Letters to the Editor April 20, 2011

Congress needs to do more with cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf

It has been a whole year since BP Deepwater Horizon exploded 200 million gallons of oil into the gulf. Money from the fines involved in this gigantic mess is flowing into the federal treasury. There should be billions of dollars to restore the environment, help the fishermen, all the work that needs to be done. 

It is the job of Congress to step forward and use that money to clean up the Gulf, the oil still oozing in the marshes, washing up on beaches, covering the floor of the Gulf for generations to come.  What has Congress done. In a whole year?  Absolutely nothing.

We can do much to make the bay cleaner and healthier for the people and wildlife. But, please, we mustn’t wait another year. Congress must dedicate the Clean Water Act penalties to restore the Gulf. Congress sitting on its hands will not clean up the Gulf and restore the livelihood of its people. That work would also create needed  jobs.

Mary T. Mills

Crescent City

Another chapter to add on the fishing vessel Stormy

I read with great interest the stories about the sinking and raising of the Stormy, and have a chapter to add.

I was a commercial fisherman in the early 1970s, at one time working as a puller for Larry Carlson on the Pam Bay. On Aug. 16, 1972, we were caught in a sudden storm off Gold Beach.

While returning to Brookings in 80-knot winds, we came upon the Stormy, dead in the water, drifting at the mercy of the storm. We threw the skipper a line and towed the “Stormy” to the mouth of the Chetco, where the Coast Guard took her on in to the harbor.

If we hadn’t come along, I believe her story would have ended tragically that day.

I never dreamed I would read of her almost 40 years later.

Mike Harkins

St. Louis