Update: Don Reddington’s new home
Dear Editor:
For all of you who have followed Don Reddington’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease, his family would like you to know that he is now residing in Jamie’s Place (Mountain View Home) in Winthrop. If you remember the series of articles Don wrote about Alzheimer’s, part of his plan was to move to assisted living when his disease progressed to a point where he could not lead a safe and cognitive life in his own home. That time has come. Uncomfortable with the change at first, Don quickly settled into an easy rhythm and his own routine at Jamie’s Place.
Don greatly enjoys visits from his friends. He won’t remember your name, but he’ll probably recognize your face. Stop in some time … maybe not during lunch, though. Just this week he left me in mid-sentence for a grilled cheese sandwich. He seems to be at peace in his new home, and is certainly well-fed.
Thanks, everyone, for your kindness to, caring for an understanding of Don throughout his struggles with Alzheimer’s. A patient cannot make this journey alone, neither can his caregiver. Your support is much appreciated!
Ginger Reddington, Donni Reddington, Corbin Massey, the Scarpella family, the Wachter family, Victoria Walker
Editor’s note: View the Methow Valley News publication, “Living With Alzheimer’s: the Reddington Project,” at https://issuu.com/methowvalleypublishing/docs/livingwithalzheimers. Copies of the magazine are also available at the Methow Valley News office on the TwispWorks campus.
Demand accountability
Dear Editor:
The departing members of Winthrop’s Westernization Design Review Board (WDRB) — Kristen, Brian, Lauri, Greg and Steve — deserve more gratitude for their dedicated service than they got from Mayor Ranzau in her letter to the editor last week. In fact, she didn’t thank them at all! Rather, she posted a clever “Help wanted …” list, which seemed to suggest that all the challenges of Westernization would be solved with a new roster of volunteers. It’s odd that Mayor Ranzau acknowledged that “The WDRB is authorized to administer the Westernization program,” but failed in her own leadership to solve the problem for which they resigned. Instead, she requested for … “six dedicated people to energize our Westernization Design Review Board,” as if the departing members were somehow lacking energy!
These community members have donated literally hundreds of hours over many years to make and keep Winthrop in the architectural style established by legal code almost 50 years ago. They have endured criticism, complaints and disrespect, all the while staying the course in an effort to uphold the code they swore to uphold upon their swearing in. The recent disagreement regarding a proposed solar array should have been resolved by the duly elected mayor and her council, who also swore to uphold the Westernization code.
I hope that those new, eager volunteers who take up the torch demand accountability of their leaders. It will take more than boots and a cowboy hat.
Lynette Westendorf, Winthrop
Stand up against Trump
Dear Editor:
Is there a parent alive who hasn’t dreaded the thought that their child could be kidnapped? Well, now we have child-abusing kidnappers running our federal government. Let’s see: In reaction to a misdemeanor crime (crossing the border illegally), innocent children are torn from their parents. At a certain point, lack of empathy becomes pathological, and the Trump administration fits squarely in that category. Intentional cruelty as a “policy.” I never could have imagined this happening in the United States of America. We have gone from being a beacon of hope to being monstrously inhumane. Not to mention abjectly incompetent. There was no planning behind the implementation of “zero tolerance” and now parents can’t find their children, and the Department of Health and Human Services, who were entrusted with the stolen children, can’t find the parents who have been deported. The suffering inflicted by our government will go on and on.
I am all in favor of controlling immigration, but not at the cost of our national soul. Every decent individual, and particularly Christians, should oppose this cruelty. To quote Zechariah: “Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.” President Trump’s politics relies on fomenting hatred and fear — appealing to the worst in our natures and degrading our society. The greatness of our country is far more threatened by the loss of common decency than it is by the arrival of desperate refugees.
Make America great again. Do it by standing against the worst excesses of the Trump administration.
Gina McCoy, Winthrop
Thanks to firefighters
Dear Editor:
We would like to give a huge thank you to Okanogan County Fire District 6. We want to thank you for responding to our fast-growing brush fire. We thought we were prepared with hoses and buckets of water, but could not keep up with the fast-moving fire through the dry grass. Thanks for the great positive attitudes of all the firemen and the many volunteers who were here for training.
Kurt and Pearl Ramcke, Winthrop
