Letters to the editor: Stay home, Census, coronavirus, discrimination

Stay home

It is apparent that there are many people who don’t think that Governor Brad Little’s statewide stay at home order applies to them. This past weekend I witnessed dozen if not hundreds of people heading to the hills with their ATVs, dirt bikes and boats in tow and others driving around in shared golf carts. Maybe they think hey what’s the harm in heading out for some recreation. The fact is that even trips like this necessitate extra stops at the gas station for fuel, extra stops at the convenience store for supplies and other non essential interactions. Every additional encounter or touch of common surfaces such as gas pump handles, ATMs and credit card machines is one more unnecessary risk to contract or spread COVID-19. The next time you or someone you know wants to recklessly engage in a truly non essential activity please think twice about whether the health or life of you, your loved ones or neighbors is really worth a few hours of careless fun. We all need to use common sense and take the stay at home order seriously for this to work.

Bob Smith, Boise

Discrimination

Here are the words that come to my mind in response to the signing of the transgender bills into law: singling out one segment of our population for discrimination, much like the Nazis did in Germany, hatred, waste of taxpayers money because this WILL go to court, money that could be used to fight the coronavirus or for unemployment benefits during this crisis. I’m a history teacher, who has studied and taught what hate has done historically. We all know it’s not good. I’m also a mother, soon-to-be grandmother, who raised two sons with my husband in Idaho.They are Idaho natives. Now I’m not so sure that’s a good moniker. We have once again brought negative, nationwide attention to our beautiful state. There was once a time, long ago, when our governor and legislators were reasonable and thoughtful. What group will be targeted next for the single-minded, lock-step Idaho lawmakers and rubber-stamping of bills that are already known to be unconstitutional. Just obvious political posturing on the part of the governor. Well, I guess hate wins the day in Idaho because the governor doesn’t have the courage to stand up against discrimination.

Deborah Hedden-Nicely, Boise

Census

More than 50 million households, representing more than one-third of the nation, have responded to the 2020 Census. The census happens once every decade , and your response affects allocation of Congressional seats and Federal funds to your community- for things like schools, hospitals, and emergency services.

Please respond to the Census today. It takes less than 10 minutes to complete the form online at 2020census.gov, over the phone, or on paper through mail.

As of April 1, only 41.8 percent of Idaho households have responded. We ask your help in making sure Idaho gets a complete and accurate count of all people residing in the State as of Census Day, April 1st.

Your data are encrypted and protected from the instant we receive your response. Your responses are not shared with anyone else, including law enforcement.

Almost all households in Idaho have received invitations to respond by phone and by mail. If you have not received a paper questionnaire yet and have not responded, it will be delivered starting April 8. Your state and nation thank you for taking action and responding to the 2020 Census.

Wilbur L. Ross, Secretary, Department of Commerce

Coronavirus

Thank you for your coverage of the coronavirus, the burden it’s putting on emergency departments and hospitals, and for allowing free access to your articles. Everyone needs to know that public health professionals and doctors are asking us to stay home so we don’t get COVID-19 and overwhelm our medical facilities. Those who have expertise in disease prevention are the ones we need to take seriously right now in order to see our way through this crisis. In general, we should heed the recommendations of professionals who study important problems like pandemics and climate change. Experts in climate science have been warning us for years that the climate is warming and we need to change our energy habits. We need to take climate scientists seriously when they say we that should transition from carbon-based fuels to renewable energy like wind, solar or geothermal. Let’s celebrate Earth Day, April 22, by asking our lawmakers to enact meaningful climate change legislation like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, H.R. 763, which has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Elizabeth Roberts, Eagle