Letters to the editor for April 14
Reflecting on Good Friday
On Good Friday, Christians recount the agony and brutal death of Jesus Christ, a person innocent of any crime but executed by the state.
And still to this day, some nations, including the U.S., continue to use capital punishment. Currently, 24 states have laws to that end. On the plus side, campaigns to abolish the death penalty have gained great momentum as the public and legislators are educated about its failings.
My family and I are proud newcomers to Washington state because the state’s Supreme Court banned the death penalty on Oct. 11, 2018, ruling that capital punishment is applied in an “arbitrary and racially biased manner.” Coincidently, the World Day Against the Death Penalty is observed annually on Oct. 10.
Washington has rightly recognized that justice cannot be served by “an eye for an eye” and those of us in agreement can continue to have a moral impact through prayer vigils, online clemency petitions and rallies on behalf of the condemned.
To commemorate the solemnity of this Good Friday, my faith compels me to stay involved. Readers in the same spirit can learn more at deathpenaltyaction.org along with many other informative websites.
George D. Burazer, Lacey
Olympia must uphold laws on RV parking
After seeing all the garbage around the homeless camps for the past two years, the RVs parked on public streets with all the garbage piled up around them, I decided to do some research on parking laws in the city of Olympia, and here’s what I found: Not withstanding any other provision of the Olympia Municipal Code, no recreational vehicle may park on city streets over 24 hours or between the hours of 3 and 6 a.m.
With this information I believe Mayor Cheryl Selby and the Olympia City Council and the City Manager are in violation by not enforcing the laws that are on the books.
Perhaps the taxpayers should protest in front of City Hall, telling the city leaders to finally get to doing the jobs they were elected to do in the first place and get the city cleaned up. Olympia used to be an All American City and now it’s an All American embarrassment.
George Mitchell, Olympia
History repeats
When I was young, I lived in New York City. One day my mother took me to the UN building because Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union, was going to speak. As we arrived in the area of the UN, we saw hundreds of people carrying signs and speaking loudly. I did not understand many of the things the people were saying but one phrase stood out: “Butcher of Ukraine.” Most of the people in the angry crowd were from Ukraine and had lost family to the Russians and to the starvation that left untold numbers of Ukrainians dead.
One woman stood out to me because she was wearing traditional clothing from Ukraine. She had a small wooden box in her hands and in it was a piece of human skull. I will never forget her story.
She escaped the horrors inflicted on her homeland only to return to her village to find ruin and death. When she arrived at her family home, she discovered the remains of several people in what was left of the building. Most of the remains were scattered and broken. They had been eaten by dogs. There had been no one left to bury the dead. She said she found the broken skull close to a dress she remembered her mother wearing so she took it and used it as a reminder of what Russia was capable of doing. She was a strong voice for her people.
That happened more than 60 years ago. History does repeat itself.
Michael McGrath, Lacey
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.