TNT letters to the editor, 7/6/2021

Fireworks laws

Since King Inslee did not come through to protect all citizens of the state he represents, it’s time for the citizenry to come up with the solution through total ban or compromise.

A total ban on personal use of fireworks would be the easiest solution but may be detrimental to those who sell them and who depend on the profits.

Here’s an idea that could work if everyone sees the benefit of compromise: All personal use of fireworks would be permitted only at fire stations where firefighters can supervise while people set them off and clean them up.

Organizations dependent on sales could get permits and hazard insurance to sell at the fire stations and eliminate fireworks being taken home.

Collectively, we can call on our representatives to create this fireworks law since the king will be busy fiddling while Washington burns.

Jane Cutter, Gig Harbor

Firework laws

Re: “Effort to ban fireworks in ‘tinderbox’ Pierce County fails when GOP council members say no,” ( TNT, 6/30).

If you had fire damage due to fireworks in unincorporated Pierce County, you might consider sending your bills to the Pierce County Council, which voted last week against banning fireworks.

Some council members used the cover of needing to vote the ban one year prior to implementation. That may be true in a regular year, but this is an emergency situation.

Other governments had the common sense and courage to implement firework bans this year due to the unprecedented dry conditions and extreme heat that made so many areas tinder dry.

Although the county government site discourages fireworks, it is too bad some of our council members did not have the guts to do the right thing.

A ban won’t stop all the fireworks, but the threat of fines might have people thinking twice.

What a disappointment.

Pat Richmond, Tacoma

Tacoma totem pole

Re: “Tacoma canceled city’s fake totem pole,” (TNT, Matt Driscoll column, 6/30).

While I agree that the totem is fake, it is part of our history. It should remain in place until a replacement is ready.

Then, rather than be cut up and disposed of, it should be taken to an isolated section of Point Defiance Park and allowed to rot and return to nature, as is done with poles in the North. I have witnessed some on hikes through British Columbia and elsewhere.

This is another example of acting before thinking things through. It has happened to too many historic items from our past. Like it or not, this is our heritage.

Ernest LaChapelle, Fircrest

Being white

When I woke up this morning, I was white.

I was born white in a Seattle hospital, the whiteness continued on through my first paper route at age 10 and all the way up through high school, military service and my ultimate retirement from employment at age 62.

I had no say in my whiteness. My parents were Irish and German. Their grandparents were immigrants from Europe. They also had no say in their whiteness. Nor did my wives’ parents.

We have grandchildren who are happily and randomly racial in their composition. As we all should be, they are happy in their skin – very loved, appreciated and content.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Are we listening?

Michael A. Arndt, Tacoma

This story was originally published July 6, 2021 at 10:57 AM with the headline "TNT letters to the editor, 7/6/2021."