Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: Dayton's political forum (Oct. 6) was packed with inter­ested citizens desiring to select the best candidate for Colum­bia County. Walt Hessler so graciously expressed no grudge or ani­mosity to his opponent. Per­haps it's time to pull up the campaign signs with a 66 to 33 percentage loss in the primary election and join in the pursuit of fighting the recent crime wave in Dayton.

I observed when Mr. Lewis began speaking with dignity, respect, experience and matu­rity that he would add to the court as a constitutional pros­ecuting attorney. His speech was rewarded with the MOST enthusiastic response of the evening. Rea Culwell started her speech by recalling talking to Mayor Don Jackson four years ago about the unopposed posi­tion and that, as an unknown lawyer from out of town, she could run and win. Randy Lewis fell in love with Dayton, as so many have, starting 29 years ago upon visiting relatives, and he has established many friends and acquaintances since. Further­more it shows Randy's love for community with his 33 years of experience, compared to Rea's seven years, to go along with his credentials and expertise.

Another distinguished gen­tleman, former Prosecuting Attorney Hoskins, did exactly the same thing upon retiring to his beloved Dayton when he saw the need.

In this day and age, it's es­sential and honorable to see a few good men stand up and be patriotic enough to serve our county when retirement would be the easy way out.

Please vote for Randy Lew­is for Prosecuting Attorney.

Gary Lowe,Dayton

Dear Editor, My wife and I moved to Dayton six months ago to re­tire.

Good friends of ours had encouraged us to move here because Dayton is such a won­derful place to live. Indeed, it has been that and more. One of the first people we met was Mark Franklin. He and his wife came by to wel­come us to town. We learned that Mark and Shelly, even though they did not grow up here, are very involved in Day­ton and consider it their home. Our grandchildren like to visit Dayton. They can do things here like safely walk to the bakery themselves to get ice cream. Although seemingly idyllic, I know that crime does happen here, and it takes work to keep it as safe as possible. Although we do not like to think so, Day­ton has burglaries, domestic violence, child abuse, drugs and some emerging gang ac­tivity. Property crime has risen four years in a row under the current administration. That is why I am voting for Deputy Mark Franklin. He has the training and abilities to keep the sheriff's officeahead of the crime. In this day and age, to keep a community safe for families, law enforcement needs to be always working behind the scenes and active in the com­munity so my grandchildren and yours can enjoy a quality of life many dream about.

Mark Franklin is proactive, not just reactive, in his plan to keep Dayton the wonderful community in which we chose to live.

Please join me in voting for Mark Franklin for Columbia County Sheriff.

Bryan L Pott,Dayton

To the Editor: You do not have to be a lawyer to be on the Supreme Court, but every Supreme Court Justice in history has been. It just makes sense.

You do not have to pass the Washington State bar exam to be a prosecuting attorney in our state, but every prosecuting attorney in our state has. This also makes good sense. Randy Lewis has never taken or passed the Washing­ton State bar exam. Mr. Lewis credentialed into the state from North Dakota with whom Washington state has a reci­procity agreement. Mr. Lewis has never lived or practiced in North Dakota. He has only practiced in Louisiana. The Louisiana legal system is based on the French legal system. The rest of the United States is based on British Common Law. No state has reciprocity agreement with Louisiana. Instead of studying and taking the bar exam when he moved here, Mr. Lewis went without working for almost a year while he moved his license around until he could credentialed in from another state. Mr. Lewis has only worked on a handful of cases in our state since he has been here the past four and a half years. Approximately 20 percent of the prosecuting attorney's job involves civil law. Mr. Lewis has done little, if any, civil cases in the county and would have to learn the law on a case by case basis. In the same time period, Rea Culwell has been respon­sible for almost a thousand criminal cases and has success­fully defended the county in its civil matters. Let's re-elect Rea Culwell. It makes good sense.

