Letters for Jan. 16

Foreigners committing crimes on American soil

It has been nearly 45 years since my partner and I were young patrol officers on the Spokane Police Department.

One night, we received a prowler call at a house in the Chief Garry Park Neighborhood. It was a warm night, so homes had windows open.

We arrived in quiet mode, no lights, siren and no high speed. We parked about a block from the house.

We used procedures we were taught in our police academy. We used cover, concealment and we sneaked up on the prowler. Many prowler calls often result in nothing found.

This call was different. We found an individual crouched down in some shrubs below a window that was open but had a screen. We had our guns drawn and we ordered him not to move. He had a razor blade in his right hand between his middle and index fingers. My partner and I could have been seriously injured, or the homeowners could have been injured or killed.

We tried talking to this person but there was a language barrier. He was of Hispanic descent. He began to speak some English when he was told he was going to jail.

We found out that he was from Cuba and he had been released from prison by Fidel Castro. Does this sound familiar to what has been happening over the past several years?

How many freed prisoners from foreign countries have committed crimes on American soil? One crime is too many. They should be returned to their country of origin.

The homeowners were very thankful that we responded and handled the call.

Gene Ziegler

Liberty Lake

Baumgartner’s been busy

Rep. Baumgartner’s cheery newsletter was filled with impressive in-district visits (and Nigeria?). Not a word about what he was doing to remedy constituents’ loss of insurance. Venezuela would have better days now (ignoring illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, kidnapping of its president). No mention of ICE atrocities, immigrants’ fears. No highlights of failing small businesses, no pictures of stressed local food banks.

But he has been busy.

Concerned over use of federal funds, Baumgartner requested HHS for a “program-integrity review of Washington state allocations for child nutrition and Medicaid-related programs.” He mentions Minnesota (investigated in 2024) which led to HHS freezing billions for child care and social service in five selected states.

Inviting the fox into the chicken coop?

In a three-page detailed boilerplate-type of letter, to protect taxpayers he called on HHS to insure “robust, preventative integrity controls.” He insists he is “not alleging misconduct” but wants assurance through oversight and data that Washington indeed is not corrupt.

Could this have been accomplished working with our state officials? But of course, most of them are not MAGA, nor on an anti-fraud campaign. It’s a MAGA thing, you know. And Rep. Baumgartner is just doing his job. For whom is the question.

Becky Anderson

Newport

Moratorium on evictions

In response to the Jan. 9 letter from Ron Devonport about the moratorium on evictions, the reason there were no added barriers to tenants to prove financial impact was because there was a public health emergency and pandemic. Proving financial impact would have delayed protecting renters and the public and would have caused more deaths and a possible collapse of our health system if hospitals became overwhelmed with sick patients. This novel virus was transmitted by air and the best practice was to keep a safe distance and to quarantine as best as possible. That is exactly what the moratorium on evictions was designed to do.

Mr. Devonport also attempts to compare his inability to evict tenants with the Washington state Supreme Court members losing their salary. Rental income is not the same as earned income; landlords do not pay business taxes on rent like workers’ pay income taxes on their pay. Public health takes priority over guaranteeing a revenue flow for businesses and there were federal subsidies and tax exemptions for them during and after the pandemic. The moratorium on evictions protected everyone because renters do not live in a vacuum and the virus was spreading rapidly.

The moratorium on evictions was necessary to protect lives. After the moratorium ended, landlords were paid lost back rent through state and federal rental assistance programs. All of these tools are necessary to protect the public during future public health emergencies.

Terri Anderson

Spokane