What’s ‘affordable’ about this?

I just finished paying the new monthly Lifewise health insurance premium for me and my husband of $710. It jumped almost 20 percent from the $576 per month we were paying last year.

Since 2009, it has increased 50 percent with a reduction in services, increase in co-pays and a higher deductible.

This is getting out of hand. The “Affordable” Health Care Act is making things unaffordable for those who try to pay for their own health care.

The $2,000 individual annual fine is sure sounding sweeter!

Vicky Cibicki

Cashmere

Think about armed guards

A rebuttal to Buford Howell’s letter (Dec. 27) on armed security guards at schools:

While agreeing that arming every teacher is not practical, nor necessary, having highly qualified armed security “marshals” is very practical. Howell states examples where the guards or police are clearly identifiable, and thus, can either be avoided or attacked. The school marshals would be plain clothed, and not easily identifiable, much like those used on airlines today. If it works to deter terrorists on aircraft harming defenseless passengers, it will work to deter evil or insane assassins in schools from harming defenseless children. We owe that to our children.

That is not to say that it would completely eliminate these occurrences, but it would limit the attempts, and most certainly would limit the scope of the killings. Howell’s Arizona example assumed that there are always “good guys” in the malls, etc, who are “packing.” Not true. I know my friends in Arizona who do carry their gun with them at times (not always), would most certainly have dropped the shooter after a couple of rounds having been fired if they were in the vicinity. One of the recent mall incidents, the shooter was deterred because a citizen aimed his weapon at him, but did not fire because there were people behind the shooter. The shooter then fled. Many other cases exist.

Common sense tells us that having properly trained, adequately armed “good guys” present , but not obvious, will most likely greatly limit the harm perpetrated by the killer.

And the answer most certainly is not to violate the Second Amendment by banning guns.

Mike Campbell

Chelan

In deadly peril

Yesterday (Dec. 30) my wife and I took a ride along Highway 2 west of Leavenworth expecting to see evidence of dangerous trees having been removed in the wake of the fatal and serious accidents before Christmas. I was shocked to see little change in the dangerous situation of trees threatening the public. I counted more than a dozen extremely dangerous trees threatening the traffic along Highway 2 and another 40 trees that should be removed because of snow weight or structural defect causing them to lean toward the road. Since no one is protecting the public I am bound to do what is necessary to keep other families from suffering terrible loss because the government agency charged with keeping the traffic corridors safe is not doing its job.

It would be understandable that the Department of Transporation just overlooked these hazards due to ignorance or no expertise in this area. This is not the case since I have made numerous phone calls and even visited the maintenance department over the course of the past several months pointing out the tree dangers to the public. The maintenance supervisor said they had other priorities. I also called the head of the DOT in Wenatchee in October and expressed my concerns regarding the danger of falling trees. That call resulted in several trees in the Peshastin/Dryden area being removed. No trees in the area west of Leavenworth were cut.

The DOT seems willing to spend millions of dollars to mitigate rockfall dangers and millions more on straightening out the highway in the Tumwater Canyon to improve public safety but unwilling to cough up a few thousand dollars to remove dangerous trees. This negligence on the part of the DOT puts everyone driving Highway 2 in deadly peril.

Dan Dittrich

aka: Dan the Treeman

Leavenworth

A tax vision

A message from a nearly 90-year-old World War II veteran who has a vision regarding legacy.

If President Obama would do the following, he would become the greatest president since George Washington:

First, he must seek the repeal of the 16th Amendment along with the entire tax code, including the capital gains tax and the inheritance tax. Then a national sales tax would be necessary.

I suggest Herman Cain would be a logical adviser in this plan.

My vision suggests immediate prosperity, with capital appearing from everywhere. Companies that left our shores would be returning before our eyes.

Whoever reads this letter, please take a step backward and close your eyes and see my vision coming to life at once. What wonderful things would happen.

Don O. Danner

Wenatchee

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