And another thing …
Do the neighborly thing. Spokane County Commissioners and several dozen neighborhood activists who want their ear have a minor scheduling problem, nothing more.
When representatives from the Spokane Neighborhood Alliance asked for 45 minutes to deliver a briefing at the commissioners’ Feb. 1 evening meeting, the commissioners balked. Briefings are held mornings, not on the Tuesday evening agenda. But it’s easier for working folks to get to an evening meeting, the activists pointed out.
The important thing is that everyone, including brand new commissioners Todd Mielke and Mark Richard, agrees it’s important to have good communication between the board and the community. So making an exception for a briefing on the evening of Feb. 1 shouldn’t be a major obstacle. But if commissioners are going to be hidebound about it, they could at least find another weekday evening for such a meeting.
You don’t kick sand in these faces. Three cheers for Coeur d’Alene Councilmen Ron Edinger and Ben Wolfinger for not being cowed by an attempt by the Idaho attorney general’s office to wash its hands of the never-ending Sanders Beach controversy.
Recently, Deputy Attorney General Steven Schuster opined in a letter that he thought East Lakeshore Drive property holders owned the popular swimming beach. And that would mean Coeur d’Alene residents have no claim to the beach that they have used for more than a century. Rather than rely on guess work by a state official in faraway Boise, Edinger and Wolfinger urged the council Tuesday to fight this matter to the Idaho Supreme Court, if necessary. Said Edinger: “Let’s find out once and for all who that property belongs to.”
For years, courts and powerful individuals in the Coeur d’Alene area have sidestepped attempts to establish the lake’s high-water mark, an imaginary line dividing public and private lakeshore property. It’s time someone pinned it down.
Congeniality and then some. Hollywood took its knocks in 2004 when celebrities’ right to influence political life was routinely questioned. Film star Sandra Bullock has now provided a more flattering angle on how the rich and famous put their visibility to use.
Bullock, star of such movies as “Speed” and “Miss Congeniality,” has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross to assist victims of the tsunami that slammed nations ringing the Indian Ocean last month. Three years earlier, she gave a like amount in the wake of 9/11’s terrorist attacks.
Bullock isn’t the only person – famous or not – making charitable contributions, of course. The sum is nevertheless substantial, and while she can afford it, it’s inspiring to see decency and compassion showcased so conspicuously.