Letters to the editor for Sunday, Nov. 23

We have overcomeprejudice at last

91 years ago on Nov. 6, 1917, I was born into the household of my parents, two brothers and three sisters, and never once during all of the following years was the derogatory "•" word heard in our family.

But it was, to this nation's shame, heard and read too often in public and in print.

We, as a nation, should feel, not pride perhaps, but certainly joy that we have at long, long last overcome that terrible prejudice, exercised by too many too often in the past.

And the great dream of freedom for all people in our nation in the pursuit of their dreams evolving from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in the 1860s has been fulfilled.

John H. Buckwalter, Olympia

LOTT helping to drivea sustainable future

I was pleased to read the recent editorial, "LOTT remains innovative" on the Alliance's forthcoming cogeneration project.

Puget Sound Energy's is proud to have helped the LOTT Alliance arrive at this recent project, which will allow LOTT to convert methane gas produced by wastewater treatment into energy to power two of the Alliance's Olympia plant buildings.

While we are still in the process of finalizing our agreement with LOTT, our engineers estimate that LOTT's cogeneration project will save Thurston County enough energy to power more than 160 homes for a year. The LOTT project complements PSE's regionwide energy efficiency measures that aim to reduce energy use by enough to negate the need to build two, multi-million dollar power plants to meet increasing demand in our 11-county electric and natural gas service area in Western Washington.

Over the years, LOTT has been an eager partner in our energy-saving and renewable energy programs. In 2007, LOTT representatives agreed to participate in PSE's green power program at a 100 percent commitment level. This means that all the electricity used by LOTT facilities is matched in the grid by renewable energy, primarily wind- and solar-generated.

We are proud to have helped and congratulate LOTT — and the communities they serve in Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and greater Thurston County — for these endeavors to drive a sustainable future.

Casey Cochrane, community relations manager, Puget Sound Energy

Opponents of I-1000will not give up

The Death with Dignity initiative (I-1000) was passed by an almost landslide majority of the citizens of our state. The government agencies will be conducting the rule making process in the next four months.

It is obvious from a recent article that the opponents of I-1000 refuse to acknowledge the legality of this measure. They will challenge this initiative in the courts and, when defeated by the judicial system, they will, as in the past, rely on scare tactics to intimidate government officials into codifying the law in a way that would make it virtually impossible to implement.

Similarly, they will scare and intimidate doctors and patients who attempt to take advantage of the law. We have seen all these tactics before. Their track record is proven on women's right to choose issues.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the likely beneficiaries of I-1000 wait in silence for relief. Those who can afford the health care costs, and have access to a sympathetic provider, will live out their remaining days sedated on opiate narcotics. Those who cannot afford health care, do not have access to doctors or are simply unable to deal with the bureaucracy of our health care system will suffer until their painful life is ended in some other way.

I urge our government agencies to complete the codification of I-1000 expeditiously. We should limit any codification changes to those which may conflict with the existing statutes of Washington state, which as I understand today, is none.

Javad Naini, Olympia