Letters to the Editor

Biden has an opportunity to show Trump humility

Even the most casual follower of the news has likely seen recent stories about how four months ago, President Biden said former President Trump acted irresponsibly when he left office by taking with him to Mar-a-Lago a number of classified files and how Biden did much the same thing when back in 2017 when his term as vice president ended.

While the White House is struggling with how to respond to this I have had a fantasy about what I would like to hear Biden say: “I have said that former President Trump was irresponsible and now I have been shown to have been similarly irresponsible. Whether I knew these files were being packed up and moved into improper storage locations, just like Trump I should be held to account for how I managed my exit from office and what happened to important documents held in my office. Whether due to carelessness or intentional decision making, the threat to national security posed by mishandled classified documents is the same and should be subject to the same Justice Department or congressional oversight investigations.”

I hope I am wrong, but I do not expect to hear anything of this sort from President Biden, though it would be a welcome and refreshing change from the typical equivocation, deflection or denial typical of politicians caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

Frank BarefieldHolland

We need to recognize all perspectives in Ottawa County

Holland Sentinel guest columnist Dan Winiarski, in an open letter to Roger Bergman and myself, asks how it was that we were not aware that what happened at our organizational meeting Jan. 3 was going to happen, especially "when people were telling you this was coming."

Now, Mr. Wisniarski and I have discussed this in a recent phone call, but I would like to restate for him and for District Three residents here in Holland some of my thoughts regarding the Jan. 3 Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting.

I did have the perception that many of the items that occurred Jan. 3:

• The firing of Counsel Van Essen and Administrator Shay

• The closing of the DEI Department

• The attempt to change out our health director

• Even the removal of the county slogan "Where you Belong"

All were being considered by my new colleagues. However, I did not foresee that they would all happen at the first board meeting as add-on agenda items with no opportunity for public engagement or notice. Nor did I foresee that we would bring on Mr Gibbs as administrator or the Kallman Legal Group without a serious hiring process. But, if you are firing or sidelining key personnel in one fell swoop, it is likely you’d already have their replacements lined up.

So to answer the question: No, I was not blindsided. Nor was I particularly surprised. What I felt, and what I continue to feel, is disappointment. Disappointment that we have acted in a way that has created confusion among employees, residents, tourists, the business sector as well as many other stakeholders in this great county. West Michigan, and Ottawa County in particular, has a long history of taking action at the community and governmental level that is intentional, responsible and broad — action that attempts to bring everyone along, and honor as many voices and perspectives as possible. What happened on Jan. 3 was the exact opposite of all that.

My hope is that, going forward, we, as a board, can begin to take up the mantle of doing things once more the Ottawa way, a way that recognizes that there are many different perspectives in this county and that slow and deliberate action is the best way to honor and bring together those perspectives so as to best act for the common good and betterment of all the nearly 300,000 residents of this county we all call home.

Doug Zylstra Ottawa County Commissioner, District Three (Holland City)

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letters to the Editor: We need to recognize all perspectives in Ottawa County