Letters To The Editor

Sat., July 22, 2000

Doug Lawrence should be applauded

A comment on the Doug Lawrence guest column on July 15 regarding the cellular telephone towers near Post Falls: It’s another case of governmental bureaucracy and corporate America versus the little guy. I commend Mr. Lawrence in his taking on the big guys and sticking to it. Harvey Zion Coeur d’Alene

If beach isn’t mine, why do I pay taxes?

A July 15 Handle Extra article states “No matter what the proponents of privatization of the beach say, Sanders Beach is public. The courts have upheld the public’s interest.”

If it really is public, I had a lot of nerve to build a fence on it. Really, had I built that fence down the middle of the city beach, how long do you think it would have stayed there? If Sanders Beach really is public property, why does the city, which is suing me for the removal of the fence, state that it is private and belongs to me in the legal papers it has filed?

If it is public, why do I pay the county and city taxes for it? Why does the city tell me that any liability for mishaps on the beach will be mine and not theirs? Why has Mayor Judy asked me to give the city an easement to the beach? If it is public he should not need to do that.

It is true that the land below the historic summer lake level belongs to the state. The land above this is private. So where does the city come in? It owns nothing. At best it may be able to enforce some zoning regulations because the beach is in the city limits.

What have the courts upheld? The decision pertinent to my beach was by the Supreme Court in 1972, that my next door neighbor’s beach in fact belonged to him. Jack Simpson Coeur d’Alene

Answers needed concerning towers

According to the article in last Saturday’s Handle Extra, only three of the cellular telephone towers located on Blossom Mountain have been issued the permits required by Kootenai County! If so, why is Kootenai County not enforcing it’s own ordinances? Do the county ordinances apply only to individual citizens and not to corporations or governmental agencies? I would like some answers to these questions. Clyde R. Jenson Spirit Lake

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