Letters to the editor: Vaccines, Interfaith Sanctuary, retirement accounts, Ryan Cole

Front-page photo

I am writing with heartfelt thanks to the Statesman for its front page article on October 6, 2021, “Idahoans distrust of vaccines new…” The unidentified “health care worker” administering the polio vaccine to that apparently gobsmacked youngster, is my father C.R. Blackburn, MD. He was the first internist to practice in Idaho. Upon completion of his internship in 1942 he was immediately drafted by the army into the TBI theater in World War II as a medical officer. After the war, he continued his education in a five-year residency in internal medicine at Tufts University, one of the first such programs in the country. He moved to Idaho in 1951. He retired in 1983 and passed in 1996. He was a tireless, astute and empathic practitioner of both the art and science of medicine — a reality to which his many patients can attest. He would be astonished, and perplexed perhaps, but ultimately saddened by the current health care crisis created by vaccine hesitancy.

K.H. Blackburn, Boise

Interfaith Sanctuary

Can you believe this housing market or what has now become a crisis? What do you do if your rent doubles or you can’t even find a place to rent? We have been volunteering for over six years at Interfaith Sanctuary. We enjoy our work serving meals, helping to check in guests, running laundry, handing out toiletries, etc. The mission of Sanctuary is to not only shelter people but help with case management from needed documents to finding jobs and other resources. All of this has been inspiring. We support the Sanctuary’s request for moving to the State Street location to increase capacity for services. State Street is the only viable location to site the shelter. Thanks to the city for weeks of “Better Shelter” discussions around the need for helping unsheltered members of our community. Interfaith Sanctuary should be given the opportunity to move to State Street.

Bob and Vivian Parrish, Boise

Retirement accounts

My husband and I have been operating Flying M Coffeeshop in downtown Caldwell since 2018. Owning a small business has been one of the biggest joys of life because we love our team of 20 employees and customers.

However, even without a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses often struggle just to meet payroll and keep the lights on. We do not have the financial capacity to create a retirement benefits program that larger businesses offer, so we try to make up for it by creating a more family-like environment and flexible work schedule. In the meantime, we all get older, and it becomes harder to put money away for the future.

Fortunately, legislation introduced in previous Idaho legislative sessions offers a solution. It creates a state-facilitated retirement program where employers can sign up, then give their employees the opportunity to elect to have a portion of their pay go into an individual retirement account. The burden for small business owners to participate is minimal and can be rolled into other standard paperwork.

Idaho lawmakers should strongly consider this legislation, which will lead to a healthier financial future for the state.

Tori McKim, Caldwell

Cole claims

Dr. Cole claims he has observed an astronomical “20 times increase” in endometrial cancer and an “uptick” in invasive melanomas, as well a host of common viral infections because of COVID-19 vaccination, which began only eight months prior to his claim. Sound scientific conclusions require more than just the tell; they also require the show. Despite these sensational claims, Dr. Cole has provided no data or insight supportive of his unorthodox observations. In the interest of transparency, he should offer not only his data but also his methods to be thoroughly vetted by the scientific community and public as a whole. I would be interested to know how he obtained patients’ vaccination statuses from which to draw these conclusions, as this information is not typically available to a clinical diagnostic lab. I would also be interested to know how Dr. Cole financed this study and why his business does not directly benefit from his unproven observations to avoid the valid concern for conflict of interest.

Dr. Cole should answer the constructive criticisms of his claim. Not to present his study properly and not to answer his critics would be irresponsible, intellectually dishonest and unprofessional.

Mark S. Carter, Caldwell