Letters to editor - March 3

, Mar 3, 2010

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Proud of Scappoose wrestlers

We had the privilege of attending the three-day State Wrestling Championship Tournament at the Coliseum. Not only are we proud of our individual Scappoose wrestlers, but are proud of the team as a whole.

They exemplify the best in their sport and exhibited character which makes them the true champions they are. They can take pride in knowing that they are the 2010 4A State Wrestling Champions. Forever they will be linked to the phrase, “The 2010 State Championship Team.”

They will always to be champions regardless of where they finished individually, because they were part of something bigger. They earned the respect of their fellow competitors and the title “champions” because of a team effort of student athletes and coaching, building on the individual successes of Scappoose wrestling champions before them.

Congratulations Scappoose!

– Bill and Raelyn Blank, Scappoose

Waste Management’s rates should go down, not up

Regarding Waste Management’s request for a rate increase (Spotlight, Feb. 24): Only a company with government guaranteed profits would have the chutzpa to ask for a rate increase in a market like this. Like the rest of us in the private market, Waste Management’s rates should be coming down.

I’ve spent the last 31 years in the construction industry and can tell you not a single one of my subcontractors is coming to me and saying “Wayne, I’m not making near what I was two years ago. Could I charge you 10 percent more so I can keep my health insurance?”

Quite the opposite is happening. Many have cut their prices in the hopes they won’t get underbid. They are selling newer equipment. They’ve sold or are trying to sell their house. They have no one to bail them out. And yet you, Waste Management, because you have a guaranteed profit (who wouldn’t love that) want a raise because you can’t figure out any other way to make it? What a laugh.

Waste Management’s garbage fees should be subject to the same market forces that the rest of us are living with. Their fees should be reduced. If they can’t make it, open up the bidding for a new garbage handling provider. My guess is you’d have multiple companies vying for the chance.

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