Letters: Coronavirus, Trump, protesters and more | July 5

Competence and honesty matter

This is not a holier than thou, spiteful or angry letter. It is out of fear for the country and so many vulnerable people.

It is unimportant if the Senate, Congress and other key positions are Republican or Democrat. What is important is that those people be honest, (and) competent with one goal — doing what is best for the country and American people. That they take an oath and honor it.

Being an Immigrant and ex-Canadian Air Force, I took an oath in the military and also to become an American citizen.

Both meaningful and a commitment to honor.

This president brags that he is loved by people of faith, law enforcement and military. These people also took an oath to protect, bring law and order and decency to the country. People of faith (take) an oath to God. Are they living up to that oath.

This president is corrupt and dangerous, lies, cheats and is immoral. He is a security threat to every American and world peace. He also took an oath; unfortunately he breaks it every day.

I am surprised that churches are so quiet on his behavior, I guess holding the Bible worked.

Personalize what COVID-19 means

A recent PBS news story about wearing masks showed a famous baseball player saying, “Hell, I would rather die from Coronavirus than spend the rest of my life in fear and wearing a damn mask.” That’s haunting me. Do people really not realize that helping control the spread while we wait for a vaccine is not a permanent ordeal?

Your excellent editorials and articles about the necessity of wearing masks and social distancing should be making more of an impact on local behavior than they seem to be. I wonder if, besides the reports of numbers of infections and deaths, you could share stories about specific people, with no names necessary, telling how and where they contacted the illness.

Many of us don’t know anybody who had it and might be able to understand better with more facts. Then they might take compliance more seriously.

He’s puzzled by who gets to work

To our leaders. Why is it I cannot get a haircut (nonessential business)? My wife cannot get a haircut or get her nails treated (also nonessential businesses). We cannot go to the gym in an effort to support healthy living (also nonessential business), but we can buy all the fireworks (obviously an essential business) we want and hopefully keep from burning the ends of our fingers off or starting a fire and keep our fire department and emergency rooms busy (also an essential business).

Why not enforce mask mandate?

Our governor says we are supposed to wear a mask, but it will be self enforced; we all know how that is working. Our government is too weak. In other countries when the government says the people are mandated to wear a mask, that it is not an option. My feelings are that the governments, local and state, do not want to do their job, they feel that in time we will all feel good about the masks and all be wearing them. Once again we can see this isn’t effective. So who is going to enforce the issue?

Well, since the governments (local and state) won’t do their jobs, and Joe citizen won’t do his, the best solution would be for the businesses to do it. I’ll wear a mask to support them. They are the ones suffering. They shouldn’t have to be the “bad guy,” but if they posted a sign at the door: NO MASK NO SERVICE, (if that is even legal in today’s politically correct world), it wouldn’t take long and Joe citizen would get the idea, or would he?

Why not call a lie exactly what it is?

The dictionary (Oxford Color Dictionary, 1995) defines the word lie as “intentional false statement, something that deceives, be deceptive.” Catching someone in a lie goes back as far as young George Washington cutting down the cherry tree; or in my own case, mother wagging her forefinger at me for my hand in the cookie jar. I tried to tell her I was only checking to make sure no one had been filching her snickerdoodles. She knew I was lying ... so did I.

Now why is the word “lie” so hard for the media to use? It is a stronger word than “misstatement” or “falsehood” or “untrue.” A CNN headline (3/27) said, “Trump Utters Series of False and Misleading Claims at Coronavirus Briefing.” Is this news agency simply trying to tiptoe around “lies” in an attempt not to hurt this ever-contumely man’s feelings? Why? If Trump can stand at a microphone without regard for the truth, why offer “False and Misleading Claims” when the more honest statement would be, “Trump Lies at Coronavirus Briefing.”

I’m told NPR dropped those coronavirus briefings because of his lies. NPR should have taken a cue once Trump boasted his inauguration of Jan. 20, 2017, as the largest ever attended in U.S. history ... so he said, er, lied.

