Thanks to KING 5 news for doing a story on the unfairness of the taxes levied on business taxpayers all along the 169 corridor.
We know the economy is hurting us; however, we also know that we were doing decent numbers before the bridge went out and we did two-thirds of that number after the bridge went out. This has meant holding on to employees by being late on taxes. Other businesses have been doing the same.
We were able to collect signatures easily on our petition, asking the state and county to give us a break on taxes for the time the bridge has been out. To the voters who signed our petition, asking for this seems only fair. Reagan Dunn, our representative, noted there may be some legal ramifications that make help impossible since these are both county and state taxes. Therein lies the problem. Both the state and the county want money from us and neither of them gives us any help. In addition, they both want fees for every inspector we see. This constant dunning of small business taxpayers is why there are so many empty storefronts up and down Highway 169. If we don’t get relief, there will be more.
Gov. Gregoire got a lot of good public relations in local papers by saying they were going to help everyone affected by the bridge outage. The Small Business Administration people came by; 92 business owners signed up for help, filled out paperwork, etc. Out of the 92, I was told, one business got help although I can’t find out who that is. What we had evidently was a public relations plum for the governor with lots of good press and once the press left, no action to help the businesses.
We have never had a single politician come to us and say, “how bad is it?” Despite a recession for the rest of us, they continue to get overpaid, sit in cushy offices, get good health care benefits, etc., while my hard-working staff fights to keep this great little restaurant going.
There are so many unfair things happening to the American taxpayer right now it is hard to focus on just one, but we are going to try to keep going and weather this. We thank all the customers who have kept coming and hope to see more in the future to save our historic Krain Corner Inn.
Karen Hatch, owner
Krain Corner Inn
Area’s aroma not inviting
to everyone
To the citizens of Enumclaw, something stinks!
Can anyone do something about the gawd-awful stench that plagues our beautiful city?
I mean, come on folks. I realize our dairy farms are needed and part of the community; but it’s not the kind of smell I would call a welcoming “chamber of commerce odor!”
Can’t these farmers and ranchers respect the local community and do something to neutralize the fowl-smelling “poop” that conveniently welcomes us at dinner time each evening?
Billy Griffin
Enumclaw
President doesn’t hold life sacred
I am writing this letter because I am deeply disturbed because of President Obama’s support of the practice of abortion. And the Catholic Church is also, like me, adamantly opposed to killing in the womb. But Notre Dame University awarded the president the privilege of being its commencement speaker and the recipient of an honorary degree,
Professor Hunter Baker of the Houston Baptist University wonders how this could happen when the Catholic Church is “hierarchical.” If so, he surmises, any Catholic bishop should be able to tell Notre Dame’s president to rescind the invitation. He wonders why this hasn’t been done and so do many distraught Catholics.
Also, Notre Dame Professor Panos Antsaklis, a teacher of electrical engineering, doesn’t oppose the acceptance of President Obama’s support of the practice of abortion and said that Notre Dame should be “opened to other ideas.” In other words he doesn’t believe that Notre Dame should uphold its Catholic identity.
Someone should ask him if he expects a Hindu school to teach Lutheranism, or a Muslim school to instruct pupils in some other religion’s beliefs.
The problem here, present not only at Notre Dame but at numerous institutions and organizations, is that very few continue to stand firmly behind praiseworthy core beliefs. A civilization infected with such a trend, such as supporting the practice of abortion, will not last very long.
I firmly oppose President Obama’s unwillingness to hold human life sacred. Who of you who are reading this letter will stand up with me against the workers of iniquity? Read Psalm 139 and see where life begins.
Edwin “Stormy” Storm
Enumclaw
