Singer/songwriter visibility growing
To the Editor:
I just wanted to comment on the Songwriters Show at the Pine Springs Resort, held on January 16.
The show was sold out for the second time that it has been scheduled. The crowd was very open and warm, and the food was excellent. The producers, the cooks, and everyone involved put everything together very well, and it was a real honor and treat for myself as well as the other performers to be part of the show. I can’t wait until we are able to do more shows. I appreciate everyone who came out to the show and the producers for putting it on.
Marc Ensey
Goldendale
We can become a mecca for the arts
To the Editor:
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Rainier’s seldom-seen wife. Over the last several months, he has blanketed the town with flyers and personal invitations supporting our singer/songwriter shows.
Back in the day when I was in Goldendale proper often, I recall hearing many people lamenting that there was just nothing to do in Goldendale.
Well, attendance for our shows proves that not only are there things to do, but that the community is ready to respond!
For a small town, just after Christmas, in this economy, with questionable weather—we still had a packed house for our last show.
I’ve always known that this is an amazing community to live in. Now I see that first-hand through our endeavors. Even beyond the incredible musicians who have come out of the woodwork, the people we have met and the response generated is nothing less than incredible.
Change is seldom comfortable, but it happens whether we want it to or not.
Goldendale has the potential to become a mecca for the arts, and I say we run with it. I myself am riding hesitantly, yet optimistically, towards the next horizon, and am so honored to be a part of it.
Amy Walker
Goldendale
Vandenberg confuses the issue
To the Editor:
In his recent letter about county revenues from the east end of the county, Mr. Vandenberg quotes school districts, funds, and gross revenues to circumvent the real issues.
It is generally known “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” (west end vs. east end of the county). If he wants to address the real issues, I suggest he get in a car, drive to Bickleton (at county expense, of course), and meet with these residents.
I don’t live in the east end, but I certainly sympathize with them.
Ken Barrett
Goldendale
IRS ‘speech police’?
To the Editor,
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution supposedly guarantees, “We the people” freedom of speech and freedom of religion. However, the IRS (created by Congress) regulates and limits the “free exercise” of speech and religion by dictating to churches and other tax exempt organizations the extent to which they can be involved in the political process. In an article titled, “Don’t Stifle the Free Speech of Houses of Worship”, Jay Sekulo of the American Center for Law and Justice refers to the IRS as “the speech police.” When a government agency dictates what you can or can’t say or how much you can say in the political arena, it doesn’t feel like freedom to me.
The First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Oh, yeah. I guess endorsing political candidates who oppose abortion or same-sex marriage is outside the realm of religion. Amazing! Another amazing thing to me is that some churches willingly submit to these IRS requirements. I’m pretty sure it isn’t compulsory for churches to get official IRS status as a tax exempt organization. So why do they do it? What is the motivation? Something tells me, “it’s the money.” But there’s probably more to it than that.
Terry J. Swigart
Goldendale
The numbing of concern
To the Editor:
There is a principle, embedded in both the Old and New Testaments, that the saving help of God’s Kingdom is restrained until we can acknowledge and personally embrace the world’s grief and anguish. If you’ve ever wondered what’s holding up that help, there it is.
Of course, we do feel deeply the suffering of family members and close friends. And if we know a family that has lost a son or daughter in the war, we may actually feel their anguish and grief. But there is something about our society, as benevolent as it is, that makes it difficult to reach out beyond the family circle and have compassion on those we don’t know, those far away and of different cultures. It is as though numbness affects us the further we are apart, even though we know that we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God, equally valued and loved by God.
I suggest that this is a critical problem for us today. With every “failed nation” now a potential haven for desperate terrorists aligned against an enemy that can’t or simply won’t feel their pain, I don’t see how we can expect to change many hearts and minds abroad or find much help from above.
Yet the more important issue here may not be what so alienates our brothers and sisters abroad as what so numbs us from their anguish and poverty. When 16,000 sub-Saharan children can starve to death each day without us hardly noticing, what does this say about us? Why isn’t this seen as an ominous sign that something is fundamentally wrong with us as a society, something which is working at cross-purposes with God’s kingdom and our chances for any divine help in ending world terrorism?
David Duncmobe
White Salmon |
