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Locking away a social problem

The recent death of an incarcerated young man at the hands of his cell mate is a sad result of the mentally ill being incarcerated without proper treatment and care. The plight of the mentally ill cannot be ignored.

Another sad fact is that a very large percentage of those incarcerated are suffering from mental illness and, as in this case, are not getting medication or therapy. Our prisons are de facto mental institutions. Thousands of certified, diagnosed mentally ill people are doing time behind bars without medication and treatment. Many are unable or unwilling to comply with rules and regulations and so are isolated in solitary confinement, actually intensifying their conditions.

We have come a long way from the days of stoning our offenders, burning the accused and cutting off the hands of thieves, but we still have a long way to go. This social problem isn’t being resolved; it’s just being locked away.

All human beings deserve to be treated with respect. Any human rights abuse is just that — a human rights abuse. The mentally ill have the right to be respected and deserve treatment.

Lowana Krewson
Stanwood


A great turning is upon this world

What does war to do people? I think that war can cause people to hate life itself and be determined to destroy it.

What I describe here was conceived in the minds of people who lived through and survived the second World War.

Another slaughter of the innocents is in the offing. Humongous gas chambers have been reconstituted.

The most prodigious kill-off in the history of humanity has been in preparation for several decades. Specifically, gay men are (were) the most rejected. Therefore, they are the initial group to be rounded up for annihilation. (How many times have gay-demonizing thoughts been spoken and/or written over the past, say, 10 years?) 

The ultimate goal of this dastardliness is world destruction in thermo nuclear holocaust. 

However, a divine intervention is obviating these eventualities.

This world will not end. 

These gargantuan chambers of mass death (think: convention centers) will never be used.

My message, in various formats, has been very widely distributed across the Earth over the past eight years via the Internet, to every state in the United States (multiple times) and to almost every nation.

A great turning is upon us, a sea change of tsunamic proportions, a tectonic reckoning.

The darkness englobing this Earth will be shined upon and dispersed by the light of our understanding. Amen.

Leland Mellott
Mount Vernon


Christian values beat no values

It amazes me that there are persons who seem to believe that all the bad things that have happened to the world and our country are the sole responsibility of the Christians and their values. They seem to be so concerned that Christian values somehow are encroaching on their freedoms. Incidentally, like it or not, the laws of our country reflect Christian values.

These persons are quite concerned with history, so I will give them a little history as I lived it in my 78 years.

Living in a Christian home through the Depression years, we had just enough to have a roof over our heads and food to eat, yet we were a very happy, close-knit family. We didn’t have to lock our doors or be afraid to walk the street at night or to play in the neighborhood after dark. Then along came World War II, and the people pulled together in unity and pride to win victory over the evils of the time.

Unfortunately, evil raised its ugly head again in the Korean War, and our resolve to finish the job wasn’t there. Then along came the so-called great social revolution of the ’60s, and a new value system took place — make love not war, anything goes, drug use, loss of pride in our country. There has been a downward spiral in moral values ever since.

Since then, our schools are reflecting the value system of that godless culture, and our children are suffering the consequences of those bankrupt ideas.

Now who is responsible for the decadence of our country? Certainly not the Christian values.

David H. Bates
Sedro-Woolley


Congress should lower gas prices

Hello fellow state residents. There is important information here. President Bush has demanded that the U.S. Congress raise gas prices to $4 per gallon now, and next they will raise it to $5.

These greedy gas prices are damaging thousands of people’s efforts to drive to work and drive to go to doctor appointments and to drive to visit family members and friends. It also makes it difficult to go to medical and health places.

We all need to vote for decent and caregiving Congress members on Election Day. Also send letters immediately to current Congress members telling them to lower the gas prices now!

Richard Royston
Mount Vernon


Anti-Christian letter distorted facts

Last week, one of your published letters to the editor was very critical of the Christian community in the United States.

I believe a little balance to that criticism is in order, most especially on two of the subjects the writer addressed.

First: The writer blamed Christians for not opposing slavery. He omitted some essential facts: Sea captains could not have plied their trade without the cooperation of pagan black African chieftains who willingly sold their fellow men and women into slavery for profit. And it was a devoted Christian president who issued a document to end slavery in this nation. It was also many thousands of Christian men who died on the battlefield to enforce that Proclamation.

Second: The writer focused on the treatment of women, specifically in the field of education. He omitted some facts: It was Christian monks in Europe who were the first to gather small groups to begin teaching the populace to overcome illiteracy.

It was early pioneer Christian immigrants who came to these shores who were the first to establish, and support our schools, before fledgling governments were able to afford them. Our common schools, colleges and universities have always offered equal education opportunities for women. We have also fought many battles on foreign soil to advocate for women’s rights in other nations.

In the Christian community, we know we are less than perfect. We welcome some criticism. It helps us to improve. All we ask is a little objective balance. We do tend to bristle just a bit over subjective distortions born of personal prejudices.

Rt. Rev. John M. Hamers (Ret.)
Anacortes

• Saturday Soapbox supplements our regular Letters to the Editor contributions. The length limit is 300 words. Submitting a Saturday Soapbox contribution does not count against the one-letter-per-writer-per-month limit in the Letters to the Editor section. The other rules of engagement apply: We expect writers to be courteous to each other and considerate of the readers. Submissions may be directed to us in the same way: by mail, at P.O. Box 578, Mount Vernon, WA 98273; or by e-mail, .