Thanks

for support

I had hoped to report that New Dungeness Lighthouse was the winner of the 2008 Jeld-Wen Lighthouse window contest; however, even though we had super support from our members and people in our community, we could not compete with other finalists in the more densely populated areas. Although Jeld-Wen has not named the winner, the three finalists are located in North Carolina, Michigan and Louisiana.

Thanks for your votes and all the support that you give the New Dungeness Light Station Association during the year.

Harvey Smith

President, New Dungeness Light Station Association



Respect

property rights

In response to Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict's article "Respecting property rights of others."

His list of people who should identify themselves to property owners before trespassing on their property should be extended to include government employees.

Paul Onopiuk

Port Angeles



Get to high ground

in case of earthquake

Did you know that the Vancouver Island Plate is under Sequim and it's moving?

Yes, our world's plates have been moving around for a long time. Probably since our Earth obtained a moon, which makes the ground you live on move up and down about three feet a day. It's the motor that makes the Earth plates move around.

It's the reason there are seashells on top of the mountains in the Olympics and why mud balls with fossilized crabs in the middle are on our local Bell Hill. No dinosaur fossils here, this land is too young.

For a long time now, farmers have been noticing the ponds moving around on the farms etc., caused by the land rising and falling. The railroad tracks, now long gone, zigzagged, making the train wiggle like a snake as it tooted along - as the glacier clay deposits are sliding downhill.

This land you are living on used to have 5,000 feet of ice on it making its way to the sea many times in the past. This is why the glacier till under your feet is just loaded with ice age fossils and artifacts. The land has been changed by massive amounts of flooding from both rivers and tsunami.

Yes, when the coastline gets massive earthquakes from the Cascadia subduction zone

breaking, these ground shocks are about a 30-foot rolling ground wave coming at us from all points west. This shock ground wave is traveling 500 mph +/- and puts the salt waters of the straits onto the land as it demolishes all rigid masonry buildings. This is why there is endless deep tsunami sand on the land east of Sequim, West Sequim Bay Road.

Get out and look around for the eskers and drumlins and kettle ponds, Hogback Road area, left by the glaciers - and the scars left on the land by massive floods from tsunamis before white men settled on this land. Then question whether the earthquake drill was done correctly or was it just a radio drill? Power will be knocked out immediately as power poles are sheared off. People don't know they have to get to high ground immediately - by foot, as the salt waters come with the massive ground shocks.

Richard Dobbs

Sequim



Who's the real hero?

This concerns the many articles and photographs about the magnificent efforts of county, state and federal law enforcement officials in bringing a quick and satisfactory end to the killer of Kristine Fairbanks. Said Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict when he awarded the Medal of Valor to the two deputies who concluded this tragic and tawdry episode, "These deputies (Andrew Wagner and Matthew Murphy) are being commended for their ability to go through proper procedures and make smart decisions in a stressful situation."

What about the other real brave person, the one who made all of this possible? I refer to the "convenience store clerk" who had the sharp eye, the presence of mind and the astonishing courage to put himself in the line of fire by notifying the officials of the suspect's being in the store?

In all the articles about the episode, the clerk is given scant notice. He's (she's?) kept anonymously in the background, given no recognition for his (her?) superb effort. He had no "proper procedures to go through" but simply did what needed to be done.

Does one need to wear a uniform to be accorded public acclaim?

Should that clerk, a real hero, be publicly acclaimed?

If not, why not?

Abraham Ringel

Port Angeles



Eliminate journalistic propaganda

Propaganda is the United States' worst enemy as it attempts to control the mind-set of the people with half-truths, innuendo and downright lies. Who are the perpetrators? The media, of course, as they apply their spin and allow paid political falsehoods to be aired through their medium. What happened to ethical journalism! Freedom of the press must come with responsibility. Can and will they clean themselves up or is litigation necessary? Does the likes of the ACLU have to take them to court to deter the fraud they are perpetrating?

Propaganda has been used through the centuries to control the illiterate and the uninformed. Recent history has seen the Italian Fascists, German Nazis and Russian Communists control their masses via Mussolini's aired rantings, Herr Goebel's Nazi deceptions and Communist's Tass's communiqués. Is it happening to us, at the present time, with our uncontrolled propagandizing media? I am not advocating government censorship as freedom of speech is our greatest luxury, only that the public insist the guilty take the yellow out of journalism.

The media depends on commercial support to function; do we have to organize and boycott their sponsors?

Jim Harper

Sequim