Letters To The Editor

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Our taxes are too high already

Another school levy. This state is getting sick. Every time we turn around, another tax, another $75 to $100 a year. It is getting to be too much for the taxpayer. Lots of people came here to retire in peace. There has been no peace since we moved to this state.

We do not have children in school - our children are grown. I do not mind helping, but there has to be another way besides property owners footing the whole bill. Nicholas P. Fiorovich Athol

Anti-school types hold too much sway

The controversy over the Boundary County school levy has always been a battle between people who support good education and anti-government and religious extremist types.

The religious extremists want public schools replaced by private schools that can teach their religious beliefs. The anti-government types want schools supported by kickbacks from industries that depend upon natural resources on government land. They, including Rep. Helen Chenoweth, want all public land to eventually be private land owned and used by industry for profit.

Fortunately, most people in Bonners Ferry are intelligent individuals who want good schools and good education. These people want to keep our public land for hunting, fishing, and recreation.

The problem is that there are too many people who listen to the dogma of these groups and are swayed by it. So our kids get the shaft.

Go to Bonners Ferry and take some pictures of our schools - you will be appalled. Mark Rist Bonners Ferry

New school not practical now

Boundary County should not build a new high school!

I am a 1996 graduate of Bonners Ferry High School and I recognize the need. However, I also realize that we are incapable of governing and sustaining a project of that size ($1.1 million for 10 years). There are so many inconsistencies in the way money is apportioned in the school system. It’s a wonder anything is accomplished.

I hear that highly respected teachers, coaches and families are thinking of leaving the area because there is no yes vote. What about a commitment to making the school better vote, and not just having a new building?

Also, I believe that for now, the people have spoken. The initiators of the levies rerun the levies at least twice a year. It’s like a child whining until they get what they want.

Most parents aren’t physically involved enough with their children’s education, so why should they care about where they go to school? Are kids now so flighty that they need a spiffy new facility in order to learn?

I tend to think education relies on presentation quality combined with the willingness to learn. I will never vote yes on this levy until I see evidence of consistently good leadership and participation by the whole community. I am confident that it may one day happen, but a large new facility until then is out of the question. Jeff Hunsaker Bonners Ferry

GOP may regret taxation hodgepodge

The Boundary County schools situation again points up the need for a complete overhaul of Idaho’s taxation system. The patchwork quilt of multiple taxation districts here is a tribute to extreme, right-wing libertarian models, demonstrating why those models don’t work in practice.

With a Republican governor and attorney general opposing state contributions to local school districts in court, education is again becoming a wedge issue gifted by the Republican majority in Idaho to Democrats.

The last time a Democrat victory occurred in Kootenai County, in the late 1980s, education was a primary issue getting out the Democrat vote at the polls and swinging the folks in the center behind Democrat candidates. The Republican administration in both the executive and legislative branches of Idaho government should pay attention, or they may pay at the polls. Nat Adams Post Falls

BELIEFS

Coming up: A `casting down’

Re: the State of the Union address:

“My fellow Americans, I stand before you to report that the state of our union is strong,” - President Clinton during his address.

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape,” - First Thessalonians 5:2-3.

“They have healed also the hurt (of the daughter) of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace; when (there is) no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: At the time (that) I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord,” - Jeremiah 16:14-15 Bryan Barnard Ponderay

THE ENVIRONMENT

Arctic refuge bill worth supporting

On the 10th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez’ spill in Prince William Sound, observed March 24, 1999, oil companies and certain legislators from Alaska are again saying that oil exploration, drilling and transportation will not be harmful to wildlife and the environment of Alaska. At issue this time are the meager oil reserves located beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

As of the end of the 10 years since the 1989 spill, the wildlife and fishery of Prince William Sound have not recovered. Longterm effects on marine life and wildlife in the area include but are not limited to genetic damage, deformity, tumors, liver damage, stunted growth, etc. It’s quite a legacy to behold.

As usual, greed and shortsighted desires of a minority interest threaten another of our national treasures. With an obvious oil glut worldwide there is no need to tap these insignificant oil reserves. Even if there were a need, there is only enough oil to run our country for six months at best.

Morris K. Udall has drafted a bill to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the same fate which befell Prince William Sound. I challenge you, Rep. George Nethercutt, to co-sponsor this bill. Dan W. Semler Colton, Wash.

Clean air vs. profits: No contest

Re: “Trouble with stubble.” (News, Jan. 31).

As a resident of Eastern Washington, I can’t believe the issue of field burning is even being debated. It seems to me that the base issue is the health of the people vs. the profits of a handful of farmers. If this is the case, the health of the people should always win out. We are talking about one-quarter million or more Washingtonians who have their health compromised, their lives inconvenienced and their summers shortened by the inconsiderate burning of the farmers to the south and west.

My wife has asthma and is forced to stay indoors and limit her physical activity during burning season. Each year we attempt to leave town for a week or so at our own expense, in search of fresh air. We would leave for the entire burning season, but for the financial burden of eight weeks on the road.

If burning must take place, perhaps a two-week season, with the state picking up the cost of moving all residents out of the region during that period is the answer. Otherwise, if grass and wheat prices must go up, so be it. If a few farmers must lose their businesses, so be it.

This should be a no-brainer. It is the health of the people that matters. William N. Boaz Liberty Lake

WILDLIFE

Predators behind demise of caribou

It isn’t logging that is killing caribou, it’s the cougars. We know that because caribou have been radio-collared and tracked. The big cats (and some wolves) are killing them. You can import all the caribou you want and most of them will end up as very expensive cougar food.

Biologists recently learned that only 20 percent of the elk calves in the Clearwater region (once the largest herd in Idaho) are surviving their first summer. Bears and cougars killed most of them. Are predators bad? Too many can be and it is a delicate balance. Hunters are natural predators, too, but comparably very inefficient and we strictly limit them.

Thanks to the federal government, we have 100 imported wolves in Idaho killing our wildlife at the rate of one animal a week per wolf. That amounts to over 5,000 animals lost to Idaho every year, and for what? Why do we care more about grizzlies, cougars and wolves than people, mule deer, caribou and elk? LLoyd O. Calderwood Hayden Lake

Correction

A reference to “salmonid recreation fishery” in Richard J. Rivers’ Feb. 6 letter, “Corps publicity offensive, one-sided,” appeared only as “salmon recreation fishery.” The difference is significant in that salmonid refers as well to steelhead trout, so that many more fish for a sport fishery would be included than if salmon alone were involved.