Letters for Sunday, Sept. 7

ICE needs to chill when it comes to fire crews

We have a severe shortage of wildland firefighters, with more than a quarter of U.S. Forest Service firefighting positions unfilled even as wildfires grow larger and fire seasons grow much longer.

Yet, as reported, Trump’s ICE agents now barge into backwoods fire lines, arresting immigrants who risk their lives at one of America’s toughest, most physically demanding, unhealthy jobs. Is this how we solve our firefighter shortage?

Shame on ICE for disrupting our fire crews in the midst of fighting the state’s largest forest fire, then carting off firefighters to concentration camps without a word to their families.

We need more firefighters, not less. Why should we care whether they have a green card handy as long as they fill our urgent need for strong people willing to swing a Pulaski, eat smoke, and put their lives and lungs in danger for weeks at a stretch on blazing mountainsides to keep our communities safe? These seem like decent qualifications for citizenship.

When it comes to ICE and fire, let’s hope ICE can be a little more chill.

David Camp

Spokane

Baumgartner and climate change

There is a consensus among climate scientists that the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for raising CO2 levels in our atmosphere that will result in a warming and changing climate that will affect everything from agricultural productivity, weather related disasters, immigration and insurance rates. There has been a political consensus since 1988 that climate change is a global problem that requires a global response. Our country signed the Paris Climate Agreement to respond to this global problem. In 2016 and in 2020, President Trump, with the support of Republican senators, House members and business interests pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, claiming that climate change is a hoax and is not a serious problem without providing evidence to support these claims.

If you are interested in knowing what Rep. Michael Baumgartner’s understanding of climate change is you are out of luck. Apparently, your representative doesn’t care to state his position on climate change. Nothing is posted on his website and if you call or write requesting to know his position you will not receive a reply. I’ve tried.

How can we as citizens solve problems that are common to all of us if we can’t as citizens acknowledge that an obvious common problem exists? If Rep. Baumgartner shares our president’s assertion that climate change is a hoax, it is incumbent on Rep. Baumgartner to provide evidence that refutes the longstanding consensus of climate scientists around the world. Where do you stand Rep. Baumgartner?

Kent Rinne

Otis Orchards

Thankful for Baumgartner and his bill on nitazenes

Thanks to Rep. Baumgartner for recognizing the dangers of nitazenes, a class of synthetic opiods up to 40 times stronger than fentanyl. He reached across the aisle and joined forces with Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) to introduce a bill aimed at curbing the rise in this dangerous drug. Rep. Baumgartner makes it his business to help Eastern Washington by protecting those who are struggling with addiction (that they don’t get addicted to something worse) and the rest of us whose hearts break to watch it.

Rep. Baumgartner is in tune with the concerns that real citizens have in our region with its easy access to drugs and rampant abuse. Thanks to him for focusing on the things that really matter to us here. Thanks to him for being willing to take action!

Heather Roy-Ting

Spokane