Letters: Questions about police. Support for vaccine passports. ‘Do right’ by church.

Police funding

It could be argued that the officers in the Liam Long incident did not specifically intend to put Liam into the hospital, but we shouldn’t dismiss it as an accident. In addition to the intent and legality of the officers’ actions, we should question why policing routinely creates and exacerbates these types of situations, despite intentions.

If, as police claim, Liam was a danger to himself and others, then we have to ask ourselves whether that danger was greater than police clearly were. That means weighing the fact of a young man hit by a car and suffering a serious brain bleed against hypotheticals. To suggest such outcomes are necessary to prevent potential tragedies is to entertain “Minority Report”-style pre-crime, and without the clairvoyance.

What happened to Liam is precisely the type of situation proponents of defunding the police are seeking to avoid. We can instead shift funding to invest heavily in social and economic programs that could help prevent such episodes long before they happen, in a service separate from police that caseworkers can call for patients in distress, and in a response to crises that doesn’t involve chasing, threatening, or hurting people — intended or not.

Sean Patterson, Lexington

Passport support

Many of us are on the fence on vaccine passports. I personally have a broad redneck streak of which I’m extraordinarily proud and at its base is personal freedom.

I’ve spent a lovely year with my 80-something parents — just us three — locked down completely to stay safe.

Our physical and emotional health has deteriorated so during this pandemic, not able to travel or even go out for our favorite domestic activities -- grocery or farmers’ market shopping.

I am a firm believer in personal freedom. But freedom must come at a cost when it impacts the freedom of others.

We must, in this country, be free to do as we wish — amazing But we are not free to harm others without consequence.

In the case of this pandemic, we may not force a vaccine on all, but those who choose not to be vaccinated, not others who choose the vaccine to keep all safe, must bear the price in loss of freedom.

So, reluctantly and yet wholeheartedly, I am firmly for vaccine passports.

Leigh McKee, Lexington

‘Do right’ by church

It is very disappointing that the city of Lexington is still in a land dispute with the Main Street Baptist Church. I am confident that if it were my church, Christ the King, it would have been resolved very quickly and to the church’s satisfaction

The Main Street Baptist Church should matter to Lexington just as Black Lives Matter.

I applaud the leadership and entire congregation. In addition I want to thank lawyer Bruce Simpson for working with the church as well as Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman Richard Moloney for supporting the efforts to make the church whole and keeping its presence downtown.

Come on, Lexington, and “Do the Right Thing” by finally doing right by the Main Street Baptist Church.

Paul Schoninger, Lexington

Message to Mitch

Would someone please tell Sen. Mitch McConnell that racism is not a political issue? Thank you.

John C. Wolff, Jr., Lexington

Easier voting

As proposals are being made to change voting laws in Kentucky and other states, we ask elected officials to consider Americans with disabilities and their right to have their voices heard.

We ask Kentucky officials to consider keeping the changes in mail-in voting in the wake of COVID-19 for the 2020 election, which saw record numbers of Americans with disabilities voting across the country,

Often Americans with disabilities have conditions that make it difficult for them to go out to a voting location. Early voting and increased mail-in ballots helped the one out of every four Americans who are disabled, For Americans with disabilities, this isn’t about favoring one party or the others. Studies show their votes are evenly split.

As a nonprofit organization helping Americans with disabilities find at-home jobs, including those living in Kentucky, NTI@Home supports efforts to make voting more accessible. Clearly, Americans with disabilities deserve the right to have their voices heard at the ballot box.

Alan Hubbard, National Telecommuting Institute, Boston