Letters: COVID is significant, honor tribal interests and more | June 17

Green lights too short at Chiawana

I am writing to share my concern about how the stoplights around Chiawana High School change too fast. The lights change too quickly and don’t let enough cars through. This can cause wrecks because the drivers want to get through the lights. It causes lots of traffic. I urge the City of Pasco to fix the stop lights by making the green lights longer so more cars can get through the lights.

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COVID-19 is a significant illness

Some people state the COVID-19 is insignificant. I disagree. I have been one of the unfortunates. After spending 17 days in the hospital with Covid, three blood transfusions and an unknown amount of time in a rehabilitation facility, I can attest that the virus is not insignificant. I implore you to wear a mask when requested and to socially distance from others. Protect yourself, your loved ones and others as much as possible.

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Tribal interests must be honored

Scout Clean Energy wants to install 244 wind turbines across the hillside between Kennewick and Benton City in Eastern Washington. While we support clean energy for the environment, more information is needed on this project due to the cultural implications the wind farm may have.

These turbines would be installed on ancestral native land, and the tribes for these areas have not been given adequate opportunity to determine their position on the project. Tribal stakeholders must be consulted to fully understand the cultural impact the wind farm may have on the future of tribal resources. While the land is not reservation land, using the land without consideration of the impact on tribal resources would further strip local tribes of their culture and their ancestral connections.

While Scout Clean Energy has taken positive steps to determine the impact the wind turbines could have on the environment, more information is needed.

We ask the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to halt the proceeding of this decision until (the) Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation tribal councils can complete proper steps to ensure their culture is preserved. These cultural considerations need to be included in future land use proposals.

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GOP normalizing an abnormality

Some Republicans who initially denounced the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 are now engaged in whitewashing its significance and violence.

On May 14, Washington Post video editor and Fact Checker Adriana Usero reported different examples of how some Republicans are minimizing, playing down or erasing the details of the Jan. 6 attack.

“Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos, pictures,” Rep. Andrew S. Clyde, R-Ga., said this week, “You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from Jan. 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”

Republicans who first criticized Trump for inciting the protesters prior to their attack on the Capitol, now say that Trump is blameless for this attack. Some are now comparing the most brutal violence at the Capitol to the riots and protests associated with Black Lives Matter or antifa. Others suggest that the insurrectionists were not Trump supporters but impersonators sent by antifa.

This is yet another example of Trump GOP politicians using “alternative facts” to influence the perceptions of voters.

This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Letters: COVID is significant, honor tribal interests and more | June 17."