Letters to the editor for June 20

A bone for the homeless

Ladies and gentlemen, for a measly $250,000 donation to the city’s homeless fund, you can get all the permits, permission and a tax exemption to build your high-end housing downtown. What a deal. Tax-supported capitalism with a feel-good component.

If one were really serious about dealing with the homeless situation, an entity would use tax incentives to encourage building a majority of low-income apartment or housing units with allowance for a few higher-end domiciles. Instead, the city does the opposite.

Or one could just step away and remove the tax incentives and allow capitalism free rein. No breaks, no assistance. Let the free market rule. At any rate, the present system is a flawed one.

Fred Yancey, Olympia

Attention to the orcas

The nation’s attention is now on the survival of the whales that glide through the cool waters of the Pacific Northwest. The Southern Resident Orcas are in the best condition we have seen in over a decade. There are new plans to restrict non-tribal fisheries to save salmon populations for our orcas to eat, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

But, scientists warn that this critical species will not survive unless we take bolder action.

This spring, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho unveiled a plan to restore our salmon and save our orcas by breaching the Lower Snake River dams. While not perfect, the plan is an important starting point. The removal of the dams would allow salmon to migrate to their spawning grounds swiftly, and regenerate the salmon populations that are reaching quasi-extinction levels.

Now is the time for our U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray to step up and support the removal of the dams to help save two species the Pacific Northwest holds near and dear.

Kat Beck, Olympia

Sheriff Snaza a leader?

Amid another COVID-19 outbreak at the Thurston County jail, Sheriff Snaza estimates that only 40% of his deputies have been vaccinated. He cites philosophical objections to elected leaders as a reason for the low vaccination rate.

Well, you, Sheriff Snaza, are an elected official who should model leadership and intelligence. You are not vaccinated and that sends a message that is contrary to good leadership and intelligence. Think about it: 600,000 Americans are dead and the facility YOU are responsible for is suffering another COVID outbreak. That is not OK.

I expect better of my elected officials. I expect them to do the right and responsible thing. Unless you step up, get vaccinated, and urge others who report to you to do the same, you will never again have my vote or my support.

Cathleen Callahan, Olympia

The cause for concern

“Black Lives Matter” I see everywhere, I hear it and know it, the tactile weight of such clinging heavy in the air.

“All lives matter.” This I’ve heard, too, as some sort of balance in the racial rift between prejudice and pain, some common ground on which all can agree. Yet this makes me pause before I acquiesce to the average party line so immovable and so unignorable of this current time.

It causes my breath to hitch in my throat, as I mete out my thoughts on what we really need to be fighting, who the enemy really is. Not racism, not each other, not blindness to people of color. But training.

Incorrect police academy training, one based on gut feeling, instant response to immediate threat, or even fight or flight reactions by blue, bold, wanna-be heroes, or bad boys wearing a badge who claim to be good. Because it’s clear that these twisted training maneuvers to get the best of the finest behind that Thin Blue Line is NOT working.

I know that everyone loves a sniper when innocent lives are at risk, but when innocent lives are the victim, no one cheers the shooter behind THAT shot. We need to have the officers practice more psychology than shotgun semantics. More understanding than injustice. Because this is affecting all races, all colors and all ages who come into contact with those men and women of law enforcement, and it won’t stop until we stop looking at the wrong cause.

Julie C. Schulz, Tumwater