Letters to the editor: Defunding police, masks, mayor, shutdowns

Defunding police

The people advocating the defunding of our police department do not have even a small clue as to what the police have to put up with. Most of the time they have to deal with the lowest element of the community. I grew up in the late ’30s and early ’40s in this city and had an occasion to see the police in action. I was in the Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association and was its treasurer for about five years in the not too distant past.

We in Boise have one of the finest police departments in the United States. From what the police department was in the ’30s and ’40s to what it is now is on a scale of 1 to 10, in the early time it was about a 5; now it is a 10-plus! The interim chief Ron Winegar is one of the finest men and finest policemen I have ever met. Our new chief is fine, but I still wonder about Boise thinking that we don’t have people right here who are more than capable of being the best choice to fill our important positions.

Stephen Bancroft, Boise

Masks at stores

All of the traditional area supermarkets, Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Walmart and Winco, have posted signs at their entrances stating that masks are required. While the great majority of shoppers comply with the mask mandate, there are always at least a couple who do not. So why do stores allow these people to enter and endanger, not only other shoppers, but their employees, too? The only reason that comes to mind is they value dollars over human life. It should be obvious by now that certain individuals will never voluntarily abide by public health rules. They are the ones whose willful disregard for the well-being of others will keep this pandemic going, causing death, sickness, economic and educational disruption to our community. It is time for all area stores to require masks as a condition of entry. Costco has done this almost from the beginning of the pandemic. I truly appreciate them and others who require masks. They demonstrate a concern for people.

Dale M. Merrell, Boise

McLean

While I did not vote for Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, should she run for that thankless job again, she has earned my support. She ran on being transparent and by doing that very thing, (not suppressing publication of some of the more radical suggestions), she is being tarred with someone else’s brush. The group attempting her recall is bullying her -- throwing mud at the wall to see if something might stick.

It is unfair, dishonest, uncalled for and unhelpful. She was thrown into the deep end of the pool by the COVID-19 and subsequent economic crisis and deserves some support, not slings and arrows.

James A. Jeffery, Boise

Shutdowns

I wonder how it is that when you go to the Dairy Queen in Meridian, both you and the employee have to wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart with a plastic shield between each other. All bars in the area must be closed, losing wages and income. Yet right next door, 1,000 people are not wearing masks or practicing social distancing at Roaring Springs water park. How is that allowed? With 400 or so cases a day for the last week, it seems mathematically impossible to not have at least one asymptomatic person there.

Lynn Healy, Boise