College campus protests are example of students exercising rights | Letters

Protests on college campuses is a sign of our nation’s youth maturing into their own voices and original thought. The real danger and damage comes when those with authority respond with an abuse of power and a lack of mature wisdom. The worst occurred over 50 years ago when four unarmed Kent State University students were killed, and another paralyzed, by National Guardsmen during a protest of the U.S. bombings in Cambodia. Two of those students killed were not even participating in the protest.

More: Pro-Palestinian groups protest at OU and urge the university to modify its investment policies

In 2020 during the nationwide protests over the police death of George Floyd, then-Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater sought it appropriate to charge three teenagers and two young adults with “terrorism.” In the city that saw real terrorism in the 1995 bombing of a federal building, terrorism charges were brought against a bunch of kids for damage to a bail bondsmen’s office and an allegation of a sheriff’s van being set on fire.

The acts of civil disobedience by means of protest have long been recognized by those like Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and our own Clara Luper during the birth of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Today, all of us should be protesting against the United States' funding of the crimes against humanity in Gaza. These college campus protests are just examples of the exercising of the First Amendment rights that we all possess. The potential danger to us all happens when those in authority abuse their authority and continue to repeat the foolish mistakes of the past.

― Robert Don Gifford, Oklahoma City

'Never voted a straight-party ticket'

I want to commend Redmond "Red" Goldfarb for his letter regarding straight party voting. I am a lifelong Democrat and I have never voted a straight party ticket. I have voted for Republicans, granted, not many, but I voted for Leslie Osborn in the last state election.

Not to read every name on the ballot is not taking one's right and obligation to vote seriously. I saw Greg Treat at the One Day luncheon last fall and told him I thought if the straight-party box could not be removed from the ballot at least move it to the bottom of the ballot. He listened. I doubt it will happen. I ask friends who are lawyers about the judges before I just pick one.

Voting is such an important part of America. We all need to know to whom we are entrusting our future, not just the party they belong to.

— Margaret Malloy, Nichols Hills

More: Oklahoma, 1 of 6 states with straight-party voting, not likely to change rule soon

OKC's air ranked 25th worst for year-round particle pollution

The air quality in Oklahoma City needs work, according to the American Lung Association’s 2024 “State of the Air” report. For the first time, Oklahoma City was ranked 25th worst in the nation for particle pollution. We also saw more days with unhealthy ozone levels. Nationally, the report found that 131 million people in the U.S. live in counties that had unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.

This air pollution impacts our families, friends and neighbors. Even one poor air quality day is one too many for people at higher risk, such as children, older adults, those who are pregnant and those living with chronic disease. That’s why I am calling on lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels to take action to ensure that everyone has clean air to breathe.

As a volunteer with the American Lung Association, this is personal to me because I personally have a lung disease. I have chronic obstruction pulmonary disease (COPD) with chronic bronchitis and I also have asthma. When the ozone level is high, an alert is given and those who have lung disease should avoid going outside. It is a disruption from my day-to-day activities. Besides myself benefiting from healthy air, reducing ozone and air pollution will help others NOT to get a chronic lung disease. Healthy air will reduce the high cost of insurance and help our economy.

I hope the Environmental Protection Agency will set long overdue stronger limits on ozone pollution to better reflect healthy air. They’ve made progress this year with updated particle pollution limits and cleaning up vehicles and power plants. Stronger ozone limits would help people protect themselves and drive cleanup of polluting sources in our community. Please join our efforts at Lung.org/SOTA.

— Helen Harmon, Oklahoma CityBoard member of the OK Leadership Board, American Lung Association

Let's be honest. Why reclassify marijuana as Schedule III drug?

The May 1 article “DOJ takes step to reclassify pot” revealed the U.S. Department of Justice will send a recommendation to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I drug to Schedule III drug. Seventy percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legal.

More: Will the DEA reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug? What change means for Oklahoma

Asking why the DOJ or other health groups will not stand up to legalize marijuana while legal products have same or worse health and psychological impacts are being sold in the legal market without harsh government punishments? Answering will reveal a dozen reasons. If we deal with reasons and underlying root issue, it will put us on a significant better and effective path. Why are they taking their path?

We have been talking about double standards for decades. Our government failed to authentically deal with the problem. Moving marijuana to Schedule III will simply continue kicking the real problem to the next generation to deal with it.

If Congress and presidential candidates want us and the world to believe the USA stands for freedom and independence, they need to be forthright and honest.

— Richard Prawdzienski, Edmond

Voter ID card should be presented to vote

There is nothing wrong with requiring a picture ID by a driver's license or some other form of picture ID. That would just prove you are who you say you are. However, I have found that many people do not know what the law really says about voting in the state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Constitution requires one to produce proof of citizenship in the form of a birth certificate, a green citizen card or some proof that one is a citizen of the U.S. and a resident in the state of Oklahoma. In return, one is given a Voter ID card. The law says to vote you MUST present that card at the precinct you are assigned to vote in any election, state or federal.

I think we have already provided the way to have secure elections in Oklahoma, if we can only make people use that Voter ID card to vote. We have to stop allowing people to vote based on the presenting of a driver's license. Anyone can get a driver's license and not be a citizen of the U.S. or a resident in the state of Oklahoma. We should make our election boards tell people that they have to have that Voter ID with them when they go to their precinct to vote.

The biggest problem is educating the ones in authority to educate the general populace. Or even getting the news media to educate people on the laws of our state where voting is concerned.

― Andre Snodgrass, Norman

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: First Amendment rights of students; marijuana as Schedule III drug