Jawless Jerry was more than a coyote. She was a symbol of perseverance and resilience | Opinion

A compassionate take on Jawless Jerry

I want to personally thank Matt Driscoll for the beautiful article he wrote about Jawless Jerry.

Over the last few months, I have been a huge supporter of the coyote. We have seen her in our yard multiple times. I bought the merchandise.

My mom and I were very sad and distressed always worrying about poor Jawless Jerry. When I found out she passed away by getting hit by a car (of all things), I was heartbroken — like so many people in Tacoma were.

My mom sent me the column Driscoll wrote in The News Tribune tonight. It brought me to tears. My mom and I both chatted about how well-written the write-up was — for 10 minutes.

We felt the compassion and the authenticity of understanding the significance of this coyote— as a symbol of perseverance and resilience for Tacoma. My mom said it brought her great relief after reading it. I felt the same.

Thank you for doing your research and presenting the information with heart.

RIP Jawless Jerry — and long live our memories.

Caroline Dunn, Tacoma

Stand up for Little People

Persons who have dwarfism (also referred to as Little People, or LPs) frequently experience employment discrimination. Although they can perform any job task well (often needing only a stool), employers frequently reject them during interviews.

Bars and strip clubs exploit the resulting financial problems by hiring LPs for “dwarf tossing” events. This is where bar patrons pay to physically throw an LP before a crowd of laughing and jeering customers.

LPs very frequently have skeletal (especially spinal) issues requiring multiple surgeries. Thus, many LPs participating in these events become severely disabled or even die from participating.

Further, LPs are often assaulted without their consent outside of these events by people accustomed to seeing LPs as mere objects.

In 2019 and 2020, the Washington Legislature considered SB 5486, which if passed would make Washington the third state to ban such bar events.

I urge our state lawmakers to reintroduce this bill early in the session; it must pass this year.

Little Persons are people, not objects to be abused for sadistic pleasure.

The solution to their financial difficulties is to end employment discrimination, not to allow others to exploit their desperation.

David Bart, Olympia

Protect our oceans

I love the ocean! I’m 10 years old and concerned for the future of our oceans.

For many years now our oceans have been polluted with trash and oil. This is causing many sea creatures to suffer and possibly die. I fear that in about 20 or 30 years some sea creatures might be extinct because of pollution.

We can do more to help our oceans. Here are a few ideas for what you could do to help:

Use yard products that are safe for our water.

Put trash in trash cans.

And try to use less oil for your car.

Julia Burns, Tacoma