stewart Swenson
Oak Harbor


Re-elect Littlefield to PUD post

Election Day is almost here. After that, what will we be watching on TV and reading in the newspapers?

As a resident of Anacortes for many years, I write to tell the general voting public that I have witnessed one man take his elected position very seriously. That man is Al Littlefield, your present PUD commissioner. Al is committed to serving the public as seen in his Web site, his affiliations, his community involvement and his endorsements.

Al Littlefield firmly believes in buying locally and hiring locally, and I believe in electing locally. Please re-elect Al Littlefield as your continuing PUD commissioner.

Elizabeth Boner
Anacortes


Editor’s note: Because of an editorial error, we are rerunning the following letter:

Local control for our liquid gold

There are thousands of publicly owned utilities throughout the country with communities that would fight to keep them.

As for promises of lower utility rates: It has been widely circulated through the media that utility rates will rise greatly this winter throughout the U.S. There will be no escape.

We have liquid gold here in Skagit County with our hydroelectric energy. Why would anyone want to give control of our water supply to foreign interests or mergers with the usual succession of corporate buyouts with high profit expectations?

Apparently, Puget Sound Energy thinks of Skagit County residents as a bunch of yokels to whom they only have to say three words, “Save you money,” and they’re in.

Our country is in deep financial trouble. It is now providing $750 billion in bailout money to banking institutions, supposedly the safekeepers of our money. It is yet another “gift” from our government and Congress to us taxpayers. We don’t need “help” from foreign investors interested in making big bucks from our utilities, especially since our country is already broke to the tune of $9 trillion.

Therefore, I urgently and fervently ask Skagitonians to think local and support local by wholeheartedly supporting our public utility district, PUD, by voting yes on Proposition 1. These people live here and are available to see, talk and work with.

If you have received a red-and-black postcard from a group called Skagit Committee for Reliable and Affordable Energy, you would be wise to look up this group on your computer to see who’s supporting it.

Doris Deamud
Mount Vernon