Letters to the editor

The following are letters to the editor that appeared in the Oct. 7 print edition of The Peninsula Gateway. To submit a letter, e-mail gatewayeditor@gateline.com. Please keep letters submissions to 250 words.

Citizens should hold government to represent its collective interest

Re: Gig Harbor Council Meeting on Sept. 14.

I find it very disconcerting that the “South Sound DUI Victim’s Panel” is appalled at the “abuse” suffered by the City of Gig Harbor and its police department.

Really? The elementary school I attended taught “citizenship.” Citizens have a right to criticize their government, particularly when that government has acted with reckless indifference to the public good.

Indeed, it is a responsibility we all bear to ensure our representative government is working in our collective best interest. This responsibility also extends to the media.

I also find it interesting that the “South Sound DUI Victim’s Panel” fails to express concern that more than $200,000 was paid to self-proclaimed drug dealers in our community. If the public isn’t worried about events like this, what does matter?

The “South Sound DUI Victim’s Panel” doesn’t mention that Gig Harbor Police Chief Mike Davis serves as the chair of the Pierce County DUI Task Force. Is this the objectivity of which the letter to the editor speaks?

Probably the only persons capable of being truly objective in this matter were the jury in GHPD Sgt. Matthew Dougil’s trial. The jury found Dougil not guilty on all charges in about one hour of deliberation.

I will agree with the letter in that the facts should speak for themselves. So let’s have an external investigation of this matter conducted by an unbiased party.

Then we can see what policies and procedures have not been followed. Or does your government not want to disclose this information?

Richard Folde, Gig Harbor

Giving shields for free would save money on backtracking toll film

We tow a car behind our motor home, and both vehicles have a “Good to Go” sticker. When we cross the Narrows Bridge to Tacoma, we get charged for five axles, which includes the RV and car as one unit, and we also get charged for the car. When I call the 800 phone number to report the mistake, they take the information and tell me someone will look it up on the film to verify my claim.

I was told I could buy a shield to cover the “Good to Go” sticker in the car for $3.50. That would keep the sticker from being read. I would think it would benefit the state to give the shields to RV customers and save the money to pay someone to look it up on film, make the corrections to the account and send a letter by mail stating the result of the claim.

Dianne Hunter, Gig Harbor

Colors at Boundless Playground one of many researched factors

I am writing in response to a Gateway reader who “jeered” PenMet Parks for installing “fluorescent” playground equipment at Sehmel Homestead Park.

Most importantly, all should realize the significance of this very special playground. It is the Northwestern United States’ first Boundless Playground, and it’s being built right here in Gig Harbor. This playground will allow children of all abilities to learn and play as equals by incorporating elements like:

A “Barrier-free” ramping and pathways, so every child, regardless of mobility, can get to even the highest play deck;

A Play structures that accommodate all developmental ranges and abilities;

A Accessible and sensory-rich activities and textures;

A Specialized surfacing.

Now, about those colors. PenMet Parks asked for input from members of PenMet Foundation’s Boundless Playground Committee, which researched possible color schemes thoroughly. We found children are attracted to vibrant, inviting colors at playgrounds filled with a variety of equipment. We also considered such factors as color fading and heat/cold transference to allow for year-round play, but perhaps the most important reason this playground features bright, fun colors is to allow for children with vision impairments to better distinguish and navigate the equipment.

It’s our hope that this playground will be a place where all children may learn and develop essential skills through play, allowing them to reach their fullest potential, where tolerance and acceptance thrive, and where differences are not seen as deficits.

Jennifer Flint-Nelson, Gig Harbor

Community member goes out of his way to support local business

As a Fox Island resident and supporter of local businesses, I would like to thank Sean Scanlan of Island Rock and Water for his work to beautify Fox Island, protect local kids and for thinking outside the box when it comes to economic development.

