Letters: COVID-19 stats, police misconduct, Lee Boulevard and more | June 18

Lockdown closes business

Our Tri-Cities people are experiencing polarized perspectives of our ongoing stay-at-home order. Many people continue about life as normal while many are following the guidance and are taking the recommended precautions.

However, what many do not see directly, no matter their perspective, is the impact on the small business owners who did what the Governor said to do.

One example is Branches of Home at 619 The Parkway. A newly opened small shop that supported more than 50 vendors who sold crafts and art through the store had to close.

Shop owner Brittany Nylund, who recently gave birth to her baby boy, was unable to make rent due to lack of sales because she followed the rules. The landlord(s) of the shop were either unable or unwilling to provide reprieve and so the space lost the new mother and the 50+ vendors she supported. The small business relief funds were gone within hours and much of that to much larger businesses. So, in a community such as ours, what is the small shop owner who followed the rules supposed to do?

Our COVID stats likely much higher

The (Benton Franklin) health department and the Tri-City Herald are doing their community a grave disservice by grossly underestimating local rates of Covid-19 in the community. Guesses by the BFHD peg community prevalence at 3%, but it is likely much higher. Death rates are the tip of the iceberg for infections. Our community has the second highest death rate in our state per 10,000 people at 2.4. Statewide, 6.6% of all Covid tests are positive, but local data have us at as much as 24% in Franklin and 16% in Benton counties. The 18% of Tyson workers who have tested positive is almost certainly an undercount due to testing inaccuracies since our best tests miss over a third of people with Covid. The Herald’s use of percentage increases in cases is misleading because the denominator they are using is increasing as infection spreads. They should be using a 5-7 day moving average.

If the Herald and the BFHD were presenting more accurate data, the hordes of people flouting the CDC self-distancing guidelines might decrease. As it is, those ignoring the guidelines increase risk to themselves, their families, our community and our economy as it delays our chances to re-open.

New system for investigating police

I’ve been thinking about the issues surrounding the George Floyd killing. All but one of the articles and programs I’ve read and heard have ignored the fact that most police and sheriff’s departments’ bureaus that handle police misconduct are agencies within those organizations. That should not be. Courts don’t investigate and try criminals, and police departments shouldn’t either.

Police and sheriff's departments should investigate law enforcement misconduct, but independent agencies should evaluate it. Such independent commissions should be able to perform further investigation if necessary. An independent agency representing the citizens should perform the final evaluation and determine the ultimate discipline. The departmental bureau has a law enforcement bias and the evaluation team should be able to independently investigate any possible misconduct.

The city or county council should select the members for such a commission. The law enforcement organization should train the commissioners on the department policies, and the city attorney or DA’s office should instruct the commission in how to conduct its duties. Then both the citizens’ interests and police interests would be fairly evaluated, and the commission would determine a fair result. That determination could always be appealed to a higher administrative level or court.

Mask exemption got it backward

The list of those who are exempt from wearing masks in public includes the deaf who read lips.

It seems the bureaucrats who dictate rules do not realize that the deaf who read lips are looking at other people’s faces!

Samuel Goldwyn, film producer, said, “We are dealing in facts, not realities.” Typical of this whole COVID-19 debacle!

What am I to think of GOP today?

I sympathize with those who stand against Obama, Clintons, socialism, communism, liberalism and a dead-beat society in which no one takes responsibilities for their own actions. Before this last president, I was Republican leaning.

But we now have a political party that has steadfastly aligned itself with lying and misleading statements (more than 9,000 in less than 4 years), cheating (on taxes, to bondholders and stockholders), bullying, name calling, firing whistleblowers, deficits to the moon to subsidize the rich, dismantling the Constitution and disruption of elections by foreign powers and domestically. They have cheered Trump on as he has used the military, FBI, intelligence agencies, and Department of Justice for political gain. They are proud to be stacking the judicial system with like-minded people. They nod approvingly as Trump declares he knows more about everything than anybody, and fires anyone who disagrees. This is the best the Republicans have to offer. The best of their kind. How thoughtful of them.

Republicans like Fox. Legitimate news sources are not of interest. Am I to conclude that Republicans don’t care about truth or integrity? Are they really the party of greed? What am I to think?

Let’s follow lead of Lee descendant

My family just moved to Richland from Virginia, where statues honoring Confederate generals are finally coming down. Virginians are at last recognizing that remembering our country’s history does not have to include honoring the men who would rather see it fall apart than give up enslaving other human beings.

Imagine my surprise to learn that here in Richland, Lee Boulevard, so far from the Old South, is named in honor of Robert E. Lee! I understand that the streets around here were named for notable members of the Army Corps of Engineers. Surely the city of Richland can find a more worthy Corps member to honor with a street name than a person whose own descendant, Robert W. Lee IV, on June 7 wrote in the Washington Post, “Take down his statue, and let his cause be lost.”

Let us join with Robert W. Lee IV, and people of conscience everywhere, in replacing these potent symbols of hatred and division. Let us imagine how to honor and bring forth a better and more community-minded future.

This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: COVID-19 stats, police misconduct, Lee Boulevard and more | June 18."