YOUR | LETTERS
Published on Mon, Nov 2, 2009Read More Letters to the Editor
Parties are more alike than thought
Dear Editor,
I am appalled that the Editor of the Lake Stevens Journal would print such a hateful, disrespectful letter such as the one written by Ms. Carolyn Fox-Allen, which was published in the Oct. 7, 2009 Journal.
Letters of this nature are exactly what Ms. Fox-Allen contends the Republicans do as routine. She spreads a cold-hearted blanket over every Republican walking the planet. Since when do Republicans not want a correct health care system or clean green renewable energy? Since when are Republicans against jobs and education? Who says Republicans want a war to continue?
Ms. Fox-Allen claims Republicans are “uncooperative, whiny and angry”. I surely hope Ms. Fox-Allen can see past the hatred she obviously has for Republicans and can see that the line between Republicans and Democrats has actually become less obvious.
Ms. Fox-Allen, owes a lot of people an apology. Not just Republicans, but also Democrats.
I also hope the LSJ Editor will be more conscious of such hatred being spread by such narrow minded people.
Stan Brown
Everett
Mentally ill need to be in hospitals, not prisons
Dear Editor,
Our prisons are wastelands for the mentally ill. The segregated units where many are housed are numerous tiers of dingy, claustrophobic cells. Places where these people have only their own hallucinations and their own voices as company.
There is a whole lot going on with them other than criminality and part of their problems might be their living conditions.
Isolation has a toxic effect on people. They become hypersensitive to noise and obsessed with their own strange thoughts, often suffering from feelings of panic and fear of suffocation.
When this is the effect on normal people, imagine what it does to those already with mental problems.
Psychiatric experts have said that they can judge the quality of a prison’s mental health program by simply visiting its solitary confinement units. They are the dumping grounds for the mentally ill.
Prisons are unable to deal with them and rely heavily on isolation to fix the complex problems.
The mentally ill belong in mental facilities or special housing units where they can function normally with proper medication and supervision, not in prisons.
Lou Krewson
Stanwood
Granite Falls council should swing the bat for ballfields
Dear Editor:
You may recall my recent letters about the Menzel Lake Gravel Pit’s abandonment of the pit’s promise to provide ballfields to the Granite Falls community.
After two discussions at city council meetings, it has become clear that the majority of the Granite Falls city leaders have decided not to even try to exert any leverage to get the precise and express ballfield promises honored, and the pit is making a monkey out of Granite Falls.
It seems, the majority of the city leaders have thrown in the towel before even going one round with the pit to get those ballfields as shown on the pit’s February 2008 site plan.
Perhaps a better sports metaphor for this topic is that if you never swing the bat you never hit the ball.
I won’t single out by name those who dropped the ball, but I commend and applaud councilmen Tom Fitzgerald and Matt Hartman.
They had the pride in our community, and the wisdom, to be willing to stand up to the pit and employ leverage. They were willing to swing the bat, which is what makes good things happen on ballfields, and elsewhere.
Paul Winter
Granite Falls
Parties should come together for goals
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to Carolyn Fox-Allen’s letter in the Oct. 7 Journal.
Ms. Fox-Allen, in your letter you stated, “The lines between the Democrat and Republican parties have never been clearer.”
After having read you rant on and on about “How can anyone not want….” and moan that “…Republicans remain uncooperative, whiny and angry.”, it is plain to see that partisan griping such as this is exactly what precipitates conflict between both parties.
You write, “The lines between the Democrat and Republican parties have never been clearer.”
Have you ever asked yourself why? Accusations seem to be your forte–I also distinctly recall your Letter to the Editor in the March 18 Journal where you made
the bold generalization that, “Republicans have promoted hatred, fear and intolerance. Our community is not populated by only Republican, white Christians.”
That is an extremely broad brush you are painting with Ms. Fox-Allen!
This country has a lot of issues to address, but ignorance and hostility between both parties will not expedite progress.
