Oysterville Daybook, June 25th

For those of you who have been asking… No.  Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have not yet responded to my letter to them.  It was written first as an open letter to the two of them and posted on this blogsite on June 25^th –three weeks ago yesterday.  The next day I sent a hard copy to each of them at their Seattle Offices.  And for the next several days, the letter was shared on FaceBook and my blog went ‘viral’ – well viral by Oysterville Daybook’s standards!

Perhaps you read it.  http://sydneyofoysterville.com/2017/dear-patty-murray-dear-maria-cantwell/ It concerned the siege that our Hispanic community has been under, right here in Pacific County.  Twenty-two arrests (now 23) here on the Long Beach, a far greater per capita number than in other comparable areas of Washington.  The questions I posed were straightforward.  What can we as friends and neighbors do to help?  What can they, as our elected representatives to Congress, do about this untenable situation?

Pony Express

Even allowing for vetting time by staff members, it would seem that I might have had a response by now.    People who forwarded a copy to Jaimie Herrera-Butler tell me that she has already responded to them – a sort of stock answer but, nevertheless, an acknowledgement.  She has not, however, contacted me even though the letter was written over my signature.  Go figure.   I do believe that turn-around time for mail was faster in the Pony Express days than in this era of cyberspace!!

I’d like to think that our senators have been busy leaning on ICE.  It was ‘quiet’ here for a week or so.  No new arrests.  No new ICE sightings.  But, no one dared think that they were gone.  And then, a few days ago, yet another arrest – this time leaving a teenager, one of our Ilwaco High School students, on his own.  It is hard to have faith that there is someone ‘out there’ who might make a difference.  Will our elected officials ever step up?  Will they even acknowledge our small community?  When?