Letters to the editor: Back to school, Ammon Bundy, wearing masks
Back to school
Central District Health and Boise School District need to wake up to reality. Their decision to keep kids out of school is doing far more damage to families than the virus ever could. Do they really think our kids have been locked away since March and if we release them out into the world an avalanche of Covid will follow? Newsflash. Kids have been getting together all summer long with no social distancing and no masks in neighborhoods, the mall, Roaring Springs, etc. And guess what? The mass fatalities predicted in the spring have not happened. In fact, BSD just last week revealed that out of thousands of teachers, staff and students in the district, only 30 have tested positive for Covid since June. 30! Not 30 deaths. Not 30 hospitalizations. Not even 30 getting sick. Just 30 positive tests. There are over 50 million children between the ages of 1-15 in the U.S. Covid has killed 40 of them. 40! And zero in Idaho. There is too much data out there for anyone to be thinking that Covid is a death sentence. Far from it. Wake up CHD and BSD. There is no reason kids can’t be in school.
Tim Richey, Boise
Bundy
The recent anti-government disruptions at the Statehouse, led by Ammon Bundy, are a continuation of other Bundy-led protests that resulted in armed confrontation with law enforcement personnel. Bundy and his followers are under the mistaken belief that they have certain rights which allow them to ignore laws and rules they don’t agree with. The lack of consequences for his past actions such as the armed standoff in Nevada over his father’s refusal to pay long-overdue grazing fees and his role in the armed takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, has emboldened him and his followers to continue their lawless intimidation tactics. His recent arrest cannot be allowed to be a mere slap on the wrist. His photograph being wheeled away from the Statehouse in an office chair will simply serve to make Idaho law enforcement look weak and pampering.
As a concerned Idaho resident I ask you to make an example of Ammon Bundy and his lieutenants. It will both serve justice and send a message to all the anti-government folks who are moving into Idaho that armed and lawless intimidation tactics will not be tolerated.
Tex Beauchamp, Meridian
Mask wearing
It is inspiring to see how many around Boise are wearing masks. I wish I could signal with a smile how connected I feel with people looking out for me and everyone else in this way.
There is said to be a huge divide in our country, between “people like us” and everyone else: Californians, New Yorkers, persons of color, athletes who take a knee, and so on. I do not wish to make light of these differences but could we say that we are, momentarily, putting all this aside by wearing a mask? In an ironic way is this not a gesture of unity, of community we once had and which still remains?
It is hard to communicate this with eyes alone but maybe we can nod more frequently, hold a door open a little longer or recite some cliché as we pass one another. We are acting out a care for one another that would not be evident from our shy, bare faces.
When the All Clear sounds and masks come off, might we remember these days with fondness, as a time we acquired a bit more empathy for one another?
Jerry Brady, Boise