La Center resident Myrna Leija addresses recent news reports about Sheriff candidate Rey Reynolds

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

I worked with Corporal Rey Reynolds and Chief Criminal Deputy John Horch for close to 25 years and am therefore watching this sheriff race with great interest.

I read The Columbian Newspaper article based on their interview with the three sheriff candidates and compared that to The Columbian’s Editorial Board Video. I was quite astonished that they took what Cpl. Reynolds said in explaining what unconstitutional law means to him out of context.

When Cpl. Reynolds was asked if he would be the sole person to make the decision about whether a law is unconstitutional, he replied, “I will consult with others, of course.” Reynolds also went into detail explaining what Dr. Martin Luther King said about laws not violating the Natural Law of Conscience. He also gave an excellent example regarding American Activist Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks invigorated the struggle for racial equality when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested December 1, 1955. This is one of the examples that Cpl. Reynolds used to explain what he considers unconstitutional law.

Another great example that Cpl. Reynolds was a law passed that prohibited people from attending their place of worship or not allowing them to sing. The interviewer asked a couple times if Reynolds believed that could happen. It appeared to me that the interviewer was trying to divert away from the explanation of what would be considered an unconstitutional law. For people who think that kind of law couldn’t be passed, I would say you are naive.

Considering that Cpl. Rey Reynolds is the only person of color running for sheriff. I am surprised they didn’t print his excellent explanations of what unconstitutional law is to him. I believe that when you are a person of color the Rosa Parks example would naturally be part of your paradigm when addressing these issues. I was a white girl living in northern Iowa when I started hearing about and realizing the horrifying atrocities happening to our brothers and sisters of color that lived in the south!

Let’s print Cpl. Reynolds explanations instead of taking what he said out of context and making him sound like he’s going to do what he wants when it comes to the law. It’s not true.

Myrna Leija
La Center

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