Soroptimist awards, Veteran’s Day, voting rights, Idaho dams and other Herald letters
Soroptimists seek award applicants
Soroptimist International of Three Rivers (SI3R) is preparing to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. For two decades, the club has awarded $38,000 in Live Your Dream Awards. This year, the club offers two $2,500 awards.
More information is available at http://www.si3r.org/live-your-dream. Applications are available online at bit.ly/LYDA-apply . The deadline is Nov. 15.
Applicants are eligible if they are a woman with primary financial responsibility for themselves and their dependents; are attending an undergraduate degree program or vocational skills certificate program and can demonstrate financial need.
Applications are independently judged. Award winners are announced in January and are automatically eligible for possible additional awards at the regional and national level.
Some 94% of award recipients report improved self-esteem; 84% of recipients go on to finish their education and improve their standard of living; 78% who complete their degree or certificate report earning higher wages. Each year, Soroptimist International distributes $2.6 million to 1,700 women around the world. Soroptimist International is proud to be part of their success stories.
We invite our community to help us find eligible applicants and encourage them to apply.
Jann Frye
SI3R Live Your Dream Chair, Kennewick
Bells to ring again to mark war’s end
103 years ago on Nov. 11, at 11 o’clock, the world celebrated peace by ringing bells. Bells had been silent for fear of attracting bombardment in the Great War; now they could ring again. For 100+ years, most of the western world has celebrated Armistice Day, “… a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace ....” in the words of the act of Congress which made Nov. 11 a legal federal holiday.
Recently, the tradition of ringing bells on 11/11, and focusing on World Peace has not been local practice. For the first time in 20+ years, we are technically not at war. Some of your neighbors would like to think about peace and bring bell-ringing back on this occasion.
We are not trying to tell anyone how to observe 11/11/2021, but a group of us will ring bells at 11 o’clock. A group will bring bells and meet at John Dam Plaza, in Richland, on the brick walk, behind the Christmas display, near the police station. Please join us and ring a bell for peace at 11 o’clock.
Chuck Eaton, Richland
Climate goals not ambitious enough
Almost all nations have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions reductions but, in a Sept. 17 article in the Tri-City Herald, United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres concluded that, even if all nations meet their pledges (they aren’t), global warming will still reach 2.7 C by 2100. Such warming will drive catastrophes that will make the heat, fires and floods we’re experiencing now, at 1.1 C warming, seem mild.
To achieve much greater emissions reductions, China and India as well as the U.S. need much more effective climate policies. The U.S. could compel its trading partners China and India to reduce emissions more by implementing a border carbon adjustment, which puts tariffs on imports from countries without an equivalent climate policy.
But to do so, the U.S. needs a more effective policy of its own. An increasing price on carbon, with the revenue returned to the people in equal monthly dividends, would reduce U.S. CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act combines the carbon fee and dividend with a border carbon adjustment. Ask Congress to include this in Biden’s climate plan.
Steven Ghan, Richland
Voting Rights Act needs support
The Voting Rights Act would put in place congressional maps that are fair, stop gerrymandering and a check on the power of self-interested politicians. It would make the playing field level for all Americans. No one would be hindered by race or inability to vote.
As a consumer, I can vote for or against a business by shopping where I want. It is my right to vote for public or private schools based on where I choose to send my children. I have the right to vote on the church I attend and support. I have the right to vote in many situations. It should be that all Americans have a right to vote without obstructive laws, which (it) looks as if some members in Congress are attempting to do by enacting laws that hinder voting rights and/or voting against the Voting Rights Act. Please contact your representative.
All citizens have a right to vote for whom they wish to govern them. As a republic, we ought not have that taken away. In doing so, we no longer are a republic or democracy. We already have the electoral college that can and does skew the popular vote; we don’t need more.
Fern Blake, Kennewick
Thinking beyond me, myself and I
Me, myself and I! Before birth I concentrate on survival! After birth, survival and comfort are my priorities! I absorb life as a newby, unwilling to accept things that make me uncomfortable! I get comfortable with my status in this world and observe how folks around me react and contribute to making me feel good. I watch how being myself affects them. I experiment with making those folks react; a smile, hug, frown, laugh, tears, pain, or...? I learn the rewards of sharing. The hard part; do I share a little, or all? Begin with a little, see how that goes. Now the me. I have COPD, am in my 80s. If I develop pneumonia, chances of recovery and survival are 50-50. My will and heart are positive. I and my spouse had the dreaded COVID-19 vaccination, wear masks in all public venues. will not visit homes of unvaxed, including relatives. All unvaxed visitors to our home have temp test and wear masks in our home. Sound like overkill? Not at all, we like it here, want to see great-grandkids grow to adults. As to that sharing bit: Rather than thinking me, myself and I, try we ….
Dorothy Rawson, Pasco
Why no fuss about 10 Idaho dams?
The four lower Snake River dams are the focus of state politics and environmental groups as a means to save the king salmon runs. which will save our Salish Sea orcas. Using Google, I easily found the other dams blocking the salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. Ten dams are on the Snake and Salmon Rivers producing power for mostly Idaho Power blocking the salmon, since none have fish ladders or transport options. They are valued as an environmentally friendly, carbon free source producing a nameplate 2,157 megawatt for Idaho Power. There are other dams on the tributaries feeding into the Snake blocking salmon migration to the spawning grounds.
