Well done, Parks Department
To the Editor:
I would like to commend the Goldendale Parks Department for the excellent job they did in keeping the city parks in such beautiful condition. Daily I walk my dog in Ekone Park and have never found it in disrepair. The lawns are kept well trimmed and the trash is always being picked up. It is a shame that the parents of some kids (including teenagers) have never taught their kids to respect other people's property. In all, it is a show piece for the City of Goldendale and Klickitat County.
John L. Welsh
Godlendale
Conflicted on Insitu issues
To the Editor:
The Insitu debate has focused mainly on which town will benefit from Insitu's move to a new campus. There is another issue at stake however. Some in the peace community are concerned with Insitu's role as a defense contractor. In a recent article ("Insitu deserves a harder look"), Susan Crowley has written a factual and well-reasoned critique of Insitu's ties to the war industry, and the use of its drones in Iraq and Afghanistan. She deserves to be heard.
I must admit that I am still conflicted on this issue. The peace activist part of me sees Insitu's drones as just another weapon of war designed to kill people. But the humanitarian and pragmatist side of me wonders if the drones might also be an effective weapon for peace. If your main concern is preserving life and preventing suffering, you really can't pick and choose who's preserving life and who is suffering. Enemy lives count as well as our own, and must include the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, insurgents of all stripes as well as partisan civilians.
All lives are precious in the eyes of God, all are equally loved by God. So it comes down to the pragmatic question of whether the drones will prevent more deaths and suffering than they will cause. I can see the possibility that they might. That's because they appear already to have restricted the freedom of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to operate out in the open both day and night.
Flying noiselessly and out of sight, insurgent activity can be spotted clearly and potentially targeted. The psychological impact of such stealth surveillance can be devastating, especially for hunted leaders. If the use of drones were to be increased, I wouldn't be surprised to see fewer deaths among our troops, among civilian populations, and among our enemies. As a peace activist, I would find this a satisfying and humane result.
Of course, I could be dead wrong.
David Duncombe
White Salmon
Resolution still awaited for GCS
To the Editor:
We want to first thank you for taking the time to research and write an article about what has been happening at Goldendale Christian School. We have felt compelled to write a letter for some time and now we are ready.
Last year was the first year that our child attended GSC and we have to say that it was her best school year in Goldendale. It felt more like a family than school, and we had an awesome year.
To say we are disappointed with the choices made by the school board at GCS is an understatement. Disgusted is more the word that describes how many of the parents whose children attended GCS are feeling. In the last part of your article you stated that some of the parents felt that the matter had come to clarity and were ready to move past the turmoil. We can assure you that many of us have moved on but we have received no clarity. There is still at least one huge issue looming around what happened that we feel needs to be shared and resolved.
We realize that the meeting on Aug. 1 was not open to the public, but at that time we were members of the school and attended that meeting. We did not agree with the termination choices made by the board and specifically asked, with raised hand, during the meeting if we chose not to send our child to school this next year if we would be refunded all monies paid by us for registration and tuition. Mr. Theriault along with Mr. Howell announced directly in that meeting that if we could prove that we had paid the money (which we can), we would certainly receive a refund.
The internal changes at GCS have affected the expectations of some of the parents and/or sponsors, and it is no longer the school we supported. As of this date, we and many other parents/sponsors have yet to see one penny of our money refunded from the school. Refunding the money is the resolution we are asking for.
Roger & Katie Holaday
Goldendale
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