Don Meyer, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 5/1/12

The April 26 and 27 letters to the editor by Jackie Voorhees and Jeanne McHale show me how really out of touch with reality they are.  They chastise Dan Carscallen for daring to voice his opposition to Mayor Nancy Chaney’s Earth Day awards to your tar sands protest group.

No one has ever said your group didn’t have a right to peacefully protest.  But on many occasions, members of your group regularly disobeyed the lawful directives given you by the police.  A sit-down in the street is not peaceful when the police told you to stay on the sidewalk.

The picture of one of your group being hauled off by the police for his unlawful act speaks volumes to me.  He also kicked out the window of the vehicle he was being held in: a really peaceful act.

There were many instances of disobedience to police directives by your group.  The police were there not only to protect the crews moving the loads through Moscow, but the lives of the protesters, who seemed to relish putting their lives in jeopardy to prove their point.

I think all things considered, the police showed an amazing amount of restraint for not arresting more members of your protest group.

So forgive those of us who feel the mayor showed a real lack of judgment and a certain amount of disdain and disrespect toward the police officers by giving the Earth Day award to residents who disobeyed the law to get it.