Flood-wall practice hurts business

I was entertained by the view from our Main Street business window Wednesday night as I read the “No parking on this street” signs posted all along Main Street. Come Thursday, I got to see why the street was closed off. What could be so important that it would require this road be off limits for the better part of a business day?

It looked like a bunch of kiddos playing with an erector set. The “flood retainment” wall seems to act better as a customer deterrent wall; granted, it does look nice in its blue-and-bare-metal appearance. I trust the design shall function properly if it ever does encounter a major flood. After all, it is placed along the east side of all the buildings on Main Street that actually face the river each time it threatens to spill its banks.

On an extra note, from one blue collar to another, I have no ill will toward workers out there on that site at the time. This is meant for the deep pockets with the big vision in charge of that little escapade. Next time, do us working stiffs a favor, and don’t take away from our livelihood for a mere practice run.

Gilberto Rosales
Sedro-Woolley


Retain Littlefield in PUD post

Al Littlefield has served capably as a PUD commissioner for District 1 for the past 23 years. He has made hard decisions during this time in order to serve the district’s customers by continuing to provide safe and affordable water.

New issues are going to be faced in the coming months. His years of experience could be invaluable in helping to make those decisions.

When I served on the PUD board of commissioners with him years ago, I found him to be a knowledgeable and hardworking commissioner.

William R. Stendal
Burlington


Actual cost of bailout much higher

President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have failed to tell the taxpayers the true cost of borrowing $700 billion. The Federal Reserve does not have any cash and currently had to borrow $40 billion from the treasury for the AIG bailout. The treasury has to raise cash by selling government securities that pay a set interest rate.

It is not realistic that the treasury could sell $700 billion of short-term (one-year) securities and would have to resort to selling intermediate securities (10-year with a 4 percent coupon). Taxpayers would have to pay more than $1 trillion during the next 10 years ($1,036,000,000,000) to satisfy this debt.

If the treasury resorts to selling 30-year bonds with a 5 percent coupon, it will cost the taxpayers more than $3 trillion to satisfy this debt ($3,025,400,000,000).

Bush remotely remembered the “fooled you once” adage, but our foolish elected officials in Congress are anxious to be fooled twice by a devious leader.

Val Ross Johnson
Anacortes


Bailey is who we need in Olympia

Regarding our representative in Olympia, Barbara Bailey:

We read with disdain some of the personal attacks on Barbara’s work as our representative. We know we will not all agree on every issue, but we have known Barbara for many years, and she is one of the most kind, compassionate and intelligent people we know. She does her very best to be a good steward with our money and personally feels accountable to her constituents.

She does not “blindly and uncaringly” vote the party line. She votes on every issue with a line of reasoning that is well-thought-out and meets what she thinks is in the best interests of her constituents. I often hear her say, “The bill was flawed or would be fiscally irresponsible.” When asked why the bill was flawed, she always articulates the specific reasons she voted the way she did.

She meticulously reads every bill before voting. She never votes on a bill by its title; she votes for what is inside the bill. We hear a lot about what she voted no on but not much is said about the hundreds of yes votes she has cast. We think she is exactly the person we need in Olympia — fighting for all our best interests and against big government and higher taxes. 

Al Owens
Oak Harbor


Skagit’s best bet: Stick with PSE

As an electrical contractor in the Skagit Valley, I’ve worked with PSE for the past 25 years and have a good understanding of what is involved in operating a power company in this area. I wonder whether the PUD and us, the taxpayers/ratepayers, really understand what we could be getting into.

There are several thousand miles of transmission lines that someone has to maintain and upgrade. With the growth of the area, these lines are near their capacity, which will mean costly upgrades to accommodate our new neighbors as they add to the infrastructure.

Who’s going to do the metering and set up all of the accounting? Who’s going to foot the bill to acquire all the equipment and manpower to take care of everything that’s done right now by PSE?

I don’t think the amount we pay on our power bills right now will cover any of these costs. I know how to do it: Raise our taxes to cover the costs! Wake up folks; the PUD can’t afford to put fluoride in our water even after the county commandment. What makes us think it can run our local power grid and not cost us any more?

My vote is to let PSE do what it knows best and let PUD spend its time and talents on what it knows best. Thanks for listening.

Evan Ackermann
Mount Vernon


Rossi ads lie about Gregoire, tribes

Dino Rossi is flooding the airwaves with misinformation about Gov. Gregoire’s financial relationship with Washington state’s tribes. He knows these allegations are untrue, but he relies on the political ploy that if you say something often enough, people believe it regardless of its veracity.

Here are the true facts.

In 2005, the Spokane Tribe offered a revenue-sharing proposal in exchange for a massive expansion of gambling in our state, something that 62 percent of our voters had already opposed by defeating I-892 in 2004. Gov. Gregoire, along with the late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, law enforcement and a bipartisan coalition of legislators, respected the will of the people and rejected the deal.

The Spokane Tribe did indeed offer $140 million in exchange for “more convenient gambling in every neighborhood” and “more slot machines in Washington than are currently in Las Vegas.” Would you have accepted that offer? Thank goodness Gov. Gregoire didn’t.

And as far as the absurd claim that the governor took a $650,000 payoff from the tribes, that’s just plain wrong. The various tribes have contributed approximately $40,000 to her campaign. This can be checked out with the Washington state Public Disclosure Commission.

Under Gov. Gregoire, Washington state has been rated the third-best state in the union to do business by Fortune Magazine, and it has been rated one of the best-managed states in the union by the Pugh Institute of Philadelphia.

Is this something you would change? Please re-elect Gov. Gregoire to keep our state moving in the right direction.

Gail Nicolls
Anacortes


Vote Turner for commissioner

My 50-year professional career as a geologist involved traveling much of the world, dealing with hundreds of people whose individual motivation covered a wide range.

During the 10 years I have lived in the county, I have gotten to know Bill Turner very well, and based on my experienced appraisal of the man, I urged him to run for City Council because Anacortes needed his type of leadership.

I am now placing the future of the county ahead of the city and urge everyone to support Bill for county commissioner.

Bill tends to cut through drivel and does not waste a lot of words on mundane topics, which to someone who doesn’t know him, may seem misleading, relative to his true character.

He has a very analytical mind and is consequently a genuine problem-solver rather than a back-slapper politician. Don’t hold his education or success against him because he really is one of you and deserves our support.

Based on many conversations with Bill, I am impressed that he has a clear understanding of county problems and has an honest desire to fix them by tackling them head-on, in a systematic way, rather than the typical haphazard manner.

Ben Short
Anacortes