Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Hospital board members deserve recall

A lot of propaganda has been distributed recently as to why the recall against four West Shoshone Hospital District trustees was started. I know why; I took the initial steps necessary to begin the recall.

At the Jan. 30 meeting of the WSHD board, input was given by physicians, employees and community members regarding the administrator’s contract. I observed stone-cold looks on the faces of the four board members in question. It was perfectly clear that these four had their minds made up and had no intentions of giving any thought to what was being said.

The overwhelming majority of the input given was to further evaluate Med-Management’s performance and postpone any final decision until all of the requested information could be compiled. The other two voting board members also stated they believed there was insufficient information to make a decision at that time.

After all of the input was given, I would have expected any board of publicly elected officials to acknowledge that many valuable comments had been received and that they needed time to think about it.

What actually happened was quite the opposite. A motion was made, seconded and voted on by these four board members to give notice to Med-Management of their intention to not renew the contract.

My decision to spearhead a recall effort was a direct result of this stonewalling. Many recent actions by these four board members confirm to me that their recall is the right thing to do. A government “by the people and for the people” should actually care what the people think. Teresa Seely Kellogg

Recall vote not as it’s made out to be

Silver Valley citizens need to be informed of the truth behind the hospital recall vote. It is not about the doctors or hospital staff. It is about who will manage the hospital.

The idea that we will save our hospital by voting yes in the recall is not totally true. The four board members who are being voted on are the ones who have been making an effort to save the hospital.

The issue is, do we want to keep the four citizens of the Silver Valley on the board or have them recalled in time for a new board of appointed board members to vote Med-Management back into office? The new board will consist of people appointed by the remaining board members who have shown their support for Med-Management and will appoint people with their same viewpoints.

If Med-Management remains in office, not only will the hospital in Silverton be in danger of closing, the hospital in Kellogg will be at risk as well when the new system of payment from the government starts.

The only true way to save the hospital is to vote no on the recall.

Med-Management did not provide us with the excellent services we have, the doctors and staff did. There have been several offers from other experienced management firms and every one of them has stated that it will not do business with the Silver Valley until Med-Management is gone. George O. Frisbie Kellogg

Show more respect, less flesh

Re: “Topless walkers vow fight,” (July 16). It’s people like this who are continuing to dissect our constitutional rights to defend their own selfish acts. Have some respect for the elderly and youth. Char A. Nilson Worley, Idaho

Newspapers should set good example

I have lived in North Idaho for 40-plus years and recognize the difficulty of producing a local newspaper. Improper grammar, incorrect spelling, paste-up errors, and mislabeled photos appear frequently in newspapers of limited circulation.

Unfortunately, the quality of ancient newspapers shames our current press. Modern spell- and grammar-checking word processors cannot replace written journalistic proficiency.

I’ve endured the denigration of North Idaho’s public schools by recent immigrants and withstood exhortations on the comparative excellence of their respective alma maters. I believe the immigration of this enlightened mass and the subsequent (unfunded) impact of their children is largely responsible for our schools’ decline. Unfortunately, North Idaho newspapers are exhibited as “proof” of our low educational requirements!

We must invest in teachers and fundamental studies. We must reduce the student-teacher ratio and provide our children with the academic opportunity we enjoyed years ago.

Likewise, reading local newspapers should improve the educational standards and knowledge within our community!

Accurate reporting of our young people’s activities also must be made a priority. After all, our local newspapers must withstand the cynicism of our youth and make them think, imagine, and aspire to write well themselves. Jim West Post Falls

AFTERMATH

For unintended consequences, thanks

The Pacific Northwest owes Pastor Richard Butler and his Aryan marchers a great vote of thanks.

Like it or not, for years he has been the source of an undeserved reputation for intolerance and hatred that has tainted others’ opinions of us all. “Oh, you’re from Idaho? That’s where all the Nazis are, isn’t it?” It’s unfortunately far too easy for the brutal, ignorant actions of a few to outshine the goodwill of a majority.

On Saturday, however, we were given national exposure of where the balance really lies: 60 gloomy marchers promoting hatred of their fellows and probably more than 6,000 enjoying the chance to be with each other in a spontaneous day of harmony and fellowship.

