Letters to the Editor

Forgotten proof of purchase

Lind Mayor Paula Bell is reviewing old ordinances — even though Lind paid $6,000-plus to have our ordinances codified — to make sure old, rescinded ordinances are not included in Lind laws anymore. Paula Bell has “discovered” that years ago the town charged dog owners a one-time fee of $25 per dog. This is not in our town code, which most likely means it was rescinded, probably in favor of annual dog licenses.

But Paula Bell has decided to re-instate the one-time fee and keep annual licensing with a council approved $100 fine for non-compliance. Are they going to peek over your fences to determine if your pets are the same ones or new ones or if you have a hidden dog?

There is no report or tracking of one-time fees in the software. So, if you don’t save your receipt for the 15-year-life of your dog, you could be charged again. It appears to be very common for Paula Bell to say “we can’t find it.”

During the past four years, I don’t believe Paula Bell has fined anyone for not having a dog license. If she tells you otherwise, ask for proof and don’t settle for her usual vague, flips remark that says nothing. She does nothing about dogs that are still barking all night

This $25 fee takes a lot of work to be enforced and won’t be applied to every dog owner equally. It is not much income for Lind or a sustained income flow, so what is the point of bringing back rescinded fees?

I would love to teach all of you how to use our code using the public website that apparently Paula Bell “forgotten” to tell anyone about: https://www.codepublishing.com/WA/Lind/#!/Lind01/Lind01.html.

You may need it.

Denise Snead

– Lind

Deciding of language and definitions

What’s in a word? Think tanks have been very successful in directing our thoughts to the way they want us to act. Lakoff’s book, Don’t Think of an Elephant, suggests that the words we use have consequences. Words often become popular and may be used to our detriment.

For example, “tax burden” brings to mind something very unpleasant, maybe unfair. Yet, we all need to pay for the benefit of government provisions, such as roads, schools, libraries and disaster relief. Every American benefits from roads, for example.

For years, the use of “oil spill” has been irritating me. What comes to mind with “spill”? - a picture of a little tea spilled from a teacup, not a huge uncontrolled leak with millions of gallons spewing from broken pipes.

Consider the phrases “the undocumented” instead of “illegal immigrants”

The latest is “insurrection”. According to the Merriam-Webster researchers. the most searched word in 2021 was “vaccine” followed by “insurrection”. “Insurrection” is the “act of revolting against civil authority or an established government”, and is commonly used to describe events of January 6th, 2021. So, “insurrection” obviously is not well-known and could even include protests.

However, “failed coup” appears to conjecture a greater danger. A “coup”, short for “coup d’etat” is defined as a “sudden decisive exercise of force in politics”, but particularly “a violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group. “

Which is more accurate “failed coup” or “insurrection” when referring to January 6th.?

Nancy Street

– Cheney