Dear Ms. (or Mrs.) Paige Albrecht:

I am writing concerning your article in the Lehi Ledger for April 2021.

You titled it, “Finishing the Race Strong.” That is the first mistake because unless each citizen decides for themselves that the race is finished, you and all other politicians will keep moving the finish line on us.

Do you disagree? Well, what happened to “15 days to slow the spread”? We slowed it down, and suddenly, it’s about getting a vaccine. When the vaccine showed up, the finish line was changed again to herd immunity.

So I ask you: why should I believe you that the race is almost done? Why should I not make that decision for myself?

Second, you admit that you miss seeing faces because of masks. You seem to know, even if intuitively, the fact wearing masks affects mental health. And yet, you ask us to keep wearing them, ignoring the fact that for some of us, maintaining mental health might be more important than keeping ourselves “safe” from a virus that affects very few of the people in certain demographics.

Third, you ask us to be responsible for ourselves and our families, while still asking us to do what you want us to do. Well, which is it? Do you want us to take responsibility for ourselves and our families? Or do you want us to obey you?

It seems that you want to have your cake and eat it too. But you can’t. You can either give us the responsibility that God gave us, or you can attempt to take it away, bringing upon yourself and us the consequences of doing so.

Last of all, as a councilwoman in Lehi, you are supposedly a leader. A leader should lead by example. So you should ask yourself: what example are you giving?

I’ll tell you what example you are setting: one of fear. You are setting an example of allowing yourself to be led by fear. Leaders that lead with fear or by fear will destroy society and give up liberty for security, thereby losing both.

You also admit that you are bad at math. This shows because you fail to understand basic probabilities. For someone who is healthy, the virus should be no fear at all because it does not affect healthy people, especially children, almost at all.

This understanding of probabilities is crucial to understanding risk, something politicians should be good at. You see, risk never goes away. By being born, you accepted the 100% risk of dying, and you accept the risk of dying everyday by getting in your car. You also accepted it everyday before COVID-19 showed up. I know of a healthy middle-aged woman who died from the flu! Should we shut down Lehi for the flu? Should we shut Lehi down for every risky thing that might happen?

If you think so, lead by example. Stop driving. Stop flying. Stop interacting with people at all.

Or if you intend to live well, accept the fact that risk always exists and learn how to quantify it (yes, learn math!), how to mitigate it without crippling yourself or Lehi, and learn how much risk you are willing to accept. And then let us decide for ourselves how much risk we will accept!

Lehi does not need your fearful example, and I would bet that you put this article out because you can see that pandemic fatigue is starting to take hold, that people are beginning to ignore your example and your “orders.”

You may cancel summer events that the City of Lehi manages, but if you do so, I guarantee that you will just upset us, the citizens, even more. This could lead to Lehi losing revenue and also population. People are already fleeing the most locked down states in the US for the most free; do you want that same type of emigration to happen to Lehi?

Lehi has been, recently, one of the best managed cities, but living by fear will change that. The best cities lead with careful boldness.

So I have a challenge for you: set a new example, one of boldness. Set an example of expecting individual responsibility for individual health, not of individual responsibility for society’s health. Set an example of opening Lehi, allowing us to get outside, get fresh air, get sun, increase our health (and thereby, increase our resistance to COVID-19), increase our mental health with free and unfettered socialization, and actual enjoyment.

If you do not set this new example, and publically, I will do everything in my power to ensure that you do not serve a third term. But if you do, I would be happy to see you serve a third term, for the best kind of leader is the one who will admit mistakes and change.

Be a true leader: set an example of courage.

Gavin D. Howard

Resident of Lehi, UT