Letters to the editor: Vaccination cards, AARP, Yenor, death penalty
Vaccination card
A neighbor (senior like me) and I attended the Idaho Potato Drop around 8 p.m. I had proof of vaccination on my phone. She had forgotten hers. She was denied entry to Capitol Park, a public space. It was really cold. Inside the barriers were propane burner barrels for warming the spectators. There was no warming station outside the park barriers. Both she and I have resided in Boise for decades, we own our homes and pay property taxes. Few people inside or outside the park, during the festival were wearing masks. The city, via permit process, and the festival organizers need to do a bit better for Boise. Denial of entry and exposure to risk of hypothermia (and/or pneumonia) is as great a risk as COVID contagion. We had to leave early as she was shivering, standing outside the barrier watching the band with a group of people huddled together, none wearing masks. She is fully vaccinated. She just couldn’t prove it.
Brent Mathieu, Boise
Death penalty
The Idaho parole board is unaware that the death penalty is given based upon justice, not fear of the double murderer harming again. It is foul that the appellate judges allowed the appeals to last 35 years and that four parole board members voted for commutation.
It shows their total disrespect for:
1) the survivors of the two innocent murder victims, Berta and Del Herndon
2) for Berta and Del
3) The jurors
4) The taxpayers of Idaho
Thank you Gov. Little and the three parole board members who showed their respect for those four parties.
Since 1976, Virginia has executed 113 murderers, after seven years of appeals on average. How? Responsible appellate judges.
Dudley Sharp, Houston
Yenor
Boise State professor Scott Yenor recently described career-oriented women as “more medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome than women need to be.” This comment is incredibly ignorant. This is a partial list of current executive leaders whom I’ve had the pleasure and honor to work with the past few years:
Odette Bolano, CEO of Saint Alphonsus; Emily Baker, CEO of Portman Square Group and chair of the Boise Metro Chamber; Lisa Grow, CEO of Idaho Power; Heidi Hart, CEO of Terry Reilly Health Services; Rebecca Hupp, director of the Boise Airport; Nicole Kissler, CEO of Norco; Debbie Kling, mayor of Nampa; Charlene Maher, CEO of Blue Cross of Idaho and a past chair of the Boise Metro Chamber; Lauren McLean, mayor of Boise; Susan Morris, EVP & COO of Albertsons; Kristin Muchow, board chair of the Greater Boise Auditorium District; Darcy Neidigh, CFO of DeBest Plumbing; Jamie Scott, president of the JA & Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation; and ironically, Dr. Marlene Tromp, president of Boise State University.
I’ve worked with more women executives who are retired or who lead smaller organizations.
I understand Professor Yenor is now saying he was misunderstood. No, professor, we understood exactly what you said.
Ray Stark, Boise
AARP responds
The op-ed, “AARP has a conflict of interest when it comes to drug pricing legislation,” reads like all the other opinions that Big Pharma and its enablers recycle. If anyone has a conflict, it is astroturf groups like Patients Rising, claiming to speak for patients but cozying up to Big Pharma.
For decades, millions of seniors across our country have been forced to pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Many older Americans must decide between life-saving medications or paying for other necessities, such as rent or food.
Congress moved one step closer to solving this issue when the House passed the Build Back Better Act, which would finally allow Medicare to negotiate the prices it pays for some prescription drugs. In every other market, buyers and sellers negotiate, and bigger buyers use their buying power to get what amounts to a bulk discount. But Big Pharma has had its handcuffs on Medicare for well over a decade, and that must change.
Blocking change hurts seniors, everyone who pays into health insurance and taxpayers — since we all bear the costs of today’s out-of-control drug prices through higher premiums, cost-sharing and taxes.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says reform would result in one less new drug out of hundreds over the next decade; meanwhile, millions of seniors would have more affordable access. Medicines only work if patients can afford them.
John Hishta, AARP senior vice president of campaigns