Butler will have returned to his compound in the woods but the message he inadvertently left behind will remain in our minds. There is far greater power in love for one’s fellow human than in hatred. For making that perfectly clear, I am grateful. Sam Van Wyck Spokane

Be real, Judy - ugliness happened

I found it unsettling to hear Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Judy’s comments, minimizing the impact of the Aryan Nations’ march on his community. Didn’t he see the Ku Klux Klan marching down Sherman Avenue in white robes? And while there was hardly any physical violence, I believe it is essential he acknowledge that another form of violence did, indeed, occur - violence against the human spirit. G.L. Gagliano Spokane

Who are those ‘outsiders,’ anyway?

I find the term “outsiders” interesting. What is an outsider? Someone from outside of North Idaho? Someone from outside the Northwest or our country?

We should re-examine why we use the term. It seems that we use it in an attempt to invalidate those we wished had followed what we wanted, instead of what their hearts and minds demanded of them. The same rhetoric was used against Northerners who fought against Southern Jim Crow in the 1960s. Like the days of Jim Crow, the violence and bigotry of the Aryan Nations has impacted those across this nation, not just in North Idaho.

I’m glad there are those in this country who recognize that. Whether they joined the rally in Spokane or spoke their hearts from the sidelines of the Aryan “parade,” we as Americans should be thankful that we stood together against the voices of bigotry and violence.

Also, I thank The Spokesman-Review for its in-depth and responsible coverage of extremism in the Northwest. Your paper has gone a long way in bringing these movements to light without the sensationalism of other papers. Eric K. Ward NW Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, Seattle

Unplanned expenditures a boondoggle

Re: July 17 article, “Aryan parade cost estimates near $100,000.”

It is really distressing for a taxpayer to hear that the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department is now almost broke because of the Aryans’ march. “All these unplanned expenditures are stretching the budget to the limit,” says Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

Having been in that business for many years, I can understand that officer overtime for public safety is both expensive and difficult to predict. But, trying to hoodwink the public just when next year’s budget request is being negotiated is stretching the facts.

All of a sudden, we have to run out and buy new safety equipment and train our deputies to handle an event? Give me a break. Heaven help our state’s law enforcement agencies if they ever have to respond to an unusual occurrence without having two months’ prior notice of the incident.

Maybe Sheriff Pierce Clegg could save some money in his planned budget if he didn’t allow each and every county deputy to have a take-home vehicle for transportation to and from work. Is this common practice in all of our civil service departments? I hope not. Dennis Klein Hayden Lake

Groups, however awful, have rights

The Aryan Nations’ Nazi ideas combined with religious zealotry become pretty scary. The Silent Brotherhood, also known as The Order, spun off from the Aryan Nations into crime and assassination plots in the past, so these folks must be taken seriously.

Note that Butler and his church did not approve of the crime spree. Yet, I found the protestors to be even scarier than the marchers. Their theory is that if you disapprove of someone, it’s OK to indulge in a shouting match to prevent them from being heard.

Understand that I do not support or applaud the Aryan Nations. But, many brave Americans have sacrificed their lives in war to assure that the Aryan Nations, and any other group, has the right to free speech in this country. In a hate contest, matching hate with more hate results in unending evil such as that which we have seen in Northern Ireland and Palestine.

The police departments spent $125,000 so that this small and rather motley religious group with Nazi ideas could march down the street in safety. No matter how distasteful or bizarre your political or religious ideas may be, you still have the right to express them in this country. If your skin is black, brown, red or white, if your religion is Jewish, Muslim, Christian or Tasmanian devil worshiper, it’s OK.

You will be safe in Coeur d’Alene and you will be free to express your views using your constitutionally protected freedom of speech. Wilford D. Murray Spokane

Parade protesters the real haters

Americans are just about the most simple-minded citizens I know of. They go out to protest this “hate group” by hating them. For those who were present, it was clearly the protesters who were against the Aryan Nations who made up the real hate group. Don’t people think anymore? Wayne C. Bent Sandpoint

Good to see rejection of Aryans

It is great to hear Idaho people publicly voicing their nonsupport for the Aryans. I was on vacation in Plummer. It was nice to see the community show no support for the little parade. It turned out to be a freak show rather than a parade for Richard Butler and kids. Manny J. Wheaton Boise

‘Controlled press’ had nothing

A historic event happened in Idaho on July 18, when Hitler came to the Panhandle of Idaho with the Aryan militia’s 100-moron march down Sherman Avenue.