Let’s start by putting a halt to the mudslinging. I could go on and on about one party or the other but that won’t solve anything. It just further wedges this great nation apart.
Let’s grow up and put our petty differences aside so that we can get some progress made for the betterment of our citizens!
Janet Yaretz
Granite Falls
R-71 response to previous letter
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Mr. Garner’s letter, “R-71 for the protection of all our families.” There were three assumptions in this article I would like to discuss:
First, the assumption that all who do not support same-sex unions are bigots and discriminatory.
Mr. Garner has mistakenly assumed that those who oppose homosexual marriage “wish same-sex couples and their families ill and consider them undeserving of even the most basic of rights.”
Actually, it is discriminatory and bigoted to cast us in this light. A belief in marriage between a man and woman does not mean that we have feelings of hatred or ill will toward any lifestyle. It simply means that we believe that traditional marriage is the surest way to safeguard the rising generation and cultivate strong, healthy families for the benefit of society.
Second, Mr. Garner stated that marriage is not the issue in this domestic partnership bill. It is true that this particular bill is not redefining marriage per se. But let’s not be fooled.
State Senator Ed Murray told the Seattle Times that this bill is an “incremental approach—a strategic plan.” He also stated, “The goal is marriage equality. It’s an important statement that our eyes are on the prize, and the prize is marriage.”
Representative Jamie Pederson told the Times that this bill is “A bridge until [homosexuals] can legally marry.” In light of these statements and especially with recent homosexual marriage laws enacted in other states, it is clear that this bill is intended as a forerunner to legalizing homosexual marriage in Washington.
Third, advocates of homosexual unions always use the term “equal rights” as their clarion call. But individual to individual, homosexuals and heterosexuals have precisely the same rights. It is the privileges and societal sanction of marriage that the homosexuals seek. And these privileges and sanctions are properly granted to that sole institution, marriage between a man and a woman, that ensures the propagation of a society and the beneficial nurturing thereof.
Angela Jacob
Everett
Dear Editor,
I am appalled that the Editor of the Lake Stevens Journal would print such a hateful, disrespectful letter such as the one written by Ms. Carolyn Fox-Allen, which was published in the Oct. 7, 2009 Journal.
Letters of this nature are exactly what Ms. Fox-Allen contends the Republicans do as routine. She spreads a cold-hearted blanket over every Republican walking the planet. Since when do Republicans not want a correct health care system or clean green renewable energy? Since when are Republicans against jobs and education? Who says Republicans want a war to continue?
Ms. Fox-Allen claims Republicans are “uncooperative, whiny and angry”. I surely hope Ms. Fox-Allen can see past the hatred she obviously has for Republicans and can see that the line between Republicans and Democrats has actually become less obvious.
Ms. Fox-Allen, owes a lot of people an apology. Not just Republicans, but also Democrats.
I also hope the LSJ Editor will be more conscious of such hatred being spread by such narrow minded people.
Stan Brown
Everett
Mentally ill need to be in hospitals, not prisons
Dear Editor,
Our prisons are wastelands for the mentally ill. The segregated units where many are housed are numerous tiers of dingy, claustrophobic cells. Places where these people have only their own hallucinations and their own voices as company.
There is a whole lot going on with them other than criminality and part of their problems might be their living conditions.
Isolation has a toxic effect on people. They become hypersensitive to noise and obsessed with their own strange thoughts, often suffering from feelings of panic and fear of suffocation.
When this is the effect on normal people, imagine what it does to those already with mental problems.
Psychiatric experts have said that they can judge the quality of a prison’s mental health program by simply visiting its solitary confinement units. They are the dumping grounds for the mentally ill.
Prisons are unable to deal with them and rely heavily on isolation to fix the complex problems.
The mentally ill belong in mental facilities or special housing units where they can function normally with proper medication and supervision, not in prisons.
