Shooting someone over political dispute is not an answer
No matter where you are on the political spectrum, shooting someone is not an answer.
What is wrong with disagreeing peacefully and respectfully? Everyone — and I mean leaders as well — needs to step back and ask themselves, “How can I encourage healthy debate?”
Instead of finding any way they can to drag down, cut down, etc.
Chris Tolliver, Newark
No matter where violence comes from, we all need to decry it
While current federal administration officials distort about the preponderance of which side of the ideological spectrum is most responsible for our current wave of political violence, it’s apparent to me that we all need to decry violence of every kind — no matter where it comes from — and that our reaction to all the attacks and killings should be to bring us together, not to widen the divide.
If I am killed due to an act of political violence, it does not matter whether the killer sided with the right or left, I am dead just the same. People have died at the hands of perpetrators from all sides of the political spectrum. And while we can debate which side causes the most violence and why, we should be able to agree that it is far time that the killing has got to stop. This is not a political issue; it is a human one.
Statements I’ve heard from our former Presidents, both Republican and Democrat, indicate a need to tone down the rhetoric; concentrate on what binds us, not what divides us; and to oppose violence of any kind. I only wish our current administration officials would urge the same.
Joe Barmess, Pataskala
Vaccine cowardice by elected officials guarantees future suffering
I am a registered nurse and am also old enough to remember standing in a line to get a polio vaccine, then later, caring for patients in an iron lung.
Vaccines have been an essential public health tool since we eradicated smallpox. I am outraged by the positions taken by the current Secretary of Health and Human Services and the cowardice of my elected officials — yes, U.S. Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, you especially — for not standing up for the health and safety of Ohioans.
Your inaction will guarantee that our children, your grandchildren, and the next generations will suffer from easily preventable plagues of deadly illnesses because you, not the medical and scientific community, cared more for contributions to campaigns than keeping our country safe.
Shame on you, our “representatives.” Shame on you, and aren’t you glad that your parents got you vaccinated?
Maureen Clark, Granville
Maintain ‘Roadless Rule’ to protect our U.S. National Forest lands
The destruction of nearly 60 million acres of currently protected roadless areas within the U.S. National Forest System is a distinct possibility if the Trump administration gets its way.
The Roadless Rule came about as a result of widespread public support in protecting inventoried roadless areas from timber harvesting, road construction and other invasive and destructive activities. Public support for protecting these areas garnered over 1.6 million comments, resulting in the protection of almost 60 million acres of National Forest lands.
Because it is aware of the significant amount of public support for maintaining the Roadless Rule, the Trump administration only provided a 21-day period for public comment that ended Friday, Sept. 19!
Although the comment period is now closed, you can call your congressman as well Ohio’s U.S. Senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno to express your opposition to rescinding the Roadless Rule.
David A. Lipstreu, Newark
Editor’s Note: The National Forest System includes 154 national forests covering 188.5 million acres (representing 98% of the system), 20 national grasslands with 3.8 million acres (2%), and 110 other areas such as a national grassland prairie, land utilization projects, and research and experimental areas representing 800,000 acres (less than 1%).
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Everyone should decry violence; shame on vaccine cowardice; protect U.S. forests| Letters
Reporting by Newark Advocate / Newark Advocate
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
