Thanksgiving anniversary, climate change, Rittenhouse trial and other Herald letters

Thanksgiving hits anniversary 400

Did you know that this year is the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in 1621? I just thought somebody needed to point that out as it’s kind of special and cool.

Dave Rose, Richland

Climate change driving wildfires

“Climate change is now the main driver of increasing wildfire weather,” according to an article the Tri-City Herald ran Nov. 1.

In it, UCLA climate researcher Rong Fu said they could explain fire weather prior to 2000, ”... pretty well just using the weather patterns …. But now we can only explain like 30% of what we see with the fire weather.”

The researchers concluded the other 70% is due to greenhouse gases warming the planet after ruling out other factors like vegetation changes and cloud cover. We were lucky that last summer’s heat wave did not coincide — in the Columbia Basin anyway — with wildfire smoke. The combination of wildfire smoke and extreme heat creates a potentially deadly threat to public health and safety. Where our economy is concerned, wildfire smoke could harm our $8 billion wine industry as smoke-tainted wines may develop scents similar to disinfectant or burnt rubber and may taste like licking an ashtray.

We owe it to ourselves, our offspring, and our economy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. A fair way to do that is with a carbon fee and dividend. Under this model, we all pay for our carbon output, but families will get a rebate on a monthly basis.

Ginger Wireman, Richland

Too much Wild West in Kenosha

It is grand to see that the Wild West still exists in America today. Kyle Rittenhouse (aka Doc Holiday) dropped a couple of Clanton gang members (demonstrating arsonists) in a shootout at the parking lot (corral) of the OK Convenience store in the town of Kenosha (Tombstone).

Local authorities are now trying to determine if it was a fair gunfight or not. Although some of the Clantons appeared to have been armed, they did not return Holiday’s gun fire. This raises the specter of whether they were even armed.

Doc Holiday with his medical kit and rifle was in town to help the local citizens prevent the Clantons from destroying property and provide aid as needed.

If the fight was unfair, Holiday could be facing the hangman’s noose. If the fight is deemed fair, then he would be an acknowledged hero in the tradition of the Old West. As an aside, it is likely Kyle Rittenhouse watches too many old western movies!

Larry Brandt, Kennewick

Honor veterans; act with integrity

After listening to politicians speak about how much they honor veterans, I had the weirdest dream. I thought the politicians were actually serious and would honor veterans by acting with integrity, putting our nation’s interests ahead of their party’s (or cult’s) lust for power and even ahead of the wishes of their big money bribers. Then I awoke from my delirium and realized it was just a dream; will never happen.

Brett Menaker, Kennewick

Rittenhouse trial served justice

The Kyle Rittenhouse trial shows that there is still justice in this country. This is a textbook case of self defense despite what the mainstream media would have you believe. I hope he sues all the media outlets and even the president for libel. The only way to bring the media back to being honest is to cost them money.

Daniel Holliday, Pasco