Unions helping out, gun violence, gangs and other Tri-City Herald letters to the editor

By The Tri-City Herald

January 7, 2022 8:08 AM

Unions always out helping community

As a retired Teamster Local 839 Union member, in the public sector I like to stay active and involved. We all know Unions promote economic equality and build worker power. But every year at this time, I take a little extra joy and pride in having been a union member, when we discuss all the charitable work and holiday programs our Local (and other unions) do in our community. During the holiday season (and throughout the rest of the year really), the union spirit of helping people often goes unnoticed and unheralded. Often quietly, it’s what our local Teamsters do.

Andy Wellington, Richland

Local businesses need your help

Bigger companies from outside of our hometown have been brought in. For example, Roasters coffee house has changed to Black Rock; an Oregon firm. Black Rock had bought out Roasters back in January. They have sought out to expand their business throughout Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona and Southern California. It is sad to think that one of our local favorite shops has been bought out by a bigger organization. It was something special to our home town.

Another issue I would like to bring up is how the pandemic is one of the causes of small, home-owned businesses having to close. Over half of the businesses have had to close — 61% of restaurants and 58% of retail. This doesn’t mean that the ones that survived the pandemic haven’t struggled — 70% of small businesses that have made it through have had to take financial help.

With this being said, I feel that by saying this I have convinced you to help out our community/our local businesses from getting bought out or by closing. The way you can help out is by going in and seeing if you need or want anything from their stores.

Abigail Dron, Kennewick

We need to tackle gun violence here

Over the past years here in the Tri-Cities, there have been several situations that have changed people’s lives. Right now, we live in a world where every place can be the target of a shooting. We can’t really be safe out in the street because you never know what can happen right at that moment.

A 32-year-old man was shot in a Pasco restaurant parking lot. This is a problem because I feel like this topic is very important to talk about. Not a lot of people know what has been happening in the Tri-Cities these past years.

The police were called to the El Mirador Restaurant .after someone reported her husband was shot, according to Pasco police. My opinion is that we need to make a change in our community so that people don’t think that violence is not just the only answer to solve their problems. I just want to inform people so that they can be safe and support the cause of no violence and no gun shooting. I have heard several stories now and have seen the news about it being true. What will you do to make a change?

Alan Contreras, Kennewick

Real travesty is voter suppression

Re: Biden voters: Did you want this? Pretty much all of the “evidence” that Mr. Snowden uses to “prove” his point is false, exaggerated, projection of Trump administration actions or unsupported opinion.

“Accept no responsibility” for the now 800,000 deaths from COVID, the response for which we now know was botched by Trump; half of these deaths are estimated to be unnecessary due to the politicization by the GOP-supported anti-vax groups of the vaccine efforts of the Biden administration.

Turning the U.S. into a third world nation? Again, this is largely the result of the botched COVID response of Trump. Biden got an infrastructure bill passed where Trump repeatedly failed. Grab your bootstraps and pull.

A government that is impotent? One word: Infrastructure. See above.

(That) $6 gas? A) It’s around $3.50 at Costco. B) Any president has little control over the price of gas. Supply and demand. Recall the oil embargo of the 1970s. OPEC squeezed, America cried.

Let’s talk voter suppression efforts of the GOP. That is the governmental travesty.

Richard D. Reuther, Kennewick

Cut street racing with a drag strip

Cars are killing machines, and combined with inexperienced teenage idiocy, it creates a serious issue with street racing. Tri-Cities needs a safe place for teenagers to get racing out of their system.

That is why we need a drag strip. A drag strip creates a safe environment for people to show off their cars away from other people. In 2018, there were 1,700 phone calls about street racing in the Tri-Cities, and that number has only grown since then. With a drag strip, we can create a friendly car community that is a help to society and not a stain in others’ eyes.

A drag strip would also be a financial help to the city. With the money gained from tickets, we could put it back into the community to help Tri-Cities become a better place. With a designated area for car enthusiasts, the bad apples could be weeded out and outlawed. No matter what laws are imposed, people will always street race, so why not make it as safe as possible to keep everyone happy?

Dmytro Symonchuk, Kennewick

Gang-related acts just too common

Now that the Tri-Cities population is so big, gang-related crimes are rising as well as shootouts. How will kids walk the crosswalk and not worry about a drive-by or how do cops feel when they go home thinking about how their dear friend died? Two recent examples of this problem: On Dec 15, a home was shot up in a drive-by in Kennewick on Fourth Avenue next to Westgate Elementary School, and then police were searching for the gunman in a Sunday night drive-by shooting in an east Kennewick neighborhood. They were among a rising number of gang-related crimes in the Tri-Cities in recent weeks, Kennewick police Lt. Jason Kiel said in a news release that Kennewick had seen an increase in the number of drive-by shootings.

I was in the area when I heard the gunshots during the second occurrence. It scared me to think those gunshots killed someone; It could have been me. I’ve lived in the Tri-Cities all my life, and there has definitely been a rise in violence.

Victor Flores, Kennewick

Help U.S. escape COVID quandary

What can I say to you who refuse to be vaccinated? Or wear masks? Omicron is here now, and even children may be in more danger than before. You don’t want to lose your precious freedom? We who are vaccinated outnumber you, but you are taking away OUR freedoms. I’m angry when I see people without masks inside stores, even though you might have been vaccinated and think you don’t need a mask. You do. The governor isn’t making mandates for the fun of it, but to help get us out of this mess.

Following an Atlantic Magazine article on Facebook about the 1918 pandemic, there was one comment after another about great grandparents or grandparents who had died or been left alone with their own or others’ children to raise. This is happening now. Do you want your descendants to have these stories to tell?

If we are lucky and survive this a little longer, we will have a life of constant testing and mandates. I would rather have a shot every week than have a swab up my nose every time I want to travel or participate in activities I love. Please, think, for all our sake’s.

Judith Loomis, Richland