To the Editor,
I am honored to be coaching Granger Coach pitch. I think it is very important to start kids playing sports at the earliest age possible. I hope my team and parents stick together all through our children’s school years. I want to not only win, but for kids to be accepted and to have as much fun as possible as well.
I am so thankful for all of my team’s helpers and the support from my parents. I look forward to being in touch and communicating with everybody throughout the years, which won’t be long.
Before we know it, we will all be attending our children’s high school graduations – time flies.
Our kids have so much potential and right now, time to grow. I want no one on my team left behind or to fall through the cracks because nobody is better than anyone else.
Let’s all stick together and focus on sports and the many good times to come in the years ahead. I hope by next year our team doubles or even triples in size.
Communication is very important and I want parents of children from this age bracket to bring their kids to practice and to involved with sport activities.
I am learning Spanish to my boyfriend is bilingual so we are able to communicate with both parents and team members.
All the members of my team are working hard. We have had a lot of fun. Our team has good ballplayers who are talented and have lots of energy. I can’t say how many times I have gotten hit with a ball this year or have had to fall quickly to prevent being hit in the face by one of the many power hitters on the team.
I am very proud of the entire team, the parents, helpers and those who provide snacks.

Michelle Blanchard
Granger

To the Editor,
I was born and raised in Toppenish and have lived here all of my life. I would like to congratulate the mural society on the wonderful job they are doing with the murals.
I am interested to know why we have not seen a mural about the championship polo team that we had here in the 40’s.
Dr. Frank Shearer, Bill Drake, and Carroll Lawrence among others, were an important part of our history and were on the team that traveled to Calgary Stampede two years in a row that I know of. The barn and polo grounds were on the corner of Highway 97 and Jensen Road.  
My step-dad, Jess Bos, took care of the horses and traveled to Calgary with the team. If interviewed, I am sure that Dr. Frank Shear could verify and add to the information I have included here.
I think the Polo Team would be a great subject for an upcoming mural. I do not have any pictures of this but I am sure there are some out there with some of the history buffs in the area and I hope the mural society would pursue the possibility of a mural depicting the polo team.

James Scrivner

To the Editor,
I was sad to read of the heavy-handed actions of the Yakima Regional Clean Air Authority (YRCAA) against the communities of Toppenish, Wapato and Harrah.  
I clearly remember spending countless hours of studying, speaking and writing on a local and statewide basis about the need for State Clean Air Authorities - all ten of them - to assert statewide sovereign authority specific to air quality.
This was over a period of at least three years.  I even wrote a doctorate thesis paper circulated widely called “Ethnic Air” - - opining that there is no such thing as Native American air, Hispanic air, Japanese air or Black American air or Anglo air.
The political insanity of this regulation needs no explanation.  All 10 of Washington State’s Clear Air Authorities are completely nullified and impotent regarding legitimate clean air in the State when 29 tribes can have their own little air quality jurisdictions.  
A third grader would get this. But Washington’s Governor’s past and present, never say “No” to a tribal whim...and all state agencies fall right into line.
Years of prodding the YRCAA to show a little courage and integrity, even when supported by the recommendations of their own former director, - got nowhere.  
So now the very same agency that will not assert its authority over air quality within the Yakama Reservation, has the audacity to threaten municipalities for failure to pay for services they refuse to provide. Does taxation without representation ring a bell here?
I’m proud of the position Toppenish has taken on this issue, and hope it soon benefits the other municipalities within the reservation as well.  Why are taxpayers being forced to pay for state service the YRCAA refuses to provide within a reservation?
On a much lovelier note, I was truly thrilled to see the wondrous portrait of Edith Foster and so appreciate the artist and all the folks that made this happen.  Edith was one of the first people I met in Toppenish and showed me what true stewardship of a community is all about.  To this day, I miss her and so many others like her that once served Toppenish.  
 
Elaine Willman
Hobart, WI

To the Editor,
After a closed-door process, Representatives Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, recently introduced a climate change bill (H.R. 2454), which includes a “cap and trade” provision that is essentially a national energy tax.  
As Co-Chairs of the Rural America Solutions Group, we believe rural Americans should fully understand the bill’s devastating economic consequences.
Agriculture is a bull’s-eye industry for the national energy tax because it is energy-intensive.  Whether it’s fuel in the tractor, fertilizer for the crops, or delivery of food to the grocery store, agriculture uses a great deal of energy.  On average, 65 percent of farmers’ operating costs are fuel, electricity, fertilizer, and chemicals so any increase in these costs will devastate their budgets. 
Experts predict that this national energy tax will spike energy prices between 15 and 125 percent – forcing local producers in your community to pay more for seed, equipment, machinery, steel, and other supplies.
The national energy tax will also target small businesses and rural jobs.  Even a White House Office of Management and Budget memo warned that the regulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide “is likely to have serious economic consequences” for businesses and “small communities.”
Unlike Waxman’s Hollywood constituents, rural Americans have a different way of life.  They travel 25 percent more miles than urban households, and spend 58 percent more on fuel than urban residents as a percentage of their income.  And while rural electric cooperatives average around 7 customers per mile, other utilities average 35 customers per mile. 
Rural Americans want clean air, clean water and clean land, but they can’t afford this national energy tax.
Republicans have a better plan to protect our environment, create new jobs and stimulate our economy. Our all-of-the-above energy plan includes renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear and biomass, and American-made oil and natural gas. 
As the debate continues, we will continue to speak up in Washington, D.C.  for rural Americans.

