Richland citizens pick these candidates and support the school board recall | Opinion
No doubt RSD board broke law
Richland School Board members Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams knowingly violated state law. That’s not my opinion, it’s how the Washington State Supreme Court ruled after reviewing the case. Yet not only are Bird, Byrd and Williams unrepentant for their actions, but defiant, asserting in the voters’ guide with no evidence and ignoring the Court’s ruling that the recall effort is somehow a political hit job.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Don’t believe it? Other school boards in our state dealt with the same issues these board members did without breaking the law. Imagine that rather than breaking the law to accomplish something you agree with, these board members took these unlawful actions to enact a policy you disagree with. Are these board members’ actions still okay? Williams, Byrd and Bird knowingly broke the law. It’s now up to voters in Richland to restore the rule of law and recall them. Anything less, and we’re giving the green light for future Richland School Board members to violate the law with impunity.
Erik Nicholson, Richland
Richlanders vet RSD candidates
A group of us who live in Richland have vetted the candidates we feel are the best. This is a nonpartisan election cycle and we have not taken partisan recommendations into account. Several of the candidates have expressed that they personally are members of political parties, but that hasn’t affected our decisions.
Richland City Council: Position 6, vote for:
Kurt Maier, (https://www.americanimperium.com/), a supercomputing engineer who lives in our neighborhood with his wife and two children. Kurt has served as Library Board chair.
Richland School Board:
Vote YES to recall: Audra Byrd, Semi Bird and Kari Williams
Also for Richland Public Schools, vote for:
Chelsie Beck for Richland Schools, a chemist who has two young children who attend public schools in Richland.
Jill Oldson, current Richland School Board member.
Katrina Waters, a biochemist with three children who graduated from Richland Public Schools.
For Port of Benton Commission, District 2:
Christy Rasmussen, a former Christ the King principal, who lives in north Richland and currently represents the Port of Benton Commission district that stretches to Prosser.
These recommendations are from your neighbors and Richland residents Steve Goheen, Dave Harvey, Randy Slovic, Dori Luzzo Gilmour and Justin Raffa.
Dori Luzzo Gilmour, Richland
Time to crack down on alcohol
Not a day passes that we’re not inundated about the dangers of fentanyl, a grim, deadly drug. Sadly, what we hardly hear about is alcohol, the most dangerous substance of all. The fact that alcohol is legal and socially acceptable gives those consuming it a false sense of relief that it’s harmless. You would be hard-pressed to find any alcohol user admit that they are taking serious risks by merely imbibing an innocuous appearing liquid.
Most are uncomfortable hearing that alcohol kills more people than other drugs combined. They deny that alcohol is the second deadliest drug in America, behind tobacco, causing car crashes, DUIs, toxic relationships, violence, mental illness, homelessness, imprisonment, substance use disorder, suicide and death. Even light to moderate drinkers are at risk of these horrendous events.
Studies show that alcohol is the direct cause of breast, liver, colon, esophagus and other types of cancer. Despite these awful findings, Americans continue to embrace and encourage drinking far more than they do other dangerous drugs. Alcohol is the one universally accepted drug that routinely kills over 140,000 U.S. citizens annually, and yet the dangers of it are not taken seriously. It’s time we crack down on it too.
Gary Somdahl, Richland
