One more drop

In the Wednesday, Feb. 7 letters section, Mr. Brent Shirley very well addressed our leaking reserves and proposed pool project. Very sensible and well thought out.  Let’s remodel the Mountain View Pool and use our limited resources for much more pressing needs.

Jerome Druen

Port Townsend

Pool placement

I too want a new pool, though placed in a more central location for the rest of the county. Port Townsend already has most of the services. It’s time to share the wealth.

Elisabeth Rotchford Haight

Port Townsend, WA

Support for Quilcene schools

In listening to citizens in our Quilcene community, I hear several themes. Most of all there is a sense of belonging and support for our small rural Quilcene schools. Please consider these additional thoughts as you decide to cast your levy vote.

Parents with children in the Quilcene schools seem pleased with their students’ care, treatment, and growth in learning. Our citizens support the work of the School Board, staff and 25 citizens who brought forward the Replacement Levy. This levy reflects modest increases compared to other school districts and considers the inflationary times in which we live.

There is no evidence that a levy loss increases student achievement, as some claim. School districts that fail a levy have fewer teachers, materials, and student activities than what Quilcene offers at present. Passing this levy also provides an opportunity for the school district to qualify for other funds, such as revenue from state timber sales.

Please join me in appreciation to teachers and staff who spend their careers working with our young people. Remember, budget cuts alone don’t make smarter students. Former President Thomas Jefferson called on the nation for significant education to build a wonderful democracy. Not an easy task, but one on which we continue to work.

Brian H. Barker

Retired teacher and principal

Quilcene, WA

Good Samaritans

The morning of Feb. 1, I was walking from the Co-op to Haines Place. As I approached the intersection of 12th Street and Sims Way, I slipped on a muddy section of the sidewalk and went down hard, landing on my shoulder and face. I was in extreme pain and having a difficult time getting to my feet. Almost immediately, a woman stopped her car and offered to help. Though I was covered in mud, she did not hesitate to put me in her car and drive me to the emergency room at JHC. Later, she returned to JHC and offered to drive me home, though by that time, I had already made other arrangements. In the hospital, I was diagnosed with a fractured humerus, and instead of being left on the sidewalk which may have happened in other cities, I was saved by one of our community’s most important assets: people who care. Thank you, Chris.

Jim Kellogg

Port Townsend, WA

Dog whistles

We are currently facing a set of existential problems that are intentional and immoral, but not imminent or instantaneous. When someone tries to warn us about these problems, what do we hear? Anything at all? It’s been 74 years since the phrase “dog whistle” was first used to describe the art of sending out a message to those sensitive to a particular issue, while those less concerned about the issue would not hear the message at all. It hasn’t always worked. When

Fernando de la Rua blew his dog whistle in the 1990s, Argentinians took to the streets. He fled his palace in a helicopter. When Jose Maria Aznar blew his dog whistle in 2004, accusing Basque separatists of bombing commuter trains, Spaniards voted him out of power.

Today, when politicians claim that the opposition party wants to steal your hamburgers and ban gas stoves, they are obviously blowing their dog whistle: sending out a coded message to garner support without actually worrying about facts.

If someone tells you that eating hamburgers makes you complicit in increasing global obesity and decreasing cardiovascular health, while allowing the slaughtering of millions of animals each year in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), do you hear them? Do you hear anything when deforestation for animal agriculture is mentioned as a major factor in climate change? If you don’t know that using your gas stove compromises your family’s respiratory health and increases greenhouse gas emissions, you just may have Dog Whistle Syndrome.

Jens Abrahamsen

Langley, WA

If someone tells you that eating hamburgers makes you complicit in increasing global obesity and decreasing cardiovascular health, while allowing the slaughtering of millions of animals each year in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), do you hear them? Do you hear anything when deforestation for animal agriculture is mentioned as a major factor in climate change? If you don’t know that using your gas stove compromises your family’s respiratory health and increases greenhouse gas emissions, you just may have Dog Whistle Syndrome.

Jens Abrahamsen

Langley, WA

Respect all remains

To the residents of Jefferson County: As your County Coroner, I write to ask that if you have human remains that were collected at some point, perhaps once part of a scientific exhibit, or brought back by a relative from an armed conflict from far away, please consider contacting my office so that we can facilitate the repatriation of those remains.

We are contacted from time to time by people who are in the possession of bones for a variety of reasons, and no longer wish to possess them.

