Letters To The Editor

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Get behind trust fund legislation

The Idaho Legislature is considering a funding source for establishing a trust fund to create a grant program called State Trust for Outdoor Recreation Enhancement.

Interest from this trust fund would be allocated as matching grants toward recreation projects throughout Idaho. Local governments’ match could be cash, donated materials, land or labor.

The plan is to dedicate one cent of every dollar of state lottery ticket sales to build the principle of the trust. This would bring in approximately $1.1 million per year.

This allocation will not negatively affect the state’s school and government building fund.

Not only are lottery proceeds to the school and building fund estimated to increase by $2 million annually, school districts will be able to apply for the grant money for their own playgrounds, sports fields and youth programs.

A 1994 State Parks and Recreation Department survey estimated Idaho has a $270 million backlog of outdoor recreation projects. Most state and community park and recreation facilities in Idaho were built years ago with federal Land and Water Conservation program funds. Those funds have dried up.

Recreation is vital to all of the social, economic and resource benefits so important to Idaho. The gant program appears to be a win-win situation for taxpayers.

I encourage Idahoans to support implementation of this important program. Please call (800) 826-0471 to ask your legislators to support this legislation. David Sawyer, mayor Sandpoint

Oppose lobbyist boondoggle

Rep. Jeff Alltus is to be commended for his legislation to stop taxpayers from having to foot the bill for lobbyists.

For years, taxpayers’ money has been used to lobby our representatives to raise our taxes; that is the primary function of the Association of Idaho Cities and Association of Counties. And now our Kootenai County commissioners have arrogantly used taxpayer dollars to hire a lobbyist instead of using the nine elected representatives.

It doesn’t matter how you spell it, the only thing mayors Al Hassell and Jim Hammond and the county commissioners want is more tax dollars. They intend to do everything in their power to make it happen, no matter how much of your money they have to spend to get more of your money.

Taxpayers should be infuriated. Local option taxes will not lower our taxes, they will increase them.

It really is sad that elected officials can continue to loot taxpayers and get away with it. Arth Day Coeur d’Alene

Clegg has earned my vote

For two terms, Pierce Clegg has served as Kootenai County sheriff. He has done an outstanding job, sidestepping most of the political nonsense and working to protect and serve the people of this county.

I hope Sheriff Clegg knows how much we appreciate him and his department. He definitely has my vote for another term as Kootenai County sheriff. Tony Sumerlin Hayden Lake

Bonner leaders fleece taxpayers

Many promises were made by our Bonner County Commissioners as they sought votes. But no sooner had the polls closed than did the new commissioners attend to their personal agendas or reward their campaign contributors.

They rewarded themselves with a $5,000 pay raise that was not even mentioned when they campaigned.

They voted against the planning commission to give special waivers to out-of-state developers who made significant campaign contributions. Do you remember the $400,000 the new commissioners promised to get from the Regional Planning Alliance? Like a puff of so much political smoke, it disappeared.

As the county struggles to patch together a comprehensive plan, developers rush to find loopholes to fill the void. Take a ride down Highway 95 from the Long Bridge south to Algoma. Imagine who will pay for the levies to supply the infrastructure required for the hundreds of school children who will live there.

Even more than the support of overdevelopment is the fast and loose play with taxpayer money. Examples of flawed plans benefiting out-of-state entities are the airport and the leasing of more than $400,000 in dump trucks from a Spokane agency.

If I want to invest my money, it would be on the advice of a banker and lawyer, not in a creative financing scheme arranged by three politicians with no business expertise or college degree among them. Gary Carlson Sagle

Chenoweth is not a kook

Reaction to Rep. Helen Chenoweth’s speech, which referred to environmentalism as a religion being foisted on our country, was interesting.

Mike Casey of the Environmental Information Center in Washington, D.C., comments, “I think we can now say what everybody has been quietly thinking for many months - that Chenoweth is a kook and a certified nut case.” He also called her paranoid because of her concern about the black helicopters and couldn’t understand where she came up with the environmental religion idea.

Many of us in Idaho think she’s right on the mark, so he obviously doesn’t speak for everybody. An acquaintance had firsthand experience with the black helicopters hovering near his house, with gun-toting men peering in his window, scaring his livestock and causing a neighbor’s sow to crush all her baby pigs.

I’ve read lots of environmental propaganda and much of it definitely calls for worshiping the creation - mother earth - rather than the Creator. It’s surprising Casey is blind to this.

Dan Williams, hoping to run against Chenoweth, is as far off base as Casey. He distorts her positions and is way off base when he suggests that putting land in private hands would eliminate hunting and fishing.

We have at least 100 hunters on our private tree farm every year, and all of the big timber companies that I’m aware of open their lands to recreational uses. The idea of letting state or private interests manage some federal land on a trial basis could result in much more efficiency. Sonny Poirier Blanchard

IN THE PAPER

Cartoon a vector of misinformation

I can’t believe you would publish such a phobic cartoon as the one on Feb. 6 titled, “Magic’s infectious smile.”

