Dec. 12 Letters to the Editor, Part 4: Our Readers’ Opinions

Staying afloat

With this administration, U.S. citizens are now second to everyone else. Never has the U.S. citizen been so betrayed by our federal government.

The elite politicos rule in their own self-interest with total disregard for science, fiscal responsibility or the concept of selfless service. They have no shame or concern for consequences when it comes to violating the laws and guidelines that they impose on others.

There is no accountability for the protected.

Several years ago, while serving in the Army, I received orders for a three-year assignment to Okinawa, Japan. My wife was extremely good with Army life. She found ways to excite our four children about any destination. She would research our destinations and find activities to help them develop a positive outlook about the move.

One day, she was telling the children about Okinawa, explaining that it was located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Our daughter, who was 5 at the time, began crying.

My wife asked, “Why are you crying?”

My daughter responded by asking, “How long will we be there?”

My wife said, “Three years.”

Then our daughter began crying much harder and exclaimed, “I can’t swim that long.”

It was classic and has made our family’s book of memorable events.

Right now, I feel much like our daughter did all those many years ago. With President Joe Biden and his cast of misfits at the helm, I’m not certain I can swim for three more years, either.

Mike Fischer

Nezperce

Plant more trees

In regard to downtown Clarkston removing street trees and after driving through the area, I’d like to add my 2-cents worth.

A long time ago, I read about officials in a small city in the Midwest that asked either pioneering landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted or renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright (I can’t remember which it was) to evaluate their city to see what they might do to make it better. After careful study, the reply came: “Plant trees. It will take the curse off the place.”

Clarkston officials and the downtown merchants who are said to be supportive of the removals should have also considered studies done at the University of Washington. The results show that when there are trees in a business area, customers perceive merchants in a much more positive light. The trees send a message of care and service commitment.

Customers also tend to stay longer and visit more frequently, and say they are willing to pay higher prices. And, of course, street trees help cool summer air and reduce air pollution, intercept and retain stormwater, and provide other environmental and social benefits.

Jim Fazio

Moscow

Facing the consequences

I find myself a little baffled by the thinking of some people about the COVID-19 situation. You have a lot of people who vehemently refused to get vaccinated for a variety of silly reasons. Then, when they come down with COVID-19, they are the first to rush to the hospital and demand all care — any care — to save their lives. After society has spent hundreds of thousand of dollars to keep them alive, they come out of the hospital and tell everyone who will listen to get vaccinated.

Wow, that seems like too little, too late. It also seems like someone who has lost his right to pontificate.

The latest such example is the truck driver whose story was just in the Lewiston Tribune. He decided COVID-19 was a hoax. Guess where he got that idea?

Then, when he got COVID-19 and was dying, he expected everyone else to foot the bill to save his life because — “my body, my choice” — he made the conscious decision in the first place not to be vaccinated.

At the end, he did not want the consequences of his erroneous decision. I understand people not wanting to die but what is impossible to understand is that people feel they can just disregard science and refuse the vaccination because some talking head chose to go on television and spread massive amounts of disinformation just to win an election.

Danny Radakovich

Lewiston