Letters to the editor for April 30

A call for help

Just before midnight April 6, I passed a motorcycle parked on the Capitol Way bridge over I-5. A man was standing at the fence.

I called 911 and reported it, saying I thought it was very odd, I thought maybe he might jump. I felt the 911 person didn’t believe me by the foolish questions and lack of urgency.

My house was two blocks away, so I went down and asked what he was looking at. He said just the view. We talked awhile and I asked if he was OK. He said he was and thanked me for asking. He said, “I better get home,” and he left.

I have no idea if my concerns were justified, but in the 20-plus minutes this went on, no police showed up. The streets were empty — I can’t imagine there were no police available.

I called 911 back and let them know what I thought of the lack of response. I wasn’t contacted by anyone further.

I wonder if my call even went to the police and if it did, how it was presented. Why didn’t Olympia police respond to someone’s concern that someone may be about to jump off a bridge that, in recent years, too many people have?

Beliefs are not facts

The letter to the editor of April 5 illustrated how “beliefs” are substituted for facts by those inside the Fox News/ Rush Limbaugh disinformation bubble.

The writer began by requesting people dispense with hate speech directed at President Trump. Holding Trump accountable and exposing his habitual lying is hardly hate speech. It stated “Trump took unprecedented early action to restrict travel from China,” analysis of flight data shows nearly 40,000 people arrived in the U.S. two months after Trump imposed restrictions on such travel.

It contends “Trump took bold action to combat the virus.” On Feb. 28, Trump said the coronavirus will “disappear like a miracle” and speculated warm weather would kill the virus.

But Trump’s lack of insight is not limited to the coronavirus. His first budget proposal contained cuts to both the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health.

The letter contends Democrats were preoccupied by a hoax impeachment, but many constitutional scholars have stated Trump’s actions qualified for impeachment.

It’s statement that Obama had nothing good to say about America, but Trump supports America is typical of the soundbites of those on a constant diet of biased and misleading information from conservative media.

The writer contends that it is scary to think of a President Biden. I would welcome a honest, rational and informed President.