Letters: Voting, secondhand smoke laws, demand gun control, remember Waco, Statehouse bills

Is telling parents how to raise their kids a conservative policy?

I used to think the Republican Party supported individual rights and a government that protected those rights, so I’m really confused with what is happening in Indianapolis currently.

Denying parents the right to have their children treated when they are struggling with their gender identity is the government telling parents how to raise their kids. Is that a conservative policy?

They say they want to stop kids from making decisions they will later regret. We all make personal decisions that we may later regret, but when we make them we think we are making the correct choice and it usually makes us feel better about our lives as we take ownership of them.

What business does government have in making these personal decisions for us? They should be making decisions that protect our children from the actions of others that would harm them such as trafficking, bullying and guns.

Jim Bradley, Bloomington

Hoosiers need stronger protection against secondhand smoke

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes data about state and local comprehensive smoke-free laws in the United States in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). A comprehensive smoke-free law prohibits smoking in all indoor areas and protects nonsmokers from involuntary secondhand smoke exposure.

While the report notes significant progress in states and the District of Columbia adopting statewide comprehensive smoke-free laws between 2000 and 2010, increasing from zero to 28. Indiana is one of the 22 states that fails to protect all of its residents from secondhand smoke. The MMWR also highlights the importance of smoke-free laws at the local level. When including estimates from local Indiana statewide laws, only about 31% of Hoosiers are currently protected from secondhand smoke in all indoor venues.

The 2012 Indiana state smoke-free air law, while a monumental first step, still left Hoosiers vulnerable to the many dangers of secondhand smoke exposure. Thankfully, local Indiana municipalities still have the power to protect their residents from secondhand smoke. Let’s hope the rest of the Indiana communities covering three-fourths of the state’s population will choose strong smoke-free air laws in all public places and help create healthier communities for all Hoosiers.

Kristen Terry, Bloomington

League of Women Voters Indiana Legislature update to be April 15

The public is invited to the League of Women Voters' last scheduled virtual Legislative Update on Saturday, April 15, from 9:30-11 a.m. State legislators representing Monroe and Brown counties will report on their work and issues in the current session of the Indiana General Assembly and will take questions from attendees. To register for the Zoom meeting, go to https://lwv-bmc.org/legis-update.

The event is co-sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County and Brown County, and the Chambers of Commerce of Greater Bloomington and Brown County. All legislative updates are free and open to the public. Questions should be framed to elicit general information and to enable any of the legislators to respond.

This is the year’s fourth and final planned legislative update sponsored by the Leagues and the Chambers on Zoom. The sessions are recorded by Community Access Television Services through the Monroe County Public Library, with the video available on the CATS website and at https://lwv-bmc.org/legis-update shortly after each session. The Indiana General Assembly's work can be followed on its website, http://iga.in.gov, which provides a wealth of information and offers the possibility to track the progress of individual bills.

Debora Shaw, spokesperson, League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County

Remember the government's actions in Waco this April 19

April 19 is the 30th anniversary of the federal government’s raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

The Clinton Administration used military force — including tanks — against American citizens on American soil. We have heard much about police militarization driven by the War on Drugs over the last decade, but we should not forget that Waco was a worrisome escalation in use of force by law enforcement. By the end of the day, 76 people, including 25 children, had died.

The standoff should not have escalated in the first place. It was a botched paramilitary SWAT-style raid two months earlier that led to the standoff. Had the federal government arrested David Koresh when he was in town, perhaps this tragedy could have been prevented. There is no question that Koresh was an evil man. When he died, the world instantly became a better place, because a monster who victimized innocents was no longer able to commit crimes.

However, the outrage over the federal government’s incompetent and recklessly aggressive actions in Waco is not about Koresh: It is about the innocent people who died that horrible day. Thirty years later, we must never forget the people who died that day or the lessons that we should have learned. Domestic law enforcement officers are not and should not be soldiers. This ought to be true at the local and state level, but is especially important at the federal level. Never again!

Scott Tibbs, Bloomington

City, county officials obviously need help with negotiating

Bullying, name calling, derisive facial expressions, whining, and the spinning of rosy schemes with no future in the real world: These are hallmarks of groups that cannot or will not negotiate effectively.

