Prayer at Kennewick Council meetings, abortion, CRT and other Herald letters to the editor

Council: Honor 7-Pointed Star

As a devout believer in the Seven-Pointed Star, as made famous in Game of Thrones, I am so excited to see local city council members embrace the power of prayer honoring God(s) before meetings. I look forward to being able to praise the power and wisdom of the Mother when making practical city decisions. I mean, it’s not like they would favor one religion over another right?

Ray Gilmore, Richland

Spread sentiment of the sunflower

There are sunflowers everywhere this year, in stores and gardens, featured in paintings and printed on T-shirts and tote bags. Some companies and nonprofits are using profits from sales of these products for humanitarian efforts. But do the people in Ukraine realize that individuals here are thinking of them? I think the media, starting with you, should be publishing stories and photos to somehow spread the word that individuals are on their side, without wanting to start a nuclear war.

I can tell you where some of the best examples of sunflowers are.

Judith Loomis, Richland

Letter writer: take off rosy glasses

In her laughable letter to the editor, Melissa Mooney claims that the state having authority over a woman’s choice with her body is not misogyny (definition: contempt or prejudice against women). Giving the state the authority to decide a woman’s medical procedures is the definition of misogyny and governmental overreach. I don’t see any legislation mandating that a man have a vasectomy.

And of course, Ms. Mooney makes the argument about not having sex or using birth control for a sure-fire way to not get pregnant and avoid all the fuss. She conveniently leaves out the victims of sexual predators, rape, incest, abusive partners who won’t allow their partners to use birth control, the women in poverty who can’t afford it and don’t know where to get it.

Aren’t you glad, Ms. Mooney, that you have the privilege to speak from your high tower and throw stones at those whom you see as less-than? If you want a fuller picture of our society, maybe you should volunteer at a women’s crisis center, pregnancy center or suicide prevention hotline and take off those narrow, rosy glasses.

Sara Watson, Richland

Attend council; it’ll impress you

I urge all citizens of Kennewick to attend City Council meetings. They are every other Tuesday. start at 6:30 and usually last an hour. You will be impressed with our elected leaders. They welcome your feedback.

Ira Johnson, Kennewick

Spend transit money wisely

The Ben Franklin Transit Board has stated that funding the transit system is a moral obligation. I understand that providing public transportation can be considered a morally appropriate thing to do. On the other side of that coin, the transit board has a moral obligation to make sure that BF Transit is not another taxpayer-funded government boondoggle plagued by inefficiency, poor decisions (hey, it’s public money, just spend it), and top-heavy with bureaucratic administrators.

Mike Doenges, Kennewick

Support National Night Out

National Night Out is an annual campaign that promotes police and community partnerships. National Night Out enhances the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Through neighborhood camaraderie we can make our neighborhoods safer and more caring places to live. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under positive circumstances. Millions of neighbors take part in National Night Out across thousands of communities from all fifty states, U.S. territories, and military bases worldwide on the first Tuesday in August.

For more information on how your neighborhood can get involved, please visit your city police department’s Facebook page or website. Also, be sure to visit the Support, Advocacy & Resource Center’s (SARC) website, Facebook, and Instagram pages for more information about crime prevention and advocacy services available in our community.

Yolanda Stohel, Richland

CRT not taught in KSD schools

Washington State — proud home of respectful, responsible, educated, independent thinkers. Kennewicks’ School Board ban of alleged Critical Race Theory (CRT) teaching in its schools and banning books they deem dangerous is disturbing and ignorant.

CRT, a theory of discussion at master’s/doctorate level academics, does not promote anti-Americanism, villainize white people, promote radical leftism ideals, indoctrinate children or make them feel guilty because of America’s history of racism, inequality, slavery and/or racial bias. It is not taught in our public K-12 schools.

CRT debates the relationship between social structure and professed ideals like the Rule of Law and Equal Protection. It is imperative children are taught a proper understanding of the groundwork on which this nation was created. If you are not cognizant of mistakes made in 246 years of American history, you are bound to repeat them.

Do not group Washington with the Texas pinheads. FYI, I have given Captain Underpants, Amelia Bedelia and Harry Potter books as gifts and none of those kids have been viewed on any Jan. 6 insurrection videos, America’s Most Wanted or had their faces featured on milk cartons. Seriously? Do you not have anything more constructive to do with your time in this elected position?

Linda Parish, Kennewick

Apply law to more than ‘little people’

Under your July 27 front page photograph to accompany the story, “What comes next for Jan. 6 inquiry,” 855 people have been arrested for storming the Capitol. Which is, if you support a democracy and believe the U.S. Constitution is the legal backbone of this country, commendable.

Unfortunately the hydra-headed perps who urged these people to hang the vice president, to bludgeon and kill police officers, ransack rooms, have not been brought to justice — yet.

Trump, Guiliani, ... Meadows, McCarthy, Flynn, Bannon, Eastman, Clarke, and several others, by my count, committed treason and should be held accountable and in a court of law with that charge.

Years ago ,Jimmy Breslin, a journalist, wrote a novel with the title “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.” The aforementioned fools kind of follow in the same vein, but if Breslin were alive today, he might refer to his next book as, “The Bunglers That Couldn’t Coup Straight.”

Failure to indict this klutzy cabal would only serve to remind the public that laws are, to borrow from the real Cruella de Vil, Leona Helmsley, “for the little people.”

Bink Owen Walla Walla

Why natural gas is such a hot issue

As reported on April 26, the Washington State Building Code Council recently revised codes to require new commercial buildings to mostly use heat pumps rather than natural gas to warm air and water. It will likely apply similar revisions to the code for new homes, and might also restrict use of gas in stoves and fireplaces as well.

Some people, like AJ Fouts in his April 28 letter, will object to this loss of choice, which is driven by the Climate Commitment Act passed by the Washington State Legislature.

But consider the benefits! First, with our cheap electricity, heating with heat pumps costs less than heating with natural gas. Heat pumps cost about the same as gas furnaces to install, but can cool as well as warm a building. Induction stoves can heat as fast as natural gas.

Second, gas furnaces, stoves and fireplaces emit PM2.5 particles, NO2 and carbon monoxide, toxins that significantly increase the risk of asthma.

Third, leaks and releases during the extraction and distribution of natural gas are a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. That is the primary reason the Climate Commitment Act is limiting future use of natural gas.

Steven Ghan, Richland