Letters

Who are they?

The Gazette had a front page story, below the fold, about Patagonia buying full page ads in several newspapers in Washington state. These ads were to get people to agree and contact our state senators to attempt to destroy four hydroelectric dams.

The ads failed to mention these dams have generated very cheap power for Washington residents for many years. If these dams were gone, several unintended consequences would be: 1. Electricity rates for many Whitman County users would skyrocket. 2. Every spring these rivers would run wild with spring runoff and flood many downstream towns causing millions in damages. 3. In the summer when farmers need the water to grow their crops these rivers would be nearly dried up.

Also, these dams provide the river barges the ability to move millions of bushels of our number-one cash crop (wheat) to market at a much lower expense than trucking.

So who or what is Patagonia? It is a clothing maker from Ventura, Calif., and Adam Fletcher is the one who spent several thousands of dollars to place to the ads.

Are these the same people who destroyed all the crops in the San Fernando Valley to save a two-inch fish?

Del Carman,

Malden