Our readers' views, July 7, 2009

I would like to stand up for Referendum 71 here in Clark County. Ref. 71 is part and parcel of how Washington state government works. If legal citizens feel there is something wrong happening in their government, they can use the petition process to get their concerns in front of the state voters. It's another check and balance on the power structure in Olympia. I get tired of hearing from elected elitists in Olympia, about what a drag the petition process is on government. Boo hoo!

Ref. 71 would repeal a bill passed this year that expands rights for domestic partnerships. Many citizens who support the referendum see something that bothers them about their government, and they are simply petitioning the state voters, to get "a second opinion." The process is simple.

The biggest argument is coming from homosexual activists. Whether homosexual activists believe government should not be in the business of enforcing morals, consider this — it is necessary for government to enforce societies' moral standards. For example, there was a new law in Washington state in 2008 making bestiality illegal, men who rape women are arrested and jailed, and pedophiles are jailed. The government makes moral decisions every day.

Eric McGrady
Vancouver

As in most things, generalizations in justice do not take individual facts into account, regarding Brad Killip's June 29 letter, "Three bad choices = three strikes." When we sentence someone to life in prison on their third strike, we are denying them evaluation and mitigation for the rest of their life. Although the law was well intentioned as a tool to rid us of the most violent criminals, it has in reality triggered expensive and unjust life sentences for many who don't deserve such severe punishment.

You may read John Letellier's story along with other "three-strikers" at www.fix3strikes.org and www.justiceisnogame.org. Letellier was not a murderer nor a rapist, he was a drug addict. Homeless in a strange city without any resources, he chose jail over freezing to death. Not such a bad choice at that moment. He has served 10 years for a second degree robbery — punishment enough.

Tough sentencing and extensive incarceration have been the game while penal welfare and rehabilitation are lost in the process. Keeping nonviolent people behind bars for life is not only wasteful, it's criminal.

Put our judges back into power and let them make individual decisions regarding each person and the circumstances surrounding each case.

Sandra Gadberry
Vancouver

On July 7, 2008, I picked up a baggie full of plastic shards in the cul-de-sac in front of my house. My neighbors had obviously taken pains to sweep up their fireworks debris, but this remained.

A year later, I'm still picking shards out of my yard.

For me personally, it's no big deal. For the environment — well, you decide. The next rain would have swept the plastic we missed in the street, plus toxic chemical residues, down the storm drain and directly into Salmon Creek, coming to rest somewhere between there and the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." (Google that to learn more.) Pollution is its name, killing critters is its game. It starts with the small critters, but it doesn't end there.

If you dare stop long enough to think about it — is this a fitting way to celebrate the birth of America the Beautiful, from sea to shining sea?

Patty Page
Vancouver

It was with shock and disbelief that we read the June 27 story "Man whose nightmare began with boy's lies is completely cleared," about Steve King. It's unthinkable that so many professionals, sworn to uphold the law, could have disregarded a person's civil rights so completely.

According to the story, an 11-year-old boy makes up a lie about a stranger trying to lure him into a car. His mother, a trained court advocate, "insisted King, who lives in her Salmon Creek neighborhood, was the stranger." How did she ever come to this conclusion?

King was charged with two felony counts of luring, despite the fact that he could prove he was at work. In spite of this, deputies and prosecutors pursued charges against an innocent man. They were all colleagues of the mother, but certainly that would not have been sufficient reason to put their careers in jeopardy. Charges were dropped, but severe damage had already been done.

We have known King for many years. Our kids grew up together. He's an honest and solid citizen. We are proud to be his friends, and stand by him completely. If this travesty could happen to King, it could happen to any one of us.

Santo and Jeannette Morello
Vancouver

We do need change … true transparency and accountability. Otherwise, our country, our lives, our beliefs and hopes will be manufactured and controlled by those who wield the power to manipulate our collective destinies. Those corrupted powers must be dissolved and reduced to regulated and compliant entities that contribute rather than plunder the commons.

We cannot abdicate our constitutional authority and rights to the unscrupulous few who would enslave us to the tyranny of their self-indulgent visions, nor shackle us to the debt of their indefensible misdeeds.

America has witnessed the egregious reality that men in suits carrying briefcases can steal more than 10 men … 1,000 men … with guns can. It is time for a hard and fast justice to fall on all those who have broken the laws conceived and entrusted to us through the sacrifices of our Founding Fathers and consecrated by the valor and blood of our forefathers.

"It is merely the fact: Are the special privilege boys going to run the country, or are the people going to run it?" asked Harry Truman in a speech in 1948.

Who shall run this country, Mr. President?

Rich Raitano
La Center

I'm frustrated with naysayers who, on a daily basis, tell the world that President Obama's programs are not working. It took George Bush eight years to bankrupt this country. The new regime is expected to correct it in months.

Joan Hoole
Vancouver

I find it incredibly ironic that Republicans oppose a public option for health care because they "don't want to put the government between you and your doctor." And yet, they have been trying to put the government between a woman and her doctor since Roe v. Wade.

Terri Dorr
Vancouver