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2 --August 13, 2015
editor@newslj.com
J® ml]
Our view
We don't know if the hesitation expressed by the Weston
County Commission over appointing Newcastle City Engineer
Bob Hartley to the fledgling Solid Waste District Board
prompted the conversation at last week's city council meeting
that resulted in the group electing to not accept county funds to
support operation of the city's landfill for this fiscal year, but
suspect that it may have provided a little motivation.
We really don't blame the city council for pulling back a little
and protecting the interests of the citizens they represent and
are elected to serve, and understand why Hartley was incensed
over the commissioners' reaction to his offer to sit on the landfill
board when it is formed.
We also anticipate that there will be some in county govern-
ment who will take issue with the council's refusal of the funds
that were offered, and will be even more offended by the engi-
neer's angry response to the county's refusal of his offer to help.
That's okay too.
Democracy is often messy, and the system of government
under which we live was specifically created and engineered
to produce conflict. When we were in elementary school, we
learned that, but the language was softened up a little bit, and we
were taught to refer to that inherent conflict as our "system of
checks and balances."
When the Founding Fathers cooked up this little experiment
of self-government, they did plenty of yelling at each other in the
process, and the system of government they created under the
Constitution represented the hard-fought compromise they struck
after slugging it out for weeks over the ideas, ideals and interests
each of those individuals represented.
As a result, we were handed a form of government with a
number of different layers federal, state and local and at
each level there were three different branches legislative, .
executive and judicial.
To make things even stickier, they ensured with the First
Amendment that there would always be a Fourth Estate the
press and if you read this page last week you know that this
newspaper does not shrink from conflict if we perceive that
something in local government is out of balance.
Conflict is not comfortable, but it is sometimes necessary to
produce the appropriate result, and we are pleased to inform our
readers that our interactions with the County Clerk's Office have
been both professional and pleasant this week, and that's a Credit
to them. We also have faith in the elected representatives who
serve on the county commission and city council, and believe
they too will work through the conflict that has again boiled to
the surface over a landfill issue that has been present for longer
; than most of them havebeen in office. " ~ ..... ~'..
And they will do so because, at the end of the day like .......
, this newspaper they serve many of the same people. There
" will always be times when we argueabout how best to represent
those people, but if we remain committed to serving them (and
don't hesitate to speak openly and honestly about the interests
and ideals we are trying to uphold) a solution will almost always
present itself. We are ready to put our differences with county
government aside and move forward, and believe city and county
officials are willing to do the same in the conflicts they some-
times are forced to engage in. Things have been said in the past,
couple of weeks that probably needed to be said on all fronts,
and if we were all listening as well as we were speaking things
should work out just fine.
release all information about everything.
Government should
not Again, knowledge is power. The gov-
interfere with information ernment is already powerful, but becoming
more powerful as the citizens know less.
Dear Editor, They could take everything and people
In past times, this government has wouldn't know any better because they had
banned information and books from its citi- no warning about it.
zens, such as the "Grapes of Wrath." This is the people's country and they
This cannot happen again, need to rule it. People are paying them to
Books and into being banned is wrong, find information about world problems, and
and leaves people without knowing what bad if they are getting paid to help the country,
past history and news happened or is hap- they need to do their job. They are keeping
pening. People should fight this because: important into from the people, and people
The First Amendment plainly says that really need to know if they are headed for an
it is legal to produce or say whatever a book economic crash or anything bad so they can
or news happens to be. People need to learn prepare for it.
new stuff, but can't. The government is not Overall, the government needs to be
allowed withhold this kind of into from its honest with its people.
taxpaying citizens, and schools and teachers School workers and students need this
need this information to do their jobs. information for work. Perhaps a college
The First Amendment of the Constitution student needs to write an essay on a govern-
strictly says that "Freedom of religion, ment project, and it is blocked on the web-
freedom of speech, and freedom of the sites they try because it is blocked off from
press" is allowed and constitutional, the people. Without all of the information
The reason that is the first amendment is the student could fail that class and have to
because it is the most important one of them pay ridiculous amounts of money to retake it
all. because of into bans.
