TNT letters to the editor, 5/14/2021

Vaccine refusal

It’s painfully and dangerously obvious that a large number of Americans in Pierce County and across the country are refusing to get vaccinated.

For reasons elaborated at length in the news – mis- and disinformation, silos, distrust of almost everyone – educational campaigns will not work sufficiently.

A recent study found a person is 10 times more likely to get a blood clot from COVID-19 than from the vaccine. Unfortunately the facts probably won’t matter.

Officials should encourage businesses to require proof of vaccination and set up an easy way for the vaccinated to get that proof.

Vaccinated people should be able to return to a maskless normalcy with other vaccinated people. Those who prefer to perpetuate the pandemic should be allowed to continue to isolate themselves.

This is a war. Being vaccinated should have benefits; being unvaccinated should have consequences.

Robert Saunders, Steilacoom

Black Republican

Re: “Let’s face it: Liberals just can’t handle a Black conservative,” (Kathleen Parker column, TNT, 5/5).

An observation by political commentator Thomas Friedman, quoted in the 4/19 New York Times, supports Sen. Tim Scott’s statement that “this country is not racist.”

Along with then-Sen. Joe Biden and his staff, Friedman traveled to Afghanistan in 2002. The Americans’ return flight was canceled due to bad weather, forcing them to wait at Bagram Air Field for a military transport.

The U.S. Special Forces were headquartered there. Friedman looked around the room and saw “America’s strength hiding in plain sight.”

Each A-team seemed to be a diverse collection of Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and whites. Friedman concluded: “It is our ability to blend those many...that is the real source of our power.”

The US is not perfect, and in the past, some state governments and federal agencies supported cruel and racist policies. Many officials, through bigotry or ignorance, still promote racism.

But pasting that label on the entire country only generates division and useless invective. Instead, we need specific, practical solutions – like firing incompetent bureaucrats and providing lawyers for low-income people.

Beth Woodbury Hart, Puyallup

A man crossing I-5 in Fife was struck and killed May 7. A three semi-truck accident happened shortly thereafter. Traffic went nowhere for hours as routes became gridlocked.

This accident is a cautionary tale of a more horrific future event. PSE’s Port of Tacoma LNG facility will be trucking liquefied natural gas on Puget Sound roadways as its operations ramp up.

What if one of those trucks had been transporting LNG and its storage tank was punctured in the collision? A fire could ignite if an ignition source, like sparks, was present.

If the LNG leak was followed by a vaporization event in or near water, the process could accelerate, resulting in a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion, which could produce a rapidly moving fireball.

Those in the immediate area would not be able to escape and first responders would be delayed by freeway gridlock.

Safety concerns must be raised with city, port and county leaders up and down the I-5 corridor.

LNG on local roadways is not a question of if an explosive accident happens, but rather when.

MJ Ferguson, Tacoma

This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 2:00 PM with the headline "TNT letters to the editor, 5/14/2021."