Letters for June 5, 2024
Don’t use weasel words
The candidates to replace Cathy McMorris Rodgers in Congress should tell us right now if they support presidential candidate Donald Trump. If they support Trump, then they support his conduct. That conduct includes sexual assault, fraud, tax evasion, flagrant disrespect for veterans and attempting to overthrow the Constitution. If the candidates don’t volunteer that information, then The Spokesman-Review reporters should ask them about it and publish the answers, which should be either yes, they do, or no, they don’t. No weasel words need be added.
Michael W. O’Dea
Spokane
Someone already stood in the way
Al French’s PFAS “solution” looks like a desperate attempt to cling to power. He says that if he can’t get water to the West Plains by next year it will be because “someone stood in the way.” He apparently has no idea what such an undertaking requires in terms of time, money, coordination with multiple jurisdictions and stakeholders, studies, permitting and engineering. Have we seen a feasibility study? No. It is a pipe dream (no pun intended).
The way to get water to the area by next year was to start working on a solution when he first became aware of the issue.
Anticipating the growth we are now experiencing, former County Commissioner Kate McCaslin and I initiated and guided the conceptual design of a light rail system from downtown to Liberty Lake beginning in the ’90s. It would ultimately extend to the airport and Coeur d’Alene. This was deemed essential to maintaining Spokane International Airport as the regional airport. An independent economic analysis projected breathtaking private investment in the county if it was built. It would also drive sustainable density along the corridor in sync with our growth management goals. During our six years of work with an $8 million federal earmark and support of most elected officials across the county and coordination with the heavy rail companies, we projected that it could be built and operating by about 2015. But “someone stood in the way.” That was Al French.
Phyllis Holmes
Spokane
Let the wives fly their flags
I am amused at the kerfuffle over Larry Haskell’s and Justice Samuel Alito’s wives. The upset comes entirely from the left, which supposedly champions women’s rights and independence. I ask, what do they expect of the wives? Are they to be “kept” women having no opinion of their own, denied the right to independently express their views? Such expectations are not applied to the spouses of left-leaning justices or elected officials. No indeed, such political outpourings in support of the left’s causes are celebrated in those spouses. “Hypocrisis in summa!”
Being the husband of a wife for 40 years now, I long ago realized I am totally clueless about many things she engages in when I am distracted elsewhere. My distractions are certainly not at the level or demand of a representative or Supreme Court Justice. I am quite certain that in my hurry to make sure I have what I need to go to work, get to the car, get out of the garage, and on my way to a meeting I’m already late for … I would not have noticed if the flowers were blooming, let alone if a flag was flying. So let it be! Mrs. Haskell and Mrs. Alito are free, independent women who happily express their individual views – something lefties should be celebrating. If the ‘Mr.’ in the equation is anything like me, No. 1, he won’t notice, and No. 2, he will keep his mouth shut over such triviality.
Tim Christensen
Otis Orchards