Letters: Animal shelter, racism, private prisons and more | Feb. 16

Bigger animal shelter needed

Despite the explosive human population growth in the Tri-Cities, current plans for a new central animal shelter only have capability to house more than 20 percent fewer animals than the existing shelter. This doesn’t make any sense.

The Tri-City Herald describes the current shelter as uncomfortable to work in and for animals to live in. I think disgusting and deplorable make better descriptors and would invite skeptics to visit there and disagree. A shelter that meets the needs of the community has been lacking for several years now, and forward progress has been repeatedly stalled.

It seems tax revenue obtained from the growth in family housing could fund an adequate and future-expandable shelter facility. If community leaders can’t justify the expense, maybe www.gofundme.com is the answer.

Is ‘orange’ racist term for Trump?

It appears, by printing Bink Owens’ latest letter, that the Tri-City Herald condones using skin color as an insult. I hope for better from the editors in the future. But until then, could you please publish a list of skin colors acceptable for ridicule? Just so we don’t have to guess. Faithful reader since the 1970’s and former paper delivery boy,

Editor’s note: Mr. Owens’ comment refers to Trump’s “tan,” apparently achieved by artificial means. We think that choice by Trump and that comment by our reader doesn’t equal racism.

Rise of racism has a profitable side

The presidency of Barack Obama gave rise to the hope of a post-racial society. This proved to be an illusion as the same playbook used over and over again to exploit racial resentment and anxieties for political gain is resurrected again.

In the 1980s and ‘90s, “welfare queens,” and crack cocaine mobilized public support for the war on drugs and get-tough crime policies. The jail and prison population soared from 350,000 to 2.1 million, devastating families and neighborhoods of the least educated, the poor and people of color. A third of black men had felony records. Mass incarceration has been replaced by mass deportation with brown people Public Enemy No 1 in the 2016 election, Trump had this to say: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

Once again, people of color are framed as the problem. Minor legal infractions, traffic violations, a DUI are cause for the devastating sanction of deportation. When people are disposable, there are profits to be made in building prisons, a wall and building and operating detention centers.

Support state ban on private prisons

Washington State’s House and Senate have a bill (HB2576 and SB6442) before them that will ban private entities from owning and operating prisons (including administrative detention) in Washington, or through a contract with Washington State.

The purpose of a private prison is to make money for a corporation and its shareholders and to save the taxpayers money in the incarceration of prisoners or detainees. Private prisons tend to cut back on staff costs and training. Private facilities tend to pay their officers less, provide fewer hours of training and have higher inmate-to-staff ratios, a combination which may account for their much higher turnover rate among correctional officers, as well as the uptick in inmate assaults. Private prisons make money at taxpayer expense and do not serve the inmates or the public; they serve the owners.

Justice is not well served by privatization of detention facilities. Please help close down the ICE facility in Tacoma and other private prisons in the state. Write to your members of Congress and voice your support for these bills to ban private entities from operating prisons in Washington state.

Small reactors good idea for us

We are blessed in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) with a good mix of electric power sources. Area dams provide hydropower, and we have the only large nuclear power plant in the Northwest. Both of these sources provide low cost, stable electric power.

Wind turbine and solar projects are being built, but have some limitations and higher cost electric power. Wind turbines only work when there is wind and solar only works when there is sun. The plan is to shut down coal-burning power plants in the near future and natural gas plants by 2045. By 2045, the Northwest may have a 100 percent carbon-free electric power system.

The question is where will electric power come from to replace power lost due to fewer coal and natural gas plants in the system? I suggest the future electric power sources may, or could, be by existing hydro and nuclear power plants, add small nuclear reactors to increase nuclear capacity and expand wind and solar capacity only as needed. Wind and solar power costs are higher and are less stable than hydro and nuclear suppliers. Hydro and nuclear work in the dark, when there is no wind and in the sun and with high winds.

State should tax gaming if it passes

Sports betting is now allowed in the states. There are two Bills in the Washington State Legislature; SB6394 and SB6277. SB6394 allows tribal sports betting only and pays no taxes to the State; SB6277 also allows card rooms to offer sports betting and would pay a 10 percent tax, raising around $50 million for Washington that could be used for education.

Please contact your legislators and say that gaming should be taxed; we have enough untaxed gaming in Washington.

Trump released Insecurity, hatred

I was reading a post on Facebook recently. It said the people who support Trump support him because they have the same morals, prejudices hatreds and insecurities that he has. Now he has given them permission to come out in the open and be who they really are. And it’s ugly. It made my heart sink, because I’m afraid it is true. How can that be?

I knew it was true when I realized people hated President Obama not because of his policies but the color of his skin. It sickens me. We need to make our country safe and welcoming for all who choose to live here. It’s not the color of one’s skin that matters, but the content of one’s heart.

We need a person with moral and honest character to lead our country back to that way of thinking, and Trump has proven over and over it’s not him. I don’t need to remind you of all the crap he’s pulled. All the lies he’s told. He has made this country a country to not be proud to be from. We need to change that. Please get out and vote. Vote Blue!

This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Animal shelter, racism, private prisons and more | Feb. 16."