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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huskies will rise again

The Spokesman-Review

To John Blanchette:

It seems you would rather stick to decades-old mantra and rhetoric than actually face the facts at hand. Your statement that “the UW’s administration plunging their mitts into OUR trousers …” when referring to the University of Washington’s proposed use of public funds to renovate Husky Stadium is misleading at best and utterly uninformed at worst. The proposed public funds are solely derived from King County’s hotel, motel and rental car taxes. Since when do you claim ownership over anything derived from King County?

King County is free to do what it will with its tax revenue in the same manner that Spokane County is. Husky Stadium sits on top of dirt planted squarely amidst a tax base that may wish to improve the structure with their capital. As far as the empty first-class stadium you refer to on Montlake Avenue, Husky Stadium is still sold out on occasion and 80 percent full the rest of the season. I’ve never seen an extended downturn at Martin Stadium that could come close to that figure. I’ve been there. The place was a tomb. It may seem pleasant to Cougars everywhere to envision an empty Husky Stadium in desperate need of repair being bailed out by tax dollars from the hard-working populace of Spokane County, but that’s just another fairy tale from the mind of John Blanchette. Visit Montlake once in a while and find out that the Husky tradition is alive and well. The Huskies will rise again, John. Of that you can be certain.

Kevin Johnson

Sandpoint