Numbers aren’t adding up on new Richland police station | Opinion

Numbers do not add for cop shop

A recent Herald article reported that Richland needs a new police station and that a strong candidate is refurbishment of the old Fluor building.

I applaud the idea of returning this derelict building to useful function. However, not all the numbers in the article add up for me. Richland claims that a city of 65,000 needs a station of 53,000 square feet. The population of Richland in 2000, when the current station was opened, was about 39,000.

By current city logic, the police station in 2000 should have been nearly 32,000 square feet. Instead, the station was 19,250 square feet when it opened.

So either Richland spent several million dollars on a building that was wholly inadequate and had no expansion option at the time it was built, or the city needs to explain clearly why the relative space need is so much greater for the current population.

I am happy to pay taxes for things that benefit us all, but I would like to think that a new police station would last well over 20 years.

Will Shaw, Richland

State caught up in vicious budgeting

As the 2026 legislative session intensifies, our leaders are trapped in a vicious cycle. Facing a $2.3 billion shortfall, they are entertaining steep budget cuts while simultaneously pushing the 9.9% “millionaire tax.”

Yet, both lawmakers and the media continue to fail the public by ignoring the root cause of this instability: Washington’s “donor state” status.

According to USAFacts, we pay roughly $7,139 more per capita in federal taxes than we receive back. This exports billions annually, leaving our local economy with less capital to compete.

These federal “cost shifts” now directly infect state revenue projections, forcing Olympia to choose between raiding the rainy-day fund or further burdening a state already struggling with tax competitiveness.

Our small businesses bear the brunt, struggling against external trade and technology shifts while being starved of the capital needed to survive.

It is a profound failure of representation that our officials remain silent on this federal imbalance, leaving voters uninformed about why our state is perpetually broke.

Instead of looking to residents’ pockets, leaders must demand a fairer return of our contributions. If our representatives and the media won’t address this drain, they are simply managing our decline.

Randall T. Adamot, Richland

Put crime victims on list for support

Crime victim services are a vital part of public safety in our community, yet they are now at risk due to a significant funding shortfall. Without action from the Legislature, programs that support children and families impacted by abuse and violent crime may be forced to reduce services or delay care.

At the Support, Advocacy and Resource Center, we work directly with children and families during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Services such as forensic interviews, advocacy and counseling help victims stabilize, heal and participate in the justice process.

A recent statewide survey confirmed that victim advocacy services are essential to survivor safety and recovery. When services are unavailable, the opportunity to protect and support victims can be lost.

This is not just a funding issue. It is a community safety issue. Crime victims should not face additional barriers because of funding gaps.

I urge our state legislators to prioritize funding for crime victim services and ensure that survivors in our community continue to have access to the support they need.

JoDee Garretson, Executive Director, Support, Advocacy and Resource Center, Richland

Fair play vital to American system

Years back when I took a college class on American Literature, one challenging assignment was to list basic character traits that made us all specifically Americans.

One such trait that was overwhelmingly mentioned was “fair play.”

Fairness, according to the class survey, seemed to be the trait that was ever-present in our everyday lives: in our sports, government, relationships, voting, etc. This sense of fair play was practiced at an early age on the school playground: no pushing girls to the ground, no dog piling, no hitting when someone is down and the list goes on.

Is it any wonder then, why a large swath of our population is horrified when cell phone photos show masked thugs engaging in these bullying tactics, why law-abiding citizens hold placards and march in protest and that many are calling their elected officials to not fund ICE. These tactics are not us; we cannot relate such a lack of humanity and fair play as many of us feel to be an American means not to be a bully.

Anna Bopp, West Richland

New acronym for president of U.S.

We now have a new and improved acronym for our nation’s head man. Not exactly certain what the first 3 letters stand for, but we all know the meaning of the others. I give credit to Michael S. Robinson Sr. of the Salt Lake City Weekly for it. To paraphrase, DJT guaranteed “to make America great again” and eliminate “the Washington swamp.” Except what POTUS has done is exactly the opposite, and instead added “350-pounds.”

We can liken the current situation to a gangland world run by a syndicate crime boss bereft of decorum and any other desirable trait of humanity, and who has allowed his minions to run roughshod over this land of liberty.

The administration appears to be run by kooks, and once again, the ship looks to be slowly burning, and soon the rats will be leaving.

We are truly privileged to have this contribution, and others like it; surely this is worth more than what passes for the usual borrowed journalistic content that is printed in this newspaper, where frequently the best writing is by some of its letter writers like myself, but more frequently by the others.

David P. Sisk, Richland

Thankful for help students are given

I write with gratitude and with confidence in what our community can accomplish together.

The recent passage of the Educational Programs and Operations Levy and the Safety, Security and Information Technology Levy is more than a vote count. It is a statement of values. It is a clear affirmation that we choose to invest in our students, our educators and the future we share.

Because of this support, our schools can continue to provide strong academic programs, safe and welcoming learning environments and the technology students need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. These levies help ensure that every student can reach their highest potential and graduate well prepared for success in post-secondary education, work and life.

This outcome was made possible by those who believe in the Kennewick School District and recognize that supporting our schools strengthens us all.

On behalf of our students, staff and families, thank you for your trust, your partnership and your continued commitment to our schools.

Lance Hansen, Superintendent, Kennewick School District

Sanctuary cities aren’t the problem

Republican lawmakers, anxious over the murder of a U.S. citizen by federal officers, have focused on sanctuary cities that refuse to aid federal agents in apprehending undocumented aliens living in their jurisdictions.

Several arguments can be made in favor of the sanctuary movement, but at least one cites the cost to local communities who are expected to spend local taxes for what has consistently been judged to be a federal responsibility.

Whether every sanctuary city hews this line, it still stands that local communities are paying taxes twice — once for local law enforcement, and then more for local police to do an ICE agent’s job.

Destroying the sanctuary movement would be an act of political infanticide for Republicans, however. Nearly two centuries ago, the sanctuary movement began in response to the Fugitive Slave Act, a law that compelled local officials to arrest, detain and then return runaway slaves to their owners in the South. White abolitionists broke from the Whig Party and joined free Blacks to form the core of a coalition that became the nascent Republican Party.

They were victorious in only their second attempt for the presidency. It would be a shame to surrender this legacy.

Mark Sweeney, Richland

Lewis book was how-to for fascism

Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist and social critic who was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. He said “when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

If you need a refresher on fascism go to ChatGPT. Hitter’s Nazi Germany in May 1939 had a saying: Deutschland uber Alles,” “Germany Over Everything.”

These things now seem all too common in the United States of America!

Dick Watts, West Richland

Trump’s actions killed two citizens

President Trump’s sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Patrol into Minneapolis in Operation Metro Surge, terrorizing the populace, traumatizing children in a city with a small immigrant population. Two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, are dead.

ICE followed 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos home and detained him and his father.

The ruling on the detention of Liam by Judge Fred Biery is noteworthy and follows in part:

“The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children. This court and others regularly send undocumented people to prison and order them deported but do so by proper legal procedures.

“Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. This is called the fox guarding the hen house. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.”

In granting the release, Judge Biery had this to say, “Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”

Mickey Beary, Richland