Thank you so much for perpetuating the myth and fear that casual contact is an AIDS risk. I thought your publication was a little more up to date. You cannot catch AIDS from a smile, Magic’s or anyone else’s. Cindy Mitchell Spokane

WINTER RECREATION

Skiing, snowboarding can coexist

As a ski industry professional with 12 years as a Ski Patrol member and six years as a Ski Patrol director, I was deeply disappointed with the tone of both editorials regarding snowboarding (Opinion, Feb. 2).

Staff photographer Jesse Tinsley’s remarks reveal the our-sport-saved-your-industry-so-we-can-do-whatever-we-want attitude that is definitely counterproductive to the goal of mainstreaming the sport and eventual acceptance by the general skiing public. It also shows a willingness to turn a blind eye to the small percentage of boarders who give the sport a bad name.

I’d wager that Editor Chris Peck went to a local ski area and had at least one negative experience with snowboarders. That’s very unfortunate but not surprising.

To have skiers and snowboarders coexist peacefully takes a commitment from ski area management to educate all ski area users on the responsibility code. It also requires a strong, concerted management effort to weed out the small percentage of skiers and snowboarders who cause problems.

If snowboard enthusiasts want to shed the rebel image and be accepted they must know the code and police themselves.

If Peck would like to see an example of an area where all winter recreationists can coexist, I invite him to ski at 49 Degrees North. My crew and myself would show him that we work very hard to be sure that his day isn’t ruined by someone else’s fun. Skiing and snowboarding can coexist and we here at 49 Degrees North have been proving it since the very beginning. Gary Deaver Ski Patrol director, 49 Degrees North Chewelah, Wash.

Lighten up, already

Re: Editor Chris Peck’s editorial and his prissy attitude against sharing his “civilized” ski slope with snowboarders (Opinion, Feb. 2).

Hey, Dude! What kind of runs do you ski anyway? I seriously doubt that boarders are much of a problem for you if they’re in the trees and you’re skiing “civilized.” And it’s been my experience that boarders are polite and respectful.

The “surly, in-your-face attitudes” you described are usually provoked by some disdainful skier’s smart remark. Mind your manners, man. Or go ski Utah, where they all think like you do.

Peck, it is still possible to have a family outdoor experience with your kids if they turn into boarders. I ski and take my well-mannered 15-year-old snowboarder son and his friends to the slopes every weekend. But hey, if people like you have their way my weekend on the slopes would not remain a family experience, would it?

Loosen up, man. Try on a new attitude. The one you’re wearing now makes you look old! Francie Miller Hayden

It’s the driver, not the vehicle

In response to the pro-con editorial referring to the attitudes and fashions of snowboarders (Opinion, Feb. 2), we must agree with the thoughts expressed by Jesse Tinsley defending snowboarders.

We have skied for a combined total of eight years and snowboarded for a combined six years. In our opinion, snowboarding is the way to go. Not because we are testosterone-driven teenage terrors (we are 24 and 16), but because for us it’s simply much more fun.

What Editor Chris Peck doesn’t seem to realize is that there are inconsiderate skiers and snowboarders alike. A small group of people gives snowboarders a bad name. He also failed to write about the many polite snowboarders who apologize when they accidentally crash into someone or who help someone up after they have taken a spill.

We have snowboarded from Snow Summit to Big Bear to Whistler/Blackcomb and conclude that the attitude comes from prejudice, not from what you strap onto your feet. Please refrain from stereotyping someone because they snowboard or ski.

Remember, it’s all about coming down a mountain and having fun doing it. If you can’t have a good time because someone else is out there riding down the mountain in a different way than you, don’t waste your money and don’t spoil everyone else’s fun. Mike Gamby and Jim Curran Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Healing comes through God, not man

“Heal Thyself,” by Doug Floyd (Feb. 4) is scary.

Floyd believes that “getting informed” and involved is the cure-all to society’s ills. Not so.

I appreciate the enlightening comments of the eight respondents who unselfishly gave their beliefs as Band-Aids for the country’s hemorrhage. Unfortunately, not one of them offered a reasonable, prudent or enlightened response. If man could solve his problems, we would indeed have done so long ago.

The reality is that we cannot. As a consequence, we are a collage of the best, the blase and the worst of what we collectively have become.

The answers as to how we are going to live and live together rest not in ourselves, necessarily, but rather in applying time-tested and honored principles outlined in the Bible and subscribed to by each person. Follow these precepts and we will be healed, not by self, but by our Father in heaven. Bob Spaulding Post Falls

Ex-husbands’ plight finally told

Congratulations to Staff cartoonist Milt Priggee. You’ve finally done good. Your Feb. 6 cartoon, “Here’s your golden egg,” hits the nail on the head.

I’ve seen too many hard-working husbands being taken out of the job market and straight to bankruptcy for obscurities, because their wives are unsatisfied with taking half or more of their ex’s take-home pay. Get real!

Sure, the country is loaded with deadbeat dads. Go after them but leave honest, struggling dads alone. At least be satisfied you have one who is paying. Dary Liepelt Spokane