Seattle Center shooting: Freedoms vs. safety
Re: “Seattle Center shooting highlights security struggles at major festivals” (July 28, Local News):
Cameras saves lives and property. I think most of us are willing and wanting to give up some of our freedoms for the sake of safety.
There’s a chance that the shooting at Bite of Seattle would not have happened had there been a plethora of cameras.
Joe Cohen, Seattle
Seattle Center shooting: ‘Invest more in youth programs’
Re: “Ghost gun was 1 of 3 recovered after Bite of Seattle shootings” (July 29, A1):
Gang violence like the shootings at the Bite of Seattle over the weekend is a problem of neglecting our youth. Too many get involved with gangs due to lack of positive adult involvement and role models. If we want to deal with this problem, we must invest more in youth programs, keep kids in school and provide better mentorship at schools.
We must also hold people accountable. Prosecute adults for involving minors in crime, and throw the book at those who engage in sex slavery — a gang-related problem — and in gun violence in public places.
Leslie Jordan, Belfair
Seattle Center shooting: ‘Stop this mayhem’
Re: “Ghost gun was 1 of 3 recovered after Bite of Seattle shootings” (July 29, A1):
The question remains: After three dead and multiple injuries at the latest mass shooting in our country, over 40,000 accidental gun deaths per year and hundreds of thousands of injuries per year, when is enough, enough? The results of the American experiment in fully arming its populace with military-style weapons and semiautomatic high-capacity handguns are appalling in so many ways. No other peer nation has to deal with these tragic losses and costs.
Imagine our emergency rooms, families in crisis, courts, and youth and adult detention without the results of gun violence.
The experiment has failed. Time’s up. The citizenry overwhelmingly wants action to stop this mayhem. Time for our leadership to act!
Jim Goldman, Port Hadlock
Bar exam: ‘Welcome to the practice of law’
Re: “WA bar exam canceled due to tech issue; 645 law students in limbo” (July 28, Local News):
I feel bad for these new law grads after preparing for the bar exam and having it end and kicked a month down the road, without even a question answered. But I cannot imagine a situation that is better suited to prepare them for their future experience practicing law.
When they finally earn that coveted bar number they will find themselves spending hundreds of hours preparing for trials that never happen because the other side finally gets real about settlement a week before trial. They will spend hours prepping for oral arguments in front of judges who ask irrelevant questions or, worse, no questions at all. The experience will give them empathy for their clients on that inevitable day that they call a client to say: “About that trial next week. The judge canceled it because she has three criminal trials in front of us. We’ll be back in two months.”
Welcome to the practice of law, fellow law grads.
Scott Crain, Seattle
Seattle Center shooting: ‘A public health crisis’
Re: “ ‘They’re shooting, they’re shooting!’ Terror strikes Seattle Center” (July 28, A1):
Sunday, families gathered at Seattle Center to share food, music and the joy of summer. Three of them did not go home. A 19-year-old man, a 44-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman were killed. A toddler was among the wounded. Thousands ran for their lives during what should have been a peaceful day.
We write today not only in grief, but in resolve.
Firearm violence is a public health crisis, one that education, prevention and evidence-based policy can meaningfully reduce. As an evidence-informed firearm injury prevention organization, we at Ceasefire Northwest work with high school students who are uniquely positioned to help one another and carry these insights into adulthood. These are not partisan positions. They are commonsense measures, grounded in data, that save lives.
The evidence is clear: When communities invest in firearm injury prevention, when safe storage is normalized and when young people are reached before conflict escalates, outcomes improve.
Seattle has led on hard issues before. We are calling on our city to lead on this one.
To the families of those lost, and everyone at Seattle Center Sunday: You deserved a safe afternoon. We will not stop working to make sure this does not happen again.
Neeru Bakshi, MD, FAPA, Redmond, member, Ceasefire Northwest
Free school meals: ‘An incredible victory’
Re: “Seattle City Council OKs nearly $5M for free school meals” (July 28, Education Lab):
The Seattle City Council backtracked and has moved forward with universal school lunch. This is something students across the city are celebrating.
I served as the youngest member of Mayor Katie Wilson’s transition team, and during listening sessions with over 200 students, I heard the need for universal school lunch. We heard from immigrant communities who did not fill out forms due to fear. We heard from families who did not qualify, yet lunch was still a financial burden. We heard from people who simply did not apply because the process was too complicated or because of stigma. We heard from students who were hungry all day in class and could not learn while low on energy.
We showed up, and the Seattle Student Union and the Seattle Education Association organized a coalition of students and teachers to testify in support, and we won, bringing universal school lunch to our schools possibly as soon as this fall.
This is an incredible victory for our schools.
Leo Falit-Baiamonte, Seattle
Smithsonian Institution: Trump’s un-American intervention
Re: “Trump: Signs outside Smithsonian will question accuracy inside” (July 25, A2):
In attacking the accuracy of U.S. history exhibits in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, the Trump administration targeted funding for programs that advanced “improper ideology,” a phrase reminiscent of those North Korea, communist China and the old Soviet Union used to brainwash and control their citizens.
When our government tells us that we are espousing “improper ideology,” we are no longer in America.
Curt Colbert, Mountlake Terrace
Democratic Party: ‘Catastrophic mistakes’
Re: “Cash-strapped Democratic Party limps into midterms” (July 27, Nation & World):
As the saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
In early 2024, millions of Democrats tried to tell the Democratic National Committee that President Joe Biden would not be a viable candidate in the 2024 election. Biden was a good antidote after President Donald Trump’s first term, but none of us can win the battle against time. It was clear to anyone who looked or listened that it had caught up with Joe.