That alone should mean that government Also teachers need this into for work.
should stop banning websites, books, news, If they are banned from information they
and other printed or internet available ideas, could lose their job since they missed the
Also, the reason the constitution was curriculum for the school. In conclusion, it is
written in the first place was so that the gov- necessary for the students to get the into, but
ernment would follow it and abide by every they cannot so they get into trouble for it.
rule set b3; the founding fathers. A happy wonderful world would be nice,
Without all of the knowledge people but the truth is it cannot happen if there are
could be un-prepared for anything, clueless people. Therefore it is wrong to
Knowledge is power. If there was an inva- ban information because the people are not
sign that they had no clue about because it getting the full message in the news.
was banned news, they could be killed. If This should not be allowed because citi-
they were better prepared because of the zens and teachers need to be told the right
news being released, they could survive, ideas about situations in this country while
Another idea is that people might not the government is distributing all informa-
know how to build certain things. If they tion to their citizens.
were going to build a nuclear reactor but --Zach LaPierre
couldn't find into on it, they could lose a lot (Ed. note." The preceding letter was
of money for their job. All in all, without written for an assignment in Debb Proctor's
certain into people could get hurt. Freshmen English class. Please send any
Also, the government needs to be honest responses to this letter to editor@newslj.
and the only way to be sure of that is to com)
i-y.-:
- • i:
[i
Need to talk to a public
Contact information for State Legislators:
007)746-8899
0gden.Driskill@wyoleg.g0v
Curt.Meier@wyoleg.gov
Hans.Hunt@wy01eg.g0v
Tyler.Lindh01m@wyoleg.g0v
the Editor .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Made in America used to mean
made to last
Dear Editor,
In the Opinion section of your paper on July 30,
a writer noted the many U.S. manufacturing jobs
that have moved oversees, particularly to China
(Partisan politics are simply a distraction, page
two).
I agree with the author, and also agree when
he mentions that country's attempt to replace the
United States economically and by influence. Some
blame, of course, also lies in companies such as the
one he named, Ford Motors, who now have some of
their manufacturing done in China due to cheaper
labor.
But let's concentrate not so much on economics
as the goods themselves, the stuff we use every
day. As a consumer I see all these things around
me and they look just as they always have.
Take, for instance, the clothes pin.
Where I grew up in Northern Idaho
those pins stayed on the wire clothes
line day and night--winter with
freezing temperatures and months of
snow, summer in the sun, days where
it could get up in the 90's. Well, those
critters just lasted, stayed there and the
same all those years.
Try that now--after you're lucky
enough to find a place that actually
sells clothes pins. You have to be so
very careful to press the spring in, not too much
pressure or you'll come out with half a pin on the
line, the other part with the flimsy bit of wood
lying there on the ground.
How about the lowly bobbi pin? They could be
used for years, even after they'd sprung and could
be sprung back. Their use went far beyond hair
fixing. They were a quick repair kit for just about
everything, including holding up the lawn mower
bag, to pin down the top of a baby stroller, or a
quick repair for a missing button. Bobbi pins were
made out of good, sturdy metal. No longer good
and no longer metal; they now are plastiC.
Just about anything at all you can think of will
look the same as what you remembered, but prob-
ably are not. The zipper is a good example. They
used to out-last the jackets and pants they were
sewed to. No more. Of course, they too are not
made of metal, but the worst part is that they come
apart and that's the end of the story for them. part of the commons.
When our jobs went over-seas, we lost much Compare our situation to that of the passenger
more than good family wages. We also have given pigeon. There were millions, perhaps billions.
up, in many aspects, the pride and the knowledge They happily flew around in huge flocks. When
and interpretation of the phrase "Made in United they landed in certain places the Punt guns came
States of America." out and one shot would kill almost all that landed.
--Kari A. Clark Being tasty, there was a good market for them.
Sutherlin, Oregon They are now extinct!
If we don't fly right we will be One might say that consumption killed them.
Will consumption do the same to us?
gone like the passenger pigeon --Jerry Baird
The good old days are gone
but better could lie ahead
Dear Editor,
What is "The Commons" and is it important to
us? The short definition is "An earth on which we
all can comfortably live."
That means not only clean water to drink and
clean air to breathe but also just laws and regula-
tions equitably enforced. That's a tall order.
