"Who knows, maybe she could have had a bomb under her shawl?"

Missing woman

The blame game doesn't really work when you're to blame

Editor, The Times:

Tom Rider has been demanding that the King County Sheriff's Office changes its policy on missing persons. ["Sheriff's policy 'nearly cost my wife her life'," Times, page one, Sept. 29.] He said his wife could have been found two days earlier if a different policy was in place.

Would someone remind Rider than he needs to change his own policy of keeping track of his spouse? I don't know of anyone who would go longer than 24 hours without communication with their spouse, much less two days — and he was notified by his wife's workplace!

Regardless of conflicting work schedules, cellphones enable people to keep in regular contact. Tanya Rider could have been found two days earlier if they called each other every 12 to 24 hours like many of us do with family members.

I wonder, do they have an estranged relationship? Is all of his rhetoric being done to justify a lawsuit?

— Mary Ingram, Lynwood

String 'em up and make 'em think

The policy of the Sheriff's Office regarding missing persons is an outrage. Its cavalier attitude toward Tanya Rider is completely unacceptable. So they have 700 missing persons in a year — how hard could it be to trace 700 cellphones in a year? That's an average of two per day.

Maybe a few of the top people in the Sheriff's Office need to be hung upside down from a seat belt for a week or two while they reconsider their policy.

— Cathy Johnson, Des Moines

The key is support, not trash-talking

You couldn't help but see the husband of Maple Valley accident victim Tanya Rider appearing all over local and national news over the weekend, including "The Geraldo Rivera Show," no less, lashing out at the King County Sheriff's Office.

Instead of trashing the Sheriff's Office, Tom Rider should be singing the praises of the men and women who not only located his wife but successfully rescued her. This was nothing short of a tragic traffic accident apparently resulting from Mrs. Rider's loss of control of her vehicle.

Mrs. Rider needs her husband by her side supporting her recovery rather than his appearing on tabloid-type TV shows demanding apologizes from the governor and the Sheriff's Office.

This story could have had a very tragic ending if not for the efforts of the King County Sheriff's Office. They should be commended for a successful rescue.

— Barbara Swanson, Auburn

Husband got bad rap from Sheriff's Office

For a variety of excuses from the King County Sheriff's Office, Tanya Rider may have died while incapacitated in her vehicle for more than a week. The most galling excuse is clearly suspecting her husband of foul play before initiating a search.

Tom Rider was required to pass a polygraph test to eliminate suspicions about his role in her disappearance before a search was launched, which leaves me incredulous for at least two reasons. First, it presupposes that Mr. Rider might have been involved in her disappearance, and second, had roles been reversed, it's questionable whether a polygraph would have been required of Mrs. Rider.

Most galling is that Mrs. Rider's suffering was prolonged until the King County Sheriff's Office could determine that her husband was not some sort of abuser, which is gender-profiling and otherwise just plain stupid.

— Harry Crouch, founder/director, California Men's Centers, San Diego

Party on

One step further ...

I agree with Eric Berg ["Fight for the right to (your own) party," Northwest Voices, Sept. 30] that the parties are entitled to select their own candidates. However, it does not follow that the rest of us — the majority in this state — are obligated to support their selection process.

If the top-two primary had not listed parties, it could not have been overturned. It is time we implement partyless elections. That way, the parties can select whomever they want to support without interference, and the rest of us can vote for anyone who chooses to run, with or without party support.

— Robert Jeffers-Schroder, Seattle

Airport insecurity

Applause for screener who put our safety ahead of vulnerability

Raul Rodriguez's letter complaining about having his 92-year-old mother searched at Sea-Tac Airport is way out of line ["When did humiliation become a rite of passage through airport security?," Northwest Voices, Sept. 29]. Everybody knows that these individuals are the most dangerous of all, especially when they are in wheelchairs!

Who knows, maybe she could have had a bomb under her shawl? A gun under her skirt? A canister of mustard gas in one of the wheels?

I commend the intrepid screener who did not flinch from doing his duty and investigating each and every "frail, wheelchair-bound grandmother."

I am puzzled by one thing though: asking whether these folks were Greek? The last I heard, Greece was on our side? Perhaps the searcher didn't know that, especially if he or she graduated from a public school in Seattle.

— Leonard M. Guss, Woodinville

It's not just about you

I'm 65, and I want to live to be 80, or 90, or 100. I don't want to get taken out early by a terrorist who might choose to hide his weapons in the overcoat of a frail, diminutive old woman in a wheelchair.

I will gladly submit to being frisked, X-rayed, and asked if I am Greek. Humiliated? Give me a break. Raul Rodriguez and his mother knew, in advance, that extra security measures are in place for your safety and for my safety.

If your frail, diminutive mother didn't know, you should have told her, and gently prepared her. Your life, your mother's life, and my life could depend on it.

— Marilyn Butz, Port Townsend

On the campaign trail

A gift that keeps giving — to taxpayers' wallets

I see that Hillary Clinton has come up with a new entitlement program to give every newborn a gift of $5,000 — a gift that some estimate to be $4 million or so a year, at the taxpayers' expense.

Now, does that include all of the so-called "anchor babies" born to illegal immigrants under the pretext of our 14th Amendment, which by the way was written in 1868 and never intended for the purpose it is being misused today?

— Ron Miller, Seattle

For the children

Mr. President, tear down these walls

Mr. President, you have an opportunity to rise above partisan politics and do what you promised to do when you first ran for president: bring people together.

Everyone wants to take care of the children. By signing the SCHIP bill ["Bush drags his party off a cliff," syndicated column, Sept. 27], you can assure a lot of children the health care they need without further burdening our emergency rooms.

— Jonnee Denton, Bothell