Letters: COVID-10, dams, Trump and more | April 12

Did feds squeeze medical vendors?

According to a Huff Post article on March 28, our president’s willingness to punish a state’s residents over a feud with a governor appeared evident in a statement at his press briefing on March 27. The president said he had instructed the vice president, who heads up the president’s coronavirus task force, not to call the governors of Washington or Michigan. This instruction was given despite the fact that these two states have among the highest number of coronavirus cases in the nation.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told a radio station on the same day as the press conference that medical supply vendors informed her they’ve been told “not to send stuff” to her state amid the battle against COVID-19. Whitmer told WWJ: “When the federal government told us that we needed to go it ourselves [on medical supplies], we started procuring every item we could get our hands on. But what I’ve gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan.”

Is our state also having trouble obtaining medical supplies because of our president’s willingness to punish our state’s residents over a feud with our governor?

Carbon no reason for Snake dams

This letter responds to the recent Tri-City Herald editorial from the Yakima Herald-Republic, which partly focused on the added carbon footprint removing the dams would have from barge traffic elimination.

First, the additional carbon footprint from losing barging is not significant in the greater scheme of global warming. For clarity, I am not a climate change denier, but basing a pro-dam position on this small impact is ludicrous.

Second, if dams are so great, why don’t we build more of them? It’s been decades since a large new dam has been built in the U.S. Let’s put some nice big dams on the Yakima, Wenatchee, Methow, Okanogan and Klickitat! How about the John Day, Deschutes and Umatilla! Well folks, we now realize that dams are not environmentally neutral. They destroy the natural characteristics of the river, and in the Northwest, the corresponding salmon runs as well.

The modern trend is to remove marginal dams, such as on the Elwha, Sandy, and White Salmon rivers. If the lower Snake dams were being proposed today, they would never get approved. A few tons of carbon is a small price to pay in the fight to save salmon from extinction.

Schools deserve credit for safe food

I enjoy reading the restaurant evaluations. It gives me an idea where NOT to eat. After all, hands should be clean, food should be the correct temperature and the handlers should have proper documentation. Not hard, right?

So with that in mind, I think we should all give kudos to our area school food services, which seldom have any red or blue marks. They are serving good healthy meals to our students and that is more than commendable. It’s great! Too bad more restaurants can’t do the same.

Thanks so much.

Looking it up sets the record straight

I know at times we all get excited and angry, but we still need to stop, think and look at the evidence (research).

Are you listening Mitch McConnell (i.e., Senate Impeachment Trail)?

David Garber (3/12) says that…

-SB 5395 “requires schools to push raw, perverted sex “education’…. and….rob them of their innocence.”

Any proof of this, excerpts, examples?

Maybe we should clean up TV and the Internet instead.

-HB 1775 “Legalizes underage prostitution.”

Actually, no, it protects the privacy and future of “commercially sexually exploited children,” by sealing their names from those who might further abuse them as adults.

-SB 6037 “Creates racist hiring quotas...”

Actually, this bill has nothing to do with “hiring quotas.”

Instead it’s on “genetic testing” and “parenthood.”

-HB 1551 “makes it no longer a felony to intentionally infect others with HIV, etc.”

Actually, it still is, “…an assault in the 1st degree,” which “is a Class A Felony.”

(p.16 of the bill)

Thanks,

Church can adapt to social distancing

A lot of churches have wisely adapted to the advise of social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis. A minister for the huge congregation of the Saddleback Church said, “God gave us brains for a reason, and we need to follow the wise counsel of our medical experts and follow their guidelines and not gather in large numbers at this time.” The services are safely televised.

If those who insist on gathering in huge numbers would only infect each other, that would still be sad, but their recklessness can go beyond their group, and that would be tragic. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name …,” doesn’t have to be 200 or 300 or 1,000. Prayer can be just as effective from a private, isolated space as it is from a “sounding gong” public showing. The drama of a large congregation can be stirring, but the trauma of losing loved ones due to heedless behavior goes against the charitable attitudes and actions that most religions encourage.

Science isn’t everything, but to ignore fact-based cautions does not make a person more religious.

Raise awareness about child abuse

April is Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It is important to raise awareness of child abuse within our community. Last year in Benton and Franklin counties, there were 346 interviews conducted of alleged child abuse. This does not include cases that go unreported.

Community members can show support. One way to become involved is to simply talk about the issue of child abuse in our community. Bringing this issue to light can help others be aware and protect the children around them. If you suspect a child is being abused, report it! Reporting does not necessarily constitute a proven fact. it is raising a question about the condition or state of a child.

