The June 16, 2017, county lawsuit against building the Spokane Tribe Casino concluded that flights into Fairchild would be less safe due to the lighting distractions of the casino. This lawsuit was filed by our county commissioners in spite of the fact that the casino is over a mile away from Fairchild and the U.S. Department of the Interior found that “this casino will not be detrimental to the surrounding community.”

A simple inspection of Google maps shows that the new Amazon warehouse is located essentially adjacent to the approach of the main Spokane International Airport runway. I submit that the lighting requirements for safe Amazon employee parking and truck loading docks would be just as much a hazard to commercial airline traffic as the so-called impact of the much more distant casino lighting to military training flights.

The safety of our commercial airport is at least as important as that of Fairchild. Where is the same concern for public safety by our county commissioners? Where is a similar lawsuit against Amazon? Do the current county commissioners represent us or special interests? Something to think about as you mark your ballots.

Leon W. Schmidt

Spokane