Letters To The Editor

IDAHO ISSUES

Meddling out of control in Priest River

Should anyone seriously question why I lovingly refer to Priest River as the Soviet Socialist Republic of Priest River, one need only study the proposed planning and zoning permit fee increase.

The fees will increase the $30 minimum to $50, shoreline $200 to $600, conditional use $200 to $400, appeals $50 to $300, extensions $25 to $100 and variance $100 to $300. Any violations will cost double the regular fee.

Oh, for the Priest River of yesteryear when people were allowed to live their lives without all the meddling from the Californians and other transplants who have infiltrated our government and just can’t seem to understand how we got along so well without them and their socialist ideas.

Remember the recent fiasco when one of the city mothers was telling a city father to put out his fire while burning winter damage yard waste due to the size of the material? Kathleen Carothers threatened to call the police. A city mother trying to lock up a city father, Bill Mullaley, for burning yard waste is a prime example of how out of control this fine city’s government really is.

Let’s also not forget the logging-in-the-park incident, where everyone escaped culpability due to preplanned plausible deniability except for city father Mullaley.

I hope Oldtown residents are paying attention. Mayor Brian Orr is trying and would love to bring just such a government to you. R. Gary Tucker Oldtown, Idaho

Lakeshore resident has it backwards

I was born and raised in Coeur d’Alene and as a child spent many a summer day at Sanders Beach. People along East Lakeshore Drive were a lot friendlier then. There were few if any “no trespassing” signs.

Most of the people there were longtime members of the community who were willing to share the beach with all who came. Because of this attitude, most who used it did not abuse the privilege. There was no graffiti and everyone picked up his or her own litter before leaving.

I find it ironic that a man who’s lived in Coeur d’Alene seven months considers us guests in his neighborhood (“Beachgoers would do better to try behaving for a change,” guest column, Aug. 27). I consider Richard Lindberg a guest in my town, even though I now live in Spokane.

In the time it took to walk the neighborhood noting license plates, he could have picked up a lot of trash. The column he wrote could have been used to ask for volunteers to keep the beach clean and donations to build restroom facilities.

If he would take down his fence and “no trespassing” sign and perhaps get others to do the same, I’d be the first to donate both time and money. I’m sure thousands of others feel the same way.

Or better yet, donate that tiny strip of land to the city of Coeur d’Alene so generations to come can enjoy the beach and view of the lake. Carol J. Rheams Spokane

OVER THE LINE

Bank is not your friend, folks

I found myself near laughter reading the article where it’s said that Sandpoint officials think U.S. Bank may be concerned with jobs in Idaho, the idea being that U.S. Bank would care about jobs at the ski resort.

Sandpoint’s Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Bank’s handpicked receiver, Ford Elsaesser, state they want to save jobs. Maybe the chamber, but not U.S. Bank.

Brings to mind U.S. Bank’s foreclosure of Foremost Dairy, where we had the same talk from the bank: community, “the people,” love for the area.

Tell it to the dairy farmers, tell it to the community, tell it to the customers of U.S. Bank of Washington. Schweitzer won’t operate, the jobs will be gone like the dairy farmers. But this time, so will the skiing.

U.S. Bank has only $70 billion now and the CEO of U.S. Bank, Gerry Cameron, made only $12 million in the recent merger. This sum only goes into his personal checking account. Not enough to keep a ski resort running. Not enough to let 120 Washington dairy farmers stay in business.

But that’s what happens when we let a handful of people run a Federal Reserve bank, the taxpayers’ money being lent by those who finance elections. I testified at a federal hearing in Washington, D.C., about the bank and what it did to the farmers. Now,. it’s the workers at Schweitzer and the skiers.

Tell Sandpoint’s chamber and the workers to form a PAC (political action committee). That’s what the bank does. J. Michael Yeager Deer Park

SPOKANE MATTERS

Enough about potholes

Seems like I open the paper every morning to see scads of gripes about the oh-so-famous pothole problem. Here are two observations.

First, perhaps the reason we have so many potholes has something to do with the fact that we drive habitually. Suggestion: Park it when you can and ride your bike as often as possible. This way, the roads will last longer and the air will be cleaner.

This creates a second dilemma. Without the pothole problem - gasp! - what would we complain about?

Pothole people, you’ve made your point. I don’t like the potholes anymore than you do. But surely there are bigger battles to fight. Zaza M. Varela Spokane

Selfish few have prevailed long enough

OK, who died and made the Rockwood-Garfield neighborhood in charge of traffic control, complete with City Council backing? This is the second time these people have had temper tantrums when people were forced to drive down their hallowed streets because Grand Boulevard was closed for repair work.

I’ve been a South Sider for more than 30 years and love the area. I resent this haughty attitude by a few people living on these streets. They try to prevent us from legally driving on their streets by putting up all those barricades. Last time Grand was under repair, they succeeded in getting the City Council to put up eight ridiculous stop signs and a 20 mph speed limit on two arterials.

I refuse to go miles out of my way to get to work. I live on 37th Avenue. Maybe I should put up barricades to try to keep people from driving down my street. Virginia E. Hottell Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Give forests and rigs a rest

Re: “Just sit tight and we’ll all get to cry in the wilderness,” Aug. 20:

In his zeal to persuade readers of his guest column that more roadless areas in the Idaho national forests should be opened to logging, Jack Buell twisted a few facts.

He stated 60 percent of Idaho national forest land is off-limits to logging, with 7 million acres of roadless area locked up and 2 million acres available for harvest management.

On the basis of Forest Service maps and figures, the Wilderness Society calculates that of the 8.4 million roadless acres in the Idaho national forests, 1.3 million are administratively protected and 7.2 million are subject to logging. Since the management plan Buell refers to was implemented in the mid ‘80s, 1 million roadless acres have been logged.

The Boise National Forest alone lost 200,000 acres, and with the proposed deadwood sale will lose another 21,000. At this rate of loss, in 40 years, all unprotected roadless areas will be gone. The large fleet of logging trucks Buell owns has hauled logs over the 16,000 miles of roads in the Panhandle National Forests. Runoff from logged-over slopes has followed, carrying fish-suffocating silt into the streams and floodwaters that have swamped St. Maries, the county seat of which he is a commissioner.

Forest Service and other economists have concluded that roadless areas in the Idaho national forests have far greater economic value kept intact (fish and wildlife, recreational and aesthetic) than for logging.

Maybe it’s time Buell’s logging trucks and Idaho’s beleaguered national forests had a little rest. Buell A. Hollister Post Falls