I was saddened to hear of Mike Forrester’s passing. Mike, the Forrester family and the Brown family were exceptional owners of the East Oregonian and its cadre of local newspapers in Oregon.

Mike was an old-school journalist with a passion for accuracy, clarity and fairness. I will always be grateful for the opportunity Mike gave me in 1976 to join my first daily newspaper and, in 2005, to return to the company as its chief operating officer. It made for rewarding bookends to my 46 years in newspapering.

John Perry

La Quinta, California

I can’t help but notice the lack of concern over Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, complaining about the price of eggs, inflation, gas prices or the war in Ukraine. Could it be they were smoke screens for the real issue? Deportation and the spreading of fear and hate of the undocumented? A lot of us know it’s a great motivator to spread fear and hate for people of color.

The woefully ignorant will glom onto it like a lifeboat in a foot of water. Their “Christian” ways suddenly pushed to the back burner to save us from this brown horde. Ignorant of the fact that before 1924, there were little to no checks on immigrants from Europe entering the country by simply showing up. No visa, green card or passport needed. Just walked off the boat and came on in.

If you don’t consider yourself a bigot, but voted for Donald Trump for president, you’re at the very least a bigot apologist. Own your position. Acknowledge your hypocrisy or admit you made a mistake.

David Gracia

Hermiston

President Donald Trump has been in office less than 30 days and his promise to become a “Dictator on Day One” is moving forward at breakneck speed. Democrats must develop a plan to stop Trump immediately or our 250-year-old democracy will be lost forever.

Democrats have been sleepwalking as the most immoral and dumbest president in American history built an army of billionaire oligarchs, partisan judges, spineless GOP politicians, white supremacists and religious extremists. MAGA now controls all three branches of government.

Trump has nominated cabinet members and leaders of the military, foreign policy, treasury, justice and law enforcement who’re more loyal to him than the constitution. Their role is to destroy the institutions they’re leading so Trump and his oligarchs can control every aspect of government.

Democrats would be wise to recognize the pending disaster and create a trifecta of great leaders whose only job is to stop Trump in his tracks. The perfect choice for the toughest job since the first civil war would be Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Average citizens will also be no match for Trump oligarchs Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Boycotting businesses that made them wealthy would be the only option. It’s difficult to estimate how much money Trump’s cronies have already made in the first 30 days.

The trifecta team may change the minds of true Christians but many of Trump’s religious supporters share his prejudices against minority groups. Their unholy alliance seems to justify acceptance of Trump’s daily lies over proven facts and wrong over right.

Alston Jones

Baker City