Unfortunately, the DNC was not interested in input; it only wanted our money. Is it any surprise that the Democratic Party is now broke? Why would anyone donate to an organization that misled them by lying about Biden’s viability as a candidate?
Until the DNC owns up to the catastrophic mistakes in 2024 and assigns some responsibility for it, the debacle will continue to haunt it.
Contrary to what the article says, there is one thing worse than having no money and that is having no credibility.
Mark Quinn, Spokane
Immigration: Exercise humanity
Re: “$400M and a pink jet: New claims made about ex-immigration lawyer” (July 22, A1):
On top of the xenophobic, racist and inhumane immigration policies that the Trump administration has executed on America’s undocumented immigrants come the xenophobic, racist and inhumane actions of Alexandra Lozano — the self-proclaimed “lawyer of miracles.”
What does it say about Lozano, who is Latina herself, that she would prey on and exploit the vulnerable people who came to trust her? Is it cultural self-hatred? Is it extreme greed and power over people who needed her the most, or is it a combination? Maybe it’s client indifference. Whatever the reasoning, I sincerely hope that the lawsuits filed against Lozano render an outcome that can financially support the thousands of clients who were betrayed by her. I want authorities to find her and to hold her accountable for her unethical and heinous actions.
I’ve been privileged to accompany undocumented immigrants to DHS and immigration court appointments. Every one of them has been a joy to know and support and has deserved humanity. Without exercising humanity toward the most vulnerable among us, then we’re all susceptible to following in the footsteps of Alexandra Lozano.
Corey Goldstein, Seattle
Salmon runs: Don’t blame sea lions
Re: “Congress weighs killing more seals, sea lions to save salmon” (July 23, Climate Lab):
It’s always more convenient to decide to kill more animals than to change what humans are doing. The dams on the Columbia River offer sea lions a salmon buffet that did not exist historically. The sea lions should not be killed for taking the invitation, and if salmon runs were not decimated by the eight dams in the Columbia Basin, there would be enough for all. Killing pinnipeds while leaving all eight dams in place is like using a Band-Aid to try to close the surgical incision from an open heart surgery.
The four Lower Snake River Dams provide, in total, less than 3% of our Northwest electricity and were linked decades ago to the impending extinction of salmon runs. The drop in salmon runs is a major cause of the starvation and imminent extinction of our southern resident orcas.
We must, as quickly as possible, replace the services of those four dams and restore the Lower Snake river, for the long-term benefit of all. A sick river, damming salmon to extinction, is the culprit here, not sea lions. We need our legislators to support saving the Snake River, not just pursuing token measures that cannot save our ecosystem, longterm.
Marjorie Millner, Vancouver
Millionaires tax: Address marriage penalty
Washington’s new millionaires income tax contains a surprising marriage penalty. A single taxpayer receives a $1 million deduction. Two unmarried taxpayers therefore receive $2 million of combined deductions. But if those same two people marry, they receive only one $1 million deduction.
Consider two people who each earn $750,000. If unmarried, neither owes the tax. If married, they have $1.5 million of combined income and could owe $49,500. Nothing about their income or ability to pay changed. Only their marital status did.
But the real surprise here: This probably affects slightly more than half of the people paying the new tax. Most federal returns reporting more than $1 million of income are married joint returns, and most fall between $1 million and $2 million. Applying those proportions to Washington suggests that perhaps half, or slightly more than half, of the returns paying this tax will owe it only because the taxpayers are married and receive one deduction.
One can support a tax on exceptionally high incomes and still believe marriage should not create tens of thousands of dollars of additional tax. Washington should provide married couples a $2 million deduction — or reduce the single deduction to $500,000 and apply the rule consistently.
Stephen L. Nelson, CPA, Redmond
Seattle Center shooting: ‘Repeal the Second Amendment!’
Re: “ ‘They’re shooting, they’re shooting!’ Terror strikes Seattle Center” (July 28, A1):
Several articles in The Seattle Times Tuesday addressed how to go forward with this plague of senseless gun violence.
Repeal the Second Amendment! I was living in Texas in 1966 when a man climbed the tower at the University of Texas at Austin and killed 15 people below him. It shook the world. In 1999, Columbine in Colorado shook the world with a mass shooting. In 2015, we all watched President Barack Obama speak about the gun violence that has been leaving us numb following a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., and we’re not making progress to stop it. Now, it’s Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, flanked by Gov. Bob Ferguson and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, reading a statement about gun violence.
Everything so far is a Band-Aid. The days of armed militias for national defense have been obsolete for two centuries.
I was in the Army in the early 1970s, and soldiers could own weapons but they were secured in an armory. Bring armories to the cities for people who must have weapons. Exceptions will be addressed, of course.
John Thoe, Seattle
Salmon runs: ‘Convenient scapegoat’
Re: “Congress weighs killing more seals, sea lions to save salmon” (July 23, Climate Lab):
After reading the article I was struck by the familiar theme in human discourse. Make it simple and find a convenient scapegoat. It’s not simple and the pinnipeds are not the problem.
Most of the predation that people are concerned about happens at choke points created by human activity, like dams and the Ballard Locks. It’s very visual because people visit these locations and can see the activity. Normal distribution of the fish would not create this kind of opportunity for the pinnipeds. They are clever, so they find these situations. But the real problem is the human activities, not the animals who have adapted to the changes humans have imposed on the natural order.
Aggressive culling of these animals will produce very little improvement to the salmon situation. If we are being purely logical about management of this situation, I would argue that the species that needs to be culled is us, Homo Sapiens. We have a large industry that depends on catching huge amounts of these fish for our consumption. If we simply stopped this industry from removing so many fish for profit, the situation would be solved. Heaven forbid!
Jeffrey Herzog, Seattle
