Sunday letters to the editor
Because I care
I wear a mask when I am out in public; so does my wife. I care. I care about the health care workers putting themselves at risk taking care of patients in our community, I care for the people who have lost their jobs, because I don’t want to be a cause of prolonging the business closures, I care for the vulnerable, the elderly, the immunocompromised, the children.
When I see people without masks, gathering in large groups at the courthouse protesting, well, they obviously don’t care.
I shop for necessities where masks are required and worn by store employees, like Costco.
A word for restaurants, and businesses starting to open up. A lot of those “gray hairs” have money to spend, and like to eat out. I suspect you will not see many unless you take the recommended precautions.
Mike Ryan
Nine Mile Falls
Thanks to our mayor
Compassionate, understanding, patient, approachable, responsive … these are words that describe our mayor, Nadine Woodward. She has her hand on the pulse of our city, Spokane WA. Our government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate and the support she has provided has been exemplary in all these areas. She truly loves our city; she takes her role seriously. I believe her positive impact on our city will be felt for a long time to come. Thank you for truly being a servant of the people. I thank you Mayor Woodward!!!
Earl Moore
Spokane
Liberal cities on fire?
David McCann shows racism is clearly a local issue, as he makes multiple lies in a short letter in support of bigotry. First, cities aren’t on fire, there is a bit of violence, but almost all the protests are peaceful. Second, “liberal cities”? Protests have happened in more than 400 cities around the nation in the nation, and not all are liberal; but, yes, liberals do tend to be more upset about cops killing unarmed citizens. Third, when you can’t condemn the repeated killings, of which Floyd, Aubery, Taylor and McAtee are only the most published and most recent, but only complain that some people’s anger at that boil over, your priorities are wrong. Fourth, let’s look at some of the violence. In Nevada, they just arrested right wingers inciting violence around the protests to make the protests look bad, members of the “boogaloo movement”, as even this paper has covered and of which, I’m sure, Matt Shea is proud.
Finally, I’ll point to cities such as Camden, Flint, and so many more, where protests have been peaceful. Violence at protests? Well, I’ve seen clear footage of police attacking clearly marked journalists, even those on the air. I’ve seen a 75 year old man put in the hospital. I’ve seen police regularly use violence against peaceful protesters upset at police violence. That’s the problem Mr. McCann can’t make himself address.
David Teich
Spokane Valley
Double standard
Where is the outcry regarding the criminal rioters not practicing social distancing, small groups, masking?
How come the governors of these cities on fire aren’t shutting these criminals down like we all were imprisoned over the last three months?
Fines, jail times, business takeovers, anyone?
Just remember that good always triumphs over evil, and God will have the last word when everything is said and done.
Now, that IS something worth fighting for.
Jeanie Smith
Nine Mile Falls
Teach consequences
As a mother of three sons who are ethnically diverse and as a civil servant for the Department of Defense for 30 years, I saw discrimination and how the Department of Defense dealt with it.
I worked with people of all colors and nationalities. I saw that we are all the same, that we want the same things for our families co-workers, and society. We support our families by providing, food, shelter, education and most of all safety.
When I saw the destruction that happened in Spokane on Sunday, I wondered who were were the parents of the young people I saw looting the Nike store and taking home Nike shoes and clothing. If my children had come home with these items I would have asked where did they come from, and upon learning that they stole them I would have made them return them to the store. As a spouse, if my husband or wife, came home with these items I would have demanded he/she return them.
We as a nation can not condone our family members taking these actions as a sign of protest. We all need to teach our families there are consequences for our actions.
Mary Julagay
Spokane
Congrats class of ’20
It’s been a tough final year, but you are almost there! Make the first step of your celebration to give yourself the gift of voter registration. It takes just a few minutes on your cell phone. Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Teachers, & Mentors: Please encourage these new graduates to take just a few minutes to register to vote. Details are on the state website at www.sos.wa.gov.
How to register to vote:
1. Use your smart phone’s search engine to find the VoteWA online voter registration portal and click “start.”
2. Enter your information on the secure website, answer the questions about eligibility, confirm and authorize.
3. Receive confirmation of your registration and information about your county of registration.
Note: Voters who are already registered may use this same portal to update their registration with change of address.
