Letters to the Editor

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 5, 2026

MUKILTEO LEADERSHIP

Mukilteo council makes an excellent choice

At their May 18th city council meeting they chose Ilona Van Duser as our new council member. She is replacing council member Mike Dixon whose term expires in 2027. He left citing professional and family commitments.

Ilona will represent our city with integrity, honesty and with a measure of compassion. The citizens will know how she arrives at decisions affecting them. If she cannot share information about the policies that concern them, she will explain why, whenever that is possible.

Her most positive assets are her keen listening skills. She will hear you out. She may not come to the same conclusion that you do.

But she will listen to your side of an issue.

2027 is going to come way to soon, unless of course, she decides to be on the ballot.

Elaine Knapp

Mukilteo

TRANSGENDER POLICY

Transgender prisoner attacks

The May 21 edition of The Herald reported on a claim that a transgender woman, incarcerated at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Gig Harbor, attacked another female inmate. The DOJ is investigating and will likely conclude that the transgender population in Washington prisons must be transferred to male prisons, where they will be subjected to horrific treatment by the male inmates.

The question the DOJ will not ask is how natal female inmates who attack other female inmates are punished. If that punishment is effective in curbing future assaults, it ought to be the punishment meted out to transgender female inmates.

Melissa C. Batson

Monroe

Editor’s note: The story referenced, “Transgender prisoner policy is target of new federal probe,” is a Washington State Standard story written by Jake Goldstein-Street and published on page A3 of the May 21 edition of The Herald.

EVERETT LINK

Completing the circuit

Thank you for Cassie Franklin’s Prioritizing Everett Link article in your Tuesday, May 26 edition.

Success for timely completion of service to Everett, will require design changes and cost savings.

After reviewing Everett Transit Route publications the current (3) prominent Everett Transit terminals are the Everett Mall Station, Seaway Transit Center and Everett Station.

The possibility still exists to split the two Link light rail tracks on the north side of the planned Mariner Link Light Rail Station and form an Everett Southern Loop. This will allow timely integration to Snohomish County.

This single Link Light Rail Loop would continue north bound, from the currently accepted Mariner Link Light Rail Station to an Everett Mall Regional Light Rail Station. Link stops, heading west could be Evergreen Way, Everett industrial, Boeing, PAE and south to the Mariner Link Light Rail Station. The “Link Light Rail Maintenance facilities” would be integrated within this Loop.

It is understood that it is paramount that the PAE Station be included, completing this Loop circuit with SEA-TAC by 2031 would be spectacular.

Dennis Hacker

Everett

ADDICTION

The causes of drug addiction

I read Mr. East’s recent letter to the Herald with wonderment. Mr. East was responding to recent columns about proposed responses to our homeless drug addicted community. Mr. East asserts that capitalism is ultimately to blame. I’m afraid he has his causes and effects exactly reversed. The homeless drug addict is not a drug addict because he can’t find shelter or a job. Rather, homeless drug addicts frequently do not have a job or shelter due to their addiction. In the course of my employment I can’t count how many families I interviewed who desperately wanted to provide shelter and treatment to their addicted loved one, only to find the loved one continuously refuse their efforts. I have been told more than once by addicts that going to jail was the best thing that happened to them since it provided a break from their destructive cycle. Mr. East’s letter raises an important issue, because until we recognize that many drug addicts do not want help and that some drug addiction and consequent homelessness is a choice, we cannot have a real discussion about our proper response.

Tobin Darrow

Marysville

GUN VIOLENCE

Gun Violence Awareness Weekend

June 5th-7th is National Gun Violence Awareness Weekend. The prevalence of gun violence is important to me because according to the CDC it is the leading cause of death for children and young adults. In Washington State alone there are 950 deaths and 1245 people wounded yearly. As a member of Mom’s Demand Action for Common Sense Gun Laws, I know that many of these deaths and accidents could have been prevented. Please join me in wearing orange and finding an event near you. Together we can make our community safer.

Jan Engelhart

Mountlake Terrace, WA