Letters

Stevens Hospital

Let’s talk about the good that hospital does

I have been very upset reading all the negativism regarding Stevens Hospital. I personally had major surgery at Stevens Hospital within the last year and found that my entire experience during that time could not have been better. The doctors, nurses, technicians, and all employees that I came in contact with could not have performed better.

It is unfortunate that one rarely hears good things, but always the bad. And many times those few bad things are played up in the news and exaggerated. To Stevens Hospital, I say, “Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.”

MONICA M. SCHILTER

Lynnwood

President Bush

State, local elected officials are the problem

It seems to me that Nicole Morrison (Enterprise letters, April 16) needs to review what President Bush is responsible for, and what the state governors are responsible for.

As for President Bush talking about tax cuts, he did more than just talk! Didn’t you get a tax rebate check in the mail? President Bush wanted further tax cuts, however Congress failed to pass them. You should be complaining to Rep. Inslee, and Senators Murray and Cantwell.

College tuition is decided by our state Legislature, not President Bush. The fact that tuition is higher is due to needing to pay professors and staff, providing state of the art facilities to graduate qualified individuals, and the higher cost of maintaining and operating a college campus (utilities, insurance, etc.).

Higher health care costs can be attributed to many things, but President Bush is not one of them. Multi-million dollar awards by juries are to blame for most of it. So is the fact that we want state of the art facilities and treatments, and those cost a lot of money.

Higher prices for gasoline can be blamed on the increase of the wholesale price from OPEC, and on higher taxes imposed at the state level, and which the voters approved, by the way, not on President Bush. In fact, President Bush would like to develop our own oil fields in the U.S., but environmentalists, and Congress are against that idea. So we continue to depend on foreign oil to fill our gas tanks, and thus are at their mercy as to how much we pay at the pump.

President Bush has nothing to do with how much we are paying in state, local, and property taxes. You should be complaining to Gov. Gary Locke, and your state, county, and city representatives!

BARBARA REYNOLDSON

Mountlake Terrace

Shoreline

‘Evolution’ isn’t helping circumstances in the city

Shoreline is evolving. Forty-six years ago we moved into the Shoreline District. Schools were good, better than Seattle. The location was good, streets and traffic were good. We liked it. Our children were involved in scouts and church. Shopping was good. North City had all we really needed. There were drug stores, hardware stores, restaurants and all the places we needed to go.

But, Shoreline is evolving. We incorporated so that we could stay out of Seattle and its school district. Seattle had set aside $25,000 to study the idea of annexing Shoreline. Shoreline is the land between Puget Sound and Lake Washington from 145th Street to 205th Street. Yes, that even included Lake Forest Park. By being incorporated Lake Forest Park escaped.

We ended up with some public spirited Council people and a staff of overpaid professional politicos. We elect the Council. The bureaucrats seem to have their own little agendas. Someone hired planners to lay waste to the land that we liked as it was. Aurora has been renamed the “Aurora Corridor.” The planners want to make a skate board boulevard along each side. The central portion should be obstructed with brush and concrete obstacles.

Fifteenth Avenue NE has been obstructed by removing half of its capacity. If traffic dislocated from here causes problems, further obstructions will be constructed as needed. We will call them mitigations.

In our evolution we have acquired a highly paid manager and some planners. We have seven hired hands who receive over $100,000 each. We need to go back to the real world from whence we came.

DICK LEMMON

Shoreline

Thank you

Volunteers helped many people with their taxes

Every Wednesday from 4 to 8:30 p.m., Mountlake Terrace Library has been bursting with people who need some help with their taxes from February through April 14. And three volunteers were instrumental in making our community a better place.

I would like to thank coordinator Renee Herigstad, and tax preparers Judy Brown and Les Minnig on behalf of all the staff at Mountlake Terrace Library.

These volunteers have spent countless hours helping our community with tax questions and preparation. Their friendly, informative services assisted people in what can be a very stressful time. They brought goodwill and authoritative answers at no cost. These are some of the best ambassadors to be found, and we applaud their remarkable time and talents given freely to our citizens. Thanks Renee, Judy and Les for a wonderful year of tax help.

LESLY KAPLAN

Managing Librarian

Mountlake Terrace Library