Letters to the editor can be submitted to news@chronline.com.
I heard about your public disdain for the Governor’s mask order in the name of our “freedom.” Facing a serious outbreak of the COVID-19 in his community last week, the mayor of La Grande, Oregon, penned a letter (which I attached in my letter to the sheriff.
It can be seen by web searching “COVID-19 Surge Mayor Clements Message” ) to his people which acknowledges this resistance that you give voice to. And, he urges his people to put things in proper perspective, and to do the right thing.
This is not just an academic curiosity for me, or a political stance. It is a matter of absolute life and death.
As an elderly resident of Thurston County, it matters a lot to me that my fellow citizens work together to protect us vulnerable brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, and children from a frightful death gasping for air.
I have to say that you have shamed your department and your electorate as an officer of the law, by encouraging opposition to guidance from your state’s governor that is clearly sensible, straightforward, and compassionate. Rethink, please, as the leadership of La Grande has done.
Michael Dempster
Olympia
