Opinion

By Chris Cargill

Resolve to improve debate

It’s the anniversary of ... something, but we can’t agree on its name. There is no common narrative yet for the events of Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington D.C. If your political bias leans left, it’s labeled an insurrection and the worst attack on our democracy in history. If your political bias leans right, it was a nasty riot capping off a summer of riots.

Let’s time-travel onto the bridge of the unsinkable Titanic. We’ll warn the captain to slow down, but he replies. “We like traveling fast! I don’t believe in icebergs, and a crew member agrees with me. Ships sink all the time. It’s natural. Besides, God won’t let anything bad happen to us.” The reply sounds absurd.

Kirtland Cutter designed for the wealthy and healthy in the so-called Age of Elegance. Elegant for whom? The maids who toiled in dark, dank mansion cellars, and slept in hot, airless third floor dormitories? The men who labored in dangerous Idaho mines enabling elegant men in Spokane to hire Cutter? Or the disabled confined to wheelchairs? The Chancery Building has a sign on the front door directing the handicapped to an entrance in the rear of the building. This discrimination is abhorrent and not to be tolerated. There are plenty of Cutter monuments in the city that wheelchairs cannot access because of historic protections. We don’t need another. So Cowles family— tear that useless relic down and put up your apartment building. It will be a monument to progress, economic growth, and inclusion.

Why isn't anyone addressing the issue of a known non-vaxxer flaunting his unmasked face at the Gonzaga men's basketball games? Can he be such a "hero" in the eyes of Spokane that they are afraid to make him do what we all have to do?

Is McMorris Rodgers a responsible rep?

Praise for Desautel

In response to Bruce McGlenn’s op-ed regarding the protection of roadless areas raises a critical point (“One person’s prosperity should not be another’s poverty," Dec. 26): As an avid backcountry recreationist, I deeply value the restoration I find through immersion in wild places. When I return from a trip, I’m a better human, employee and community member. But what of those who make their living through forestry and related industries? Born and raised in Spokane, I understand the economic devastation and loss of dignity that local communities have suffered from the Pacific Northwest Timber Wars.

The cadaver dogs were busy performing the grim duties of their training when the opportunists leapt into action.