Fundraisers never meant to offend anyone

Dear Editor,

Since I have been unemployed for a long time and since my wife and I have been trying to help people get back on their feet in these hard times, we have decided to try and raise funds to help people with garage sales. 
It appears we have offended some people in Lake Stevens by trying to raise funds to help others.  
We are “Samaritan House” and the money we use to help others comes from us or the garage sales, we do not ask for government help, nor are we a non-profit. 
It is just us trying to help.  But, if we indeed offended anyone by taking donations and reusing them or recycling them to keep them from landfills and to help others we are sorry.
 
John Worley
Lake Stevens

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Homeowners are good people doing the best they can

Dear Editor,

I would like to correct Tatiana McLean on a couple of things that were written in your March 23 Journal.
The river she called the Machias River is actually the Pilchuck River.
Also the folks who owned the home that the river washed away are very good people who didn’t want their home in the river.  They tried everything and asked for help from State and Federal agencies when the house was a long ways from the river.
Help to them was denied because it’s a salmon spawning river.
Tatiana should ask the government why was help denied to fine people who worked all their lives for a nice home then see it washed away!

Larry F. Husby
Lake Stevens

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Taigon Taekwondo opens second location

Dear Editor,
 
I would like to take this time to give my special thanks and love to those who have supported me throughout my journey. I just wanted you to know that we truly enjoy teaching Taekwondo and we feel honored to be your chosen Taekwondo School.  
Here at Yong In Taigon Taekwondo, we will do our very best to continue to meet your martial arts goals.
As you already know, the time has finally arrived for me to expand the business in the Albertsons Plaza by the Jack in the Box and Jiffy Lube area.  
Your continued patronage and suggestions are a vital part of our growth. And for that, we (Master Kim and Master Santiago) are most grateful.
I would like for you to share word of mouth with your friends about our second newest location and thanks again for choosing us!
We look forward to serving you for many years to come. You can find us at www.lakestevenstaekwondo.com or call 425-404-3060.    

Master Santiago  
                Lake Stevens

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Government has been in the health care business for years

Dear Editor,

While I can share Todd Welch’s opinion that no one should be forced to buy something they don’t want or need, that is simply not the whole truth of the matter.
The government has been in the health care industry for a long time (i.e. Medicare, Medicaid).
My daughter has a life threatening condition with her heart and she is on Medicare and I have never once had problems with them paying the bill, everything has always been covered, and we have never had to “stand in line” for her care.
She had Medicaid because she was in the hospital for so long, not because we are financially inept, just to clear up any questions.
The cold hard truth is the whole point of “for profit” health insurance companies is to ration care and limit the amount of coverage its patients get in order to make money.
People will scare you with the time old saying we can’t afford universal healthcare, matter of fact, we can afford universal healthcare, repeal all the Bush tax cuts and there’s some money.
We are talking billions of dollars that were handed out to the wealthy, straight out of us everyday taxpayers wallets just because our president wanted to be popular amongst his friends.
I am not saying this is a fix-all but I have a few other ideas: Create minimum health care standards, regulate health insurance prices like any other utility, regulate malpractice insurance prices for doctors.
The government healthcare that all cabinet members receive as part of being in congress seems to be working just great for them and their families.
Even Vice-President Cheney trusted our “government healthcare” when he was in need of a heart transplant this last year.
It is not government complete control, to want your country to pay for your health care, just ask a Canadian.

Rachelle Schelbrack
Lake Stevens

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 Increasing taxes won’t fix spending problem

Dear Editor,

As the Presidential campaign begins to ramp up with Rick Santorum now leaving the race, he has decided to make a cornerstone of his campaign a war against wealthy Americans.
President Obama is pushing a law, the Buffett Rule, which would raise the income tax on individuals making $1 million or more to 30 percent.
He has shifted from calling it a revenue earner law after the Congressional Budget Office reported the Buffett Rule would bring in $47 billion over ten years or $5 billion per year, heck the federal government spends $5 billion every five days, so now he is saying the Buffett Rule is about tax fairness.
I like looking at numbers and data, after getting the numbers from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) here is the truth on federal taxes.
The top one percent of earners pay 40 percent of all federal taxes, the top five percent pay 61 percent, and the top 10 percent pay 73 percent of all taxes.
We also see that 49 percent of Americans pay no federal taxes or receive all of their tax money back when they file.
I ask you is it fair that 10 percent of our population pays 73 percent while half pays nothing.
I mean it is very easy to tell someone else to pay more, but is that fair? It is time for the rhetoric to be put aside, truly look into the numbers and they reveal the true issues in spending.
We, as a nation, cannot fix our fiscal and economic issues by demonizing each other.
 
Todd Welch
Lake Stevens

       
 

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