Transit, Ukraine, and Richland School Board are among this week’s Herald letter topics
Bus observations selective ‘logic’
The Benton Franklin Transit board, led by county commissioners and city council members, is once again talking about cutting transit funding.
One of their main reasons is that they “see empty buses.” Guess what? On Sunday morning, even busy arterials like Burden, Keene or Clearwater are pretty empty. The nature of mobility is that not everyone goes from point A to point B in neatly spaced-out times or between neatly spaced homes, schools or businesses.
By their logic, maybe we can forgo maintenance on county roads. I drive those frequently, and in the case of some I can drive 15 to 20 miles and not see another vehicle.
Even worse, the county roads are killers. Between 2016 and 2021, nine people died on Franklin County roads and another 65 were seriously injured. In Benton County, 13 people were killed and 66 seriously injured in that same period. I seriously object to the fact that I pay taxes to maintain these public nuisances. I think we should stop subsidizing county roads.
I’m joking of course. County roads are critically important to our local agricultural economy.
Ben Franklin Transit is also critical to our economy.
Even better, riding the bus hasn’t killed anyone.
Ginger Wireman, Richland
Could war have been avoided?
An interesting historical analogy for the developments in Ukraine is the Cuban missile crisis of 1961. In that case, the USSR began to place ballistic missiles on Cuba in response to U.S. missiles placed into Turkey and Italy, which Cuba had the right to do as a sovereign country. The U.S. government perceived a serious threat due to the proximity of Cuba, decided the situation would be intolerable, and placed a naval blockade on the missiles being sent to Cuba. After a tense standoff with war threatened, Premier Khrushchev backed down and sent the arms back to the USSR.
In 2019, Ukraine placed NATO membership as a goal into its constitution. This has always been perceived as a threat by Russia, which has stated that it will not tolerate NATO membership for Ukraine on its border, and thus incentive for the Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine. The Ukrainian president probably misjudged the expected boots-on-the-ground military aid from Europe and the U.S., which has resulted in much destruction and loss of life. Despite all the hypocritical talk about diplomacy, the Ukrainian president hasn’t yielded on the simple declaration of neutrality. Perhaps war could have been avoided.
Marc Dippre, Richland
How to charge e-cars if dams go?
No surprise that Gov. Dimslee made a big deal out of signing a transportation bill that includes a statement of a goal of selling nothing but electric vehicles in the state by 2030. No surprise because this is the same fool who wants to remove the lower Snake River damns. Same obvious question: How are you going to charge all of these wonderful new vehicles? Maybe we can make the Energizer Bunny the state mascot!
Bob Cummings, West Richland
Time to recall 3 on RSD board
In the Tri-City Herald’s editorial of April 3 regarding the illegal conduct of Richland School Board members Audra Byrd, Kari Williams and Semi Bird, the editorial board got everything in this piece right; with one exception. It is highly doubtful Byrd, Williams and Bird will learn any lessons from their misdeeds. A court judgment, personal fines or the thousands of dollars in taxpayer dollars that will be wasted on legal fees for violation of the state Open Public Meetings Act will have no effect on these three ideologues. It is clear they will continue to push their myopic world view upon this community; consequences be damned.
Public officials who knowingly and intentionally break the law in pursuit of their political agenda and then try to cover their tracks is exactly what these candidates railed against in their campaigns. They want full transparency for others but only when it suits them. Moreover, playing on people’s emotions of fear, hate and anxiety is not leadership, it’s partisan manipulation.
We don’t need authoritarian demagogues in office, we need officials who want to serve all the people of Richland. Audra Byrd, Kari Williams and Semi Bird must be recalled from office before they completely demolish the RSD!
Jeffrey Marzyck, Richland