The period from January to the parade was filled with anticipation and thoughts of how to best handle the situation. Folks have different strokes and the masses had a belief that if the marchers were ignored, they would go away - a most dangerous approach.

Hitler didn’t go away. Butler didn’t go away. And in the 26-year period enjoyed by the Aryans, we had two declarations of war against the U.S. launched from Sandpoint.

I was airborne in my ultralight over the Aryan compound at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, making a video to be presented on the World Wide Web. I first observed an enforcement blockade at Hudlow and Rimrock, and a display of the hundred flags on the compound fenceposts. I was aware that I was probably being tracked by machine gun, by armed Aryan militia skinheads in the tower.

I covered the parade with 30 journalists from as far away as London and Portugal, and had my biggest disappointment when reading a Sandpoint newspaper. There was not one sentence of coverage, once again proving that we in the five counties of the Panhandle have a controlled press denying our right to know. Harold B. Riese Sandpoint

Let me bring ‘ein volk’ up to date

The Aryan Nations is a landfill that only takes white trash. Paul L. Yost Spokane

‘We must be tolerant’

Re: The Aryan march. It is an expression of freedom in this great country of ours and even though I am a retired U.S. Army officer from World War II, as long as their parade is peaceful, orderly and only an expression of their personal beliefs, so be it! We must be tolerant of expressions and live in harmony with each other. Jack E. Milner Spokane

FIREARMS

We apologize for breach of safety first

No one was more appalled at the picture from the July 15 article than we were. At Sharp Shooting, our philosophy is safety first.

That philosophy was not carried out in the class with the exchange students and we make no excuses. We broke a universal safety rule and for that, we apologize to the shooting community and firearms instructors everywhere.

The picture shows a very negative story, but stories do have more than one picture.

For clarification purposes, the picture was taken during the classroom session. Though improper firearms handling is inexcusable, the behavior was corrected. This group received one-on-one instruction with three instructors on the range. They were allowed to shoot a variety of calibers. Not everyone shot every gun, only what they wanted and only with an instructor by their side. Not all of them enjoyed the sport of target shooting, but golf isn’t for everyone, either, though they may try it.

The firearms issue is controversial. Firearms ownership, responsibility and training are newsworthy. Spokesman-Review employees are at a great disadvantage when they write about something so many people feel so strongly about.

The best part of working with the exchange students is the fact that when they leave, whether they liked shooting or hated it, they are at least forming that opinion from experience, not propaganda.

We welcome anyone who questions our training or our safety to attend a free class, including the newspaper’s staff. Robin Ball, co-owner Sharp Shooting Indoor Range and Gun Shop

OVER THE LINE

Post Falls School Board acted wisely

Our whole region should be grateful to the Post Falls School Board for maintaining the integrity of the public school system by rejecting the teaching of creationism. It took courage for the board members to act as they did and the rest of us should appreciate their efforts. We may not all have children in that school system but we do have to live with its results.

In my personal experience, creationism is nothing more than an effortless position that argumentative people can adopt easily without troubling themselves to actually study anything. That’s a shame because God’s universe is a fascinating place. It seems clear that we were given minds and senses in order to learn what we can about it and to appreciate its beauty.

At the other end of the spectrum of Christianity, in stark contrast to the anti-science of creationism, the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope stands as one of the world’s premier scientific instruments. Apparently, not all Christians are anxious to start their third millennium by reverting to the first. Jim P. McDonald Spokane

I feel for those affected by mill fire

Re: “Fire rips through town’s sawmill,” (July 18). I feel for the families whose lives have been radically changed by this fire. In some ways, it’s worse than a house fire because if there is a loss of one’s job, they may not only not have a job but may also lose their home.

This is where the government could spend the money we “waste” on violent offenders to help rebuild and perhaps offer employment to help with the rebuilding to those who are now without work.

When cities must spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to allow a march, like Coeur d’Alene, money like that could instead be used to help folks. I wish you all the best and hope that solutions and answers will profit those who are now without a job. Sharon A. Shaw Spokane