Chinese stepping into void at WHO

To date with (about) 95,000 Americans dead, (and) 1,500,000 Americans sick, Trump, in hindsight, says he would do “nothing” different next time around even though he had info from his own intelligence services in December/January that told him the Coronavirus thing in China was real, with China likely under-reporting real number of deaths.

Trump left America totally unprepared for the worst, which we now all know did happen.

Easy for Trump to blame the World Health Organization and withhold WHO funding to cover-up his own incompetence, but he again hasn’t figured out something very important.

In the words of a very intelligent President Obama (who exited with 58% approval rating), “if you are not at the table to address the issues, you are on the menu to be eaten.” The Chinese recently contributed $2 billion to the WHO, so guess who is now being eaten?

We hope soon to welcome you back

I moved to this community to open a winery-themed hotel called The Lodge at Columbia Point in July of 2016, and opened Drumheller’s Restaurant the next year. As a hotelier and restaurateur, we pride ourselves on our expertise in health and safety standards. Focused on a sanitary environment, guest and food safety and the treasured connections to other community businesses, the hospitality industry is uniquely poised to ensure a safe, successful reopening. Restaurants are the largest private employer in the state, and beyond our immediate employees, every dollar spent reaches diverse aspects of our community, including wineries, distilleries, craft brewers, ranchers, farmers, retail shops, transportation and processing and manufacturing plants. It is our privilege to be a part of the Tri-Cities hospitality community, with an amazing Chamber and destination marketing organization, Visit Tri-Cities, promoting safe and responsible tourism.

We will always consider customer service and safety our top priorities. It is our passion to be of service, and we know many of our fellow hotels, restaurants and wineries within the hospitality industry feel the same. We all hope to welcome you back very soon.

Many questions about protesters

As I watched the news and saw the murder of George Floyd, I was both shocked and outraged. What has happened since has left me with many questions.

What do rioting, looting, stealing, burning down businesses have to do with George Floyd? I think it dishonors his memory. Why do people now want to defund the police? They are short of funds as it is. Who are we going to call on for help when we need it? Why can police not detain law breakers, no matter the color of their skin? Who is going to investigate crimes? We have a bunch of spoiled brats running things in Seattle. Why? Now they want supplies to make life in occupation more comfortable. Why is it not a crime for these spoiled brats to throw bottles, rocks and chunks of concrete at police and unarmed National Guardsmen and -women. The media reports the protesters are unarmed. Why are bottles, rocks and bricks not considered weapons when they are being thrown at other people? Why are governors and mayors around the country letting a bunch of spoiled, entitled brats run the communities? Where is leadership? Why is all this going on? Why?

Ignoring Phase 1 will keep us there

I just finished reading your editorial entitled “Tri-Citians who defy COVID-19 precautions harm reopening” (June 21) and would like to share an experience I had on Saturday.

I was driving by a local school and saw an organized game taking place. There were two girls’ softball teams playing a game and dozens of spectators. An announcement was made over the school’s loudspeaker informing the group that they were in violation of the state’s Phase 1 order. The group ignored the announcement. Finally, a school official had to personally ask the group to leave school district property. I then witnessed a father tell his family, “We can’t play here, so we are moving the game to Lawrence Scott Park.”

Really! This blatant disregard of Phase 1 guidelines is the reason we will still be in Phase 1 while the rest of the state is in Phases 2, 3 and 4! I don’t like these guidelines any more than the rest of the Tri-Citians, but I’m going to follow them so that we don’t force the government to impose even more restrictions on us. Please wear a facemask and follow the guidelines. That’s the only way we’re going to beat COVID-19 and get back to some kind of normal!

Stand together, vote Trump out

Let's vote trump out and vote Joe Biden in this coming November.

As Republicans and Democrats, we have to stand together and make America greater again.

This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Coronavirus, Trump, protesters and more | July 5."