Letters for Feb. 9

Public health data protects community health

As a professor dedicated to public health, I depend on accurate data to educate future professionals and equip them with the skills needed to safeguard our community’s health and vitality for generations to come.

Spokane is home to multiple university programs, including public health and clinical programs, that depend on these data sources to train students, guide research, and improve local health outcomes.

Recently, the Trump administration removed critical public health data from federal websites, including the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Social Vulnerability Index. These tools help us track health trends, address disparities, and implement evidence-based policies. Their absence isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a direct barrier to education, research and effective public health interventions.

The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health has warned that limiting access to scientific data undermines our ability to monitor and respond to health crises. The broader medical community also relies on these datasets to improve patient care and inform policy. When public health information is politicized, our collective ability to address pressing health challenges is compromised.

Access to reliable health data isn’t a partisan issue; it’s essential to the well-being of our community. Spokane’s universities, health care providers, and policymakers must have the tools necessary to protect public health. We must advocate for the immediate restoration of these dataset. Our students, professionals, and the health of our community depend on it.

Dr. Robin Pickering

Spokane

Schools need mental health services

As a concerned citizen, I am writing to address the critical need for improved mental health access in our schools. The state of youth mental health in Washington is alarming and demands immediate attention.

Washington ranks 48th in the nation for youth mental health, a statistic that should shock us all into action. This low ranking is reflected in the troubling fact that an estimated 80,000 adolescents in our state are suffering from untreated depression. Even more concerning, 30% of our 10th-grade students report experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among our adolescents here in Washington State.

These statistics are not just numbers; they represent our children, our future, who are silently struggling. We must ask ourselves: How can we expect our youth to thrive academically when their mental health is in crisis?

The solution lies in investing in school-based mental health services. By bringing mental health professionals directly into our schools, we can provide early intervention, reduce stigma, and ensure that help is readily available when our students need it most.

I urge our local and state leaders to prioritize funding for comprehensive mental health programs in our schools. This investment will not only improve academic outcomes but also save lives.

Jared Jackson

Spokane

Baumgartner silent on Trump’s orders

The Spokesman-Review’s Feb. 2 lead article described the deafening silence from congressional Republicans, true of our new U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, in their response to Donald Trump’s unprecedented destructive and dangerous executive orders during his first two weeks in office.

This silence was especially evident in Baumgartner’s long Jan. 31 email message, his first to constituents since Trump’s orders commenced.

So, is Baumgartner closely following in the steps of his predecessor, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who he calls his mentor? She exemplified the conspicuous cowardice of congressional Republicans in not standing up to Trump during the last half of her legislatively inconsequential 20 years in Congress. Also, she always favored the wealthy.

No longer needing votes, might McMorris Rodgers now redeem herself with long-awaited courage by standing up to Trump to help save our democracy? I doubt it, but I hope I’m wrong.

As Republican conservatives, Baumgartner and McMorris Rodgers both believe in limited government.

Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney personified talented Republican conservative lawmakers during their stints in Congress. All believed in limited government.

But Donald Trump is no Republican conservative – a dizzying flurry of disastrous mandates in pursuit of dictatorship is not limited government.

Norm Luther

Spokane

Baumgartner’s office ducks Musk questions

I’m deeply concerned about Rep. Michael Baumgartner’s fitness for Congress. I’ve called his D.C. office for the past three days, and each time, his staff claims they haven’t spoken with him about the situation involving Elon Musk. This is the most critical issue facing our country – a private citizen holding the financial data of the U.S. government in his hands, effectively staging a coup without ever being elected. Yet, Rep. Baumgartner hasn’t discussed it with his team?

He either fails to grasp the gravity of this crisis or supports it but lacks the courage to admit it. Either way, it’s clear he’s the wrong choice to represent Eastern Washington.

Elisanne McCutchen

Springdale, Washington

Cat hunters need to show courtesy

We have enjoyed the beauty and quiet of living in the woods for many years and realize that living near public land comes with logging, wild animals and hunter encounters. Most of the latter have been congenial and respectful.

This January, there were three groups of cat hunting dogs in our neighborhood for several weeks. While I understand the need to control wild cat populations, it eludes me why it might be necessary for so many hunters to repeatedly be in one small, populated area.

What really outraged me, though, was to hear that several monster trucks had trailered their dog pack up from forest service land to the beginning of our populated road where a bobcat had been chased up a tree right next to a neighbor’s driveway. Apparently, a very distressed neighbor who happened to walk by did not keep them from shooting the cat and making a horrible bloody mess all the way from the treetop to the surrounding snowy ground. It seemed like it was a convenient way to have a Sunday family spectacle for them, but for the rest of us it was gruesome to walk or ski by the massacre place for the next week.

We realize one can’t control where the cat and dogs go, but if you start out on a public road and end up in an obviously populated area with distressed neighbors, it would seem ethical and respectful to let the cat go. An app like Onyx clearly shows where private property is.

Gabrielle Duebendorfer

Sandpoint

Bills protect children

These organizations support SB5375 and HB1211, you should, too: Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, Washington Coalition of Rabbis, Washington State Association for Justice, Survivors of Abuse by Priests, the League of Women’s Voters of Washington, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Washington, Crisis Connections, Catholic Accountability Project, Heal Our Church, KC Sexual Assault Resource Center, Tulalip Tribes of Washington, Longbranch Improvement Club, Association of Secular Officials, Father James Connell, Atlantic Street Center and Ending Clergy Abuse.

In Washington, religious institutions have been exempt from reporting credible knowledge of child sex abuse. This has contributed to an epidemic of abuse by those who have taken advantage of this loophole in state law. Washington is one of only five states where clergy are not required to report child abuse under any circumstances. If passed, SB5375 and HB1211 would bring Washington in line with six other states that require clergy to report child abuse, even when disclosed in confession. To be clear, if these bills pass into law, the only people who would have to worry about the privacy of their confessions are child abusers. No one else.

Critics argue this legislation infringes upon religious liberty; it does not. The Washington State Constitution states that religious freedom “shall not excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state.”

The Clergy Accountability Coalition is a diverse group of individuals and organizations from across the state who have banded together to support this legislation.

Sharon Valdés Huling

Seattle