Letters to the editor for Sept. 25

Make the Sandy Hook Promise

We have had far too many moments of silence since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Our children and communities deserve real action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in our country. We’re not alone and we’re not helpless. There are many seemingly simple, yet powerful things we can do today!

More and more of our neighbors are uniting to bring the change we need. The phones in Congress are ringing off the hook with calls for common-sense gun reform, peaceful rallies are growing in numbers in cities across the country, and families and friends are gathering together in their own living rooms to talk about bringing violence prevention programs to their schools. The movement is growing and we must keep growing it.

There is reason to have hope that we can prevent gun violence before it happens through sensible gun safety laws and programs in our schools and communities that help us identify the signs and signals before a shooting happens and intervene.

To keep this hope alive and bring the change we need, I am asking everyone to take two simple actions today: First, call your member of Congress today and ask that he or she support gun violence prevention legislation to keep guns out of dangerous hands. Secondly, Make the Promise at www.sandyhookpromise.org and help bring Sandy Hook Promise’s no-cost, violence prevention programs to our schools and community.

Vote for Cheryl Selby for mayor

A couple of weeks ago, a lady walking down the Fourth Avenue bridge was attacked and had her purse stolen. A citizen who lives downtown reported on the Next Door Capital Mall Area website that he has witnessed drug dealing and prostitution right outside his window. He suggests that we need to ban homeless vehicles from the downtown area because allowing them only contributes to more such illegal activity.

The citizens of Olympia who walk to town or walk around the lake deserve to have their safety and environmental concerns be the first consideration of our city council. Mayor Selby is the only council member who considered the welfare of the citizens in the council’s recent about-face vote on the removal of the homeless camp under the Fourth Avenue bridge.

I am certainly in favor of helping those homeless who need temporary homes and will work with social services to be integrated into society. However, some of the homeless do not want help and a few are criminals.

The churches seem to be focusing on those who want help. Maybe the First Christian Church can quickly help the city find a new location for those who do not want to be reintegrated into society — a location that does not endanger the citizens who use the downtown areas.

Thank you, Mayor Selby, for putting the safety of families, the elderly, and taxpaying citizens first with your vote against delaying the removal of the homeless camp under the Fourth Avenue bridge.