Letters for April 24, 2024
Make Idaho greater
Recently I read that the Wallowa County commissioners petitioned the governors of Idaho and Oregon to consider moving the Idaho-Oregon border to near Bend as part of the Greater Idaho initiative. Most eastern Oregon counties prefer being governed by Boise than Salem. It’s big news when half the counties of a state want a divorce, and Greater Idaho may be a subject whose time has also come for eastern Washington.
Our “betters” in Olympia want us to only drive electric vehicles and think we should discontinue heating and cooking with natural gas. R-1 zoning is under attack, heat pump mandates ($1 billion for WSU), and the list goes on.
Our gasoline taxes are almost 50 cents per gallon higher to fund a climate pipe dream, and mail-in voting has put election integrity at great risk. None of these things can pass even a simple common-sense test. Our state is being governed by people who have lost touch with reality, and like Salem, one is left with the impression there is little interest or respect for citizens residing outside the I-5 corridor.
Greater Idaho has a nice ring to it.
Carleton Waldrop
Clarkston
We all need to be concerned
Once again Sue Lani Madsen manages to twist words…this quote from her April 18 column (“Knowing your place in the universe on Earth Day”): “It’s a far different message than today’s generation is being fed, telling them it is their duty to save the planet and to be very afraid. By all means, celebrate Earth Day this weekend, not out of desperation over holding the fate of the planet in your hands but because the weather forecast is pretty decent for Saturday. It will be a glorious day to be a child of the universe.”
We all need to be to be increasingly concerned about this planet, primarily because the rhetoric we have been fed since the first Earth Day hasn’t been effective in creating the changes needed.
And while thinking “the universe is unfolding as it should”, perhaps that “unfolding” is, in actuality, increased concern, action, protest, and yes, even being “very afraid.”
Heidi Peterson
Spokane
Where change is truly needed
Lewis and Clark High School has hired a new football coach. The school has had four in the past 40 years. John Hook, Yom Yearout, Dave Hughes and recently Joe Ireland, who is being replaced. It was done to “change the culture” of the program. This is odd since most of the assistants in the program have been a part of the culture as players and coaches for one or more of all past four head coaches.
In addition, Dave Hughes has been removed as athletic director. I have known Dave since 1988, when I hired him as an assistant. The son of a coach, he is a caring and competent teacher, a knowledgeable and successful coach and an excellent athletic administrator. He is also a great guy and after 37 years, he deserves better. Perhaps the culture that “needs changing” is in the administrative offices of Spokane Public Schools.
Jeff Reyburn
Spokane
McMorris Rodgers vs. fascists
With Cathy McMorris Rodgers not running for re-election and retiring, she is free from “toeing the line.” McMorris Rodgers is one of the top House members and it’s time to call out the “Putin loving” wing in her party for what they are–fascist, authoritarian sympathizers. McMorris Rodgers is not and has been a “hawk.” One House member, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is actually being praised as a hero on many state-run Russian TV stations and newspapers. She and the others agreeing with her are a complete disgrace.
It’s time for McMorris Rodgers to lead and denounce them for their actions and behavior. Cathy served in the House back when it was actually a conservative party that was very “hawkish” and saw the U.S. as the leader of the free world. That’s not today’s Republican Party. Far from it.
It’s time for McMorris Rodgers to go to the floor and condemn these fascist, Putin loving members. I’m sure one of the reasons she’s retiring is because McMorris Rodgers’s had enough. She has nothing to lose by calling these pro Russians. But if she is scared of Trump turning his MAGA followers loose on her and worried about her and her family’s security then come out and say that.
Just remember one thing. You helped to enable the fear by supporting Trump. Your constituents deserve to know if that’s the reason. Shoot us straight. That’s what a leader does.
Jason Ernsting
Nine Mile Falls