Alzheimer’s help, Putin, pedestrian deaths, climate change and other Herald letters

Alzheimer’s help much appreciated

In Washington State, there are over 120,000 people living with Alzheimer’s disease and another 300,000 family members supporting a loved one with dementia. It is vital that we create more awareness of Alzheimer’s and engage our community in supporting individuals and families impacted by the disease.

During National Volunteer Month, the Alzheimer’s Association Washington State Chapter is proud to spotlight the incredible contributions of local volunteers. We would especially like to thank Dr. Kay Lehmann of Kennewick, the recipient of this year’s Volunteer of the Year award. Kay began volunteering in 2014 and has been involved ever since. She leads the Tri-Cities Walk to End Alzheimer’s and serves as a board officer, advocate and community educator.

As a voluntary health organization, we rely on over 500 volunteers a year to move our mission. Our work would simply not be possible without their generous support. To our volunteers in and around the Tri-Cities: We honor and appreciate you. Thank you for all you do. To learn about local volunteer opportunities, please visit alzwa.org/volunteer or call 1-800-272-3900.

Erica Grissmerson, West Richland

Compromise vital to our democracy

We need to stop voting for the loud and start lifting up those who listen. Partisan politics today has devolved into voters believing they are more against the other side than able to rebuke bad behavior of a party candidate (negative partisanship). Additionally, voters seek out biased social communities that align with their own political beliefs. It’s hard to listen to someone who doesn’t believe the same things you do. These factors present inevitable tensions and stress when our leaders step into reality. Democracy requires compromise; democracy is the ultimate technology to manage compromise of conflicting opinions in a community. Members of the community who demand to break the law or promote violence only show how little they respect democracy and how little integrity they have.

I firmly believe in the country over party movement. I look for candidates who believe in democracy. Candidates who want to make the system work as is, not break and burn it to the ground. I listen to what both sides say and who’s promoting their candidacy. Then, I choose who’s most likely to not destroy our democracy through violence or breaking the law. Sadly, that’s the state of my voting choice.

David M. Brown Jr., Richland

Sanction Putin out of Olympics

Unless Putin withdraws in a timely fashion and returns all ill-seized lands, Russia should be banned from the Olympics for as long as Putin lives

Rick Ornstein, Richland

Revise needed for ballot titles bill

House Bill 1876 (ballot titles could be reshaped) is long overdue and poorly done. Its initial intent was to clarify the impact of our vote. As amended and passed, however, it is simply a tool for promoting an agenda. Originally, the bill would have required two explanatory notes on a ballot item, one on the financial impact to the state, and as importantly, one on the impact to the public. These would be written and approved by the bipartisan legislature. As adopted, however, it only requires the negative impact on state programs affected by any change. The impact statement is written by the attorney general, who is hardly “neutral.”

This bill should have been passed 20 years ago as a check on the Tim Eyman-style hyperbole and disinformation. Passing it prior to Initiative 1929 about the state income tax, it is now being used to falsely characterize a state income tax as an excise tax and soapboxing that school funding will be gutted. The new language obscures more than clarifies.

Fix HB 1876. Require both pros and cons and written by our legislators. For more than a 15-word explanation, add a scan code. Hmm …. Who should provide that content?

John A. Cadwell, Richland

Put in new pool, cut transit tax

The Ben Franklin Transit board needs to wake up to the poor ridership of the buses and reduce the transit tax.The reality is the Tri-Cities is a suburban area with no significant downtown area; but has many small ones. I’ve looked into riding a bus to work. It would be at a minimum of two bus transfers and 1:40 minutes each way. This is in no way a practical option. Yes, I along with thousands of Tri-Citians see 20-30 buses daily with an average of 0-3 riders, (with) most empty.

The transit system could in reality eliminate many bus routes and use seven-passenger vans to move riders on many routes. dial-a-ride costs probably $20 per boarding and collects $1.50. The buses likely cost $7-$10 per boarding and collect only 10-15% of the cost. I don’t advocate for its elimination, but it needs to be much more efficient, and after 30+ years it still is not.

The tax money could be much better utilized by going to build a swimming pool, since Kennewick (City) Council members are afraid to make this improvement. Kennewick can brag about a pool built for a 1950 population of 12,000.

Randy Willis, Kennewick

Elected official should just pay up

Every licensed driver should carry insurance. This is used for damages caused by the person driving — a pretty basic part of being an adult. Put your big boy pants on and pay for what you’ve damaged. You’re nobody special.

Richard Bell, Kennewick

Grants could cut pedestrian deaths

The Tri-City Herald’s April 19 report about the Tri-Cities having the worst rates for pedestrian and bike deaths in Washington state is both depressing and foreboding. Auto and truck traffic is already increasing, and will continue to increase when the Amazon warehouse/shipping facilities go onto full commercial action.

Amazon trucks and workers will be using Highways 12 and I-182, thereby increasing local traffic wherever found, including bike and auto routes. Our cities should prepare for increasing local traffic and (anticipate) traffic features will be increasingly dangerous to pedestrians and bikers.

We want to lose the crown for being “Worst Place for Pedestrian and Biker deaths in the State.”

Our Olympia Dept. of Transportation receives about $200 million to fund grants for transit, bike and pedestrian projects, but as of 2021, Olympia awarded only $50 million. The bureaucrats may be saving the remaining $150 million in case it might be handy someday, like if Inslee wants some unspent money for another idea.

Maybe the cities should beg Amazon for funding to increase features for pedestrian/auto/bike safety.

Chuck Foley, Richland

Earth Day plans

April is Earth Month, often a time we ask what we can do to protect our fragile home. The IPCC report released this month is a vast compilation of the latest scientific research on climate change. The findings are dire, with rapidly growing risks of global damages, some irreversible. In a 2°C warmer world flood damages nearly double over a 1.5°C warmer world, with each increment of warming bringing increased risks of new and worsened destruction. On our current path we cannot stop warming at the 1.5°C goal.

But we don’t need to be told that climate change is happening — we have been experiencing it with bizarre weather, extreme heat, fires, and other changes that were predicted. The IPCC reports that mental health of people has also been adversely affected from “concerns about the future stability of human society in a hotter world”. So, along with facts, we need to know there is still hope.

What can you do? Be part of the solution: learn about the most impactful solutions by reading the book Drawdown, and work with others on them. See what local organizations are doing by attending the Earth Day Expo on April 30 at the REACH Museum.

Lora Rathbone, Richland

Linking snow to climate change

A recent article in the Herald discussed the spring snowstorm and somehow related it to global climate change. So, now we have gone from global warming to a snowstorm as an indicator of climate change, rather than just a snowstorm. If that is the case, what do volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis mean to climate change?

Mike Mehren, Hermiston

This story was originally published April 24, 2022 at 5:51 PM.