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I live in Oregon and work in Washington. I know that people who live in Washington and work in Oregon have to pay Oregon income tax. I think that should more than compensate Oregon for their road use. I also know that a lot of people who live in Southwest Washington do a lot of shopping in Oregon avoiding Washington's sales tax. Most of my friends who live in Washington aren't even aware that they are required to pay sales tax when they bring their purchases into Washington. Filling this loophole should bring Washington a good bit of tax revenue.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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I volunteered at LISTOS for about two years several years ago, and it was a very rewarding experience. The students there were all very motivated and wanted to learn and succeed. Most of them had not succeeded in traditional schools for various reasons but fit into the special atmosphere that OCHA had created at LISTOS. I met some great people there and learned a lot from them. The school?s closing is a great loss to our community.

I met one young man who at 18 could barely read. He was born in the US and passed through public schools without learning even that basic skill. I don?t know how he found LISTOS but there he discovered the motivation he needed to learn.

One student I worked with had significant learning difficulties. He came every day and worked hard to do his best.

Most of the students I worked with were native Spanish speakers. While they were all learning English, most of them were more comfortable learning in Spanish. I had to struggle to learn enough Spanish to help them with their math studies, but it was a fun challenge for me. A few students grew up speaking other indigenous languages and had only learned rudimentary Spanish before coming to the US. Without teachers who spoke their native languages, they had real challenges, but they did it. The staff and volunteers at LISTOS gave them the tools they needed to succeed.

These people live here and want to be successful contributors to society. They need and deserve a good education. Thanks for giving this topic the attention.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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There is nothing cool or hip about killing animals. Your conversation glorifying the practice disgusts me. (The conversation yesterday about clubbing fish for sport was not much better.) I was raised on a ranch and have had my hand in raising and killing animals for food, but I have been a vegetarian for 20 years now and feel great about it. A vegetarian diet is better for my health, for the planet, and for my karma. I disagree with your premise that meat is back or that being vegetarian is passe. I would say that I'll take the answer on the air, but I'm turning the radio off now.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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