Sincerely,
 
Rep. Frank D. Lucas, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture
Rep. Sam Graves, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Small Business
Rep. Doc Hastings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Natural Resources
All three are Co-Chairs of the Rural America Solutions Group

To the Editor,
The Toppenish Junior Rodeo Board would like to thank all of our sponsors who supported our golf tournament.
We cannot put on our rodeo without these special people: Washington Beef, Ideal Lumber, The Amish Connection, Kraff’s, We’ve Got Your Bag, Gibbons Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, Frazier Quarter Horses, Mt. Adams Golf Tournament, Alicia, Angela, and Dave Lazorik.
With 41 years and the largest running Junior Rodeo in the Pacific Northwest, it’s only possible because of our sponsors and volunteers.
Our show this year will be held Aug. 7, 8, and 9 at the Toppenish Rodeo Grounds.
Everyone is welcome to come.
For more information, call 945-5896.

Sincerely,
Toppenish Junior Rodeo Board

To the Editor,
Muslim nations have no mail service on Friday, Israel has none on Saturday. We have none on Sunday because we were a Christian nation.  
Our founding fathers and the documents and institutions they left us presupposed Christianity, but that has been re-written in Orwellian fashion. Now Christian values have little influence in Congress, our courts, or our schools. All either exclude or attack anything truly Christian, bombarding us with an “evolution-only” approach to existence.
The media incites and the government funds illegitimacy so that 40 percent of all births are to unwed mothers, even after all the abortions. Illegitimate kids generally aren’t sent to church by their parent. Fewer people receive biblical teaching, and so-called Christians practice a smorgasbord of ideas from sources besides the Bible.
One third of self-professed “evangelicals” voted for Obama. It will take more than T.E.A. parties to reverse our slide into ruin.
“A general dissolution of Principles and Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than [any] enemy. While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader” – Samuel Adams, 1779.

Tim Beard
Toppenish

To the Editor,
The Toppenish Lions Club strikes again! 
What a great job that they have done in Pioneer Park at the small gazebo areas where people go in and sit to eat lunch or just get away from the sun. 
These gazebo table tops and benches were in sad shape at best, and the roofs were really looking shabby. 
Our Lions Club stepped forward once again and put forth a great effort to refurbish these areas and made them look practically brand new. 
Great job Lions club, you continue to unselfishly step forward to help keep the City of Toppenish looking good for not only the citizens of our community but also for the many visitors that come to town every year.
Once again, when you see these people walking around town, please let them know how much you appreciate their efforts to help keep Toppenish looking good. 
Thanks Lions Club!  Your efforts are appreciated more than you know!

James Cole, Director
Toppenish Parks and Recreation

To the Editor:
Next time you bring groceries home from the store, please don’t throw away the plastic bags. Save them and donate them to the local Food Bank.
We get bulk fruit and produce from various locations. We need the plastic bags to fill for individual families or single people.
We appreciate any support you can give us.

Bob Taft
Toppenish

To the Editor,
What would have happened in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings if Gandalf hadn’t broken the spell Wormtongue placed on the cowboy King Théoden, and Saruman had taken over Rohan? That script seems to be in production. Saruman may not be a white wizard, but all the power in our society—the courts, legislatures, executive, governmental bureaucracy, schools, and mass media—seems to have fallen to those favoring a national socialism. Schools and media churn out jaded, unisex orcs and uruk-hai without meaningful concepts of family or civilizing culture, who speak of lebensraum and protecting mother nature, but who thoughtlessly leave destruction in their wake. (Lebensraum (living space) was the Nazi environmentalist war cry for reducing the human population to increase the quality of life for themselves)  
How do we invest for the future when the party picks the winners and losers, now in the economy and science as well as the culture wars, based on increasing their power rather than any transcendent principles of liberty and justice? Is there still a Helms Deep to resort to (now that Jesse is gone)? Probably not, if we are limited to the realm of men. The only hope comes with a Sonrise.

Tim Beard
Toppenish

To the Editor,
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest appreciation to the Toppenish Lions Club for their help with the Easter egg hunt that was held on Saturday April 11, 2009. 
This event is co-sponsored between the Lions Club and the Toppenish Parks and Recreation Department every year however the Lions Club does all the work and gets very little in return for a job well done. 
The Toppenish Lions Club does many things for our community that goes unnoticed, and most of the time very little if any thanks. 
So the next time you see these people running around town in their yellow Lions Club vest make sure to say THANKS for all that you do for our community. 
Once again Thanks to the Lions Club from the Parks and Recreation Department.

James Cole, Director
Toppenish Parks and Recreation