Letters for March 15, 2024
Be honest, Newhouse
For Dan Newhouse, dishonesty is currency. To benefit his re-election, he fills his newsletters with fabrications.
As if mired in 2021, he claims that supply chains are stalled. Yet when Mr. Newhouse had a chance to increase domestic investment in critical areas, he voted against the Chips and Science Act.
In his rebuttal to the State of the Union Address, Mr. Newhouse said that our nation is weak because the president will not address the border. The toughest border law in our history, one in which Republicans received almost everything they claimed to want, is being blocked by his party. Is Newhouse willing to work around the Republican delay to get it to the floor? The president has promised to sign it.
Finally, Newhouse states that the president “continues to attack American energy production.” That statement is purposely vague. Attacks how? Mr. Newhouse knows that the U.S. has been energy independent for over a year – we are a net exporter of oil. We are the world’s largest producer, the next-largest producer is Saudi Arabia. U.S. oil exports hit an all-time high in 2022. The U.S. has become the planet’s largest producer of natural gas by far and is the largest exporter. Oil is a global commodity. If Newhouse wants to complain about gas prices, he needs to confront capitalism. He should be honest with us. It only helps him, not his state, when he is not.
Jeff Bryce
Winthrop, Wash.
Speak your mind at NAACP town meeting
UNBELIEVABLE! I have been saddened and in shock since learning about information sent to Wilson Elementary parents regarding a fourth- and fifth-grade music program, “We Haz Jazz,” “Other children can dress as slaves.”
What message does this send, not only to the fourth- and fifth-grade participants, but the entire community? Slavery was the most degrading system ever implemented. And to ask students to dress as slaves diminishes the horrors of that institution. Slavery was not a “dress up” night. It was a cruel and dehumanizing institution; whose effects still resonate within our society. This is a perfect example of how white privileged America continues to shackle people of color!
Thankfully, Spokane NAACP is sponsoring a Town Hall, “Addressing Racial Incidents in our Schools,” at the downtown Central Library, 920 W. Main Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
I hope you will join me in expressing your outrage!
Louise Chadez
Spokane
Neah Bay deserved better coverage
Having watched and sponsored boys and girls basketball teams at the State B Tournament in Spokane with my wife Gail, I was dissatisfied with the poor coverage of many teams in The Spokesman-Review’s sports section.
Although there were a few expanded articles on Colfax and Wellpinit, there was nearly nonexistent coverage for many teams, especially the Neah Bay boys and girls 1B teams, the boys placing fifth and the girls winning the championship for the second straight year.
With all the pretournament press about the huge economic impact the 2B and 1B schools bring to Spokane, Neah Bay travels the farthest to Spokane with a large fan base that stays in hotels and eats at restaurants four days in Spokane. In return, The Spokesman gives Neah Bay one and two lines of ink while ignoring the excellent efforts of boys and girls teams and an extremely loyal and supportive fan base.
Why are these Native teams and their communities slighted while Spokane businesses receive so much attention for reigning-in massive profits off the backs of good teams and their loyal communities?
Jerry Jantz
Spokane