Stand up on behalf of Social Security

Lately, I have been dumbfounded by hearing politicians and pundits confidently stating that Social Security is the main cause of the federal deficit. Well, no matter how they twist the facts into pretzels, Social Security is no part of U.S. debt.

Social Security, unlike the defense department, transportation department, etc., which are dependent on appropriations, is completely self-funded. Workers and employers contribute monies, which are awarded to retirees, severely handicapped people, and dependents. To simplify, when outgo exceeds income, in the worst case payments will have to be reduced accordingly. This will not affect the deficit.

Why the Chainsaw Man is blindly hacking at the administrative structure of Social Security, which has run more efficiently than most businesses, begs for an answer. In any event, this thinly disguised effort to destroy Social Security by closing offices, indiscriminately firing an already reduced and exhausted workforce, and my personal favorite, claiming living people are dead and fraud-motivated dead people are living, will make it impossible for Social Security to function. Social Security will die, not because of a lack of funds, but because checks won’t be sent out, and there will be no place to get them.

More than 30% of Pacific County is over 65, so a lot of us, Republican and Democrat, have a dog in this fight. Please join me and make some noise. Call, write, or email politicians and news organizations. Demonstrate, join town halls, enlist neighbors. Do whatever you can, because, since most of our elected representatives are either in denial or in a coma, we’ll have to do this ourselves.

MARILYN KELLY

Ocean Park

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Trump’s actions are no surprise

It is often said that religion or politics should not be discussed in public places. Jesus wants us to discuss belief in Him, and at this point, we really need to discuss politics as well. I very much long to discuss both, with honesty, and to be allowed to listen to other views and collection of facts —  but not “alternative facts,” because there are no such!

My faith is strong and has kept me strong. I learned that from my mom. But my mom was also very much involved in political issues, in particular women’s rights. Thirty-five of the necessary 38 states (the constitutionally required three-fourths) have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, and it is therefore not yet a part of the U.S. Constitution. How is that even possible today, when it has been introduced to Congress every year for 100 years? Look to see who is holding it up!

Sadly, we are not able to have honest discussions between differing opinions. I have been called many names for being a Democrat. I guess that goes with the discussion element, but more names are used than facts, which makes for terrible outcomes, such as we have today! Half of Congress is as if they are neutered, afraid to disagree, when in fact they do. This is so evident when you listen to what they have said and professed up until a few years ago. Take U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as an important and prime example.

Attacks on media, judges, and so much more, are cheered by many! Many also wrongly cheer vandalism on Tesla, while Musk is vandalizing our government. If you are surprised at what Trump is doing, you shouldn’t be — it was spelled out in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which Trump claimed to have no knowledge of. And yet most who authored different parts of Project 2025 are now in his cabinet.

POUL TOFTEMARK

Rosburg

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WHH plan is the best way to go

In a few weeks north county communities face a critical decision on the future of healthcare.

The board has listened to and addressed concerns about last year’s bond proposal. We’ve spent the past year conducting extensive outreach, holding community meetings, and sharing information through various channels to better explain the urgent need for new facilities. Some have accused us of using marketing tactics and playing on people’s emotions. Our goal has been to share honest information about the state of our facilities and the best option for replacement.

The cost of the proposal is — rightfully — a big concern. We have reduced the bond request from $46 million to a maximum of $42 million. We are actively seeking over $18 million in grants and support, which can only be secured with community approval of the bond. Waiting to build will result in increased costs for us all.

Some have suggested we lower the request to $0.50 per thousand dollars valuation. We can’t reduce the cost to that level without reducing the services we currently have available. This is not the direction we want to go. Our community needs more local healthcare options; demand for services is growing. New services, including cardiac care, have been recently added; these clinics are full.

We want more care available locally, so people do not have to commute to get the service they need. There will always be some services we can’t provide; however, we have proven we can grow services locally and will continue to do so once we have adequate facilities.

This investment is crucial for our economic vitality, providing family-wage jobs and ensuring healthcare accessibility for future generations. We ask for your support in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure modern healthcare for our community, just as previous generations did for us.

KATHY SPOOR

Raymond

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Olsen speaks up about jail decision

I was pleased to see the article in the March 26 edition of the Observer reporting on the thoughts of the three chiefs of police from the cities of South Bend, Raymond and Long Beach. To say that the commissioners have taken heat for their decision on Dec. 26 to make the jail its own division under our purview would be, I feel safe in saying, an understatement.

The things the police chiefs outlined in their comments reported in this article are a large part of the reason we felt this change needed to be made. Other items that still cannot be discussed at this point due to pending litigation on at least two fronts were equally weighed in our decision. As it says in the article, there were many who stated that we would ‘rue the day’ and that this decision could not be successful and, in fact, would fail spectacularly. At the point we were at, the only other option was to close the jail. This choice would have left more than a dozen employees without a job.

We knew there would likely be push back of this decision and that the only way this was going to be successful was if we had the right person in line to ‘hit the ground running’ — a person with the proper background, experience, temperament and dedication to this community. James Byrd had recently retired from Grays Harbor County with almost 20 years at their jail operation and over a decade of that as their lieutenant. Mr. Byrd could be golfing, fishing, hunting and generally enjoying life, but instead he agreed to help us.

Many counties have made this same decision in the last few years. Benton, Clark, Yakima and, most recently in 2024, Klickitat. Garfield County closed its jail in the last few years and contracts with another county, which was our other option.

Having had some time to reflect and realize the changes and improvements that were not only possible, but that have already been accomplished in this short time, I feel that continuing to run the operation of the jail as it had been run since the jail was established had become an irresponsible action. You do not know what you do not know, but with the changes in types of crimes being committed in our communities in the last two decades or so, resulting in the number and profile of some of the persons incarcerated therein, the decision to do this was probably long past needed.

Lastly, for those of you who were led to believe that this was a decision that should have been vetted and beat to death in the public eye, I am sorry.

County commissioners are elected officials with no more authority than the other elected county officials, except that we are tasked with the responsibility of the overall budget of each department and office in the county as well as setting county policy, management of county facilities and doing our best to manage and mitigate risk and liability. The decision to change the oversight of the jail operation was one of those decisions that needed to be made. Much the same as the earlier decisions to do the same with PCEMA (Pacific County Emergency Management) and PACCOM (Pacific County Communications — our dispatch center), both departments initiated this change with us, which we researched, discussed (with the PACCOM Administrative Board for that change) and ultimately approved. As it turned out, dispatch centers across the state of Washington as well as nationally, if a part of a sheriff operation, have been trending away from that oversight for many years.

As referenced in Resolution #2024-056, which created the Department of Corrections “Jail Services,” the ability to make this decision was provided for in state law RCW 70.48.090 (4) which states the authority of a city or county to establish a corrections division.

We have remained fairly silent these last few weeks about this decision as the reaction was so predominately vitriolic, it did not seem that most would listen, so we just chose to ride it out and let the results speak for themselves.

I am one member of the Pacific County Board of Commissioners and, thus, one vote. These thoughts presented today are mine and not intended to speak for my seat mates, but I know that if any of you wanted to contact Commissioners Doyle or Tobin they would be happy to discuss their thoughts on this matter with you.

A very wise man whom I adored and is no longer with us used to say that “cooler heads must prevail.” This sentiment was very much in my mind during these last few months.

Thank you for taking the time to consider these thoughts,

LISA OLSEN

Pacific County Commissioner, District 1