Letters for Dec. 4, 2024
Immigrants enrich our country
Some say the United States is a nation of immigrants. Then why the palpable hostility with mass deportation signs at the Republican National Convention; and why did Republicans scuttle the bipartisan immigration bill?
Our newly elected 5th Congressional representative, Republican Michael Baumgartner, has argued in the 2024 Voters’ Pamphlets that the southern border is wide open with thousands pouring into the country, and Mexican cartels bringing fentanyl and leaving a trail of crime.
Contrary to Baumgartner’s assertions, there are restrictions at the border, however faulty. Crossings at the border are down, and 90% of fentanyl is smuggled by U.S. citizens. Furthermore, crime among current noncitizens is lower than U.S. citizens.
My experiences of helping newly arrived immigrants while volunteering at World Relief and Barton English Language School have been unbelievably positive and rewarding. Most immigrants do nothing but enrich our country.
Just imagine a day without immigrants, both documented and undocumented. Many take care of homes, children, the elderly; many help grow, harvest and process our food; and many are taking care of our health, teaching at universities and conducting important research.
Let’s treat people with gratitude and respect.
This holiday season, let’s be grateful for immigrants.
Nancy Street
Cheney
Board decision doesn’t address fairness, safety
The Central Valley School District Board passed the “Female Sports” resolution, citing safety concerns as justification for overturning Title IX. This claim is built on false morality.
Speakers argued that trans girls increase the risk of concussions in volleyball. If concussion safety is the concern, we must address the tolerance of concussions in all high school sports and create safer rules for play in this age group.
Some speakers suggested that boys would change their name, pronouns and clothes to harm girls. This reflects the systemic failure to hold boys accountable and address the cultural norms that excuse violence.
Mead High School was praised as a model for CVSD to keep kids safe. It is not. Mead’s football team has a history of violence and misconduct among cisgender boys. It has remained unchecked by the same system now targeting transgender girls.
The board’s plan for a “separate but equal” team for transgender students is deeply flawed. With so few trans kids in the district, this proposal is impractical and deceptive, and echoes segregation.
This resolution reflects tolerance of harm and exclusion, not fairness or safety. The board’s role is to uphold the law, maintain separation of church and state, and ensure all students thrive. If they disregard Title IX, what law will they defy next?
The Rev. Genavieve Heywood,
Convener of Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience
Lynne H. Williams, MD,
Retired psychiatrist
Pam Silverstein, MD, FACOG,
Member of the Jewish community
The Rev. Rose Mary Volbrecht,
St. Clare ECC
Rachelle Miller, LICSW
The Rev. Kaye Hult, UCC
Leilani DeLong,
Nursing supervisor, retired
Kristine Hoover, Ed.D.
Lauren McCroskey,
Convener of Idaho for All
Jan Young,
VUCC, Life Deacon
Don Young,
VUCC, Life Deacon Chair
Alzheimer’s story creates false hope
Your Nov. 22 front-page blast about John Haldi’s successful Alzheimer’s treatment was a bit overzealous. A more objective headline would have been: “Local man has very rare success with Alzheimer’s treatment.”
Essentially, Haldi won the Aduhelm lottery. Good for him. But for the millions of other dementia sufferers, the chance of winning is only slightly better than winning the Powerball jackpot.
My parents and two younger siblings all died of Alzheimer’s. As much as I’ve longed for a cure – a longing verging on desperation – my own experience and the marginally effective (and very expensive) drug therapies cited in your article strongly suggest it’s practically hopeless. Alzheimer’s is terminal. And it terminates its victims well before they actually die. While Haldi is a happy exception, these beta-amyloid drug therapies mostly don’t work, or they just prolong the agony of decline.
Your front-page portrayal of Haldi’s rare success contributes to false hope among families desperate for dementia cure. It’s a good story, but it should have been counterweighted with sobering caveats such as broad statistics on drug treatments’ success rates, the qualitative measures of that success, the side effects (brain bleeds, brain swelling), the need for “forever” clinical infusions, monitoring via PET scans, MRIs – and the significant cost – millions that might be better spent on compassionate care rather than filling the pockets of Big Pharma.
All in all, once you clean up the journalistic imbalance, the story should have been relegated to the back pages where you sometimes publish stories about lottery winners.
Steve McNutt
Spokane