Letters for March 23, 2022

The Ides of March

Last week the Idaho Legislature voted to make it illegal for a woman to end a pregnancy at six weeks, before many even know they’re pregnant. The new law would incentivize family members to act as enforcers. It is modeled after a recent law in Texas.

This week the Idaho Senate killed a House bill prohibiting gender-affirming health care for minors, stating the legislation undermined parental rights and allowed for government interference: “We believe in parents’ rights and that the best decisions regarding treatment options for children are made by parents, with the benefit of their physician’s advice and expertise.”

Now let’s change one word in their statement.

… the legislation undermines women’s rights and allows for government interference: “We believe in women’s rights and that the best decisions regarding treatment options for women are made by them, with the benefit of their physician’s advice and expertise.”

How can a woman bear full responsibility for a life produced by her outside the womb and not be responsible enough to make medical decisions for herself?

There will be legal recourse to combat the law, if signed, outlawing women’s health care choices, because it is blatantly wrong.

Marilyn Beckett

Moscow

PFAS Airway Heights

Friday’s report on “harmful firefighting chemicals” (“Airway Heights residents near PFAS have toxins in blood, urine, CDC says,” March 18) is a polite but inadequate update on a horrific life-changing episode, sampled by the 333 Airway Heights residents described in this study of groundwater contamination now in their own bodies. Three members of a family just down the street from me are cancer victims. One died last summer of pancreatic cancer, and their well water test last week exceeded the safe level of PFAS.

The facts missing from Friday’s otherwise helpful article are that the Pentagon mandated this fire suppressant foam at Air Force bases throughout the country for more than 40 years; Dow Chemical stopped making it because it knew of the toxic bio-eternity of this required component of the formula; and the personnel at these bases were exposed for another 10 years before the Pentagon said so. A former Fairchild commander risked his career and retirement by blowing the whistle on his own employer. Courage like that, practiced by all our local leaders, is required. Leverage that strength, please, by your own aggressive reporting that looks away from neither causes nor manifestations.

Remember Love Canal? The remedies of that “never-again” local tragedy were designed to protect not just the descendants of those unfortunate neighbors, but with national contamination regulations and penalties to protect all Americans.

It will take a huge amount of money and care to make our lives a little safer, and it should not be provided by local taxpayers or ratepayers.

John Hancock

Spokane

What’s going on with Ozzie?

What was Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich thinking? His new recruit, Shane Widman, whined into the TV camera last year that he was “tired of being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it” when he lost his job with the Washington State Patrol for not being vaccinated.

Doesn’t his new job as a public servant require him to show up on time for his assigned shift wearing the required uniform of the Sheriff’s Office and follow the strict trainings and protocols of the department as well as the directions from the sheriff? I wonder when he will get “tired” of this. His attitude more resembles that of the law breaker than the law enforcer.

What was Ozzie thinking? It certainly is time for a new sheriff.

Phyllis Holmes

Spokane

Coronavirus: What happens next

What a relief to see virus mandates eased! But, while we’re enjoying a return to near-normal, let’s use this time to plan how to respond should the virus threaten again.

We are already hearing of an omicron variant, BA.2. While this isn’t what we wanted to hear, we must decide: If this variant becomes widespread, will we proclaim our liberties and dismiss our fellow citizens who are immunocompromised, susceptible because of age, or unable to be vaccinated? These people are not our enemies. They’re our neighbors, community members, friends and co-workers. Are we truly so self-important that we feel infringed upon when asked to consider the safety and health of others?

Working together for the common good is not so unusual. During WWII there were blackouts, curfews and rationing. Our citizens complied with these mandates. They knew that by working together they could triumph over adversity.

The polio epidemic of the ’50s was terrifying. When a vaccine became available, it was embraced and countless lives were saved. Similar results happened with vaccines for small pox, tuberculosis, measles, mumps and rubella.

By acting together to defeat this virus we help both ourselves and others. The length of time the coronavirus runs rampant is dramatically shortened when we use masking, vaccines and distancing to defeat it. Let’s turn from the focus on “me” and focus instead on “we.” In a nutshell, America is stronger when we work with, not against, one another.

Karen Parks

Greenacres