Letters to the editor for July 11
Thurston County Sheriff abdicates duty to protect our neighborhoods
On June 25, Thurston County issued a pubic notice banning consumer discharge of fireworks for unincorporated Thurston County due to extremely dry and hazardous conditions. This includes parts of the Tanglewilde neighborhood and included Fourth of July discharges of fireworks. The notice clearly directs the public to contact the Sheriff’s Office, not the fire marshal or any other department, if there is a complaint of illegal consumer fireworks discharge in our neighborhoods.
My family, and many other families, followed those directions to report numerous instances of blatant disregard of the fireworks ban and the reckless endangerment of our neighborhood. We were met with absolute apathy on the part of the Sheriff’s department. We were told that they will not respond to any fireworks complaints because they have no money and no deputies.
My family took it upon ourselves to gather evidence. Trailblazer Street is where we collected the most photographic and video evidence. The entire street was littered with discharged fireworks remnants and burn marks. In several places in the neighborhood there is evidence of grass fires caused by these fireworks. On each of our many patrols of the neighborhood to gather evidence, we never encountered a single Sheriff’s deputy.
If this were an isolated event, one could understand, but we have been reporting crimes in this neighborhood for years and are always met with the same response, No money, no deputies. We suspect it has more to do with demographics.
Tony Joseph, Tanglewilde neighborhood
Get vaccinated to protect yourself
Last December, COVID-19 killed approximately 65,000 Americans. Over 2,000 a day. A grim statistic directly related to the gross mishandling of this world scourge by our outgoing, twice-impeached ex-president, a leader whose actions and words included ignoring social safety guidelines of mask wearing, social distancing and even something we learned as children — washing our hands — combined with touting unproven medications and even suggesting injecting oneself with bleach.
Just a little over six months later, with sanity restored to the White House and the appointment of qualified people by our president to health leadership positions, this grim number of daily deaths have now been reduced to less than 300. Of these, almost 100 percent are people who are not vaccinated and their passing could be avoided.
Whatever your reasons for not getting vaccinated — whether it is not having enough time, “nobody is going to take away my civil liberties,” “I’m in charge of my own body,” “I’m too young” or even the most bizarre of all, “COVID-19 is a hoax” — as an American, please reconsider your unscientific objections as you are gambling with your life and the life of your loved ones. United let’s stamp out this pain and suffering once and for all!
Robert William Swanson, Olympia
Beware the BBQ bugs
The scarcity of animal meat caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will keep our outdoor grills safer this summer.
Folks who grill hamburgers and hot dogs face a nasty choice. The U.S. Meat and Poultry Hotline advises grilling at high temperature to avoid food poisoning by E. coli and salmonella bacteria. But the National Cancer Institute warns that high-temperature grilling of processed meats generates cancer-causing compounds.
Fortunately, we no longer need to choose between food poisoning and cancer!
A bunch of enterprising U.S. food processors have met this challenge head-on by developing a variety of convenient, healthful, delicious, plant-based veggie burgers, veggie dogs, and soy nuggets. These products don’t harbor nasty bugs or cancer-causing compounds. They are missing the cholesterol, saturated fats, drugs, hormones, and pesticides of their animal-based alternatives. And they are waiting for us in the frozen food section of our favorite supermarket, along with nut-based ice creams and other dairy-free desserts.
This summer, let’s declare our independence from the meat industry and their barbecue bugs! Let’s welcome the convenient, delicious, healthful, ecofriendly, compassionate plant-based meats and dairy foods into our kitchens!
Andrew Petuchov, Olympia