Letters to the editor May 31

Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, what a great day to be alive and a blessing to be an American. We are reminded that millions fought, some paying the ultimate sacrifice, so that we might live and work in a free country. Brave individuals put country and their fellow Americans first. They put their personal freedoms and safety on hold for us. We are grateful for all who served.

Yet, I am disturbed by the reaction of some citizens to recommended COVID-19 protections. Is wearing a face mask and staying a few feet apart for a few months so great a sacrifice to protect others? When the men and women we honor on Memorial Day signed up for service, they gave up their personal freedoms for the good of America. They made sacrifices for us.

As this Memorial Day comes and goes, please take time to consider what you can do to protect those around you. Our leaders, our health and infectious disease experts, and our drug companies are working to find answers to controlling the spread, and hopefully eventually putting an end, to this virus. The best thing we can do for them and for each other is to follow their guidelines. Making sacrifices is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.

—Jerry Southwood, Bigfork

I never in my life thought that preventive medicine could be considered political. Those who feel it is their right not to wear masks during a worldwide pandemic that can kill indiscriminately — is this really what the American character is all about?

Those who refuse to wear masks even though they may be asymptomatic and pass it on to vulnerable populations, I have to ask, would you forego wearing a mask if you had a mother, brother, or child whose immune system is compromised during chemotherapy?

We wear seat belts; it is usually illegal not to. Is that a law that conservatives refuse to obey? Why not?

Infants must be transported in a booster seat. It is the law. It is to prevent death. It is unlikely a child will be in a serious accident. But isn’t it a small price to pay for life over death if one is in an accident? Wouldn’t you hope other parents would protect their children, who might in fact be friends of your own child?

I only plea with those who begrudge fellow citizens the simple act of respecting the right of others to “life [liberty and the pursuit of happiness]” — isn’t wearing a mask a profoundly simple way of treating others as you would like to be treated? Don’t all citizens have the right to life? And isn’t it an admirable value of every patriot to preserve the rights we have all always had? Is it any different from many conservatives who value the right to life in the divisive abortion rights issue?

I don’t understand why wearing a mask makes one look weak. It seems an act of civility, which I believe those on both sides of the aisle long for.

This mask issue is one of humanity, not politics.

—Lenny Granger, Columbia Falls

Did you know that people no longer die of cancer, heart disease, homicides or even car accidents in some parts of the world? And we have political correctness to thank for this miraculous cure. In Australia, for example, researchers at the Australian National University have called for “climate change” to be recorded as the cause of death on death certificates. That’s right, if Aunt Betty puts arsenic in your tea and you drop dead, blame it on heat stroke. Or if you hit a wallaby while driving drunk and smash into a tree, your death was obviously caused by Global Warming.

Not to be outdone by this zaniness, in the UK the recent Coronavirus Act includes clauses which makes it possible for doctors to put Covid-19 as the cause of death on certificates without even having seen the patient before their death. (I understand this is often done here in the U.S., as well). So all those inner-city people that get shot every weekend in Chicago didn’t die from a bullet but from a virus. Guess that takes away the gun-control argument, doesn’t it? Hey, Pelosi, how ‘bout a Congressional bill to ban viruses?

Seriously, this type of political chicanery destroys any credibility to published statistics on causes of death as it does everything else touched by liberals. After nonsense such as this, I will have a hard time believing any government or news media statistics.

—John Merlette, Bigfork

In the May 24 Inter Lake, I saw where the county approved a 3% salary increase for elected officials. This is ill thought when so many have lost jobs, which is having an impact on revenue. Loss in revenue may cause cuts in all state, county and city departments. A better approach would be to reduce all salaries about 10%. Doing this, employees would not have to be laid off. Keeping employees has a positive effect that they still pay taxes and not getting unemployment benefits which has a negative effect.It would also continue to provide services that would be lost without these employees.

—Marvin Parker, Whitefish

For several months now I have been writing to Commissioner Randy Brodehl with concerns about the appointment of Annie Bucacek to the City-County Health Board. I have received mostly one sentence replies that either ignore the issue or try to misdirect the conversation.

Recently I was alarmed to see a close associate of Annie Bucacek post a general announcement on Facebook concerning his willingness to arrest government officials who try to enforce the governor’s DEIO. He has been vigorously encouraged in this behavior by Bucacek in a very public manner, even going so far as to request anti-government material to be posted on her Facebook page so she can further disseminate this information, and “share with her pastor,” Chuck Baldwin of Liberty Fellowship.

Bucacek’s position as a board member requires her to put public health as a premium. Supporting local anti-government activists in potentially violent activities is a breach of that duty. The community has the right for this situation to be added to the agenda of the next County Commissioner board meeting. Our rights as community members to be governed safely by those in power should not be ignored in favor of her First Amendment rights. She is not the right choice for this board, and the community is growing tired of the commissioners’ refusal to even discuss this issue. Please, do your job.

—Valeri Walden McGarvey, Kalispell