Why drag this former mayor’s name through the mud? Focus on sex traffickers | Opinion
Is TCH a tabloid or a newspaper?
I found the excessive reporting on former Kennewick Mayor Bill McKay heartless. Since when does the Tri-City Herald plaster their newspaper with in-depth reporting of ill-considered personal indiscretions of a public official?
When has the Tri-City Herald become so puritanical and sunk so low as to totally destroy a man? Bill McKay needs mental health counseling, not public shaming.
The real story should have been the proliferation of massage parlors in the Tri-City area that used trafficked women and immigrants and the owners who force them to perform sexual services.
These owners are the ones who should be arrested, and publicly named and shamed.
Amy Small, Richland
Editor’s note: The owners of one of the businesses have been charged and were named by the Herald and have reportedly fled the country.
Thank you Red Cross volunteers
The American Red Cross would like to thank all the wonderful volunteers that helped make 2023 a very successful year.
The Red Cross volunteers have help respond to house fires, set up shelters, helped with customer service at blood drives, and many other volunteer positions.
The Red Cross is run 90 percent by volunteers. We could not do this without our amazing volunteers. If you would like to join the Red Cross volunteer team, go to redcross.org to read more and apply.
Lynne Calmus, Kennewick
In 2024, ensure Trump won’t win
Three years ago, we all witnessed a violent mob descend on the Capitol, costing people their lives, because one man — Donald Trump — spread lies about a ‘stolen’ election. The Jan. 6 insurrection was an attack on our democracy and our freedom to vote.
Our nation came dangerously close to a coup orchestrated from within the Oval Office and the halls of Congress by President Trump and his allies. But it didn’t end there. Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork for a second presidency even more extreme and authoritarian than the last.
Should he win the 2024 presidential election, Trump is already planning to pardon himself and his allies for crimes committed on Jan. 6, purge the federal government of officials who disagree with him, use the Department of Justice to exact political revenge, and even unleash the military on civilians exercising their First Amendment rights.
These threats are serious, and if Trump is able to claim power again, he will do everything he can to bring democracy to its knees, backed by MAGA allies in Congress, on the Supreme Court, and in state legislatures.
Preserving our democracy takes work — and this year, we must all do our part. It’s up to all of us to ensure Trump and his allies do not return to power.
Judy Bullis, Kennewick
Drug issues need to be resolved
I’m writing out of anger that Congress and the Legislature won’t free up funds or take steps to end the war on drugs. Especially since the Blake ruling, which found that intent must be shown before users could be convicted, and stopped incarcerations for drug possession.
The police are easier for Congress to control, and citizen groups have had little say as to whether the arrests ongoing are to their satisfaction obeying the Blake Ruling.
Explicit dissatisfaction that intent was not being proven in drug arrests is why courts threw out an important drug case and stopped arrests. Now, instead of our representatives calling for further clarification, they allowed police to go forward making more drug arrests.
This is largely because money is needed so badly, and no funds can be released until Congress calls for an end to drug arrests. Congress needs to stand strong and end the racist War On Drugs so that real funds can again be given to police for crime prevention.
People in the Tri-Cities are using opiates at more than alarming rates. What happens when we all use the dangerous drugs?
Eric Kalia, Richland
Letters policy
The Tri-City Herald welcomes letters up to 200 words and the best way to submit them is through our website. The Herald reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length, and letter writers are limited to one letter published every 30 days. Letters that defame individuals, ethnic or religious groups, contain significant factual errors or that are in poor taste will not be printed.
