Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

  The flyer in the mail caught my attention, even though I knew I wouldn’t be ordering anything off of it. The glossy piece was from a major national phone company, and it pitched four types of keyboard cell phones carrying the most advanced features available.
  I read, in order to try to educate myself on what’s out there.
  “Do people actually buy these things and use all these functions?” I thought to myself.

  There is a lot of hope for Lynden’s downtown, especially now that Delft Square has been purchased by a local developer eager to invite other local investors with the hope of creating something sustainable.
  In a time when Lynden’s downtown is struggling to maintain an identity and is slowly shifting toward a new face -- which isn’t good or bad -- it is exciting for both the local citizens and for the downtown businesses that some life may be breathed into the charred remnants of Delft Square.

  The “big three” U.S. automobile companies are now lobbying hard for a tidy bailout of their own. They are intent on selling themselves as “critical” to our nation’s economy.
  While they are an important aspect of our economy, they aren't as vital as they were decades ago -- and the lack of sales shows that.
  It is important to ask whether it makes sense to have the government pay companies to keep doing something wrong. Business models need to change. That is one of the bottom lines.

Lethal injections poor phrasing

EDITOR, The Tribune: 
  I hope it was ignorance, not malice, that created the headline “Peace Health won’t allow lethal injections.” 
  No one will receive a lethal injection administered by a physician under the recently passed I-1000, Death with Dignity Initiative, whether the physician works for PeaceHealth or not. 
  The terminally ill patients who choose to end their lives will be given a prescription for a dose of barbiturates that must be self-administered. In Oregon, where a similar law has been in place for ten years, the vast majority of the patients were dying from terminal cancer, ALS or HIV/AIDS. Multiple concerns prompted the request for end-of-life medication. However, foremost was lack of quality of life, loss of dignity and losing autonomy. The majority had family members with them when they died. 

Wednesday, Nov. 19
  Lynden Municipal Court, main chambers, City Hall Annex, 205 Fourth St., 9 a.m.
  Whatcom Community College Board of Trustees, Laidlaw Center board room, 237 W. Kellogg Rd., Bellingham, 2 p.m.
  Lynden City Council Public Works Committee, second-floor conference room, City Hall, 323 Front St., 4:35 p.m.
  Meridian School Board, Meridian Middle School library, 861 Ten Mile Rd., Lynden, 7 p.m.

Tim Newcomb
Tribune assistant editor

  I wasn’t offered a Kevlar vest, but I did sit behind the bullet-proof glass.
  While I wasn’t the one in charge of allowing or denying entry into the United States from Canada (at the Lynden-Aldergrove port of entry), I was able to get a taste of what life is like in that little booth at the border.
  I sat directly behind Lyndenite Fred Rylaarsdam as he worked one recent Wednesday morning and absorbed his questioning technique and plenty of wary glances from the variety of Americans and Canadians seeking entry into the country.

  We may appreciate sitting conveniently at our kitchen table and filling out the mail-in paper ballot that has become commonplace in Washington State voting over the last few years. But the price we pay is a lack of speed in getting the results of our voting.
  Forget about knowing the outcome of any close race on election night, and maybe not for several days. It's a slow process counting the ballots that have already been turned in. Fortunately, there weren't any close races in Whatcom County this time, and really not across the state either.

  It seems like a good idea that our local governments show restraint in the unstable current economy and not take the 1 percent increase in property tax revenues allowed by state law. Most citizens are thinking about how they need to hold the line or cut back on their expenditures. Government should do the same.
  The Port of Bellingham is taking this step in its draft recommended budget. The Bellingham City Council, on a 4-3 vote, followed suit this Monday for the Bellingham city budget. As of three weeks ago, Lynden intended to try to keep its property tax mil rate the same for 2009; a commitment to not even take the usually automatic 1 percent revenue increase would be a step farther.

Not a fan of Obama

EDITOR, The Tribune:
  The three adults in our household were very surprised to read the Lynden Tribune endorse Obama. I said immediately that I would write a letter to the editor voicing our opinions.
  We are appalled that the Lynden Tribune would do that, knowing Christian principles and values should have taken precedence over the slick talks given by Obama. I expected the liberal Bellingham Herald to endorse him, as I know they don’t better.

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

  Friday is almost here. That’s huge. You see, that’s my wedding day and my life has been moving steadily toward it since spring.
  After a five-month engagement, I’m ready for this to be over. Lindsay and I have decided that even though our engagement would be considered incredibly short by many standards, it was actually too long.