I had to comment on the letter “Churches should not be restricted during pandemic” on Dec. 9.

I understand the need for faith in these trying times and appreciate the churches’ role in food and clothing banks. What I struggle with is why a building and meeting in close quarters is a necessity of faith.

The Trump presidency brought something to the American table besides children in cages, unparalleled corruption (Republic Report), massive national debt and tens of thousands of unnecessary COVID deaths.

Economic stimulus programs, federal and state, designed to combat the COVID-19 downturn come in a number of forms, yet we seniors will benefit from virtually none of them.

COVID-19 has brought a lot of challenges. Churches are slowly getting opened but not allowed to have group singing as part of worship.

I just have to say the “Voices of the Valley” contribution by Dr. Mark Wallace last Thursday was welcome and refreshing.

When I read that the Sheriff’s Office is responding to far more dog complaints than in the past in “Ask the Undersheriff,” I was reminded again of the need for our county to adopt two laws.

Election over. Time to get started correcting many recent mistakes and appointments for democracy in the U.S.A.

In a “normal” year, each fall I bring a group of students to the Skagit County Department of Emergency Management for a sandbagging training and competition.

It’s been a difficult year for our nation's law enforcement families: 238 officers shot, 44 fatally wounded, 149 committed suicide, 252 died in the line of duty and 282 died from COVID-19.

Wishing for truth

“The dying needs the community, its help and fellowship. The community needs the dying to make it think of eternal issues and to make it listen.” – Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of hospice.

President Trump believes if you tweet a lie repeatedly, it becomes truth. And his supporters will repeat those untruths. He will tell you he rescued the nation from Obama then lost to Biden due to a rigged election, but if you do the math, the sham is exposed.

Donald Trump lost this election by more than six million votes. His repeated claims of fraud have proven false. Unfortunately, many of his supporters believe these lies and claim that the election was stolen by corrupt Democrats.

What a delight it was to learn that Skagit County commissioners adopted a budget for 2021 that avoids deep cuts or tax increases. The reason? County leaders had the foresight to create and contribute, over the years, to a reserve fund for just such emergencies as the fiscal crisis brought on…

Biden chides Trump about impeding virus vaccines? President Trump was behind it from the get-go. Who pushed "Operation Warp Speed?" Biden and the rest wanted nothing to do with it and did nothing to help with it. Now he's trying to act like he's concerned?

I hear the term “American values” used by the liberals.

After the 2016 election, one in five severed relationships with a family member. (John Gottman, UW research).

He’s not gone and clearly doesn’t want to go.

This letter speaks to the proposal to sell Hospice of the Northwest to a for-profit organization, which is a really bad idea.

Conspiracy theories are generally untrue but often hold a deeper allegorical truth.

Some good reading material during our shutdown with COVID-19 is “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” (A history of Nazi Germany) by William L. Shirer.

I vividly remember Nov. 8, 2016, when the world was stunned to learn that Donald Trump had a sufficient number of Electoral College votes to become the 45th president … my president. While clearly not the winner of the popular vote, he won the election fair and square.

There is a bill sitting in Congress that is being sponsored by Democrats. It would provide relief to workers and to the small businesses that employ them. It is sorely needed.

As of Friday morning, 73,042 ballots have been counted in Skagit County. Of those, 37,740 voted for Biden while 32,323 voted for Trump.

So winner takes all is a good thing in our election? Not. It insures that the most populous states have the biggest effect.

Re: “Electoral College gives voice to people across the nation.” Letters, Nov. 13.

The 2020 election cycle is over, almost.

For the past two years I have playing a card game with my 5-year-old grandson to teach counting and adding. It is a simple game that teaches the rudiments of basic arithmetic.

Thanks to Hospice of the Northwest, my husband Bill was able to be at 九游会官网网页版_j9.com真home for the last several weeks of his life. Hospice made it possible for me to care for him by supplying all medical equipment and daily supplies.

School district administrations, staff and teachers are working hard to feed families, literally and figuratively. Recently I have read some amazing data from school districts relating to extended meal services for families in the different counties.

It’s time Donald Trump admitted that nearly 80 million voters, the largest number of voters in U.S. history, agree that he is not what a democratic-minded nation considers when we choose our leaders. Not Democrats anyway.

The peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another is one of the hallmarks of a successful democracy. Many countries fail this test and wind up with a president for life (like Russia). When a country like Ghana or Liberia achieves this milestone, its citizens can be proud that…

Hopefully, our nation will soon start to heal.

Hospice of the Northwest was a wonderful support to us as my parents began their transitions from this life. I don’t know how we’d have made it through those challenging times without the nurses, advisors and calm counsel this organization so generously and compassionately provided us.

Thinking about Veterans Day, I realized very few Americans during the age of COVID have any idea of the collective sacrifices for the greater good that needed to be made in the past.

Many who delight in warning us about socialism apparently believe the word itself is scary, like “cancer” or “terrorism” or the “Gobble-uns ‘at gits you if you don’t watch out” in James Whitcomb Riley’s 1885 poem, “Little Orphant Annie.”

As we endure another week of news where we watch what color a state has gone and what-if analysis on the electronic touch screens, the absurdity of this process should become apparent to us all.

There have been a lot of articles in the news about the Electoral College. I think it is good that all 50 states have a voice in the election of the president of the United States. All 50 states have a say in legislation because of the U.S. Senate. Populations can be concentrated in small ar…

On the day Joe Biden was elected president of the United States, the bells of Paris rang; and all across America, there was dancing in the streets.

I was upset when I read of the possible sale of Hospice of the Northwest to a for-profit hospice.

As a long-time hospice nurse, I was shocked to read that our well-functioning, nonprofit local hospice may be sold by the Mount Vernon and Sedro Woolley hospital districts, to a for-profit hospice ... supposedly to consider if a large organization from out of state, can "do it better."

President-elect Biden has promised to “Build Back Better” and to “heal our demonized nation.” These are admirable sentiments, but Biden is historically saddled with his Obama legacy of callously undermining jobs in America’s traditional energy sectors and exporting manufacturing jobs overseas.

Protests continue over governmental, scientific and social pressure to wear masks to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Those who refuse to put on masks say their rights are being trampled by social mandates.

Since when are wild claims about presidential elections unusual?