On the other hand, capitalism is the operation of
a national economy that facilitates and encourages
the accumulation of wealth. There are no
intrinsic limits to the operation of capi-
talism. Consumption is the primary
tool of capitalism.
We go millions of miles in vehicles
injecting destructive climate change
into the atmosphere. We turn on yard
lights, porch lights, electric signs, air
conditioning and God only knows
what else then leave everything
running night and day injecting more
destructive climate change into the
atmosphere.
Only a few pay attention and fewer still are
motivated to think it through then act.
We, here in the USA, have come to the place
where unchecked capitalism is about to consume all
of, and thereby destroy, the commons.
Inadvertently that destroys capitalism and us
along with it. Most, probably all, of the developed
world are co-conspirators in this unintentional
destruction.
It is climate change that will destroy the
commons. The destruction is incremental, barely
noticeable. Some dismiss it as only occasional, hap-
pening every four or five million years, and there is
nothing we can do about it.
So, just lay down and wait for it to come.
Or not!
If you prefer to not become part of the Sixth
Extinction put a little thought and action into your
..... ~iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiii!~¸:¸ :%iiiiiiiiiii?¸::~iiiiiiii~¸~¸¸ ~iiii!!iii~i ¸~¸:
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Editor
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FAX: 307-746-2660
E-mall: editor@newslj.com ....
What
We strive to cover all the news and
entertainment important to the people of
Weston County, Wyoming. Our entire staff
takes part in the decision-making process
of what appears in these pages and all
content is locally generated. If you have a
story idea please contact any of the people
you see here. NLJ editorials appear in the
upper left hand corner of this page and are
written from the position of the newspa-
per, usually with the influence of several
people, and in the hope that they will carry
the weight of our lO0-plus years of lead-
ership. The personal columns and letters "
appearing elsewhere on this page, and *
others, represent the opinions of single ,
individuals and do not necessarily reflect
the position of the newspaper. The NLJ '
welcomes and encourages your Letter to ,
the Editor. We will print all signed, original :
letters of local interest. Please provide a
phone number for verification. We will not ,
publish letters that are libelous or scurri- "
Ious in nature. Letters of thanks are offered
at a reduced price in our classified section. !
Dear Editor,
Jerry Baird is so focused on his nemesis
industrialists that he ignores the reason many have
moved factories overseas.
We were being inundated by foreign made prod-
ucts to the extent that we were losing industries.
The American people were looking for bargains
and were buying whatever was cheaper.
Our car companies were in real trouble.
The clothing industry was losing more all the
time.
.... ~i!i!i!i!~i~i!i~i;~ %~!i!i~i:Rili~¸¸¸ :~:ii~i!ii;i¸¸
Stop in Monday through Friday
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The only solution was for the companies was to 1
move to where the labor was cheaper. !
There are more and more jobs that American WI~C i
people refuse to do, and because they would rather
take welefare payments. It would be ideal if we
could go back 50 years to a time when everyone ..........
who wanted a job could find one and everybody in NewsLetter Journal is published each
Thursday at 14 W. Main Street in Newcastle
River City was happy, but that is not how the world (Weston Co.) WY 82701. Periodicals post-
works, age paid at Newcastle, WY. USPS No. 389-
Our society built its economy on debt 940. Deadline for advertising is the prior
financing and we cannot break the habit. We Friday at 5 p.m.
are living longer and medical expenses continue
to increase. Profligate spending has caused our
nationalis increasing.debt to skyrocket. Violence on the streets ~h
I agree with Jerry that wealth is flowing toward
the few, but at the same time the lower income V
segment of society is living better than ever. To provide news and ente~ment for, and i
Redistribution of wealth has always been a to serve the best interests 0t. the people of
problem but the numbers are larger now so the West0n County.
problem seems bigger. Expensive medicine is pro-
viding longer lifespans. Serving West0n County since 1889. All con-
Will the good old days ever return? No. tents are property of the News Letter Journal,
The better new days will be our future if we can (NLJ) Copyright 2010. NLJ is a publication |
make some good choices, of News Letter Journal, LLC, Thomas R.
J
--Don Thorson Mullen and Robert H. Hicks, owners.