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Racetrack woes were foreseen

The Spokesman-Review

Is anyone really surprised to learn that the “infamous” racetrack whose purchase was so loudly defended in the face of shrinking dollars at the last election by County Commissioners Mielke and Richard is a “315-acre hazardous chemical depot,” to quote Doug Clark?

Candidates Dr. Kim Thorburn and Brian Sayrs warned of this problem and they were ignored, even ridiculed at a neighborhood meeting I attended where all four candidates spoke.

So now, not only has their irresponsible decision of spending $4.5 million to buy this, outbidding private companies who would have paid taxes to the county, it requires the expenditure of millions of more citizen dollars to make it usable. A cleanup that would have been funded by the new owners, not taxpayers.

I can only hope that Clark is correct that Bonnie Mager is “dancing through the courthouse halls hollering: ‘told ya so,’ ” though she has too much class to do that. This same woman deserves a combat medal.

Rosemarie Duffy

Spokane

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