Nancy Nott,Dayton

Dear Editor, On the front page of last Sunday's U-B, John Turner mentioned the reserve program as being one of his goals if elected Walla Walla County Sheriff. It should be pointed out that most of what he men­tioned is what already takes place and is nothing new. As far back as 1987 reserves went through a Washington State Criminal Justice Train­ing

Commission sanctioned academy consisting of 135 hours. Included components were first aid training, laws and various legal aspects, pur­suit

driving, qualifying with a firearm, plus others I've likely forgotten. It required time spent riding with experienced officersand, after passing the academy and being signed off by a supervisor, possibly work­ing shifts alone as well. Other requirements included work­ing

a certain number of hours per month as well as periodic additional training/qualifying to maintain certification. I'm sure the requirements are more rigorous now than when Bill Jackson invited Waitsburg's volunteers to par­ticipate back then. Adjacent entities likely now work to­gether to reduce costs where possible.

I've met John and appreci­ate his enthusiasm. Maybe his enthusiasm is why this sounded like he was presenting a new idea when he wasn't. Going through training in 1987 is when I met and grew to ap­preciate Bill White and why I support him now.

Jim Davison,Waitsburg

Letter to the Editor: I am refuting information Dian McClurg attributed to me in the Times article of Oct. 14 about the AAUW Candidates Forum held Oct. 6 at the Day­ton Liberty Theater. In "Forum Shows Elections Heating Up," McClurg report­ed, "Pointed questions were asked that aimed at individu­al candidates, and AAUW's Keifer suggested candidates may have planted folks in the audience to do so. Keifer was quick to refute any heresy that AAUW planted audience members with pre-planned questions."

When Dian McClurg called and interviewed me (three times on Tuesday evening, Oct. 12) she first "suggested" that AAUW had planted question­ers in the audience. I vigor­ously disagreed that AAUW members did any such thing. Then the reporter "suggested" to me that candidates had prepped supporters with ques­tions. McClurg wanted my agreement to her statement. AAUW (also known as American Association of Uni­versity Women) puts on the Forum because it supports voters educating themselves. The forum is never a debate between candidates. Rather it is an additional way for voters to compare and contrast, in a public arena, each candidate's character, values and stands on issues. Yes, pointed questions were asked that aimed at individual candidates. That's what is supposed to happen at a Fo­rum, and supporters of each candidate came prepared, just the intelligent action all voters should take.

Sherrie Flaman Kiefer,Dayton AAUW

Dear Editor:

Having spent seven delight­ful winters teaching at Ski Bluewood in the late '80s and early '90s, the area has always had a soft spot in my heart.

I am pleased to hear that a group of investors led by Mike and Kelly Stephenson are resurrecting the area. My wish is success beyond everyone's wildest imagination.

Kjell Petersen,Kalispell, Mont. To the Citizens of Walla Walla County:

My name is Chuck Hum­phreys, and I have been em­ployed by the Walla Walla Sheriff's Office for the last 17 years.

First and foremost, I hate politics and all the nastiness that it brings out in people. I will stand by my principles and not bash Bill White, as I like him as a person and will never speak ill of him. I only wish that others could adhere to the same. When I learned that Sheriff Humphreys was going to re­tire, I sought out John Turner to see what he would have to offer this county. I met with him early this year and was impressed not only by his vi­sion but by his passion for law enforcement and for giving back to the community. He has three main focuses on crime prevention. He wants to combat the ever-growing gang issues, bring back a K-9 program at no cost to the tax­payers, and most importantly provide 24-hour coverage that this county currently does not have. As taxpayers, you deserve to have immediate service when you need it. You should not have to wait hours for it or have it provided by another agency just because no one is on duty. That is not what you pay for. You work hard and pay for services that should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While it is understandable that some people fear change because of the unknown, it is necessary for growth. Just be­cause it has always been done one way does not mean that it is the best way. John not only brings a wealth of knowledge and personal experience, he brings a fresh perspective and the ability to think outside the box.

I hope that you as tax-paying citizens of this county would want the best man for the job. John Turner is that man.

Chuck Humphreys,Walla Walla

Letter to the Editor:

The community of Colum­bia County has an opportu­nity to elect a sheriff who has a well-rounded law enforcement background. I have known Mark Franklin for many years. Mark Franklin has a varied experience in law enforce­ment;

corrections, road deputy, investigations, administrative, and as I recall K-9 handler.

I have been in law enforce­ment for 30years and had the pleasure to work with former Columbia County sheriffs Rod Flint and Jim Latour. These gentlemen eagerly had their office communicate and share information with area law enforcement and even sent their deputies to participate in training with neighboring law enforcement agencies such as Walla Walla Police and Walla Walla Sheriff's office. I cannot say the same since Sheriff Hessler came to office.The only Columbia County deputy I have seen attending joint training and information sharing is the deputy assigned to drug enforcement. It is a myth that training has to be expensive or that training is only possible by traveling to the west side of the state.