Another way to get involved is to attend our community awareness events happening in April. The Support, Advocacy & Resource Center is organizing some child abuse prevention awareness displays, which include The Clothesline Project, & The Little Hearts Project. Our Community Education Night, which includes a dinner, education for parents and presentations for all ages of kids, will be held on April 23 at Highlands Middle School. All are welcome to attend!

For information, call SARC at 509-374-5391.

Congressional leaders disappoint

I am very disappointed with much of our leadership candidates right now. I don’t expect perfection, but at least they could pretend to do their job in Congress. My sources suggest that Congress spends 1/3 of their time in seeking votes (getting reelected or elected). A goodly number are so vain they continually criticize their opponents, i.e. self seeking promotion. Our ancestors who made us great would be ashamed. Yes, some less service-oriented did it, but now it is almost a profession now. So stupid. We are not now headed for optimum operation.

Our schools are not even giving us the best education, but kids are sometimes superior to the vagrant teachers. What a waste of talent, possible achievement or education direction. Other much poorer countries are overcoming our system. Our religion gave us incentive and direction, but now some laugh at religious values out of stupidity. Youth grows, usually don’t learn real social values before 18 years, so think it is okay to destroy and act the clown till then.

Can this be changed and corrected? Possibility is built only by talented people, not by piles of money. We have tried the money route, and it does not work!

First responders: May you stay safe

To our first responders, doctors, nurses: May you keep safe during this epidemic.

To our doctor who lives down our street and our respiratory nurse also in our neighborhood and to those health care people throughout this great country of ours.

SNAP benefits left out of aid bill

As you may be aware, the last emergency package did not include any additional boost for nutrition benefits via SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). This was one of the final “sticking points” in negotiations and will be a key part of the negotiations over the next economic recovery package. Strengthening SNAP will not only feed families – it will also boost the economy. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimates that every $1 billion invested in SNAP supports 13,600 jobs and approximately $32 million in farm revenue.

The current administration and Congress are at war with low income (people), migrants and the poor. Congress needs to delay the implementation of proposed and final rules that the administration has issued for SNAP. The implementation of new rules on program eligibility and restrictions would exacerbate the hardship of low-income families and children in the Yakima Valley. Implementation of these regulations would also divert vital state resources away from responding to the impacts of COVID-19.

The administration continues its war and the Yakima Valley suffers. Please ask Rep. (Dan) Newhouse to lend his support to low-cost housing, rental tax rebates and SNAP in the coming economic recovery packages.

Why take a gun to go shopping?

When including the right to bear arms, I doubt the framers believed it would be used in a time of pandemic. Is the priority of our country (to preserve) gun owners rights above all else? I dare say less than 1% of those currently buying bullets are doing so to provide their families food. Why then are they a necessary business allowed to be open? I don’t believe that the framers of the Constitution ever envisioned a time when parents would have to worry about their children going to school without fear of mass shooting, or that schools would be closed but that is the United States we now live in. Why not allow educational material/teacher supply stores to be open as parents are forced to educate their children in their homes? Why should any gun owner need to take his gun to Walmart in his pocket with the safety off, accidentally drop it and have the gun fire? Your loved one or someone you care nothing about could have been killed. Is a roll of toilet paper so coveted that lives should be at risk by a reckless gun owner? Thank God no one was killed or injured. Please leave your guns at home, social distance when you must be out, be kind to your neighbors and let’s get through this together as American in a way we can all be proud.

Projections too high for COVID

Gov. Jay Inslee, as well as the White House, have been making COVID-19 decisions based in part on a predictive model developed by the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Problem is, the model is flawed and has been wildly over projecting the COVID-19 demand for hospital beds. Its projections for the very beginning of April were for a nationwide need of around 140,000 beds, which would overwhelm our nation’s healthcare system. Turns out, actual COVID-19 hospitalizations were less than a fourth of that. Over the weekend of April 4-5, the Institute revised its projections downward by about a half, but the model projections are still grossly over projecting hospitalizations.

Why do our policymakers and politicians continue to make use of models like this? It seems we give more credence to sky is falling model projections than to less exciting real-world data. When model predictions depart from what is actually occurring, we should drop the model and stop scaring people with it. Or perhaps, is scaring people the actual purpose in order to stampede them into accepting radical measures?

Too-early action would be a flop

It is sadly humorous to read the comments from the Trump haters that have the need to throw in a snipe about his alleged slow response to the virus thing. An emergency that no country in the world was ready to deal with.

The sad truth is that if back in January or early February the president would have closed the borders and restricted travel, the Democrats’ heads would have exploded! They would have run screaming to their liberal 9th Circuit Court to interfere with that and any other moves the administration would have made.

