We are now in spring of 2022 with some major changes related to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, industries in economic flux, soaring gas prices, growing inflation, the lack of affordable housing, probes into the Jan. 6 Capitol Riots, questions about what to do from Capitol Hill to local city halls to our own living rooms, there are plenty of issues to address.

In recent weeks, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has unseated the pandemic in its near-two years of dominance of the national conversation. President Joe Biden gave his most scathing and striking comments on the war to date Saturday in Poland, saying “this man cannot remain in power” in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The now month-long invasion has destabilized Eastern Europe on a scale unseen since the days of the USSR and it’s unclear what endgame Putin foresees in his imperial­istic rampage. If you served in the military, with a nongov­ernmental organization or agency in that region over the last two decades, what are you thoughts? Would a lack of violent intervention from the United States only expand the scope of Russia’s expansionistic aspirations? Or are Biden’s tactics of economic warfare with harsh sanctions enough to slowly bleed Russia’s pockets enough to scurry back to its homeland with its tail between its legs?

That’s just the big stuff. There are scores of local issues affecting our towns, cities and counties. We an other readers want to hear from each other about local opinions on all these topics. We run letters from all sides of the political spectrum and letters that disagree with my edito­rials, other letters, or public officials’ statements.

The rules for our letters are relatively simple:

• Letters discussing a local issue or addressing a national issue in a local context take priority over letters solely addressing national issues.
• Letters must be 300 words or less. Our word limit is a strict one. If letters are slightly over, we’ll cut them to fit, but if letters are more than 350 words, we’ll ask the authors to cut them and resubmit. Authors should deter­mine which points they want to make rather than have us guess.
  If you have a lot to say, break it up and send letters addressing different topics.
• Letters must include the author’s name, street address and phone number, in case we have a question and to property include the author’s name and hometown at the end of the letter. Without this information, the letter won’t be published.
• No personal attacks. You can address previous letters, but direct your commentary on the content of the letter, do not attack the author nor private persons.
• Elected officials have less protection from criticism on their actions because of their status as “public figures.”
  While government employees can be “private citizens” when off-duty, elected officials are never so. Elected officials are always “public figures” whether on the dais, speaking at a podium, at a grocery store, promoting them­selves on Facebook or when standing on the corner.
  When people criticize “the mayor” or “school board president” for his or her actions they criticizing “the chair” not “the person.” That said, remember that ranting against a politician doesn’t win readers to your side of an argument like a logical analysis about his or her behavior does.
• If you spend the time writing to us, have the courage to put your name, address, phone number and email address on the letter so we can contact you if we have questions or need clarification.
  No anonymous letters have been nor ever will be published in our newspaper. We don’t read them, so don’t bother.
• Guest perspectives are reserved for elected officials and experts in the field the letter covers. Guest perspec­tives are also reserved for people representing a govern­ment agency or organization making a official statement.
• Letters citing facts must have supporting documents. Yes, we check. If you include statistics, attach the docu­ment or website link to it so we can double check your numbers. Likewise, if you quote someone or a document, include the email, website screenshot or website link so we can verify the quote you include. If you already found it, you can help us and streamline the fact-checking process.
  Letters stating just opinions with no numbers, however, don’t need any documents.
  If you make a seemingly wild claim, include a link to the news story. “I heard at the grocery store … ” or “I read on Twitter …” is more rumor than fact. If it’s true, you can prove it.
• You can drop letters off at a newsroom or email them to editor@larsonnewspapers.com.

Kyle Larson

General Manager