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Have Boundary County citizens forgotten? |
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December 14, 2015 |
December 14, 2015
To the Editor:
I thought the question at hand was supposed to
be about adequate vs inadequate vetting? I
thought the Commissioner's meeting with the
public last Monday was supposed to look at a
resolution expressing concern that we wanted to
be sure vetting of refugees was good enough to
ensure protection of citizens. That's what the
resolution said that was read aloud.
I don't think you will find a single person,
liberal or conservative, opposed to that idea.
No one wants to let potentially dangerous people
in, posing as refugees. Everybody wants the best
vetting possible.
But it seems more time at the meeting was spent
on a different focus:
"They’re not coming here.”
"We’re sending a message that we don’t want them
here."
"We don’t want their refugees."
With all the accompanying cheering and the
angry-sounding comments from those in
attendance, honestly, at times it seemed this
meeting of our Boundary County government and
some of its citizens sounded more like a mob.
Didn't the written resolution that was read
suggest that we wanted full and acceptable
vetting that we could depend on? I want my
family to be kept just as safe as the next guy
does. And if we get what the proposed resolution
asked for—reliable vetting that we can have
confidence in—yet we still refuse refugees
because of their religion or their national
origin, what does that say about Boundary
County?
Have our fellow Boundary County citizens at
Monday's meeting forgotten . . .
Have they forgotten that our Pilgrims were
refugees from religious persecution, as were
many others of those early settlers who became
the founders of our nation?
Have they forgotten that the Savior and his
family were refugees, as they fled to a safe
haven to protect the life of their young child
from the ruler's swordsmen?
Have they forgotten that a founding pillar of
our Constitution is respecting religious
freedom, and the free exercise thereof?
Have they forgotten about kindness to others, in
this case the hundreds of thousands who are
legitimate refugees who have had homes,
families, and lives destroyed, who legitimately
need help?
It seems ironic that a meeting of this tenor was
held on December 7, the very day held sacred by
our country wherein thousands of Americans
serving in our armed forces gave their lives at
Pearl Harbor, as they bravely stood forth to
defend our nation's freedoms, a beacon to the
world.
Should Bonners Ferry now have "Idaho's
Friendliest City" removed from the city's
website, from the masthead of the Bonners Ferry
Herald, and from all of our civic booster
materials?
Chuck Newhouse |
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