Thoughts on cartoons

I’m sorry that you likely only hear from people when they’re upset about things you’ve printed — so let me first say I truly appreciate the good work you do reporting on our local community. I think local newspapers are a vital institution and am a big supporter of your work.

But today, I was appalled by your running of Frank Shiers’ cartoon with the caption “on the rise of gun violence.” This sort of unstudied, dangerous fear-mongering is part of the cycle of animus that drives our society’s continued perpetuation of violence on Black and Brown bodies.

As a decades-long subscriber of your paper, and a loyal believer in our need for local news, I have never been so disappointed. Please consider discontinuing Shiers. Good lord, they’re not even funny. And this one, worse than expressing racist views explicitly, is implicitly advocating a reinvestment in the single most violent, racially oppressive institution our country maintains. As a community, we deserve better.

Ben Blumstein

Mercer Island

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Beautiful place

Aubrey Davis Park offers a very unique and necessary place for families, pets, tennis players, bikers, walkers, etc., to interact in a very special way. A way that is lacking in our world today.

Please do not destroy this space by putting in a dog park. We have one at Luther Burbank Park already. To see the joy all are sharing when all are running free is something that cannot be experienced in many other places on our planet.

Other than a very few grumpy bikers, I have not encountered a bad experience in the park. It is one of my most precious daily moments, as I drift into old age. So rare in our world today. Please do not change this rare and beautiful place.

Cynthia Moller

Mercer Island