I wish Bloomington and Monroe County would hire a professional negotiating coach to advise our local leadership about how to have more productive interactions. Bloomington has many serious challenges, including homelessness, poverty, lack of good jobs and affordable housing, not to mention a traffic situation on the verge of chaos.

Addressing these challenges will require cooperation and compromise. Please get it together, people.

Gretchen Kromer, Bloomington

We must demand gun control to protect our children

Re: “Gov. Holcomb orders Indiana’s flags flown at half-staff after Nashville school shooting” (local news, March 28, 2023). This article informed the readers about the reasoning for the flags being flown at half-staff, that being the tragic Nashville school shooting that occurred on Monday, March 27. The article ends with a link to an article published by USA Today, providing more details about the event and what exactly occurred that day in Nashville.

Within these articles, there is a lack of urgency of response from the community. A shooter broke into a school and now children are dead. Something needs to change, and it must be now. School shootings are not something that unfortunately happen to other people far away. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children under 18 in America.

It is a devastating event that our community can be victims of if we do not advocate for gun control. Contact local and state policymakers to make it known that events like what happened in Nashville are unacceptable. Children should not be terrified of going to school and it is our job to keep them safe.

Ruth Chikkala, Bloomington

Vote in the upcoming primary election

Elections have consequences. Since the 2019 municipal elections, Bloomington has learned this the hard way. Votes were cast, mistakes were made, and Bloomington’s decline accelerated dramatically. But mistakes can be undone, and in the upcoming Democratic primary, we are fortunate to have a group of tried-and-true leaders dedicated to getting Bloomington back on track.

Progressive without being unhinged, experienced without being hidebound, wise without being arrogant, these are leaders who understand Bloomington. They know that Bloomington must be governed by policy that works for Bloomington, not by grandiose big-city dreams or by the latest trendy ideology. These are leaders, too, who have consistently and valiantly fought to protect Bloomington from some terrible agendas. Things would be much worse without them. They deserve a chance to return Bloomington to its best self.

The May 2 Democratic primary is essentially what determines the final outcome, and anybody, regardless of party affiliation, can vote in it. Early voting began April 4. Please consider Susan Sandberg for mayor, and council candidates Andy Ruff, Ron Smith, Sue Sgambelluri, Joe Lee, Dave Rollo, and Lois Sabo-Skelton. Experience, competence, and good old-fashioned common sense all matter, now more than ever. Let’s not get fooled again.

Ramsay Harik, Bloomington

Senate Bill 1608 essentially bans our children from talking about love

Children need to count on teachers in schools to provide them with the proper education so that they may be successful in their life. There is a bill coming on the horizon that will be affecting children's education.

If House Bill 1608 passes through the Senate, it will mean that children will have to live in a world where they cannot discuss something so pure and vital in their life: love. It censors the discussions surrounding the LGBTQ community. It will force teachers to confront a parent if their child is using different pronouns or asking to go by a different name, ergo hurting the children who are transgender.

Faculty and staff who are a part of this community will not be able to share any information in regards to their personal life. Children in the LGBTQ community are already more likely to have mental health issues, commit suicide, and have eating disorders compared to their peers, and this bill will continue dividing them. I am urging the community to stand with their children and fight for a better future.

Gabriela Nieves, Bloomington

Re-evaluate or scrap Senate Bill 12

Through personal experience, I can say that the most effective learning I have ever received is from teachers that push past the limits of their curriculums. The many world-class educators I have had the privilege of being taught by have always had a different way of teaching than new and/or average teachers. I would even say teachers are the lifeblood of many of the greatest minds that represent America.

There seem to be better directions than passing a bill that limits the capabilities of so many excellent teachers. SB 12 does just that, however, that is not all SB 12 does. It allows parents to dictate how teachers teach their students and push their agenda onto their children instead of letting them interpret information themselves. Furthermore, the bill can act as censorship and keep anything deemed “unfit” for children, however, that criteria is extremely vague and needs to be made clearer. This bill is very concerning and should be reevaluated and/or scrapped.

Javon Billingsley, Bloomington

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Letters discuss GOP, secondhand smoke, Legislature, elections