Letters, week of March 26, 2025: Compost opt-out, Canada, jobs, deteriorating school, USAID

Editor,

At least once a week, President Trump demeans and threatens the sovereignty of Canada, our long-time ally and partner. These repeated threats are not only wrong; they are in clear violation of the U.N. Founding Charter requiring mutual respect for the sovereignty and boundaries of all nations.

Trump and his administration’s drumbeat about Canada becoming ‘our 51st state’ is not a joke, and must be addressed with the seriousness the matter deserves. Trump is doing irreparable harm to our relationship with Canada, as well as undermining our own state and national interests by alienating a reliable trade partner.

These threats to Canada’s sovereignty will continue without real and significant pushback. It is morally and economically critical to Washington state that these damaging and demeaning comments coming from the White House end immediately.  

We cannot remain silent. If public action is not taken to end this bullying behavior, there is no doubt it will continue. If not stopped now, Trump will escalate his campaign of insults and inflict permanent damage on our relationship with Canada.   

Please write U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and ask that they draft a bipartisan Senate resolution condemning these ongoing and repeated threats to Canada’s sovereignty. Every U.S. senator must take a public stance on this critical issue. If the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to bring such a resolution to a vote, then everyone will know where the Republican Party stands on Canada.

Nathan Pyles

Lynden

Editor,

Our community leaders have taken bold strides to address the housing crisis. On the other end of the equation are the many people relocating to Whatcom County and soaking up the additional supply. This is a free country and we can all move wherever we choose, but I believe people in our community, especially those just starting out, deserve a fighting chance. The answer is living-wage jobs.

Trades jobs create stable employment in career fields that have advancement and retirement potential. With no four-year college requirement, they’re accessible not just to a privileged few but to all. Entering those professions without debt means more money for a home, family and life here in Whatcom County.

These job opportunities include sailing with the largest tribal fishing fleet in the nation, keeping our recreational boats in good repair and working for outfits like All American Marine that launched the world’s very first hydrogen fuel cell ferry. These workers shop and recreate here, positively impacting all of our small businesses.

In order to secure those opportunities, we need to protect our working waterfronts where that work gets done and those boats tie up. The coming years will be pivotal in deciding how our waterfronts look and whom they benefit. Let’s make sure providing a viable economic future for the locals is at the top of the list.

Andrew Shelton

Whatcom Working Waterfront Coalition

Editor,

Last night (March 24), the Bellingham City Council passed an interim ordinance to allow middle housing, (CDN, Feb, 27) including duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, in more neighborhoods. While this ordinance has many benefits, it also lacks necessary protections for renters who may be displaced by new development.

Under current laws, a property owner can choose to tear down a single-family rental and replace it with a fourplex, giving tenants only 120 days notice to vacate. For many renters already struggling to find affordable housing, this can be devastating. Unlike Seattle, which requires property owners to pay three times the monthly rent to assist income-qualified displaced tenants with moving costs, Bellingham offers no such support. Bellingham’s Initiative No. 2, passed in 2023, only applies to rent increases of 8% or more — it provides no protections from substantial rehabilitation just-cause evictions.

Our city needs more housing, but we also need our elected officials to apply critical thinking when reviewing policies. I’m not advocating against development. I’m asking the city council to raise essential questions: How will this ordinance impact renters already facing housing insecurity? What can be done to mitigate that harm? And what successful solutions from other cities could Bellingham implement?

Bellingham has an opportunity to create balanced, equitable housing policies. By incorporating renter protections like relocation assistance, we can build the housing we need without leaving our neighbors behind.

Kerri Burnside

Bellingham

Editor,

When my family moved to Whatcom County in 1979, I knew I was where I belonged. Since then, I’ve felt obligated to give back to our community. I worked for the city, served on my city council, ran for state office and sat on several local non-profit organizations. For 20-plus years, I worked with smart, dedicated people in government doing their best every day.

These employees were acutely aware that the taxpayers paying their wages deserved nothing less. Those jobs were, and still are, highly competitive, so only the most qualified are hired. It’s sad to hear the criticism that’s become increasingly common.

I believe the political divide in our country is fueled by the loss of civility, condoned and amplified by our leaders. We have huge problems to tackle locally, nationally, globally. Democracy is complicated and a constant work in progress. It will never be perfect but the alternatives are far worse. We’re losing our humanity and unless we can begin listening to each other and treating each other with respect, it will get worse.

We must stop labeling people based on their beliefs, sexual orientation, economic status or skin color. People are complicated, each with a unique background that influences their beliefs and behavior. In reality, we are human beings with so much in common. Working together, we can find a way to thrive and live together in peace to save our democracy, our freedom and our planet.  I will never stop trying.

Joy Monjure

Everson

Editor,

Meridian Middle School was built in 1938. It is long past time to replace it with a modern, safe learning environment for our students. The district is spending significant taxpayer dollars on stopgap repair measures — Band-Aid fixes that don’t address the root of the problem. Have you considered what would happen if the building were condemned? Or seriously damaged in an earthquake? How much longer should our children attend a school that is falling apart around them?

We know that property taxes have risen. That’s why this bond measure is focused solely on building a new middle school. It no longer includes the high school repairs that were part of the November bond measure. The “new” gym, built in 2002, will be preserved and incorporated into the new building — it will not be demolished.