Pretty sad!

Making a better makeshift mask

RE: Makeshift mask for COVID-19. With whatever mask you use, smear a light coating of vaseline, mentholatum (anything that would potentially trap particles) on mask around nose & mouth, but not so much as to inhale unwanted fumes. This is not backed by any scientific evidence but only a suggestion as a possible addition for protection.

Why are we still salmon fishing?

OK, I get that salmon runs are highly depleted from prior years. Many people have their favorite idea of what’s causing this, but nobody seems to mention anything about this as a solution:

I can’t go into a restaurant and order a filet of Spotted Owl. Why can I go into that same restaurant and order a salmon filet?

What is it about this that is unclear to people? If salmon runs are truly depleted, why are we still allowed to fish for salmon? Why is there a recreational salmon fishing season both in the ocean and in the rivers? Why is there a commercial fishing season for salmon in the ocean?

C’mon man, we’re talking about removing dams to increase the fish runs. Why not first stop all recreational and commercial salmon fishing (except for the Indians)? Do that for a few years and see what happens to the runs?

Also, why not open a season on shooting the sea lions that are feasting on the salmon at Bonneville Lock? I’d bet the WDFW could sell licenses and make a few bucks and also reduce the predators.

Old white men

George Jenkins (the 100-year-old Tri-Citian fighting COVID-19) ...

When the general population thinks of old white men in the news, let us think of old white men like George Jenkins.

Thompson DUI hearing effective

My viewpoint (is that) the (former Mayor Bob) Thompson DUI preliminary hearing, 3/10/2020, was an example of an effective court process. The hearing video can be requested through the FOIA process.

Many thanks to Judge Brian Sanderson.

What is going on is that the defense is trying to get a final hearing where the defense can throw everything at the jury, confusing the jury so that they could not find beyond reasonable doubt that Thompson should have been arrested at all, was not arrested properly, that the data shows that his breathalyzer test was in error, etc., etc.

In his closing statements, the judge’s opinion was he believed, from the data presented, that the arrest was executed properly. His decision was based on the facts that Thompson did not challenge the speeding charge, that the officer followed the protocol of advancing his investigation based on his judgment that Thompson’s behavior indicated more than just a speeding issue: the swerving of Thompson’s vehicle, the smell of alcohol when Thompson open the window of his car, the admission he had three drinks and then his refusal to take either the Breathalyzer test or the test to determine his physical impairment level.

Only two Richland citizens attended the hearing.

Homelessness is now an industry

The problem of homelessness may never be solved.

Seattle, for instance, spends roughly $100,000 per homeless resident of the city on homeless relief. The money is used by organizations to pay themselves some salaries in excess of 200,000 for a single executive.

Tens of thousands employed by major agencies are to help these people. What would happen if poverty and homelessness were eradicated? No more jobs? This problem has turned into big business. They do not care to solve this problem so homelessness and poverty become a viable lifestyle choice.

Trump supporter

Trump Derangement Syndrome is a disease which infests the pages of the Tri-City Herald far too often. I am sick of reading the vile, lying slander against our President. Evidently, TDS sufferers do not believe in building a strong economy, reducing unemployment, and implementing a strong “America First” diplomacy.

They block religious freedom and coddle criminals at every turn while denying ordinary citizens the right of self-defense. They support impossible proposals like “Green New Deal” and carbon taxes that would devastate economic prosperity and do nothing to mitigate climate change.

They attempted to eliminate President Trump through a Russian collusion hoax based on a false dossier paid for by Democratic opposition and a false joke of an impeachment inquiry that went nowhere. President Trump exhibits tenacity in the face of a continued barrage of profane, sick sewage thrown at him by a hostile media and radicals of all stripes determined to bring America down to an equal level of poverty, weakness and dictatorial control. I’m voting Trump.

Take Idaho dams down to help fish

In regard to the letter from Megan Holloway of Richland regarding breaching the lower Snake River Dams: She needs to understand little will be accomplished until Dworshak Dam on the Clearwater River and the “Hell’s Canyon” dams (which the Oregon governor has recently reauthorized despite joining Gov. Jay Inslee in the drive to breach the lower Snake dams) are breached or modified to allow fish passage.

Breaching the Lower Snake Dams will only cause a hardship on countless people while providing no relief for any fish. Knowing the facts are key to any decision and breaching the Lower Snake dams will do nothing for the fish and only make life hard and more expensive for people in the Northwest, including Oregon.

This story was originally published April 12, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: COVID-10, dams, Trump and more | April 12."