In support of new public health director

I am writing regarding the new Columbia County Public Health Department director, and concerns that, according to last week’s Letter to the Editor from Shellie McLeod, the new director is unfit for the position. This is apparently because of the new director’s personal stance on vaccination mandates imposed by career politician Jay Inslee upon state and healthcare workers. (As an aside, Inslee, through state emergency powers that he refuses to relinquish after more than two years, effectively runs the state by himself, creating rules and mandates without any input from or checks and balances by the state legislature.)

According to McLeod, the new director “left her job at Columbia County Health System rather than follow healthcare guidelines put forth by medical experts,” and this decision of asserting medical autonomy over her own body and life “does not instill confidence regarding the safety of the community if another public health crisis were to occur.”

I, personally, am delighted – and surprised – that any government health official would question “authority,” and when the next health crisis arrives (Monkeypox? FerretFlu? ZetaEtaTheta Variant?) feel mildly relieved that someone in a position of power (whether or not that position of power should exist at all) will not automatically, like an automaton, crack down, lock down, and crush, quash, subjugate and suppress anyone who chooses not to obey the dictates of “experts.” I find nothing wrong with a government “health” official who values the individual’s right to determine their medical choices.

It takes a tremendous amount of courage to stand up against the State, and those people who were fired from their jobs – by the State – rather than be coerced -- by the State -- into injecting an experimental chemical concoction into their veins are to be honored, not vilified. Many of these people were justifiably concerned that nobody, from the government to the corporate pharmaceutical manufacturers of this highly profitable, rushed product, was willing to accept legal liability for any injury or damage caused.

Perhaps that’s the type of person the county commissioners were looking for when they made their choice.

 Carolyn Henderson

Dayton, Wash.