Letters to the editor for Aug. 29

Vaccine refusers are a threat

During the school year of 1952-53, all students in the elementary school I attended received the Salk vaccine to protest us from polio. No one opted out, and there were no chants of “My body, my choice.”

The vaccine was, at the time, still experimental. We were called the Polio Pioneers. The Salk vaccine proved highly effective.

We now have another dangerous pandemic. The recent demonstration at the state Capitol by state employees and health care workers is disturbing. Many have refused to be vaccinated because the FDA had not yet given full approval of the vaccines, even though data shows that the vaccines are highly effective.

Many claimed that a vaccine mandate violates their First Amendment rights. I see nothing in the First Amendment that gives these people any right to jeopardize the health or lives of friends, relatives or neighbors by their refusal to get vaccinated. Nor do they have a constitutional right to work in state government or the health care field. If their employer imposes certain conditions for employment that they refuse to meet, they are free to find employment elsewhere.

What about the rights of people who acted responsibly and got vaccinated? Don’t they have a right to be free from possible breakthrough infections?

We can do far better than the 50.3 percent fully vaccinated rate in Thurston County. Be responsible. Get vaccinated. Perhaps we can then all return to normal lives.

Richard Russell, Olympia

Bob Iyall for Port of Olympia

I support Bob Iyall for Port of Olympia Commissioner in the November election. Bob has grown up in Thurston County. He has seen the history of our county up close, and has worked all of his adult life to help our county.

Bob has worked with local farmers, who need the help of the Port. Bob has worked with businesses to advance jobs in Thurston County. Small businesses are the life blood of this county. Bob knows this, and has worked with them, and with the tribes, for 30 years in his position as CEO of Medicine Creek Enterprise Corporation.

Please support Bob Iyall with his advocacy for local businesses and farmers in Thurston County.

Lee Riner, Olympia

Congresswomen, speak out for voting rights

Whatever our politics, we all want fair elections that give all voters a say in decisions such as health care, taxes, jobs, and a sustainable future. But right now, Republican state legislatures across the nation are suppressing the right to vote and giving themselves power to overturn elections if they don’t like the results.

Polls show that most American voters — Republicans and Democrats — support passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights bill and the For the People Act, bills that provide nationwide voting protections for federal elections. Right now, GOP Senators are using the filibuster to kill these bills. Forty Senators representing a small share of the population should not get to block widely popular legislation. Sens. Murray and Cantwell, Rep. Strickland, we need you to publicly speak up now in support of ending or reforming the filibuster to get these vital bills passed, and to make their passage your No. 1 priority after the August recess.

Lisa Ornstein, Olympia