Letters to the Editor: January 17-23

The Editor:

Perhaps before taking the time to write a letter to the editor blasting someone’s ignorance, prospective authors should actually do a bit of research. Representative Luanne Van Werven was accused of “not knowing her facts,” after which the author proceeded to get the facts wrong.

A few readily available statistics from Whatcom County show the maximum salaries for various school districts: Blaine $89k, Bellingham $105k, Meridian $90k, Lynden $95k, Baker $92k.Teachers in Washington also get about $26k in medical and other benefits per year. The author uses a common trick in an effort to fool you by then giving readers the “average” figure, which will, by definition, be significantly lower.

By the way, in most of these districts a teacher with 16 years of experience and a master’s degree qualifies for the highest level of the salary scale. Add to this the fact that most collective bargaining agreements this year included a decent raise for next year, don’t shed too many tears for the starving teachers (including me, by the way). I am pretty happy with my salary, especially in a job that only requires me to work about 185 days per year (or 37 weeks). Fifteen weeks of vacation and my job consists of hanging out with a large and varied crowd of really interesting teenagers and helping them gain the knowledge they need to join the world outside of school. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.

Conclusion: you are wrong, Representative Van Werven was right. If you include benefits as a part of salary then Whatcom County schools have significant numbers of teachers making over $96k. Too bad she didn’t stick to her guns, although we only have your word for it that she backed down (maybe she just acknowledged the base salaries without benefits).

Calvin Armerding

Blaine

The Editor:

Trump knows damn well that he is lying. And he knows damn well that it doesn’t matter. His disciples believe anything he says ... even when it contradicts what he has already said. This is an empirical observation, not a theory. I cannot explain it. Mass hypnosis? Charisma? Wishful thinking? Rampant stupidity? Brain washing? Koolaid? All of the above? All speculation.

Here is a theory for y’all right-wing Christian Trump-a-holics out there: he is the devil incarnate ... the ‘beast’ as described in the bible! Why do you think the last call for the apocalypse and the end of the world is spoken of as “the sounding of the final Trump?”

Jeff Sterling

Birch Bay