Letters to the Editor

Trans fats ban

We’re living longer even with trans fats

God help us, the nutritionists have struck again. This time it is “trans fats,” what ever they are. Thirty-five or so years ago they were considered the key ingredient to health and long life. Then it was animal fats like lard, butter, and bacon grease; they were the big killers. Teflon lined pans seemed the answer but alas it was soon found to be a carcinogen. Foiled again.

What can we use to line fry pans, bake cakes, cookies, pies, french fries and other good stuff? Will people really settle for a birthday apple with yogurt? Wow, what a treat! Top that off with a nice glass of water and now you will need only another fifteen more glasses to fulfill your daily requirement. One thing we must do is destroy those bad old fast food joints and chain restaurants where the common folk can afford to relax and enjoy a meal.

A check of the tables shows that during my lifetime, life expectancy has risen sixteen years. It has increased every year. It has more than doubled during the past two centuries.

I now can expect that fresh fruits and vegetables will be available every day. Not just seasonably. An endless variety of affordable, tasty, safe and wholesome food is right across the street. If I choose to eat out I have countless choices of restaurants within ten miles of home. I can depend on good-tasting, safe food reasonably priced. Food is one of America’s greatest success stories. The body God gave me processes the food and eliminates what it doesn’t need or want. It can’t be fooled.

Steve Olsen

Lynnwood

Terrace council

There’s plenty of support for dog park

Councilman Zambrano and his partners in crime:

I hear you are looking to see if there is any support for an off-leash dog park and a skateboard park by sending out questionnaires in our utility bills. That sounds like a fine place to bury a bone. You can almost guarantee very little response and waste more of our tax money in one fell swoop. I’m sure lots of skateboard enthusiasts read their parents’ utility bills and both factions just salivate at the prospect of filling out another survey. You really have your finger on the pulse of the community.

I can recall a significant number of people asking for both of these public projects over the last five years. Everything from public demonstrations during National Night Out gatherings to groups marching during our Tour De Terrace parades. Seems to be some interest to me. Maybe you blew the budget on the horse shoe pit hidden behind the water towers up at Jack Long Park. From what I have seen it gets very little use. Maybe it’s because there are no shoes to throw!

I know this might be a little far-sighted but you might want to consider placing a few park improvements in the proximity of your new Town Center development in order to draw a few tenets and/or condo owners. Judging from the vacancy rates of some of the other accommodations close to the planned development area, rental spaces aren’t moving like hot cakes. Maybe a portion of a park designed to accommodate pets would sweeten the pot enough to move a few units. And if the younger crowd had a place to congregate and get exercise in an atmosphere which they find appealing, their parents might find a reason to invest in your new denser community melting pot. But I wouldn’t want you to do it out of some self-centered desire to glorify yourself, do it for the good of the existing community. Save a little of that money you have been throwing at every consultant you can find and spend a little on the citizens that you took it from. Throw us a bone! It’s not like we are asking for a $7 million Taj Ma-city-hall.

Jack S. Allen

Mountlake Terrace