Students exercise their rights

Hundreds of S-WHS students marched on Sedro-Woolley City Hall on May 5 to protest Deluxe’s push for a garbage transfer site across from their school. Exercising their First Amendment rights, students were forced to take a stand since the school district and School Board maintained neutrality.

Why is the school neutral about a garbage transfer facility across from S-WHS? What choice did students have when those entrusted with their best interests failed them?

City Council members showed their true loyalties last year when S-WHS students presented hundreds of signatures protesting Deluxe. The council responded to this act of leadership by telling students to just worry about their schoolwork. Then Larry McCarter from Deluxe put students on the spot by asking them why they weren’t for “recycling.” What outrageous nerve!

McCarter is suing the county for the solid-waste contract so he can truck garbage, not just recycling, right across from S-WHS football fields and tennis courts. How dare McCarter insinuate these students are anti-green while he masterminds his plan to make their school into a stinking, pollution choked environment? How do you mitigate air pollution from 40 trucks an hour entering the Deluxe facility?

The school district’s neutral position ensured that information regarding Deluxe’s impact on S-WHS was not disseminated to parents, most of whom don’t know about Deluxe’s plan. McCarter is a genius at playing the green/recycle card when he really intends to take garbage from Ovenell to dump/transfer across S-WHS.

The only green thing about his “Ovenell” facility next to S-WHS is the almighty dollar.

Jeanne Gross
Sedro-Woolley


Rapist’s sentence, release awful

Regarding the May 1 article, “Rapist released from jail early”:

First, this is the most evil story I have ever heard about. I am so disgusted with the justice system. How is it possible for a man who has violated and tortured a helpless woman and her two friends to only be sentenced to six months?

This is an act against another human. We should be asking ourselves how it is possible that individuals sentenced for drug possession or burglary, etc., seem to have longer sentences when the crime committed is harmful to others only indirectly. Those crimes certainly are not a complete violation of a body or mind.

Why isn’t something being done to help put this man away? The plea bargain mentioned only caused him to admit guilt. Letting him off the hook for the two other victims didn’t help the situation. Oh, he is required to take a class for sexual deviancy.

What are the chances that he’ll again attack another helpless woman?

It could be someone you know.

Finally, why wasn’t he sentenced to house arrest if the jail population is so overcrowded? The only further punishment I read was he is not allowed in La Conner. If we, as residents of Mount Vernon, do not stand up to this, it will set a precedent that it is OK to rape a woman — even a disabled woman.

If a rapist is caught, the sentence is only minimal, thus making it even more appealing for a rapist. This offender is very young. Chances are the system let him down, too. He will be in jail over and over throughout his life. To him it was only a “slap on his wrist.” To the victims, it is a lifelong sentence.

Julie Hartnett
Mount Vernon


Stay aware of changes downtown

In the next couple of months, Mount Vernon residents need to keep their attention on downtown as plans go forward for redevelopment and flood management. The city has contracted Cultural Resource Consultants for a preconstruction environmental review in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

The central underpinning for a successful outcome is for the city to retain the character of downtown and incorporate these features in any new construction adjacent to the core. There are two things that must be done.

First, don’t let the city go ahead with plans that are not in keeping with the architectural character of the downtown core.

Second, to assure future renewal and restoration of these assets, we need to promote the adoption of Certified Local Government (CLG) by the city of Mount Vernon. Attaining CLG status will assure Mount Vernon is on target for an economic renaissance in commerce and tourism.

CLG is a nationwide program from the National Historic Preservation Act. It is administered by the state. It offers financial and technical assistance in preserving historic buildings, structures, sites and neighborhoods. You can read about it online.

I encourage the residents of Mount Vernon to advocate for CLG status and demand that the city maintains architectural consistency in all new core development. Write or call members of the City Council and the mayor’s office to make your views known. This project can’t be left to a handful of people to decide how the core of downtown is developed.

John Vieira
Mount Vernon