Letters To The Editor

Kootenai County

Take-it-or-leave-it jail fix won’t work

I understand that Kootenai County jail overcrowding is a problem that needs to be addressed. What I have a major problem with is the commissioners’ complete disregard for any options. We currently lock up a large number of nonviolent criminals who could be dealt with in different ways, such as home detention or community service. There are many ways to take a person’s freedoms away other than jail.

The other issue is that neither I nor the people I have talked to feel that they owe the criminals of this county a Hilton. Maybe if they suffer a little, they won’t be so likely to go back.

The commissioners just raised property taxes earlier this year and another raise is not an option, in my mind. There also is a need to scale back local government. It’s not the money it spends but how those in office spend money that has so many people upset. It is time to run a more efficient government and live within budgets. If the money isn’t there for all the projects, should wages be raised? It doesn’t work that way in the company environment, nor should it in the government environment. People aren’t going to support any kind of tax hike as long as government is run so inefficiently.

With the current you’re going to take what we do to you and shut up attitude of the commissioners right now, I don’t think they will find a lot of support from the community, now or at the ballot box. Barry Coe Post Falls

Don’t make us pay for coddling

I work for a living. I pay my bills when they come due. I uphold the laws of the land, as well as apply them in my line of work. My life is simple, with a few modest possessions.

I find it hard to swallow that criminals are allotted the highest privileges, swanky residences and amenities. I’m sorry if I sound cruel but why should jail be a luxury? If they have to reside in the sewers, so be it. If the best we want to provide is tents, why not?

Why must this community shell out millions of dollars to house people who, in great part, choose not to fit into our society, choose not to obey our laws, choose their own destiny?

Save our tax dollars to pay for more meaningful items on the agenda, like schooling, fire, police and other socially enriching items. Maybe if life wasn’t so easy for them in jail, they might try a little harder to stay out of there.

Commissioner Ron Rankin, get with the program. You were voted in to represent our opinions, our beliefs and because we are tired of all the government spending. So stop finding ways to spend it and make the criminals of our county pay their own way or do without! David Whitaker Spirit Lake

Be more selective in sentencing

I don’t think we need a new Kootenai County Jail. If judges wouldn’t put kids in jail for having cigarettes and political prisoners weren’t put in, there would be room for murderers and other violent criminals. We should not be made slaves by having our land indebted in the first place. Theodore E. Guindon Post Falls

Bill the bad guys

If the Kootenai County Jail is overcrowded, we need a larger facility. That is only right.

I support the novel idea that those who use services should pay for them. If you do the dirty deed and you have to be processed through the legal system, then you’d best be prepared to pay for it. The jail should charge a daily rate to cover costs. It should be billed to the individual, to be paid immediately or payable through payroll deduction for the rest of their lives, if need be.

The same should be true of court costs. If convicted, the criminal pays the costs involved. Perhaps an accused person should get a free attorney, judge, and jury. But once they are convicted and sentenced, why should taxpayers provide free meals and a roof over a convicted criminal’s head? People have to return to the old idea of taking personal responsibility for their actions. This is one more way to make that happen. Michael T. Doherty Hayden

Raise tents, not property tax

There is no such thing as an overcrowded jail. The last place to look for funds to make nicer surroundings for prisoners should be property tax. Unfortunately, raising property taxes is the first place politicians look for money.

The Kootenai County sheriff needs to look at jail facilities in Maricopa County, Ariz. I spent over 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and spent many nights in tents, in both cold and very hot weather. If a tent is good enough for someone serving our country it sure should be good enough to house a criminal.

Spending millions of dollars for state-of-the-art holding facilities is ridiculous. Excellent fencing with real deterrents between the fences should be all that is needed to keep the felons within the area they are supposed to remain in. If they have to spend some time caring for themselves and maintaining their living area, they would have less time to work the system.

Obviously, I am totally against any increase of property tax to improve living conditions for felons. B.E. Stanley Athol

Work prisoners and use their pay

If we need a new jail, it’s because we have some people who need a place to stay and keep them safe and warm, well-fed and out of trouble. Seems obvious to me the ones who enjoy this type of environment need to pay for it just like any other vacationer in our area.

Funds collected in the form of fines should go to a jail fund. Additionally, they should pay their own way with money out of their own pocket. They just need to do what anyone of us would have to do: work. Many commercial places could use a hand and would be willing to pay minimum wage to get tasks accomplished.

The guests in our jail are a readily available work force capable of shoveling snow, cutting grass (not the kind you smoke), picking up trash, painting, cleaning and doing things city and county workers can’t seem to get to.

All the money they get paid for their work should go to the jail fund. Don Geske Coeur d’Alene

Let sales tax pay for jail upgrade

We do need to expand the Kootenai County Jail’s capacity, based on our area’s growth, stricter laws for domestic violence and drinking and driving.

