Letters for April 6, 2022
Real cause of pollution in our community
Recently, Naghmana Sherazi wrote a guest column titled; “Forget gas, clean energy would save money for all” (March 23). Natural gas provides affordable energy in an unaffordable world to thousands of families in our community.
A recent study conducted by Really Clean Energy for the city of Spokane outlined all the producers of greenhouse gases and the metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents in the area. The leading producer of both of these types of pollutants are transportation and passenger vehicles. Residential housing didn’t even appear on their list of contributors of carbon dioxide equivalents, and it only clocked in at 24% of the greenhouse gas emissions sector while transportation accounted for 46%. We see the effects of high housing costs every morning: a mass influx of people driving in from Idaho and every evening a mass exodus out of the city.
What does all this mean? Our environmental issues are not being caused by the natural gas that supplies thousands of residents with affordable heating. Our problem is that no one can afford to live here, so they buy homes in Idaho. The constant stream of cars going back and forth is creating more pollution than the low-income families who are just trying to stay warm. Instead of banning natural gas, and forcing people to decide between heating and eating, it’s time we address our housing shortage and create a community that people can afford to live in. Solving affordable housing will help solve our environmental problems by reducing commuter traffic.
Ryan Smith
Cheney
Why is Florida company involved?
Central Valley School District is one of the best school districts in our state. I was a CVSD student, teacher and coach.
Imagine my surprise to read that a company from Florida is working to undermine our district by supporting school board candidates and paying for divisive mailers.
Children of every race, background and ZIP code should have the freedom to learn and pursue their dreams. These past two years have been challenging for everyone. Through it all our teachers have been absolute heroes and the backbone of our community. They did everything they could to keep our students safe and learning. These hardworking, dedicated professionals should be commended.
While educators want to provide every child an accurate and quality education, certain politicians and their radical PACs want to whitewash parts of our history to push a political agenda. I taught history and civics and know how important an honest and accurate education is. We must continue to learn from our past mistakes and not allow leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. or Ruby Bridges to be erased by the demands of extremist politicians.
Groups like this PAC want to turn us against schools, teachers and public education itself. But, those of us in the community know we have awesome schools and teachers. We understand how important public education is for our children and for democracy. We have their backs and will continue to work together to make sure our schools are places where every child belongs and can thrive.
Stan Chalich
Liberty Lake
War: What is it good for?
On March 29 (Vietnam Veterans Day) I sent a broadcast email to a group of fraternity brothers, “Who Remembers Their Lottery Number?” Most had been at WSU from ’68 to ’72 during the height of the Vietnam mess. I didn’t expect much, but – WOW – was I wrong! In two days, I had 25 emails with stories and even pictures. Some were detailed, some were filled with relief, some were sad, some were angry and one was brief, “34.”
All of them brought back long forgotten feelings of my own. One fellow called them “… a blessing” and I think he is right. It’s too bad that youngsters today (anyone under the age of 60) have no idea what that was like. It was almost a time of torture as we watched the news, heard the “body count” and waited for the roll of the dice that would decide our future of going to fight an unwinnable war in a faraway land.
I hope that never happens again. Believe it or not, there were some young people who went to Canada to avoid it. Over 58,000 were killed in Vietnam, but the really disgusting part is how we treated those who came back broken, and there are still many around. We call them “homeless.” We need to honor and care for those who did what was asked. Thank you for your service. We owe you.
Doug Kaer
Spokane Valley