State bar exam: Where’s the justice
Re: “WA Supreme Court waives bar exam requirement for many after snafu” (Aug. 6, Education Lab):
Justice was not done today. Applicants for the bar exam who asked for an accommodation were once again discriminated against. The Washington Supreme Court allowed anyone who applied and was accepted to take the bar exam, but did not finish the exam, to have “passed” and be given their bar license.
The “accommodation” groups that endured the pressure of taking an exam that The Seattle Times reported only 50% passed in February persevered through repeated computer failures and lengthy delays. They graduated from these same law schools, but because they asked for an accommodation they don’t get a free pass.
Where’s the justice in that?
William Fosbre, Lacey (retired Tacoma City Attorney)
Climate crisis: Walk the talk
Re: “Heat wave kills lions in Japan, causes baseball fans to faint in Korea” (Aug. 6, Nation & World”) and “Air quality, heat warnings in effect for Seattle area” (Aug. 6, Northwest):
Huge forest fires; hot, smoky summers; global migration. Still, we fly and fly and fly. What baffles me is how we won’t change even those climate-destroying behaviors that don’t affect our basic livelihood, like limiting travel, limiting nonessential construction, using hand tools (brooms!), limiting unnecessary purchases, walking and taking public transportation, for example.
People who “care deeply” about the climate happily fly to Italy for vacation, or install a new driveway or kitchen. People who are sorry about the lions in Japan, and the smoke in Seattle, have second homes, big cars and power boats on Lake Washington.
My advice? Get a yard sign that says, “Yah, I don’t really care.”
Susan Winslow, Mercer Island
E-bikes: Ban or license
Re: “E-bikes aren’t like ordinary bikes, and WA kids pay the price” (Aug. 4, Opinion):
The author’s point is right on. If an e-bike does not require pedaling to move, it is not a bicycle; it is a motorcycle. It should not be allowed on bike paths (no motor vehicles allowed) or sidewalks.
I have seen 14-year-olds who cannot legally drive riding throttled e-bikes on busy streets (15th Avenue Northwest) and driving erratically. I have seen people who have no business riding an e-bike on a bike path at 20-25 mph risking collisions with sensible bicyclists on the path.
These vehicles should be banned or at least require a license plate and an operator with a driver’s license. This should apply in particular to Lime bikes, which don’t require pedaling, and especially the new Lime Gliders, which don’t even have pedals. They are not bicycles.
Peter Kron, Seattle
Education: A welcome global focus
Re: “Here’s what U.S. schools get wrong when teaching about India” (Aug. 8, Opinion):
I read this My Take op-ed with interest. The author makes many good suggestions for improving student learning about India.
I am 87. My first response was “Students learn about India?” I went all through school learning only about the United States and Europe. My generation was taught that there were no other countries worth knowing about, and certainly that other countries were inferior to us and had nothing to teach us.
So we graduated with snobbery and ignorance.
I wonder how our education informed our political views through all these years.
Thankfully, times have changed.
Anne Thureson, Seattle
Church and state: Government intervention evens the playing field
Re: “Empty pews, regulatory zoos and populist views” (Aug. 11, Opinion):
Patrick A. McLaughlin asserts in his opinion piece that Americans and their small businesses will thrive if government regulation is reduced, government support is reduced and churches fill the social services gap. This is simply regressive, trickle-down economics under a liturgical stole.
What government intervention does is even the playing field for how services are paid for. As published by the Stanford Graduate School of Business digital publication Insights, research shows that “lower-income individuals donate proportionately more of their income to charity than do upper-income individuals.” If we follow McLaughlin’s path, we’ll head back to the rich not contributing their fair share to the community pot, while poorer congregants dig deep into their pockets to help their neighbors.
I agree that excessive regulation increases cost and complexity. How about we demand that our elected officials address that instead of stripping away the funding and the support?
Rosemary Baisch Dunkle, Bellevue
America: From shining city to sand castle
President Ronald Reagan’s shining city upon a hill, which was always good for the rich and not so good for the rest of us, has become a sand castle on a beach’s rising tides. The rich get richer and the rest have to deal with rising costs due to insane tariffs and the expanding brutality in the Middle East.
Add the up-again and down-again frenzy of AI over growth, plus Bitcoin, and we are on ever eroding sand. Include the treatment of immigrants who are essential to healthcare and construction and farming, plus a decline in our population. Add Ukraine and Russia and our love hate with their leaders.