Why do the environmental impact reviews ignore the bigger picture and only focus on the four lower Snake River dams? It seems that politics dictate the decision, not science.
John Hanson, Richland
Where do we halt rewriting history?
Statues of Columbus are coming down. Will we also rename all of the cities named Columbus? And how about the derivative word Columbia? Our river? Columbia University? British Columbia? Before we get too carried away, remember that our state and the nation’s capital are both named after a slave owner.
It is not wise to get carried away judging people from the past by today’s standards. We can learn from their errors. And don’t ask me how far in the past or how egregious their sins need to be; I’ll leave that to historians.
Bob Allen, Richland
Congress leading nation into poverty
I feel the Congress is in ignorance leading our country into depression and poverty. Our Congress cares mainly for power and position but seems not to look ahead for the problems they create with excess spending or faulty leadership. Often the so-called leadership is (promoting) anything to hurt us. I believe we are going into stagflation as if we knew what we were doing while trying to hide the facts. There isn’t any good explanation from (Bernie) Sanders or others for our ignorant actions.
James C Langford, Richland
Headed for where in a hand basket?
So, police officers are defecting in record numbers, with no replenishment in sight. Correction officers are doing the same. Guns are becoming closer and closer to being illegal, (or at least ammunition is). It’s okay to riot for evil, but parents protecting their children against government schools are threatened with jail, churches are dwindling, caving not to the word of God, but to the word of man.
What a time to be alive. Who’s to blame for this? We are. All of us. The church, for fracturing and not preaching the word of God, parents for not teaching their children good and evil, the rest of us who are okay with the government providing a comfortable way of life and saying, “You do you.”
All in all, what a time to be alive. The end is nigh! The U.S.A. will eventually pass, much like the Romans did. Difference? The United States of America, as founded, was founded on a belief system that required much less faith than today’s systems. It was founded on godly principles, and to be honest, the last bastion of hope this world has left.
God bless, and may you be found with a heart filled with peace.
Daniel Trunkey, Richland
Let’s find areas to work on together
It’s convenient for those on the left to think that anti-vaxxers are stubborn people who care too much about themselves and too little about others. But reluctance can be due to fear and mistrust. Both emotions appear prevalent in our society. We don’t know whom to trust, and this is exacerbated by social media. The right fears that the left is facilitating a loss of our identity, along with reckless spending and a path to socialism. The left fears permanent injury to our democracy and its institutions and an emerging autocracy if the right prevails.
Both parties take advantage of this culture of fear, and we distrust one another. Ironically, some fear is not misplaced — from COVID to climate change to conflicts with the international community. But these are fears we share; they are about our future. The problems facing us as a nation are greater than the problems of any specific party or individual. There are many areas we can and should build upon together.
David King, Richland
Undammed Snake won’t save salmon
While salmon are a Pacific Northwest icon, they are much more than that to the indigenous people of the region, the Wykanushpum or salmon people. Salmon have helped them survive for thousands of years and are an integral part of their culture and traditions. The salmon are to these people as the buffalo were to the Dakota, an indigenous people living in the northern great plains of North America.
History marks what happened to the buffalo, which were driven nearly to extinction over a matter of two decades. Now they are a tourist attraction on a national preserve. Don’t we teach history to help us learn from our mistakes?
The salmon have been on a decline for well over 100 years in spite of all the studies, recommendations and attempts to reverse their decline. We are going to be sorely disappointed if we believe the proposed removal of a few lower Snake River dams will ensure salmon recovery. The salmon’s demise and road toward extinction is made up from many anthropogenic causes, rooted in H. sapiens’ first attitude. We believe reversing their demise will require an extraordinary collaborative effort on all the underlying problems.
John and Judy Cox, Richland
GOP: You are killing each other
Unvaccinated Republicans: Wake Up! The Great Replacement Theory is not about Democrats replacing you with immigrants; it is about you replacing yourselves with Democrats. Some 40,000 more Republicans than Democrats have died of COVID-19 to date. Unvaccinated Republicans are dying at a rate nine times higher than those who are vaccinated. Far more Democrats than Republicans are vaccinated.
Tucker Carlson of Fox News convinced many of you that getting vaccinated is a bad idea. Fox News, however, has stronger pro-vaccination policies than President Biden. More than 90% of Fox News employees are fully vaccinated. President Trump has been vaccinated and has encouraged the public to do likewise.
Another COVID-19 spike like the one last winter could cause the difference in Republican deaths to rise to 100,000. Continuing to remain unvaccinated is a poor strategy for helping Republicans win elections.
Actions that knowingly may harm others, such as falsely yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, may be subject to civil penalties. Drug and tobacco companies are paying out massive settlements for knowingly endangering the public. Tucker’s unwillingness to reveal if he has been vaccinated hints at his knowledge of COVID-19’s dangers. Fox News’ pro-vaccination policy is proof of its knowledge.
Russ Treat, Richland