Letters: Richland park, protests, Trump and more | July 10

Richland need to clean up walkway

The City of Richland has a walking path and a bike path running through Leslie Groves Park. They have historically neglected any sort of maintenance to the walking path itself and to the plants on either side of the path. You can walk for over 100 yards and not even know that you are 30 feet from the Columbia River. The weeds and non-native Russian olive trees have completely taken over the land there.

Many people have purchased benches in memory of lost loved-ones so that walkers may rest on them and enjoy a close-up view of . . . weeds.

Several years ago, it was a joy to walk this path and enjoy the beautiful river. There are quite a few people who walk this path every day and now, with the distancing restrictions, it’s impossible to walk some areas of the path and maintain the six feet distance since the weeds, grasses and trees are encroaching over the path, making a 6-7 foot wide path only three feet wide so it is impossible to avoid close contact when others are in front of you.

The city should be ashamed of their lack of stewardship of this valuable natural resource.

Why resort to violent tactics?

Protesters across the country have come face-to-face with a myriad of highly-trained, heavily-armed battle-ready lethal forces: militarized police departments, National Guard troops in riot gear, tear gas, rubber bullets, batons, LRADs (long-range acoustic devices), extended detention, immigration agents, curfews, cars driving into people, white supremacist attacks, surveillance or mass arrests.

Deploying the National Guard and active-duty military to violently break up anti-racist protests is wrong. Tanks should not be in the streets of Minneapolis.

But let’s be clear: they shouldn’t be in the streets of Baghdad either. The U.S. militarized approach of shoot/bomb-first-ask-questions-later has to end.

Domestically and across the globe, the U.S. government leads with violence to suppress people — especially black, Muslim, and brown people — instead of addressing the root causes of oppression, inequality and human exploitation.

I call on elected officials here and everywhere to defund the police and invest in black communities and structures for real safety. I urge them to also go a step further, and imagine, with me, a just world. And so, I offer us all questions: What could we do with the resources filling the overflowing coffers of violence-first institutions like the police and the Pentagon? What additional demands do we have of our politicians? What do safety, justice and emergency response look like when it’s for and by all communities, here and everywhere?

Wearing a mask has a side benefit

I made a discovery because of the COVID-19 virus. I went for a walk, wearing a mask and when I got home, my sinuses were clear. None of my frequent problems with allergies.

So, I found a mask that isn’t too hard to breathe in and wear it now when walking or biking. If you have allergies, you too can get a two-for-the-price-of-one benefit from wearing a mask.

Maybe, I get three for one. A cardiologist recommends I get aerobic exercise for my heart. I have a pacemaker that keeps it pumping. If the mask makes me work slightly harder, that’s even better for me.

Open businesses but require masks

The requiring whole mask idea is difficult to implement because we cannot believe what we are being told about the effectiveness against the COVID-19 virus. We hear that the hospital ICU beds are filling up, but no statistics given. It seems the local health department cannot even track recovering cases but surrounding counties can.

The “experts” say that masks are effective, while others say they aren’t. It seems to me that the whole mask implementation could lie with the store management.

I propose opening all of the businesses but require masks for all who enter and while in the establishment. If the management cannot control their store, then require closure until until our area can meet the requirements of the governor.

The businesses that are currently closed have nothing to lose with this proposal, since they are already closed and the worst that could happen is they will close again. Try this for a couple of weeks and then evaluate to see if it is working. This will allow businesses to reopen and possibly survive rather than “withering on the vine.” The Tri-City economy is suffering and will take a long time to recover, if ever!

Apply uniform standards to all

We need to apply standards to ourselves that we require of our fellow Americans. If I insist on others “respecting the law” when it comes to protest curfews, I can’t then insist on my right to protest by not wearing a mask, right?

If I can understand that “unborn lives matter,” I can grasp at least the concept that “black lives matter.”

In regard to the SCOTUS smackdown of Louisiana’s abortion restrictions, I understand that Roe is the law of the land; I can’t go around yelling “law and order” when it comes to one subject and be a hypocrite on another. Lastly, I can appreciate my nation’s secular heart, and my appropriate place therein. I don’t have to have a Conservative Evangelical Theocracy, while complaining about any Sharia laws. I can be proud of my nation and practice my Christianity without being a hypocrite.

Trade Trump for good Republican

Larry Lang’s letter in the June 18 Tri-City Herald hit the nail on the head. I agree with everything he said.

I understand that Republicans want to retain the political power they have achieved in the presidency and Senate, but why are they willing to support such a despicable president and allow the continuation of the damage he is causing?

Surely there are other Republicans who would make a good president. I would probably vote for one of them in November, because I don’t like the extreme, left-wing measures the Democrats want to implement. However, I will vote for Democrats to help prevent the further destruction of our democratic republic in case Donald Trump gains a second term.

I have voted for many Republicans in the past and would love to vote for Ge. Colin Powell, regardless of the fact that he is 83 years old and is not interested in running. There are plenty of Republicans in our country who, like Powell, would represent all of the people, not just GOP political power and the rich, if given the opportunity.

This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Richland park, protests, Trump and more | July 10."