I have had many oppor­tunities to work with Mark Franklin and observe his work ethic. He is a professional who knows and performs his job well and is very capable at problem solving. He also knows what the community expects from its sheriff office.

When the people of Colum­bia County elect Mark Frank­lin for sheriff, some of the improvements to your sheriff's office you can expect to notice is your sheriff's deputies will become better trained. You can expect to see a K-9 program return. Mark is very invested and active in his community, which gives him access to a variety of the public who share their opinions and concerns he can then use to determine how to best address law enforcement concerns of the community. The people of Columbia County should ask them­selves if, "just doing it the way we've always done it," is good enough. Mark Franklin is experienced and is ready to put that experience to good use as your sheriff.

The criminal element does not care about county lines, jurisdictions, or if you live in a small town or a large city. What matters is, does your community law enforcement keep up with current trends and training and then put that training to use?

In my opinion, Mark Frank­lin's experience, vision, and work ethic make him the better choice for the people of Co­lumbia County.

Matt Wood,Walla Walla

To the Editor: Randy O. Lewis, who is running for the office of pros­ecuting

attorney in Columbia County, has made the charge that his opponent, Rea Cul­well, the incumbent prosecut­ing attorney, shared informa­tion that was not legal to be made public.

In fact, it is perfectly legal under Washington state law for Ms. Culwell to share that information. Mr. Lewis, who has not passed the Washington State Bar exam, obviously does not know our law. I think that it is very important for the prosecuting attorney of Columbia County to be com­pletely familiar with Washing­ton state law. In the first place, it would be unfortunate and maybe tragic for him to lose a case because of lack of knowledge of the law. In the second place, I don't think that we citizens of Co­lumbia

County should have to pay a substantial salary, which a good prosecutor well de­serves, to learn the law which he is supposed to practice. Another thing that troubles me is Mr. Lewis' intimation that the responsibility of the county coroner was not too important and that he could pick up any information that he needed as he went along. While TV programs are not always accurate, I think anyone who watches CSI or Bones can recognize that the use and application of forensic information can sometimes be critical, both in determining who the guilty party is and in prosecuting that person.

It seems to me that knowl­edge of the coroner's duties is extremely important. The other problem here is that not only has he mis-stated the law, he has passed it off to others who also don't know diddly squat about the law, and they parrot it in letters to the editor.

I therefore encourage all residents of Columbia County who care for competence, good judgment and the further­ance of justice to vote for Rea Culwell for the office of county prosecutor.

Bill Graham,Dayton

Letter to the Editor:

Being a prosecuting at­torney is not an easy job. Ms. Culwell's job places her in a position of not only prosecut­ing

those accused of crimes but also making sure that the constitutional rights of those individuals are protected.

Ms. Culwell must take the information she receives from our sheriff department and determine if charges should be filed. There is consideration given to the evidence which was found by law enforcement, victims and witnesses who are willing to come forward and to the circumstances surround­ing an alleged crime. Criminal charges are not always filed. A prosecuting attorney is not going to make friends with people involved in a criminal incident. Victims sometimes feel the prosecutor is not being hard enough. Some victims know the accused and are upset that charges are being pursued at all. The families of the ac­cused are upset because they are sure that their loved one would never do what they are accused of regardless of the evidence. Each case is evaluated to determine the best settlement. An offer to settle is made on each case, and the majority of cases do settle. It is up to the defendant whether or not to accept the offer. The defendant has the constitutional right to a trial. Ms. Culwell cannot infringe on that right, nor will she simply roll over and dis­miss the case if the defendant refuses to settle. The cases that go to trial are usually the difficult cases; cases where the evidence is overwhelmingly against the defendant usually settle in a guilty plea. Cases where there is insufficient evidence are dismissed. The cases that go to trial are cases where a de­fendant

refuses to settle, and there is sufficient evidence to proceed. The case is then in the hands of the jury.

Rea Culwell and her officehave worked hard to make Columbia County a safer com­munity. She is intelligent, ethi­cal and hard working.

June L. Riley,Deputy Prosecuting Attor­ney,Columbia County