Editor,

Let’s get something straight: Nancy McCloskey, like any other fellow American, has the right to lob inaccurate smears in her June 24 letter to the editor more befitting Donald Trump’s “Truth Social” than a community newspaper – and I have the right to reply. Since Ms. McCloskey and other noise whiners sincerely want to cast doubt on OLF Coupeville, let me who stands 525 feet away or closer proffer moral clarity.

I hate to be cold, but we live in a world where we need a strong U.S. Navy airborne electronic attack force at high readiness. As I write, Russia is waging ecocide against Ukraine and threatening to add a nuclear component.

Many consider OLF Coupeville an insurance policy for American safety and the safe return of U.S. Navy sailors, which is the highest and best land use at a national level. Worth the three-plus hour transit commute each way to support versus fearing two Russian Iskander ballistic missiles inbound like targeted into a Ukrainian pizzeria that killed war crimes investigative journalists like Victoria Amelina.

As Victoria gave a tragic premonition last year, “Now there is a real threat that Russians will successfully execute another generation of Ukrainian culture – this time by missiles and bombs. For me, it would mean the majority of my friends get killed. For an average westerner, it would only mean never seeing their paintings, never hearing them read their poems, or never reading the novels that they have yet to write.”

Maybe America should arm Ukraine more plus train harder. Maybe America should also realize being ungrateful for our protectors is a cancer in of itself, as is not making courageous land use choices based on 2023 reality and a multi-year U.S. Navy Environmental Impact Study almost all in the community sought.

Joe A. Kunzler

Skagit County