What about the seals?
Dear Editor:
Regarding the guest column on water culverts (Dec. 22): I see a lot in the printed media and also on TV about the plight of the salmon in our state. One thing I don’t see is the impact that seals in the Salish Sea have on our salmon runs.
According to the state of Washington, the Salish Sea has a population of 80,000 seals. If each seal ate one salmon day, that would come to 29,200,000 a year of lost fish to return to our rivers.
Some of the tribal people are trying to control these seals.
Ken Dodd
Bellingham
Turn off your car
Dear Editor:
I know it is darn cold, but please turn your car off at the Methow Valley Community Center. This building pulls in the carbon monoxide delivering it to everyone inside. And to your children when they are in class. It is not healthy! It is worse when cars are parked against the building; it drifts in. If you need to get warm, come inside. You are welcome here.
Kirsten Ostlie
Methow Valley Community Center
Twisp
No excuse for no exit
Dear Editor:
Our valley already has several communities that are at great risk during fire season partly because they have very limited routes of escape. Of course, these communities were planned and built before we were so keenly aware of fire danger. We don’t need another such community and intentionally designing one would be highly irresponsible.
But, as presented to residents of the Cascade Condominiums, that is exactly what the Methow Housing Trust is proposing for the development under construction and planning across from the post office and surrounding the Cascade Condominium complex. When complete, the communities there would house about a fifth of Winthrop’s population but would have only a single point of exit to the highway, and at the very same location that the KOA and the Confluence Clinic also access it.
Well-meaning intentions to help people out with housing needs is no excuse for putting them in harm’s way. It smacks of classism. No one would put themselves in a potential no-exit situation these days unless they had no other choice. The folks who will live in the newly constructed housing are not second-class citizens and shouldn’t be treated as such. The Town of Winthrop must assume responsibility for this development within its boundaries and make sure its residents are treated fairly and safely. Better planning and at least one additional access point directly to the highway are a minimal requirement. As a resident in the Cascade Condominiums, I support this development, provided it’s done responsibly.
Mark Miller
Winthrop
