Letters to the Editor for March 29, 2018

Mother favors gun laws, more resources for mental health My 1-year-old has just started to use walking as her main mode of transport. It's heartwarming to watch her toddle around. She loves carrying dolls, toy dishes, spatulas and other random things around. A few weeks ago, while I was in the middle of something, she brought me a book. I almost gave her a pat on the head and kept on with my task ... Almost. Then the thought that, in a few years, she might die in a school shooting crossed my mind. I sat down right there and read her that book. After I finished the book, I held her close for longer than she liked, and I cried. I had the thought THAT SHE MIGHT DIE IN A SCHOOL SHOOTING. This is completely unacceptable. We need common sense gun laws and more resources for people struggling with mental health issues. In our society, we do not need semi-automatic rifles that are made to kill multiple people quickly. I never want my daughters to think that their children might die if they go to school. Please join me in demanding action and change. Kali Broome, Vancouver Mass-killing weapons not the answer to keeping students safe There are at least five things school-age students can do to protect themselves: Fundraise within our community for metal detectors Community fundraise for bullet-proof vests Take the GED Home-schooling Implement classes on psychology and emotional awareness. Students need to understand their own emotions and feelings, so they don't become a victim of them. Many don't even know anger comes from fear. Many aren't taught that depression is anger turned inward onto themselves. They depress instead of express. We've lived in a repressed society too long. Three steps to end depression: List your angers List the fear behind each anger List your alternatives (no drugs) Emotional problems and challenges, for the most part, only require an understanding of one's emotions -- not pharmaceutical drugs with dangerous side effects. Fighting back for our human rights is healthy. Taking our power back is evolved. Students marching against gun control is healthy. We should not be making it easy to buy mass-killing weapons. AR-15s and automatic rifles are not a safe choice. (A Washougal store sells parts and accessories for AR-15s.) We can bear arms, but mass-killing weapons are not a solution. They are part of the cause of violence. Students aren't even taught they are more important than material things because they can feel and love. The most important thing an individual can be taught is that they are good. Rhonda Rose, Washougal 'Visionary leftists' should read Solzhenitsyn Unlike the liberal high hats, various child murderers are able to follow the bread crumbs back to the thoroughly relativistic yet single-perspective worldview of the government school. Despite the rhetoric, values-free education is a required course for the future progressive. The evidence of history demonstrates firearm confiscation and secular socialism are purposeful and unavoidable companions. As embraced by Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, the Castro boys and today's Democratic Party in the not too distant future, this utopian scheme has annihilated entire populations via the disarmament of the private citizen. That's the idea. The visionary leftist might open Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's autobiography, The Gulag Archipelago, detailing his years spent as a "guest" in Stalin's extermination labor camp system that swept away millions. It's a valuable study describing what unrestrained socialism always becomes when people lose the battle to control their own government. Mike Goodpaster, Washougal Unsigned editorial was an 'act of cowardice' I am writing to you in regards to the anonymous editorial in Thursday's edition of the Post-Record. It was a mean-spirited and inaccurate portrayal of a local resident of Camas, Ernie Geigenmiller. He has started a movement to make March a month of doing kind acts. This was initiated in response to the Parkland High School shooting last month. Incidentally, the cities of Washougal and Camas have officially adopted the movement. I have known him for years and know that this was motivated purely out of trying to change the world by one act of kindness at a time. There was no ulterior motive for anything else. The nameless person who wrote the article attacked him personally and was cynical, smug and superior in their erroneous assumptions. This is just plain wrong. Ernie was never interviewed for this article and was blindsided by the attack. The reason I am writing you is that I understand The Columbian owns the Post-Record. I believe that it was an act of cowardice and bullying by the author to attack another person and to hide behind anonymity. I further believe that whomever this was, has the responsibility to portray facts truthfully. I think that a retraction and public apology is necessary. Many, many residents of our small community are incensed that such a wonderful movement and person have been maligned. Diane Richardson, Camas

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