Editor,

Thank you and The Record’s staff for the thorough and in-depth coverage you are currently doing for Whidbey Island. You demonstrate with each issue how vital the freedom of the press is, not only for democracy, but for our well being as a community. You help us know if our elected officials are representing the will of the people. I am forwarding you a copy of the letter I just sent to the Langley City Council for the March 20 council meeting:

Dear council members Rene Neff, Bruce Allen, Dominique Emerson, Thomas Gill and Ursula Shoudy,

Thank you for being our representatives. I recognize how hard all of you work on our behalf, and I appreciate that very much, especially now. Because I am not on the island on Monday evenings, I have not been able to voice my concerns at the council meeting in person. I would like to do so in writing before the next council meeting on Monday, March 20. If you were to ask for a vote by residents on whether to codify our values by way of an ordinance, I would ask you to count my vote as a yes.

I would like to suggest a name for an ordinance that is committed to honoring the privacy of the people who live, work and visit us here on Whidbey Island. My suggestion is The Langley Privacy Act. I would like this ordinance to reflect the values I believe we have always lived by in Langley: That we honor, celebrate, and protect the diversity of our neighbors and those who visit. Therefore, we do not ask for, nor do we collect, or store for anyone else’s use, information about race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, immigration status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identification, marital status, genetic information, military service, disability or age.

Thank you for counting my vote for the continuance and codifying of the values that make our community such a welcoming place to live, to work, and especially to thrive in.

Warmly,

SUSAN S. SCOTT

Langley