Do your duty
Wearing a mask works
I commend the elected leaders of the city of Milwaukee for requiring the wearing of face masks in public spaces (“Council approves mask requirement,” July 14).
If we want to have a chance of sending children back to school and of returning to any semblance of normal life in the fall, all Wisconsin communities should follow suit. This preventive action needs to be taken before COVID-19 spreads more widely throughout our state, as it is spreading like wildfire in other areas of the country.
We recently made a brief trip to a city in Minnesota that had adopted a similar ordinance, and we observed virtually 100% compliance. It was a reassuring sight, and it made me feel much more confident in moving about among other people.
Mask-wearing is a simple, inexpensive, painless action that has been proven to slow the spread of the virus. It also demonstrates consideration for our fellow citizens. Public health experts believe that this, combined with physical distancing and diligent hand-washing, could help us to get the virus under control and prevent thousands of needless deaths.
Opponents of mask-wearing claim that being required to wear face coverings will interfere with their personal freedom. While they may have the right to expose themselves to the virus, they do not have the right to spread it to others. This is not a political issue; it is concerned only with public health.
Ideally, the wearing of face masks should be mandated throughout the entire country, but that seems unlikely.
Shirley Chilson
Waukesha
The definition of tyrany
Reports from Portland and other United States cities are most concerning. The president has now indicated that federal law enforcement officers will be deployed to other U.S. cities, including Milwaukee (“Federal agents may head to Chicago,” July 21).
This comes amid reports of government agencies operating drones and surveillance aircraft over protest sites, and longstanding warrantless surveillance of electronic communication by U.S. citizens. This is an overreach of the federal government. It is the definition of tyranny. It is unacceptable.
The executive branch must be censured by Congress. Heads of federal law enforcement agencies must be called to testify. Funding should be cut from the agencies involved pending further investigation.
Local and state government should make it clear that federal agents are not welcome. Our elected leaders should publicly voice their opposition to these tyrannical policies and stake their reputations to the cause of liberty.
Nathan Dunston
Morales on the right track
My family and I would like to thank Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales for his article in the July 19 Journal Sentinel (“MPD chief details cuts that might be required to ‘defund the police’ ”).
In these frenzied times of simplistic language and outrageous exaggeration, we need clear and measured articulation of problems before solutions can be found.
The chief’s outline of what Milwaukee and other cities need to consider to improve law enforcement provides just that.
His offer to listen and his invitation to conversation are welcome.
Kathy Thome
How I spent my ‘vacation’
As a special education teacher who had to make monumental adjustments in how I teach and support students with disabilities, I take great offense to the parting shot in Nancy Weidmeyer’s letter about the reopening of schools: “Vacation time is over” (“Reopen the schools,” July 26).
What a slap in the face to all teachers and students who gave their best during the unprecedented shut-down due to COVID-19.
During the first week of shutdown, I and my colleagues went to school and spent our time collaborating on how we would get curriculum to students. We learned platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet so that we could meet with our students online and continue the curriculum. We notified district administrators of students who we worried about. These concerns ranged from not having access to the Internet to family issues to mental health issues.
We discussed how we would support these students given the parameters of the pandemic. We created schedules and provided each family with information about how virtual learning would work and additional ways students could reach teachers for help aside from the regular email method.
I was available by cell phone to all my students if they needed help beyond our scheduled times. The first few weeks, I spent 12-14 hours a day in front of a computer, eventually decreasing to 8-10 hours a day.
That is how I spent my “vacation.”
Let’s all fly the flag
Donna Malone
Brookfield
Fly our American flag. If you don’t have one, get one and fly it. That display can help move our thinking from the media news glut of dissension to the unity of proud citizenship in our beloved country.
We’re told that the red in our flag represents valor and bravery, the white purity and innocence and the blue vigilance, perseverance and justice.
Let’s believe in and be more committed to those challenging virtues.
Peter M. Murray
Brookfield
Government handout just fine now
Boy, was I surprised to see the list of businesses and voucher schools drinking from the “socialism well” in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program recently enacted by the government, including a “popcorn” man and religious school choice programs to name a few (“Vos’ firm got $150K or more under PPP,” July 7 and “Schools to see $200M in COVID-19 relief funds,” July 12”).
It’s a great deal, especially when you consider that these entities pay little if any income taxes and/or property taxes. Looks like the feared redistribution of wealth works well for them — saddling the taxpayer and our grandkids with higher debt and interest payments.
I personally believe the PPP program is good. I just wish the Republican elites would own up to who is exactly paying their bills and subsidizing their incomes.
People of a certain age may remember their mother saying, “this is why we can’t have nice things,” when we misbehaved and something got broken.
The saying still applies during today’s pandemic. Too many people won’t practice simple but effective safety measures (social distancing, wearing masks in public, etc) for their own good, much less for someone else’s benefit. The dramatic increase in new infections in areas that reopened with few or no safety measures demonstrates what happens when we “misbehave”.
So, no, we still can’t have “nice things” (eating out, going to concerts or movies or just plain going to work without having to worry about getting sick). Most of our mothers would be appalled.
LUCIUS NIEMAN
HARRY J. GRANT
Robert Mertz
Lake Mills
Greta Saari
Waukesha
SOLOMON JUNEAU
Please email your letters to jsedit@jrn.com, or mail them to Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, P.O. Box 371, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-0371. Letters should be about 200 words.