Letters

Join a party for caucus

I am always amazed at the lack of understanding on the part of so many people about the purpose of a caucus. According to the dictionary, one of the meanings of a caucus is a meeting of local members of a particular party to select delegates to a nominating convention or candidates for office.

If you are not an avowed member of a local party or willing to become a member, you should not have a say in the selection of the delegates or candidates regardless of your past voting history. A caucus is only for party members.

A party has a right to determine the method used to determine the candidates who will represent it. In the case of the Idaho Republican Party, the decision to use the caucus system was known many months prior to the meeting. There was ample time for people to join the party if they so desired. By not declaring themselves a member of the party, they relinquished the right to have any say in party decisions.

By the way, I did not attend the caucus in my precinct because I am unwilling to declare allegiance to either party.

Edwina Stowe

Harrison, Idaho

Coal facts appreciated

Shame on Richard Creed for the unfair tactic of addressing hysteria with facts and figures. I’m sure David Camp (March 24) feels unfairly treated.

Creed’s April 4 letter (“Different train of thought”) puts the lie to much of what the no-coal-train crowd raises as objections to the use of existing rail lines, and transporting a legal and benign cargo along its right of way. Powder River Basin coal is sought after throughout the world for its lower emissions profile. Its only drawback is its high moisture content. Fugitive dust isn’t a legitimate concern in the mining, transport or handling of this coal. Its high moisture content makes it difficult to handle because it tends to clog handling equipment.

I guess next we’ll have Camp campaigning against dust blown into Spokane from cultivated farm lands, and against the smoke blown in by the annual forest fires.

John McTear

Coeur d’Alene

Litter spoils natural beauty

“Near nature, near perfect” is Spokane’s slogan, but litter spoils our natural beauty!

Washington residents use more than 2 billion plastic bags per year. Only a few are recycled. Most litter streets and clog streams, entangling wildlife and slowly starving them to death.

“Teens can apply now for park cleanup jobs,” (Feb. 14) states that the Department of Ecology is hiring 118 teens to clean up litter. Do the math: eight weeks, 7.5 hours per day, $9.04 an hour will cost taxpayers $320,000. OK, it’s a start. However, only items larger than a drink lid will be collected.

There’s no excuse for littering.

1. Adopt an area. Call Parks and Recreation to pick up the bagged trash, or just throw it away yourself.

2. Toss it in, don’t throw it out. Trash cans and recycle bins are everywhere.

Stop talking about going green, and do your part. It’s not hard to reduce the 12 million pounds of roadside trash.

Don’t think “My wrapper won’t hurt.” It will. Fines start at $87. Cleaner roadsides make people think twice before littering.

We need to take pride in our city and keep it clean so that it is worthy of our slogan.

Carolyn Sievers

Spokane