Letters to the Editor, November 19-25, 2020

Posted

The Editor:

Your article headline “Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer voted for Republicans across the board” was just not accurate. Every precinct in Blaine city limits was won by Biden. The vast majority of Birch Bay was won by Biden. The culturally different, rural areas of Custer voted more Republican, but the map and precincts included in your article’s math included precincts 116 and 117, which are Lynden precincts that always vote Republican, and precincts 120 and 121, which have Ferndale addresses. No need to cherry pick and mislead. The coast went Democratic and the farmland went GOP ... not exactly a surprise.

Richard May

Blaine

 

The Editor:

It is harrowing to realize the radical changes the ongoing impact Covid-19 has had on our everyday lives.

The border is essentially closed, grimly affecting countless local businesses that have either shuttered or been severely crippled by the economic fallout from the loss of Canadian tourism. Many of our children are attending school from their kitchen tables, often requiring a parent to remain at home. Professional sports stadiums are filled with cardboard cut-outs of cheering fans. Family gatherings and holiday celebrations have been all but canceled. Face masks have become part of the essential wardrobe for public outings. Folks in care facilities are still in lock down, and may not have hugged a loved one in over eight months. We live in fear of an invisible enemy that has taken so many lives, and caused so much pain.

Unfortunately, some things have not changed. Our neighbors continue to line up in the wind, rain and cold to receive food to help to feed their families, and we, the all-volunteer team at the Blaine Food Bank stand together to provide whatever help we
can.  

We have definitely faced challenges this year, a significantly increased need, unprecedented food supply-chain disruptions, canceled food drives and having to constantly redefine our operation to better protect our volunteers and the people who we serve.

We could not have possibly met these challenges without the outpouring of support from our community, individuals, businesses and churches that all came together to help us provide for our neighbors in need. We are so grateful to each of you, and know, with no uncertainty, that we would not have made it through these trying and ever-changing times without you. We are so grateful for your support.

And now, we must ask for your help again. Our very generous anonymous benefactor has once again offered us $30,000 if that amount is matched by community donations from now until December 20, 2020. These funds are essential for us to continue to provide milk and eggs to the families that we serve for the next year.

We make this request with a heavy heart. We know that these are difficult times for everyone, and it pains us to further burden the community that has been so giving to us and so many other local organizations during this economic and health crisis.

Donations can be made by mail to:

Blaine Food Bank

P.O. Box 472

Blaine, Washington 98230

or on our website at blainefoodbank.org;

or in person at Blaine Food Bank,

500 C Street.

If you can help us meet this goal, thank you. If you are struggling to feed your family, come to see us, we are here to help.

Thank you for caring, and stay safe.

Sally Church on behalf of Blaine Food

Bank volunteers

Blaine

 

The Editor:

I want to thank the volunteers who cleared out the overgrown invasive plants next to Cain Creek behind Edaleen Dairy and the Rustic Fork restaurant. With the removal of the lower tree limbs, it looks like a park and for the first time in many years we actually can see the Cain Creek. It is volunteers like you that help to make Blaine a special place to live. Thank you.

Janet Pickard

Blaine

 

The Editor:

If you have evidence of election fraud, I urge you to take your evidence to the county prosecutor right away. Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy and it’s up to all of us to support them. But baseless claims of fraud undermine our democracy, and that’s exactly what state Senator Doug Ericksen is doing with his proposed legislation to return Washington state elections to in-person poll voting.

Washington’s Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican like Ericksen, vigorously defends the security of Washington state’s election and rejects claims of voter fraud in our all-mail-in system. Her office found a whopping 0.002 percent of the 3.36 million votes cast in Washington in the 2016 presidential election that were possible fraud, and these were prosecuted. Just because other states with little history or experience with large numbers of mail-in ballots struggled in the midst of a pandemic doesn’t mean our system needs to be scrapped.

So what’s really going on here? In the last two years, the 42nd Legislative District voters turned out two Republican representatives and Ericksen squeaked to victory with only 54 votes to spare. More people are voting because they care, and we have made it progressively easier to vote, including online registration, Election Day registration and mail-in voting.

But there is a dark history in this country of suppressing the vote, starting with the voting privileges given only to free white men who owned property. Now that all adult citizens have the right to vote, efforts to keep certain groups from voting take the form of voter ID laws, closing neighborhood polling places, forcing voters to stand in line for hours, limited and cumbersome absentee voting
procedures.

Washington state law, and its people, support the principle of one person, one vote and that everyone eligible to vote should be able to do so. Mail-in voting does that, and those who oppose it don’t really believe in democracy.

Natalie McClendon

Bellingham

 

The Editor:

As Yogi Berra said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” As we head into this particularly uncertain holiday season, our country is in a third wave of Covid-19 infections. In Western Washington, though better than many places, we’re seeing rates that are surpassing case highs seen in the spring. 

During my career caring for chronic kidney disease patients, I know that Covid-19 poses serious challenges for them. Now, we know that non-elderly adults, with no underlying medical conditions and infected with Covid-19 can develop acute kidney injury, a sudden loss of kidney function. Though with proper treatment, including dialysis in severe cases, it can be reversible, but it carries a high mortality rate. If we all collectively increase our efforts to keep the virus at bay, we can help save lives and avoid a fourth and fifth wave. 

Covid-19 is increasing across every age group, currently most frequently in people over the age of 80, and those between 20 and 29. 

It is so important that we rethink our traditional holiday plans. Public health and medical professionals are encouraging Washingtonians to voluntarily comply with masking and social distancing directives and not gather with those with whom they don’t live.

It’s not likely we’ll go “cold turkey” on socialization, but please consider everyone’s health and well-being as you find new, safe ways to celebrate the 2020 holidays. 

This is a societal challenge of our times.

William E. Lombard, M.D.

Bellingham

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here


OUR PUBLICATIONS