Richland High School mushroom cloud outdated, and other Herald letters to the editor
Guns are not the problem, evil is
The recent killings in Uvalde, Tex., were committed by one single individual. Not by a group nor an organization nor by the NRA. The action was caused by one mentally and spiritually evil person. Government laws and rules will not stop evil individuals from such actions.
Our entertainments in books, movies and TV shows all display killing as common daily activities of our nation’s general population with little value judgment on such actions — it’s just what people do!
More gun laws will not change the wickedness of individuals who lack a basic understanding or belief in established social standards of behavior or religious convictions of right or wrong.
Our nation’s violence problems are not caused by guns, but by too many evil/wicked/immoral individuals who only have their own selfish desires as their motivations. I see our nation’s future as being more violent unless there is a movement towards living by righteous principles.
God said a long time ago: “Thou shalt not kill.” God established a lot of great commandments that would be of immediate benefit to this nation!
Jerry Mikkelsen, Kennewick
Use of a-bomb can’t be justified
This rebuttal responds to Jim Bertsch’s letter of May 26, wherein he raised counter points to my May 19 Letter to the Editor. I wish to thank Jim for sharing.
My dictionary defines “massacre” as “an indiscriminate slaughter of people.” Instantly killing at least 130,000 innocent civilians, he wrote, does not “rise to the level of the true definition of ‘massacre.’” What does?
Mr. Bertsch seems to have missed my point when I wrote that “… our leaders chose to deploy death over densely populated civilian areas.” The only defense to an ultimate weapon is surrender. The power of these bombs could have been demonstrated by leveling an unoccupied island instead.
“The use of the bombs saved tens of thousands of American and Japanese lives.” Tired old argument to justify massive civilian slaughter. Perhaps Putin should use this same flawed logic and also use nuclear weapons to end the war in Ukraine? It is wrong now, and it was wrong then.
Justified or not, using nuclear weapons to massacre civilians should not be glorified in our schools (the unaddressed intent of my letter). The Richland High School Bomber mushroom cloud mascot of slaughtered souls is outdated and shameful.
Michael Harrington, Pasco
Wind farm jobs not worth sacrifice
Today’s article about the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm project resulting in 1,000 jobs sounds good. However, Scout Clean Energy’s application estimates the Phase 1 workforce to be 26 initially, ramp up to 467 six months later, and end after two months. The Phase 2 average workforce is estimated to be 271 over a 10-month period with only be 16-20 permanent jobs post-construction. So few permanent jobs seems a high price to pay for the devastation of our beautiful ridgeline.
Scout estimates lifetime tax revenues of $260 million. Is that based on 100% capacity? If so, it contradicts Benton PUD that projects the actual capacity factor at 30%, which equates to $78 million, or a little over $3 million per year. Is it worth it? I think not.
The article also states that Gov. Jay Inslee has the final say on this project. If that’s the case, what is the purpose of the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council? Even if they say no, he can override them and approve it. Ellensburg did not want their wind farm either, sued and won.
Inslee just condemned the property and approved the wind project anyway. How did we get to the point where on person has that much power?
Karen M. Brun, Kennewick