Preventing bullying, Richland School Board, sheriff questions and other Herald letters

SARC lists ways to stop bullying

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, meaning it is time to raise awareness and do our part to help end all forms of bullying and harassment. One way to help is to be an active bystander. An active bystander is an individual who sees something bad happening and does something to try to improve the situation. For example, witnessing someone getting bullied and intervening to help out the victim.

Here are tips on how to be an active bystander:

Recognize if the person needs help.

Ask yourself if it is safe to intervene.

Plan on how you are going to approach the situation.

Some things you can do to help include:

Address the situation directly such as saying “Leave them alone.”

Check in on the individual and let them know you support them and are here to listen.

If it is unsafe, ask a third party to help, such as school faculty or even law enforcement.

If you are a victim of bullying and/or harassment and would like support, please call Support Advocacy & Resource Center (SARC) at 509-374-5391.

And remember if you see something, say something.

Marisol Cervantes, Richland

Garcia has right balance for board

Finding balance: that is the biggest task any school board has to fulfill. To find balance between the needs and desires of all the stakeholders, which at times may be at odds with one another. To do this effectively, members need to actively listen to all sides of the issues in order to develop a deeper understanding. Members need to ask tough questions and attempt to see an issue from as many different perspectives as they can in order to find that balance. It isn’t enough to walk in with one’s own preconceived notion of how to solve a given problem.

Danica Garcia would bring a multicultural, multilingual perspective that our school board does not currently have. This means that some constituents may find her the most approachable or accessible member of the board. Danica also brings experience as an educator and a parent.

As a parent of an Richland School District Delta High School student who actively participates in extracurricular activities at her home high school, I believe Danica Garcia is the candidate who is best suited to represent all of the district families if elected to the Richland School Board. A vote for Danica Garcia is a vote for all.

Carrie Hallquist, Richland

Responding to GOP questions

Sheriff application questionnaire response:

∙Temporary Sheriff Jon Law supported recall effort.

∙ Political party? Sheriff should be non-partisan.

∙Embarrassing past concerns. (Trump didn’t cover enough bases for you?)

∙Know the Republican Platform and Support Trump’s America First Agenda. (You mean The Big Lie?)

∙The elected sheriff is sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

∙Lawsuit conflicts concerns (refer to Trump).

∙Time it will take to hire new deputies? A long time if you advocate Trumpism.

∙Alleged-unconstitutional law is Legislature’s responsibility.

∙Initiatives aren’t law, thus enforcement is moot.

∙Government mandate for COVID-19 vaccine – yes, there is a fundamental right of everyone to be protected from COVID-19 – particularly as the Delta variant continues to spread and mutate among the unvaccinated.

∙Laws that reduce/deter crime through strong appropriate punishment are Legislative responsibility.

∙ “Constitutional sheriff” (concept) (often linked to white supremacy) believes sheriffs are the ultimate jurisdictional authority — even above federal law enforcement

∙ Gov. Jay Inslee shut our State down during the pandemic to save lives. It worked, you’re still here.

∙Civil rights are alive and well.

∙Washington is a permissive open carry state.

Republicans, you can do better than this. Benton County deserves an independent, ethical, law-enforcing sheriff.

Linda Parish, Kennewick

Pro life and ‘My body, my choice’

To your friends who give you grief about being for medical freedom when it comes to vaccines but call you a hypocrite because you’re pro life and you disagree with the original definition of “my body, my choice.“

Those of us who believe life begins at conception believe that another person with its own body with a separate individual identity is growing inside of a mother’s body and that little body should be free to fully develop until birth and grow up to the point where it can make its own decisions about its own body. So there are ways in which “my body my choice“ and being pro life can coexist.

Robert Garrison, Kennewick

She’s walking to beat Alzheimer’s

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 120,000 people living with Alzheimer’s disease in Washington state. There are also 295,000 unpaid family caregivers supporting a loved one with dementia. It’s a growing health crisis, and more than ever, we need to come together to support people affected by the disease.

The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is one way you can help. I will be participating in the Tri-Cities Walk to End Alzheimer’s, being held Oct. 10 at the Columbia Park Bandshell in Kennewick.

I walk in memory of my father Bill Johnson who died of this horrible disease. My life’s mission is to end Alzheimer’s and all other dementias so other families do not have to go through this same terrible journey!

You can attend the event in person or walk in your own neighborhood. No matter where you walk, every dollar raised goes directly toward cutting-edge research and local support programs for individuals and families facing the disease.

Please consider joining me in the fight against Alzheimer’s. To learn more or sign up, visit alz.org/walk or call 1.800.272.3900.

Kay Lehmann, Kennewick

Canada should dam the Columbia

I see the U.S. has extended the border closure to Canadian citizens, while allowing virtually anyone into the U.S. from Mexico. If I were a Canadian, I would build a damn good dam across the Columbia River to see how well the U.S. liked that!

Mike Mehren, Hermiston

No answers from moderate Dems

Crickets: That’s what you’ll hear when asking any common-sense Democrat what compelling qualifications the Biden/Harris ticket cemented their vote.

Was it a stimulus promise? Open borders? Tax reduction? Employment opportunities? Or eliminating COVID-1919? I am sure free college and childcare were foremost in progressive, liberal minds, along with the tease for universal income. What more could they want?

Buyers anxiety though does seem to be appearing in moderate Democrats, who know we are a nation of self starters and not dependent dead wood. They are realizing that entitlement budgeting is a form of government enticement towards citizen compliance and reliance. They are realizing the gargantuan budgets being proposed by Congress will saddle our grandchildren with debt that restricts their chances at the American dream; to grow, prosper and be self determined.

For over 60 years, liberal Democrats have bred, fed and wed an entitlement-minded constituency, which has come to fruition, allowing them to energize this electorate to fit their agenda of controlling our daily lives.

Even Bernie Sanders admits the $3.5 trillion proposal scores closer to $6 trillion and knows the working class will fund it, not the 1 percent. Are we leaders or followers?

Michael Kildall, Kennewick

Afghanistan: what did we learn?

After 20 years, what lessons did we learn from invading Iraq and Afghanistan? The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon caused the Bush II administration to overreact and overreach by invading Iraq and Afghanistan. The invasion of Iraq was based on a false premise that it was harboring weapons of mass destruction, and the invasion of Afghanistan was based on its refusal to turnover Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the attack.

These invasions resulted in an “epoch of aggressive jingoism, ethnic profiling, escalating paranoia, torture, secret prisons, broken soldiers, dead civilians and dashed imperial dreams.” Fearing further attacks created U.S. policies of intrusive surveillance of American citizens, use of agent provocateurs and the torture and assassination of suspected terrorists. It has also encouraged the far right’s dissemination of xenophobia, white supremacism, Christian nationalism and a conspiracy world view.

The U.S. has spent 20 years and over $4 trillion in unfunded borrowed funds in bungling attempts to change both countries into democratic institutions. We have finally given up our occupation and left them poorer and more hostile toward the U.S.

Has this made us feel any safer or taught our voters and politicians any useful lessons?

William Petrie, Richland