Scanlan has installed a water feature surrounded by attractive plants at the Fox Island Grocery and Deli and Shell Station, and he also built a beautiful shelter for students to wait for the school bus at the same location.

Scanlan has done all of this without asking for any payment, and he should be commended for his efforts for going out on a limb as a way to advertise his work.

If you haven’t seen the project, please pull into the Fox Island Grocery and Deli and check it out. While you’re there, get a sandwich at the deli or drive through at Botra Bean coffee stand for a cup of coffee.

Now more then ever, we need to support local businesses.

John Jolibois, Fox Island

School district missed out on great opportunity for live speech

I was deeply saddened when I learned the Peninsula School District decided not to allow children to listen to a live broadcast of President Obama’s speech a few weeks ago.

A superintendent of education not wanting his students to hear a live a speech about the importance of an education; beseeching students to stay in school and have the best education possible in these fiscally trying times.

I have three great-grand children who attend Goodman Middle School and I’m troubled by that decision. As of last account, they still had not heard about it from their respective teachers. Could this have been a decision based on one’s political persuasion?

There is so much meanness in our time.Personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their ilk are constantly spewing hate messages, false innuendos and outright lies that reach many ill-informed listeners.

School dropouts are a big problem, and it seems emphasizing a “stay in school” message by a president who is where he is because of his education should be listened to by all students.

A sad, missed opportunity.

Charlotte Lorberbaum, Gig Harbor

We need independent leadership in those elected for public office

I am tired of career politicians. Take, for instance, Jan Shabro. In last week’s Letters to the Editor, it mentioned Shabro was endorsed by Cathy Pearsall-Stipek. Shabro got Pearsall-Stipek’s endorsement over her opponent, Julie Anderson, because Pearsall-Stipek did not like the fact that Anderson would not endorse Hillary Clinton for president.

I applaud Anderson for standing up to Pearsall-Stipek, who is probably trying to get back into politics herself after she saw longtime nemesis Dale Washam actually win a race. Shabro may be a nice person, but she is a career politician. Eight years on the Pierce County Council and four years as a state representative.

She even ran for Pierce County Assessor in 2008, coming in third in a race that Washam won, so her track record from years in office was not astounding enough to beat a political outsider.

We need new, independent-thinking people in elected leadership, not people who are career politicians and beholden to a political party.

William Powers, Gig Harbor

Obama’s speech didn’t belong in schools

Many Gig Harbor writers and educators have written to the Gateway and the News Tribune of Tacoma in support of the recent speech President Obama made to school children while he blasted opponents. They ignore his abandonment of the original political self-serving speech.

Obama spoke of supporting the constitution while he supported the overthrow of the Honduran constitution in order to protect his friend, Manuel Zelaya. The Tsar of Czars is busy circumventing our constitution, and Eric Holder at Justice is pursuing charges that President Bush and the CIA had a plan to kill terrorist leaders.

One Gig Harbor writer wonders where opponents were when Bush was “illegally” (not true) wiretapping American citizens’ conversations. Seems she missed the action by the Justice Department in mid-February that continues the same legal activity (going back to FDR), including rendition, without change.

Most men tend to gauge people by their close associates, such as ACORN, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Professor Lewis Gates. Obama’s appointments include Tim Geithner, now running the IRS and Treasury. Tom Daschle was his choice to dictate Obama Care.

Last month, Obama gave a speech to an assembled union crowd that reminded me of the forceful, arm-waving speeches by an Italian leader of the 1930s — posture, noise and all.

One writer suggests the president is going through his Jackie Robinson period. Look closely at his longtime mentors, and it seems he is continuing his Chicago street mob period of controlling everyone and everything. Unsavory as Al Capone was alleged by my generation, he did 11 years for not filing a tax return.

Comparing Capone to Obama and his associates, who have robbed the U.S. Treasury and are daily debasing the U.S. dollar, I wonder the response if Capone had wished to speak to our school children?

John Stadler, Fox Island