May 18 Letters to the Editor

Not good for kids

When not being allowed to conduct school comes down to not being able to have students 6 feet apart — and for those districts with no community spread, it’s the only reason — I believe we have lost our collective minds.

By an educator’s own admission, distance learning has many gaps and shortfalls. It is not their fault. They are doing their best but we are doing a disservice to our kids. (Flu is proven to be more of a death risk to kids than COVID-19.)

Look around in your neighborhood. Are kids playing 6 feet apart from each other?

With all that has gone into building the public school system during the years, historians will look back and ask: “... And they stopped having school because why?”

Desks were too close together.

Greg Billups

Weippe

No cheating death

It’s an election year and how I wish Gov. Brad Little was up for reelection.

In 2014, I ran against now-Gov. Little for the office of lieutenant governor. It is with a deep concern for my state and my country that I make an appeal to his oath of office.

Under the guise of public health and safety, the governor is using this instance in time to strip us of our constitutional rights. He seems to think he has some superior intellectual and moral authority over those he seeks to govern. The reality is he has forgotten his oath of office and the responsibility to the leadership post that he was empowered with.

This challenge today is no different than any other we have battled for, to leave a legacy that is unique to the American spirit of yearning for individual liberty and freedom. Like any war for the freedoms we hold dear, we will have to face the facts that lives will be lost, and every one of these lives should be accounted for and remembered. We celebrate this every Memorial Day.

In this battle, we should protect the most at risk among us and not be bludgeoned with the idea that we do not care for anyone’s life. For there is nothing, no policy, no government edict that can prevent anyone from dying.

It’s part of life and to ignore this is to live a lie. Isn’t it time we started being honest with the truth?

Jim Chmelik

Cottonwood

Opening a can of worms

There are different categories of speech that are given lesser or no protection by the First Amendment. One such category includes speech that incites imminent lawless action.

Last week, I voiced my disappointment with our Idaho elected officials attending a local brewery against the stay at home order. Since then, the event has created national attention and Sen. Dan Johnson has defended his actions using the war cry, “my constitutional right.”

I stated the backlash of this defiance would create problems, which it has, spilling over into our local sheriff office.

Nez Perce County Sheriff Joe Rodriguez stated publicly that he will not enforce Gov. Brad Little’s stay at home order.

This is a big old can of worms.

I am not a bad person, but, Sheriff Rodriguez, I haven’t gotten my stimulus check yet and I need to leave home while I rob the bank. Thanks for looking the other way.

This is a big juicy can of worms.

Sheriffs and politicians picking and choosing which laws to adhere to is not good for our Idaho. Sheriffs and politicians refusing to work with our governor to help Idaho through this unique time is not good for our Idaho.

Come election time, perhaps, voters will decide these sheriffs and politicians are not good for our Idaho.

Cathy Jo Zeller

Lewiston

Please explain

Maybe some Lewiston Tribune wizard or other expert can explain how, by following Neil Ferguson’s stay-home edict after his bizarre coronavirus death forecast (500,000 Britons and 2.2 million Americans will die), we will develop herd immunity by isolating ourselves from the herd.

Please elucidate. I’m curious.

Bridger Barnett

Clarkston

Protesters misbehaved

Thank you, Wendy Elder (May 4 letters). I, too, am puzzled by what are “God given rights.”

This slogan is used by anti-government protesters as a shield of protection and excuse for misbehaving.

Currently these actions of misbehaving include Idaho elected officials — city councilors, county commissioners and sheriffs, state representatives and our current lieutenant governor.

The people in these elected positions are expected to follow our constitutional rule of law.

Serving is to be done for all citizens equally.

Protesters diminish themselves by mimicking President Donald Trump’s elementary school bully techniques.

A delusional and demented Trump can not be used as an excuse for your actions.

Our society must remain civil and united. Honest, fair and equal is within reach with compromise. Vote.

Stephen Ford

Genesee