Letter to the editor.

Spokane's Spokesman Review has a regular column by Shawn Vestal. Last Sunday he filled a full half page condemning cowboys, patriots, and anyone else who disagreed with the Governor's mandates. The paper is getting more and more liberal and has avoided any conservative counterpoint, therefor, they found my letter unfit to print.

Dear Mr. Vestal

Your bias is showing. Your research on the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic is incomplete. The pandemic was well underway before the parade to promote the sale of war bonds in Philadelphia. The first case of the flu was at Fort Riley Kansas, and it quickly spread to New York City and the populous North East. The Liberty Loans parade certainly exacerbated the spread of the virus, but the spread was worldwide, not just Philadelphia. New York, Chicago and other large American cities ended up with a similar per capita infection rate. Your account also left out the efforts to produce a vaccine. The death rate was much worse than anything we could imagine today, and there were several vaccines developed. It is universally accepted the vaccines did no good, and some experts believe they actually caused more deaths that the original flu.

I vehemently object to your characterization of the American Cowboy. I believe you words were, “unshaven, untaxed, and liberated from obligation”. Today’s cattlemen, cowboys if you will, are small businessmen who use the land to feed the world and make a living. They are more likely to possess a college degree in Agriculture and Business than they are to possess a six shooter. I was born and raised on a farm in the Midwest. Economic realities forced our family to sell our cattle business, and the land is now a suburban housing addition. I accept it, but I don’t call it progress.

I also object to your use of the term “white west.” I assume you coined that term yourself. I have never heard it before. While you are doing your research, look at the contribution that ex-slaves did in the “white west”. After the Civil War, many liberated slaves left the deep south and settled elsewhere. Some went to the northern cities, but a significant number went west and worked on cattle ranches. If you follow today’s rodeo circuit, you will find people of color competing across the country.

I also object to your belittling those of us who value our freedoms. You seem to have little tolerance for opinions not your own. I am not alone in saying my freedoms are frequently more important than my safety. In some cases, my freedoms are worth dying for. I served three deployments to Viet and flew over 300 combat missions, so you could be free to write your column. Your constitutional right of free press was paid for by the blood of those who valued freedom above their own safety. If we set aside the constitution for this pandemic, what will we do next time? In order to contain the virus, we are denied our rights to assembly. Our freedom to practice our religion had been curtailed. If we would follow your lead, our freedom of speech would be next. We cannot set aside the Constitution, not even for COVID 19.

I respect your opinion Mr. Vestal, but I respectfully request you respect other opinions as well. Don’t let your intransigence destroy your empathy. Otherwise, you will continue to be embarrassed as you were by your column following the motorcycle rally in Sturgis.

Frank Watson,

Saint John, WA