Recently Dave Oliveria has been writing about people's different memories from some of the towns in North Idaho. We too have some memories about the Coeur d'Alene School District. We remember double shifting, 30-year-old textbooks, a lack of extracurricular activities, classrooms with 35 or more students and an insufficient number of desks for these students. We remember losing good teachers and administrators. There was no updating of the technology that is so very important in today's society. There were the buildings and other facilities that did not receive even the most fundamental care. All of this began to change in the mid-1990s when the community really began to support the schools again. That continued until last year's levy failure, which is what prompted us to write this letter. We do not want to see a repeat of those days in any form. Please look at the information regarding this levy and the needs that it addresses and join us in voting yes twice on May 15.

Dave and Cheryl Scates
Coeur d'Alene

DFO: Dave Scates, the excellent former police chief of Coeur d'Alene, and his wife make an excellent point here. The old days -- as they applied to the late 1970s and through the 1980s -- left something to be desired. Visionary community leaders expanded infrastructure to prepare the town for inevitable growth. But patrons in the school district didn't shake off their anti-property tax stupor until they finally passed the bond for Lake City High School in the early '90s. Afterward, they OK'd every levy until last year.

---

---