Tick season is here in Puget Sound. Be prepared and stay safe | Opinion

Watch out for ticks

This year’s tick season, the numbers are too big to ignore. The CDC reported that emergency room visits are the highest since 2017.

I am a Puyallup resident and a tick-borne illness survivor. I want families to get outside and enjoy there summer safely. The outdoors is a place to be explored. We just have to be prepared. I want to help with that.

When I was nine, I was given one day to live due to an infection with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. My grandmother saved my life with a magazine subscription. She found an article describing my symptoms. What she did was simple. She paid attention and she spoke up.

What to know this season: Ticks don’t just live in the woods. They are in backyards, parks and even paved walking paths. It’s important to get in the habit of checking yourself and your children daily when enjoying the outdoors.

If you find a tick. Use tweezers to pluck it out. Pull it straight up without twisting it. Then, apply antibiotic ointment. Keep an eye out for symptoms: fever, rash, headache and fatigue. If symptoms appear, see your doctor immediately.

Don’t brush it off.

Jennifer Saterdal, Puyallup

Wealth inequality rising

Wealth inequality in the United States has reached levels that should concern every American, regardless of political affiliation. While millions of working families struggle to afford housing, healthcare, childcare, and higher education, a small percentage of the population continues to accumulate enormous wealth at a historic pace.

Federal income tax rates for the top earners in 1965 were 70%. Today the top federal rate is 37%, and the top corporate rate is 21%, a decrease from over 50% in the 1960s.

Extreme inequality weakens our democracy and undermines social trust. A healthy economy depends on a strong middle class, fair wages, affordable education, and equal opportunity.

We should support policies that strengthen workers, ensure fair taxation, expand access to healthcare and education, and create economic opportunity for everyone, not just those at the top.

America succeeds when prosperity is shared more broadly. It is time to address wealth inequality before the divide grows even larger.

Please reach out to your elected officials and ask them increase taxation of the rich so it will be more equitable for all Americans and help pay down our massive Federal debt.

Jon Miller, Sunnyside

Conditions bad in detention center

I recently visited a mother transferred by ICE from the East Coast to the detention center in Tacoma; she had to leave her children behind. ICE can move detainees throughout the country. When detainees are separated from children, there are two options depending on the situation:

Situation 1: If granted voluntary departure, she may have to purchase a ticket to her country. She might be able to take her child if it is brought to her or can travel independently; if not and no family member can care for it, the child may be placed in foster care and put up for adoption.

Situation 2: If deported, she is not allowed to travel with the child. If she hasn’t established legal guardianship or arranged for the child to travel to her home country, it can be considered ‘abandoned’ and placed in foster care with a risk of her losing all parental rights.

These are heartbreaking situations. Many women are detained for months without access to their children other than by phone. I believe this is permanently damaging to the children and that these women should not be detained, but rather given ICE documentation and released.

Liz Knox, Puyallup