Next election: August 4
Deadline to register: July 27
Lynn Meyers
Spokane
CARES funding
I have some real concerns about Spokane County commissioners current responses to the CARES funding. Most social service funding provided by the county is pass-through money from the state and federal governments. Mental health and chemical dependency treatment are a case in point.
Now the commissioners are acting as if the CARES money is their own. Rather than providing the Spokane Regional Health District with the full $10 million needed, they are providing only $6 million. Al French sounds like a child in his rant about other municipalities chipping in.
AND they also are considering spending the CARES funds for tent jails. At this time of severe financial hardship for numerous county residents, it seems unconscionable that the county would consider using this money to INCREASE our criminal justice inequities.
I urge all citizens to contact the county commissioners and urge them to support the Health District and abandon this idea of tent city incarceration.
Louise Chadez
Spokane
Coeur d’Alene protest
Thursday night I watched a local news report on a protest in Coeur d’Alene where people were protesting police brutality. That’s what these national protests are about, right? In the video of the event were many white men, armed to the teeth and standing around the perimeter, supposedly “making sure all went peacefully.” The mayor of CDA praised them as did local news. This is a prime example of how very tone deaf this area is when it comes to what these protests are all about. To see those men there was sickening, and showed how little we, in this area, understand the issues being discussed nationally.
If something went wrong were these men insured? How about trained in crowd de escalation? Any certification in crowd control? How about federal civil rights law? ANY kind of police training at all, that they should be carrying arms at a protest? No, they did not. The only people who should have arms at a peaceful protest are the police. Armed citizens shouldn’t be policing other citizens ever. That’s how Ahmaud Aubery was killed – by armed white citizens claiming they’re keeping the peace.
Who would be responsible if someone was hurt in a scuffle or worse at this protest? Or if someone was killed even by accident. To allow untrained armed citizens to POLICE other citizens might be illegal, but if not, it’s certainly one of the dumbest choices I’ve seen yet in city local city government.
Elizabeth McGee
Spokane
Defunding the police
Let’s defund the Spokane police and Sheriff’s Department like the protestors demand. We’d save the 230 million dollars or more that they annually take of our taxpayer money. Get rid of them. No ongoing payroll. No medical expense. No pensions. No vehicle upkeep. It just adds up and up. Of course, they’d probably file for unemployment, but that’s the state’s concern.
Of course, nobody would answer 911 if your house or business was being broken into. If you were in an accident, there would be no one to sort it out. Assuming a fire broke out, who would handle traffic control so that the fire department could quickly respond to save your home?
We could shut down the courts and get rid of the judges, prosecutors and public defenders and save even more money. Without arrests and testimony nobody would be charged. So why even have a jail? And the meter maids. Whoopee. Free parking. There’s just no end to the benefits.
What a great place to live. Oh, I forgot. The stores would probably all close because of the looting. That includes grocery stores and gas stations and hospitals.
On second thought, just maybe defunding the cops isn’t the best idea to come down the pike.
Frank Schoonover
Spokane
Policing suggestions
A friend of a friend who trains local law enforcement noted that about 40% of police go into the work for altruistic reasons, 30% were bullies in high school, and 30% were bullied (who knows how this displays in police work). Another friend in the law enforcement field asked me to think about the guys in high school who were the ‘C’ students or were linemen on the football team; those are today’s police. While debating all this, an acquaintance agreed, asserting that intelligence tests given to law enforcement hopefuls weeded out those with too high of an IQ; i.e. independent thinkers were not wanted.
So what to do. Besides weeding out the bullies, we need to employ social workers to replace them. We need to lighten up on the enforcement of drug laws which are mostly an excuse to bully and incarcerate hopeless poor people. We need universal health care which otherwise drowns people in debt and spreads disease. We need universal basic income to get the poor off the street and food into undernourished children. We have plenty of billionaires and unnecessary military programs to correct this ongoing injustice of grossly unequal wealth and opportunity. We just need the will to do it … vote accordingly.
Leonard Butters
Spokane