On Feb. 8, we were contacted by a Native American tribe in California and asked to facilitate the transfer of some bones collected from their ancestral area many years ago. These were now possessed by a resident of Port Townsend who wished to return them. We were shocked to receive 12 boxes of human remains. It appears as though a cemetery had been completely denuded of remains.

I write this letter for two reasons. If you happen to discover human remains, please do not touch them. Leave them where they are and contact law enforcement. If they are forensic — meaning related to a missing person or crime — we need to understand the exact environment in which remains were located. If they are not forensic, the remains are likely those of the ancestors of the original inhabitants of this land. It is important that we show respect to our native neighbors by not disturbing the remains of their ancestors. Local tribes will be contacted should they have any interest in relocating the remains.

The other reason I write is so that in case you have any such remains, you know to please contact my office. We will in turn work with the state Department of Archaeology to ensure all remains are properly returned to their communities.

James Kennedy

Port Townsend, WA

(Editor’s Note: The office of Jefferson County’s Prosecuting Attorney / Coroner can be reached at 360-385-9180.)

Calling for ceasefire

Last week, a letter writer asked what effect a City Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza would have. Well, for one thing, it has occasioned this interchange, which is an active part of democracy. Plus in my case, an effort to stop Israel’s genocidal war. 

The writer spends most of her letter telling us how bad Hamas is. We know how bad Hamas is: misogynistic, anti-science oppressors. The writer should instead tell the Israelis about Hamas, because in the 1980s they helped form Hamas as a counterweight to the more secular PLO, and only recently (but before Oct. 7)  Netanyahu bragged about how he’s “played” Hamas to oppose any form of Palestinian self-rule. 

So, leading Israelis can “work with” Hamas. What then accounts for the genocidal ferocity of their attack? Oct. 7 was a major black eye for the Zionist state. Their much-vaunted military was unable to learn about, much less repel, Hamas. Their intelligence system (touted as “the greatest in the world”) looked like it was run by schlemiels, and even the defensive Iron Dome was overwhelmed by crude rockets made of discarded Israeli weapons. 

Israel is using the mass murder of Palestinians to reassert its role as the attack dog for Western-style imperialism. “Better to be feared than loved” as Machiavelli said. 

Apartheid Israel, like apartheid-era South Africa, is an illegitimate state, and as such has no right to self defense. We hear supporters of Israel ask, “What 

is Israel supposed to do?” It’s simple: Israel is supposed to stop brutally oppressing the Palestinian people. Until then — No justice, no peace. 

Michael Schiller

Port Townsend, WA

Standing up for empathy

I’m part Jewish on my mother’s side, but a human being first. And I’m sad. If what we need in Israel and Palestine is healing, Oct. 7 was a great setback. But which side has the power? Certainly not the Palestinians, among whom Hamas fighters are a minority. 

Oct. 7 came after Oct. 6, after 76 years of torment, and after 56 years of additional land grabs after the 1967 war. For a healthy world based on empathy and acceptance, rather than on fear and loathing, we must not ignore history. Listen to the young people all around the world, and don’t let them be censored. Listen to the Jewish voices for peace!

Why are our representatives and mainstream media not listening to us or to Palestinians? One reason is the Israeli lobby. AIPAC is a political action committee and an agent of a foreign government that is known for interfering with elections. Our representatives are afraid of them.

In 1985, author Grace Halsell wrote: “no congressperson has ever suggested cutting aid to Israel and won their next election.” I think that this is still true, and our mainstream media toes the line also. AIPAC conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, though that’s ridiculous and they know it. They’ve added an eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt not criticize Israel.” But we must!  I think we must ask: Has ethnic cleansing made Israelis safer, or has it made them despised and threatened? 

The kill rate is currently 25 :1 (28,000:1,200), and getting worse. When Hamas is gone, won’t the suffering and pain visited upon the people of Gaza multiply the resistance 10 to 20 times over? What then?

We must demand a cease fire, and stop military aid.

R. Sidney Collins

Port Townsend, WA

Taxing properties

I am writing because I just received my county tax bill, which is now more than 10 percent of what I paid to buy my place. Our county seemingly shows no spending restraint, or acknowledges their significant role in making homing unaffordable. In order to not have my home sold at a tax sale, I must now budget more for tax than food, utilities, gas, and insurance combined. No wonder California voters choose property tax freezes years ago.

I believe landlords often are blamed for high rents. Owners cannot afford to subsidize a quarter-million dollar-plus property with our extreme taxation, without rents covering that load.

Judith Walls

Port Ludlow