Via con Dios

Dear Editor,

Amigos – Well, the day has finally arrived! I entered on duty with the Patrol September 24, 1984, Class 165. Today, July 31, 2012, is my last day in green. I have often sat and pondered the paths I’ve taken and those I avoided. I am rendered speechless when I think of all the opportunities that the Patrol has given me and most importantly to my family. Words alone can not express the way I feel today.

The friendships, memories, and adventures are hard for most people to imagine. I am proud of my Service to Country, 28 years as a Border Patrol Agent, 3 years Service in the Army, and a daughter who followed me into the Patrol. I am truly blessed to call you my friends, brothers, and comrades. Most importantly, I thank God for my best friend and companion, my wife Becki.

If you are ever in Spokane give us a shout or just stop by.

Be Safe and keep your powder dry,

Richard M. (Dick) Graham Jr.

PAIC/ORV (ret) 2012

Medical Lake, Wash.

When did dialogue stop?

Dear Gary,

In your July 26th editorial titled: ‘Reopening the dialogue on guns,’ which was about the shooting that took place in a Colorado theater by a James Holmes, I question, when has the dialogue on guns even been shut? This county for a long time now has blamed guns for murders that were premeditated in the “blackened” -“soul” of a man or woman. What would have been the outcome if one person in the crowd would have had the ability to return fire? They more than likely would have become the subject of an investigation.

In 1980 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Stone v. Graham that if the posted copies of the Ten Commandants are to have any effect at all, it will to be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps venerate and obey the commandments. They concluded that this was not permissible. Did James Holmes attend a school that had the freedom to post a copy of this basic foundation for our republican form of government, and there by pointing James to his responsibility before God, or was self esteem and his own worthiness and accomplishments emphasized as principles to satisfy his need for validation?

The Bible points out the fact that the heart of man is a dark place, but it also proclaims a remedy for this corruption, but as a culture we run from that, then wonder why a person, not a gun devises plan like this.

Cutting into the Second Amendment has become its own cottage industry for some politicians and bureaucrats even though history has shown that many people around the world have been killed when their ability to defend themselves was taken away by governments. Do we need more politicians infringing on the Second Amendment to keep us safe?

Assault will always be a behavior, not a devise. 65 million firearms owners killed no one yesterday, but that is not news is it? A bigger question than why some red headed, wide eyed, white guy would shoot people watching a Batman movie is, who was the man that witnesses said had a cell phone and was standing at the emergency exit and opened the door so Holmes could get in the building? Or did James kick a steel door in,… that opens out? I doubt we will ever know.

Steve Lorz

Tonasket

Reformation

Dear Editor,

Philosophy, which is the study of thoughts, general speaking, and Wisdom, which is the behavioral application of philosophy directly into our daily lives, are at present the only means visible that can lead the great citizens of America into becoming even better individuals, which in turn will improve our society.

So, our national and most state governments barely function, if at all. Using an analogy, dispensing with severely unwise politicians at all levels is similar to being on a sea-going vessel engaged with a severe ocean storm in the middle of winter.

The path is dangerous, and a successful transit over a vast distance is not guaranteed. Nevertheless, the wise will always know what is waiting for him/her on the other side of the storm, which is long overdue political and economic reformation by allowing all legal American citizens of this great country to have direct domestic political decision making power (on the six to ten truly important domestic issues) via the ballot box.

Politicians and Judges would be delegated to the sidelines, with the authority to observe only, while we decide which is right for our stagnating nation and ourselves.

Is anyone willing to sign up for a perilous voyage?

Ray Gattavara

Sumner, Wash.