Do it for the community
Dear Editor:
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank the staff at Aero Methow Rescue Service — two staff members in particular, Justin Porter and Jenn Schumacher. This past week they helped me navigate a possible COVID exposure for my family. With so much information swirling around, it was so helpful to have their scientifically backed advice and guidance. They helped me understand my testing options, and provided me with a flow chart regarding the different scenarios for my school-aged children, one who is vaccinated, and two younger who are not.
On that note, please consider vaccinating yourself and your children if you haven’t already. This community will thank you for it. If you choose not to get vaccinated, then please follow the proper guidelines of masking, testing and quarantining if needed. Do it for our kids, for our seniors, and even our working parents.
I know the August 2021 return to school was way more exciting for me than March 2020 shutdown. I believe that to be one thing this community can all agree on.
Patti Somerville
Winthrop
Coming Home Celebration, COVID style (again)
Dear Editor:
Although we have canceled the public gathering for this year’s Coming Home celebration at Homestream Park, we hope everyone has an opportunity to visit the park this fall to take in the changing season and marvel at the resilience of our returning salmon. If you haven’t ever done so, a must-see is the view from the Winthrop pedestrian bridge looking down at the spawning activity that usually starts in the first couple of weeks of October. Born in the Methow waters years ago, these salmon have traveled thousands of miles, navigating nine dams to and from the Pacific Ocean, venturing far out into the sea until called to return “home” to spawn a new generation. It’s remarkable!
This notion of “coming home” has even greater significance this year as the Methow Conservancy is nearing completion on a land transaction that will return over 300 acres and 1.6 miles of Chewuch River front to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in honor of the Methow people who have called the valley home for thousands of years. Their bond to the water, the salmon, and the land can be an inspiration to the collective efforts underway to rebalance our relationship with nature and its threatened bounty.
Though we won’t be gathering in person out of respect for the health of our fellow community members, we still celebrate the renewal of the season, marked by the returning salmon.
Cathy and Phil Davis
Winthrop
Biggest loser
Dear Editor:
I’ve just been watching a PBS documentary series on the great American boxer, Muhammad Ali. I’ve also been reading about all the baseless Trump lawsuits still being filed, even in our own state, and that Trump is still whining about election fraud. So I was particularly struck by Ali’s dignified statement after he lost a world championship fight to Joe Frazier in 1971 (as quoted from the documentary):
“We all have various defeats. A celebrity or so-called great person have obligation to fulfill to take defeat like a man so they can take their defeats when they have them because we all will have various defeats in life. … And when a man can come through this after so many years of victory and been so supreme in his field and able to handle his defeat also victorious, then this makes him a bigger man.”
Al Gore beat George W. Bush by over 500,000 votes. Had the Supreme Court not stopped the vote recount in Florida, Gore would have won the Electoral College and the presidency as well. After that decision was announced, Gore conceded:
“I accept the finality of the outcome … And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.”
Hillary Clinton beat Trump by nearly 3 million votes. When our skewed Electoral College count denied the popular vote and made Trump the winner, Clinton called Trump the next day to congratulate him.
Joe Biden beat Trump by over 7 million votes. Yet Trump refused to congratulate Biden or even admit defeat. He’s a sore loser, still crying fraud. To paraphrase Mohammad Ali, that makes Trump a very small man indeed.
Randy Brook
Twisp
Great reunion
Dear Editor:
On Sept. 19, the Class of ’71 met in Twisp for their 50th high school class reunion. In attendance were: Curt Bovee, Winthrop; Elaine Evans Meis, Vancouver; Maggie Grim, Selah; Jim Doran, Bellingham; Linda Hutson Diseth, Wenatchee; Verlene Lorenzen Hughes, Omak; Mike Mauk, Brewster; Rob Risley, Twisp; John Shaw, Monroe; Gary Shemorry, Peshastin. Class of 1970 emissaries were Chuck Hopkins, Kennewick; Jerry Merrier, Ellensburg; Steve Michelson, Olympia; Melinda Bourn, Winthrop; and Darralyn Johnson Darwood, Twisp and Hayden, Idaho
Jere Seguin, from the Class of ’72, hosted the group at his site along the Twisp River. It was a pleasant day as summer began to fade. Not too cold and not too hot.
Two realizations came from the gathering. One, it was very good to see that reliable, stable and enjoyable people from so long ago had held on to their souls. There is a lot of strangeness and strangers in the world today. It is reassuring to see that goodness is still goodness. Two, it was agreed upon, by a consensus so it must be true, that the classes of 1970 and 1971 were the best high school classes that Twisp High School had ever seen.
It was also determined that at age 68, or thereabouts, we are not yet geezers. Young at heart and glad to still be here. It has been a long interesting ride, that’s for sure.
There are plans to hold a 55-year reunion in 2026 because the concerns over COVID kept a number of classmates away. There will be reminders sent out and the place to be determined.
Go, Yellow Jackets.
Jim Doran
Twisp Class of ’71
