Letters to the editor for June 2

Be an informed voter

It’s hard to imagine a time when it was more important to be a voter, exercising our power to decide who will represent us as elected officials. Now that we know who is running for office in 2022, the League of Women Voters of Thurston County (LWVTC) is planning candidate forums during which moderators ask candidates questions about their positions on issues of concern to our community.

The LWVTC, a nonpartisan volunteer organization that never supports political parties or candidates for office, holds these forums in partnership with Thurston Community Media. For candidates, these forums provide a way to explain their positions to the public. For voters, forums give us a way to compare candidates’ positions, like job interviews.

The League will hold primary candidate forums for positions with three or more candidates, including Legislative District 22, Positions 1 and 2, and LD 35, Position 2, which will be aired in early July. Come fall, we will hold general election candidate forums with candidates selected by voters in the primary.

There are several ways for you to be involved: You can encourage candidates you know and support to participate; you can submit a question you’d like candidates to answer to Elections@lwvthurston.org; and you can encourage friends and neighbors to watch the forums on Thurston Community Media channels or the League website at www.lwvthurston.org.

Karen Tvedt, Olympia

Stopping the mass murder of our citizens

Within the last couple of weeks, two more mass shootings have occurred. Prayers and sympathetic kind words of condolence are not enough.

In order to discontinue our country having the unwanted distinction of being No. 1 in mass killing of our citizens by firearms, a federal mandate should apply that each state include in their gun legislation mandatory background checks for any and all purchases of firearms.

It would also seem that many deranged shooters of mass murder prefer military-style guns that are designed specifically to kill people — as many and as quickly as possible. These weapons of war are not designed for hunting game as one burst would cut Bambi the deer in half and two would turn him into a crowd.

Pragmatically, when used for target practice, their rapid ammunition consumption makes their operational use quite expensive. Consequently, with no redeeming positive social benefits, owning rapid-firing military-type assault-type weapons should be banned.

However, before passage of any future gun legislation, elected officials (both state and federal) with a track record of obstructing common-sense gun laws have to be held publicly accountable. Those whose political war chests are stuffed with NRA/ gun manufacturers’ money.

Hopefully, when as a society we can no longer tolerate senseless mass killing of the innocents, increased public awareness and action will end the reign of terror caused by these merchants of death and their political servants.

Robert William Swanson, Olympia

Cain Road project destroyed habitat, beautiful trees

The May 24 front page article on the Cain Road housing project paints a very rosy picture. If you drive or walk by that site today, it’s shocking. Gone are hundreds of beautiful trees that provided wildlife habitat.

The builders claim they never “worked harder on a project.” I disagree. They say they left a 50-foot strip of trees. That sounds great, but that’s not really the picture. There’s only a handful of trees left next to the park. They say they met with neighbors. I attended one meeting with the city and builders and attended the hearing examiner’s session. The city was totally bought into the plan. They had it all worked out and didn’t change anything.

We need a better tree policy for the city of Olympia. For a jurisdiction that claims to be “climate-focused,” this is appalling.

Yona Makowski, Olympia