On Sunday, Aug. 30, my wife and I joined several hundred cars at H.J. Carroll Park to participate in a rally to support the thin blue line.
The rally was organized to support and say thanks for work done by the police and first responders, be they city, county, or tribal, in support of their efforts to maintain law, safety, and order in our communities.
For many participants, however, it soon became an opportunity to hijack a heartfelt effort to say thanks and turn it into a political rally and opportunity to offer baseball caps and other political paraphernalia.
This was a corruption of the rally’s original intent.
To me this was an insult to the officers and their families who devote their lives, regardless of political affiliation, to face violence, do welfare checks, save lives, do CPR, enforce laws, comfort a grieving parent, etc.
My wife and I left without further participation after seeing what was happening.
If you have a political opinion, that’s fine.
Just have the decency to express it at the right time and place.
Mike Phimister
Port Townsend