Lou Krewson
Stanwood
Granite Falls council should swing the bat for ballfields
Dear Editor:
You may recall my recent letters about the Menzel Lake Gravel Pit’s abandonment of the pit’s promise to provide ballfields to the Granite Falls community.
After two discussions at city council meetings, it has become clear that the majority of the Granite Falls city leaders have decided not to even try to exert any leverage to get the precise and express ballfield promises honored, and the pit is making a monkey out of Granite Falls.
It seems, the majority of the city leaders have thrown in the towel before even going one round with the pit to get those ballfields as shown on the pit’s February 2008 site plan.
Perhaps a better sports metaphor for this topic is that if you never swing the bat you never hit the ball.
I won’t single out by name those who dropped the ball, but I commend and applaud councilmen Tom Fitzgerald and Matt Hartman.
They had the pride in our community, and the wisdom, to be willing to stand up to the pit and employ leverage. They were willing to swing the bat, which is what makes good things happen on ballfields, and elsewhere.
Paul Winter
Granite Falls
Parties should come together for goals
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to Carolyn Fox-Allen’s letter in the Oct. 7 Journal.
Ms. Fox-Allen, in your letter you stated, “The lines between the Democrat and Republican parties have never been clearer.”
After having read you rant on and on about “How can anyone not want….” and moan that “…Republicans remain uncooperative, whiny and angry.”, it is plain to see that partisan griping such as this is exactly what precipitates conflict between both parties.
You write, “The lines between the Democrat and Republican parties have never been clearer.”
Have you ever asked yourself why? Accusations seem to be your forte–I also distinctly recall your Letter to the Editor in the March 18 Journal where you made
the bold generalization that, “Republicans have promoted hatred, fear and intolerance. Our community is not populated by only Republican, white Christians.”
That is an extremely broad brush you are painting with Ms. Fox-Allen!
This country has a lot of issues to address, but ignorance and hostility between both parties will not expedite progress.
Let’s start by putting a halt to the mudslinging. I could go on and on about one party or the other but that won’t solve anything. It just further wedges this great nation apart.
Let’s grow up and put our petty differences aside so that we can get some progress made for the betterment of our citizens!
Janet Yaretz
Granite Falls
R-71 response to previous letter
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Mr. Garner’s letter, “R-71 for the protection of all our families.” There were three assumptions in this article I would like to discuss:
First, the assumption that all who do not support same-sex unions are bigots and discriminatory.
Mr. Garner has mistakenly assumed that those who oppose homosexual marriage “wish same-sex couples and their families ill and consider them undeserving of even the most basic of rights.”
Actually, it is discriminatory and bigoted to cast us in this light. A belief in marriage between a man and woman does not mean that we have feelings of hatred or ill will toward any lifestyle. It simply means that we believe that traditional marriage is the surest way to safeguard the rising generation and cultivate strong, healthy families for the benefit of society.
Second, Mr. Garner stated that marriage is not the issue in this domestic partnership bill. It is true that this particular bill is not redefining marriage per se. But let’s not be fooled.
State Senator Ed Murray told the Seattle Times that this bill is an “incremental approach—a strategic plan.” He also stated, “The goal is marriage equality. It’s an important statement that our eyes are on the prize, and the prize is marriage.”
Representative Jamie Pederson told the Times that this bill is “A bridge until [homosexuals] can legally marry.” In light of these statements and especially with recent homosexual marriage laws enacted in other states, it is clear that this bill is intended as a forerunner to legalizing homosexual marriage in Washington.
Third, advocates of homosexual unions always use the term “equal rights” as their clarion call. But individual to individual, homosexuals and heterosexuals have precisely the same rights. It is the privileges and societal sanction of marriage that the homosexuals seek. And these privileges and sanctions are properly granted to that sole institution, marriage between a man and a woman, that ensures the propagation of a society and the beneficial nurturing thereof.
Angela Jacob
Everett
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