Support Westernization
Dear Editor:
I am writing in response to Carol Lester’s letter to the editor in the Oct. 23 issue. I want to thank her for her insight and support of Winthrop Westernization. I just want Carol to know that we have not lost! We have several new enthusiastic members on our team. We are just beginning.
I am a store owner and a member of the Westernization committee. The one thing that Carol mentioned that really struck a note was that originally “everyone would ask themselves, was that what a town of 1890 would look like?” For the most part, many of the store owners are aware of the benefits of Westernization and strive to uphold it. Then there are a few, mostly newcomers, who just don’t seem to quite get it. It has been a struggle to get some of these people to comply.
The codes and ordinances are available for everyone to read so there really is no excuse. There are just a few people who aren’t looking out for the community’s best interest. They think they are benefiting themselves. In reality they are not. It only takes a few to begin the deterioration of the whole town. So, shop owners, please take a look at your stores from the eyes of others and see how you fit in. Let’s all pull together and preserve this special place that so many others have worked so hard to create.
Lauri Martin, Winthrop
Suffocating overkill
Dear Editor:
We hard-working rural folks – living for decades in the outback – pay generous but seemingly futile land taxes in expectation of immunity from regulatory overkill. Today’s intrusive rule-making and regulatory bureaucracy has swamped all economic activity in the rural marketplace.
Our rural sheriffs and commissioners were previously not bureaucrats; they were elected as like-minded folks with shared values. Our only mutual requirements were crime protection, equal justice, economic encouragement, good roads and rural safety.
When unelected bureaucrats recently invaded remote rural areas, we found inner-city values came with them. Suddenly, our country ways offended them. We can no longer keep our affordable, secluded outhouses or self-built simple farmhouses. We must upgrade all our facilities into counter-intuitive and unaffordable inner-city standards. We must be monitored in all our remote rural activities by bureaucrats, yet our whole economy depends on affordable simplicity – not regulatory overkill. Our clear property lines and closed doors must not be breached by bureaucrats, even to our private sanitary facilities. New intrusions, penalties, fines, fees and upgrades are a vast overkill – with no subsidies to compensate us.
Unelected bureaucrats are indifferent to our livelihoods, values, budgets and morés and demand our abject subjugation and punitive fees, fines and, assessments for their insane tribute.
No rural economy can flourish when these resentful and profiteering bureaucrats can forcibly intrude against us and dictate their outside values. We rural Americans preserve the simple values of “Honest Abe” (Lincoln) and “Poor Richard” (Ben Franklin), not those of the predatory “Slick Willie.”
In low-income rural America, this insane leap from freedom to despotism must be cut short and disbanded. Poverty is assured when government extracts more plunder than victims can possibly realize in earnings.
Ward Hartzell, Twisp
Still messy
Dear Editor:
When I see Alexander Hamilton’s image on the $10 bill I am always reminded that politics in America is a blood sport. Mud-slinging and underhanded dealing go back to the first days of our nation. Hamilton is not a dead president. He was treasury secretary under Jefferson, but dead he is, killed in a duel with the Vice-president Aaron Burr. The two men were from New York, at first friends, then rivals and finally enemies.
Burr presided over the first impeachment trial, that of Judge Salmon Chase. Burr’s organization of the trial set the pattern for the American courtroom ever since. Burr was also seminal to the tradition of judicial independence from the other branches of government. Burr was noted for being evenhanded and fair in all of his official duties.
Burr is also remembered for innovative election campaigns, moving into new venues like Tammany Hall. He is also one of the first to buy newspapers for the purpose of editorializing against his opponents. His proxy editorials were full of falsehood and innuendo. Not to be behind in the propaganda war, Hamilton started his own paper, which survives today as the New York Post.
Little has changed in the press today. America slogs through elections knowing it will be messy, but in the end we expect the winner to be evenhanded and obey the law.
Dan Aspenwall, Winthrop
In good hands
Dear Editor:
This letter is for anyone who fears for their health living in such a remote community. I recently went to Dr. Jensen’s office in Twisp for some help to feel better. After seeing Kathryn, she called Dr. Joe on his day off to come into the office. Before I knew what was happening, they were taking X-rays, doing EKGs and calling the very professional and capable Aero Methow Rescue Service for a ride to a hospital of my choice. The decisions they made and the care and concern shown to me from beginning to end gives me faith that we are all in good hands!
Dale B. Fasse, Winthrop
Great Memory
Dear Editor:
Memory House at The Merc Playhouse is a brilliantly written and stunningly produced play which you will only be able to see Saturday (Nov. 9). I’m not a board member or related to a cast member. I was just one of those lucky enough to see it performed in September. Many of us urged The Merc to bring it back. The acting is amazing. Perfectly cast. It’s captivating from start to finish. Don’t miss it.
Mac Shelton, Twisp