Finally, our dependence on military spending and our support of genocide in Palestine and, to be blunt, we are slowly going out to sea economically and spiritually. As the water goes in and out, my feet are slowly but surely getting deeper in the sand. And most of us as well.
Frank Jose, Seattle
Farmland: Family vs. corporate
Re: “Family orchards are forced to sell in Central WA in latest land grab” (Aug. 8, Pacific NW Magazine):
I found compelling the essay on the plight of fruit growers in Central Washington but also wonder whether author David Guterson might have something in store for us.
The essay engages us wonderfully but largely leaves open the question about what we can do. It links to useful scholarship for in-depth problem analysis, including that which questions the sanctity of the family farm. As pointed out, even when vertically integrated to grow, pick, pack and ship the fruit, family businesses fall short of the scale for competing with Wall Street. Enforcing the Sherman Act would help, but the politics involved have become the art of the impossible.
I’m grateful that the essay’s human-interest stories include those of the Wanapum as well as of the Clayton family, suggesting that we can find additional ways of pooling resources and working together. Indeed, solutions must go beyond strengthening the invisible hand. For example, our state could not only limit corporate ownership of farmland, but also redefine the corporate charter so they can’t buy politicians.
After all, nationwide trends in land ownership don’t just affect small farmers; as huge financial interests expand their monopolistic power over our food and water, they affect us all.
Brian Martel, Lake Stevens
Graffiti: Higher fines, community service
Walk or drive anywhere in Seattle, and you’ll see it: graffiti spreading across storefronts, overpasses and neighborhood walls. This isn’t art. It’s vandalism, and it’s getting worse. Property owners and small businesses foot the bill for cleanup they never asked for, while every tag left up invites three more.
Our current approach isn’t working. Right now, the fine for graffiti is just $1,500 — a gamble too many vandals are willing to take. I urge the mayor and City Council to raise that fine to $10,000 or more. Make it steep enough that people think twice before uncapping a can.
Fines alone won’t fix this. I also call for a mandatory 30 hours of community service for anyone convicted, spent cleaning graffiti off our city walls. Let those who make the mess help scrub it away.
Finally, let’s tackle the source. A significant tax on spray paint cans would make casual vandalism far less affordable. Artists and contractors can absorb a modest, regulated cost — but impulse buys that fuel late-night tagging shouldn’t be cheap.
Some will call this drastic. I call it overdue. Seattle deserves better. Let’s act now.
Frank Gaimari, Seattle
Free-market policies: We’re worse off
Re: “MAGA or the DSA? America deserves a better choice” (Aug. 5, Opinion):
While I agree with the headline, I find it ironic that the writer was director of economic policy at the American Enterprise Institute. This organization and other conservative groups have advocated for a generation policies now being enacted by the current administration: cutting taxes; deregulating; cutting the size of government and services; getting money into politics; and conservative courts. The list goes on.
Abby McCloskey lists many challenges the country faces and questions if the Democratic Socialists of America can deliver. The better question is what has a generation of increasing libertarian and conservative polices delivered? For all the money poured into conservative think thanks by wealthy business people, what good ideas have they produced to address these issues?
I think McCloskey has it wrong. Thanks to conservative policies of money in politics and voting, we have lost our political freedoms, and are losing our economic and individual freedoms. What is the solution she suggests? More of the same: Let the free market fix it. This is all in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
Carla Barnes, Bellevue
Fish and Wildlife Commission: Time for a reset
The investigation into Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission should concern every citizen — not just hunters, trappers and anglers. The investigation substantiated allegations involving the Public Records Act, Open Public Meetings Act, ethics and conflicts of interest, and treatment of agency staff.
It found serial communications involving a majority of commissioners that discussed and shaped commission business outside public meetings, including private votes prior to testimony and public input, policy drafting and leadership elections. It also found commissioners using personal devices, incomplete records searches and inaccurate declarations, and resistance to producing records.
Commissioner Melanie Rowland acknowledged she would not respond to a public-records request until she was “forced to.” The investigator characterized that as intentional noncompliance.
The investigation also found repeated, undisclosed contacts with outside advocacy organizations, including groups involved in litigation against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This isn’t about whether commissioners agree with hunters or conservation groups. It is about whether a public commission follows the law, respects public process and allows professional wildlife managers to do their jobs.
Gov. Bob Ferguson ordered the investigation. The findings are clear. He must act on it.
The commission needs a reset — and accountability, not another slap on the wrist.
Frank Herbert, Pateros
