Letters to the editor – April 20, 2022

We have a winner!

Olympic Theater Arts is currently presenting a show that is not to be missed.

“Bingo, the Winning Musical” has a cast of six women and one man. Each actor displays musical talent as well as over the top comedic and dramatic acting that will glue your eyes and ears to the constant-motion performance on stage. But wait! The action dives into the audience too. And that is uproarious fun!

The laughs come continually but there is pathos too, and thus, true life is depicted with genuineness … and tenderness.

Usually, I can spot the “show stealer.” Not this time. Everyone on stage is a thief.

Thank you cast, thank you pianists, thank you production crew. Thank you David Herbelin.

George Will

Sequim

Healing Campus a needed community asset

We thank Matthew Nash for his detailed report on the Jamestown opioid Healing Campus set to open in a few days (“Healing Clinic’s opening near,” Sequim Gazette, April 13, page A-1). It is a handsome building like the Jamestown Family Clinic and the OMC health care facilities on Fifth Avenue. It brings many well-paying jobs to Clallam County.

We are celebrating a hard-won victory in the opening of this urgently needed clinic for treatment of family members, neighbors, and friends addicted to oxycontin and other prescription drugs through no fault of their own. Perdue and other Big Pharma flooded the market with these drugs assuring us they are not addictive. They lied as they raked in the profits. Millions across the nation were hooked, many dying from overdoses. Where was the Food and Drug Administration?

Clallam County was among the hardest hit. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, in the healing spirit, stepped forward to provide a clinic to treat the sick and wounded. Now they are moving to build a small hospital beside the clinic for those in acute crisis who need overnight care.

We went through agony to win this victory: QAnon lies, white supremacy, hate, intimidation, phony lawsuits. In the name of “saving Sequim” they tried to tear us apart. The Jamestown tribe stood tall through it all. So did the voters of Sequim and Clallam County.

We too stood tall — and united — on Nov. 2. We thank them all.

Tim Wheeler

Sequim

Wheeler is acting chair of Voices for Health & Healing.

Injured neighbors need our support

If you were crossing the street and were unlucky enough to get hit by a car, would you need to convince anyone that accident injuries are real just because they are infrequent or that seeking treatment isn’t “anti-car” or “anti-crosswalk”? Would there be any dispute that, no matter how good a driving record the driver had, they’d be obliged to help?

This is the position COVID vaccine-injured people find themselves in. Silence, censorship and often financial ruin is their lot rather than robust treatment, study and assistance.

I’m writing to my community because I have a vaccine-injured friend who needs help and it seems that the only way politicians will care is if a large number of their constituents speak up.

Historically, the few people injured by routine vaccinations find help through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. However, COVID vaccine injuries fall under a different program that to date has processed no claims.

Glimmers of hope have flickered with lawmakers proposing S.3810 and H.R. 3655, but this legislation is stalled for lack of political will to acknowledge vaccine injuries.

We’ve all experienced profound loss these past two years; I hope a way forward will see grief bind us together as a community rather than deepen divisions.

I hope we can agree that those who stepped up to be vaccinated and came away injured deserve acknowledgement and support. This is not a vax/anti-vax debate. Leaving injured people on their own as collateral damage is not acceptable.

Please consider making yourself an ally for those with serious adverse reactions by writing or calling your congressional representatives.

Kathy Zelenka

Port Angeles

Ukraine’s ‘gray areas’

Why did Russia invade Ukraine? If you watched Vladimir Putin’s speech, he tells us that one reason is the biolabs in Ukraine. These biolabs are backed by the United States Department of Defense through funding procured by Hunter Biden to Metabiota.

We say that these labs are not bio weapons labs, but we also say if they fell into Putin’s hands, they would give Putin access to bio weapons. Huh?

Another reason Mr. Putin gave is the Nazi proliferation in Ukraine. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we support the chaos propagated by the Nazis there to overthrow the legitimate leader so we could help install the one Obama wanted?

We back the Nazi party that commits genocide against Russian supporting Ukrainians.

There are a lot of gray areas in the situations in Ukraine. There are definitely atrocities being committed, but the reasons for many of them come back to the Obama and Biden crime families.

Keep praying for the victims and remember where the root causes are when it comes time to vote.

Mark A. White

Port Angeles