Meanwhile, MMS is only going to continue to deteriorate. Its maintenance costs will keep rising. Construction costs will keep climbing. We can’t keep delaying. We need to approve this bond now. If it passes and planning begins immediately, the new school could open in just a few years.

The Meridian School District has a history of supporting our students. Let’s continue that tradition by voting “APPROVED” for a new middle school.

Gail Kratzig

Laurel

Editor,

Dear President Trump:

Can you please help us Americans understand why you are so eager to provide huge federal income tax cuts to the very wealthiest among us? To billionaires who have no need for yet more wealth?

When those tax cuts were first implemented, you argued that the economy would be so stimulated that all Americans would benefit. That did not happen then, and there is no reason to believe it will happen now. “A rising tide does not lift all boats” unless they are all seaworthy; and as it is plain to see, the boats of working people and the poor are riddled with such huge leaks that a rising tide only threatens them with sinking.

In the meantime, in order to avoid adding the deficit from the lost tax revenue from those tax cuts to our national debt, you and Mr. Musk would reduce support for many of the federal programs that benefit the hungriest and sickest among us.

Dare I remind you that in Matthew 25:40-45, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Slashing funding for Medicaid, USAID, the Veterans Administration, the National Institute of Health, and other established federal programs will cause horrible suffering both now and in the future.

What you are undertaking is neither in the nation’s best interest nor the Christian thing to do.

President Trump, you owe all of us a thorough explanation. And, it must be supported by facts. Real facts.

Tom Goetzl

Bellingham

Editor,

A friend recently sent me a New Yorker article entitled, “Hundreds of Thousands Will Die.” The article speaks to the shuttering of USAID and nonprofit groups who work to provide humanitarian aid to our most vulnerable brothers and sisters around the world.

The good USAID has done in saving lives is a miniscule amount of our national budget. Estimates are that many will die from just malaria because of dropped programs that provide needed medicines. Food is waiting to be given to those who are hungry, but because of the chaos, that food will not get to those who need it. 

A letter by Curt Wolters (March 7, CDN) relates his reflection about his experience of soft power using USAID programs. As a Catholic, I believe our faith knows no bounds and we are called to speak up for those in need and who have no voice. USAID does work to alleviate injustices around the world and feed hungry children and families, and so much more.

Please join me in making YOUR voice heard by urging the administration to halt and reverse all terminations of lifesaving and life-affirming humanitarian and development assistance until a thorough and transparent review of the programs is conducted, and to disperse all congressionally appropriated foreign assistance funds in a timely manner. These activities and investments make the U.S. and the world safer, stronger and more prosperous for all people.

Annie Welch

Bellingham

Editor,

As I read the Letters to the Editor in this paper, a paper that tries to have a conscience, I can’t help but wonder: What makes people think Canada is our friend? Canadians, might be, but Canada, no.

I lived in Metaline Falls for 13 years. Portland Lehigh had a cement plant there. They made some of the finest quality cement, that is until the Canadian company Lefarge bought it. Like so many other U.S. businesses, the foreigners ran it until it was paid for, then shut it down. Thanks, Canada.

Then there’s Tesla. Left-leaning people were duped into thinking the world would burn up unless everyone bought an electric car. They began mandating timelines for abolishing internal combustion. The government gave my money to people as an incentive to buy an EV. Elon Musk was a god. Then he tried to save our country by cutting waste, fraud and abuse. Now he’s Hitler, and lunatics are shooting and burning his dealerships. People are vandalizing individuals’ cars. These people’s convictions are not altruistic, never have been, apparently. By the way, Elon, thanks for bringing the astronauts home.

Now activist judges are blocking President Trump from doing what a majority of Americans voted him into office to do. They subvert the authority of the President as the head of the executive branch. These judges want the unelected administrative state to continue bankrupting our country.

President Trump is doing exactly what I and most Americans elected him to do. He’s saving our country from destruction. Democrats are in the tough position of having to oppose putting the United States first. The street communists want our destruction, how about you moderate, honorable Democrats? Time to choose.

Mark A. White

Port Angeles

Editor,

For over 100 years, Germany and those in Italy and Eastern Europe who embraced the fascist ideologies that came to be known as Nazism and Communism, have been living down the disgrace of the violence they visited upon those whom they saw as inferior.

A huge part of our citizenry are now embracing the same distorted views, and appear willing to race headlong into another 100 years of madness that will only lead to shame.

Trump and his sychophants are lost in the late stages of a syndrome of derangement that resists being moved by reason. We see it every day with the twisting and discarding of the rule of law, our Constitutional guardrails and the tenets of faith.

Our technology may be new and promising, but only if used to further the causes of humanity and enlightenment. This madness has to be confronted and discarded by those still of sound mind. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.

Michael Waite

Sedro-Woolley

Letters to the Editor are published online Wednesdays; a selection is published in print Fridays. Send to letters@cascadiadaily.com by 10 a.m. Tuesdays. Rules: Maximum 250 words, be civil, have a point and make it clearly. Preference is given to letters about local subjects. CDN reserves the right to reject letters or edit for length, clarity, grammar and style, or removal of personal attacks or offensive content. Letters must include an address/phone number to verify the writer's identity (not for publication).