As well, our epidemic growth in meth labs has continued on top of general crime brought about by growth. We have quality law enforcement people in our county. They deserve the tools with which to carry out enforcement of the laws we legislate them to do.

I prefer thta we pay for additional facilities and personnel through the sales tax, exempting food.

We need to take a long-term view of supporting this type of infrastructure, based on today’s number 10 years out or more. We can’t bury our heads and pretend growth will not continue, it will. Wes Albert Rathdrum

We rely on jails too much as it is

In response to the request to build more cages, I say don’t build them. Release nonviolent offenders and get them working again. This country cages away more people per capita than any other advanced nation. We can figure out better ways to help the situation than the ages old lockup.

For the past 10 years I have worked directly with kids who do time. Extended jail stays don’t improve attitudes or social skills. This jail building boom is going to bust us financially and worse, it will bust a lot of nonviolent offenders spiritually. Pat Behm Coeur d’Alene

Stiff fines would strengthen system

One need only read the official records in the paper to see a viable way to get revenues for any government expansion: fines! As I read the punishments handed to offenders, I constantly see fines suspended or drastically reduced. Those dollars could go a long way toward making up the shortfall in funds available for incarceration and gain more funding for hiring law enforcement people.

Infractions dealing with public safety or the increased proliferation of drugs should be dealt with more stringently. By softening the punishment, we send a message to the dedicated peace officers in our system that we’re not placing the value on their efforts that we should. If anyone deserves our support, it’s those who work fervently to protect innocent citizens against those offenses. William Beseler Rathdrum

Government and politics

McCain qualities rare, desirable

Much ado is being made about Democrats and independents being allowed to vote in open primaries for Republican candidates. This, the old line party followers fear, will distort who the real candidate should be. This, it is implied, is a tactic to steal the election from the Republicans when those voters switch their vote back in November.

As a lifelong independent or Democrat voter, I’d like to tell the Republican Party, what hogwash. Want my crossover vote? Then give John McCain the nomination. I like his tax stance, which helps the middle class more than the rich. I like his search-and-destroy methods on pork barrel riders tacked onto legitimate legislation. He comes closest to being a statesman, not a politician. Christine L. Zackula Spokane

McCain not a Republican’s Republican

John McCain is a war hero. He stands on honor and truth. He is running on the Republican ticket. He encourages Democrats to cross over vote in the primaries in order to hurt another politician, and incidentally, pad his votes. He consistently takes stands not consistent with his chosen party. This is a man who is exuding honor and openness? This is a man we want to be a role model for our children? This is a man we want representing the Republican Party? I don’t think so. Shirley Hethorn Oldtown, Idaho

Open primaries a boon, not a bane

Studies following presidential elections have incontrovertibly shown that independent voters decide who wins, whether in close races or landslides.

Since independent voters, those who do not customarily vote on party lines, are that important in a general election, they must also be important in primaries.

Therefore, I cannot understand editorialist D. F. Oliveria’s stand (Opinion, Feb. 18) that so-called crossover voting in primaries is wrong. Isn’t the idea of a primary to nominate the person who, in the eyes of those who vote in one party’s primary, will make the best president and/or is most likely to defeat the other party’s nominee?

Since establishment candidates have the organizational clout, the money and are certain to carry huge majorities among party-line voters, what makes closed primaries much better than preaching to the choir?

One large benefit of the primary is that it often takes the nomination out of what used to be called the smoke-filled room. Open primaries do that much better than closed ones because they attract independent voters. Those who champion Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan as examples of outstanding GOP presidents should not be so avid to vote yea with the establishment. Harry E. Missildine Moscow

Bush not altogether pro-life

George W. Bush claims to be pro-life - that is, he would deny a woman the right to a medical decision regarding her own body in the public interest of an unborn embryo or fetus.

However, of the 98 executions of convicted criminals carried out in 1999, in the 38 states doing so, 75 were in Bush’s home state of Texas. Apparently to Bush, the taking of human life by poison or electric shock in the public interest has nothing to do with the meaning of pro-life. Gib J. Keithly Spokane

Revolution is on its way

Re: “Bush campaign experiencing war chest pains” (Feb. 17) and “Process shouldn’t reward mischief” (Feb. 18 editorial by D.F. Oliveria).

Poor rich people! They always assumed they could buy anything they wanted, even including a George W. Bush presidency. Now that John McCain is legitimately (not mischievously, Oliveria) pulling ahead of Bush, Bush campaign contributors are whining, Gee whiz, how is this possible?

It’s not only possible, it’s a sign of the times. Gold prices are artificially propped up. The stock market is dangerously overvalued. The middle class is shrinking while the poor class largely fails to share in the economic boom. Multinational corporations are downsizing at a rapid pace. Environmental degradation is causing great angst. Madison Avenue put it succinctly, albeit by accident, a few years ago with its slogan, “It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile.” As the rich are beginning to discover, it’s no longer business as usual.

Sniff, sniff, thar’s a revolution a-comin’! Margaret E. Koivula Spokane