Letters for Oct. 14, 2022

Mackay failure can cause radiation release

Relocate Mackay, Idaho, soon, preventing loss of life and resources the Department of Energy deems acceptable regarding the Idaho National Laboratory.

NO safety recommendation, construction standard, or report of impending failure, can be ignored when it comes to environment-changing climatic events affecting human comfort.

It’s newsworthy that flooding of INL nuclear facilities due to extreme weather and structural dam failures, would likely cause radiation releases.

The newsletter from the Environmental Defense Institute says, “when reservoir inflows exceed the release capability from outlet works and spillway, the dam will overtop and fail the embankment, rapidly releasing water from the reservoir. Water reaches Mackay with no time for evacuation. Failure of the high hazard dam will cause loss of life.”

Within hours, the floodwaters inundate portions of the Idaho National Laboratory where spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste and an operating nuclear reactor are located. Even if radiological releases are avoided, the flooding will certainly entail high costs to address damaged or degraded above-ground and below-ground nuclear facilities.

Instead, we get fluff propaganda from the DOE mimicked by the Washington Post and other news organizations. It appears someone has employed Evillene, the wicked witch from “The Wiz,” to sing (as she bewitches the messenger) “Don’t you bring me no bad news!”

Hollis Higgins

Spokane

UI’s response to recent state legislation

The University of Idaho has made headlines around the world for its discussion of recent state legislation regarding abortion. While a few sources have correctly reported the context of a September memo distributed to university employees detailing the legislation, most media sources have strategically reframed the situation.

Sources ranging from local news outlets to President Biden, have framed the memo as an implication of the university’s stance on abortion instead of what it truly is, a summary of legislation that directly impacts university employees. The memo aimed to protect employees by providing information about the No Public Funds for Abortion Act, a piece of state legislation prohibiting state institutions and employees from promoting, facilitating or aiding abortion while working in an official capacity. With media coverage focusing on the response of the university, an entity with no control over state law, a potentially productive civil discourse surrounding the impact of state governance in the post-Roe era devolved into a divisive and slanderous debate over university memos, rather than state laws.

As a UI graduate and doctoral student specializing in policy, I applaud the actions of activists who have fulfilled their democratic duty by voicing their various beliefs and visions for the future of the university. However, governments create laws, not universities. So ignore the media propagated conflict surrounding a summary of the legislation and instead go to Boise and voice your opinions about the legislation itself to Gov. Brad Little and the 81 legislators who supported the bill.

Alex Ayers

Pullman

Camp Hope

Camp Hope provides a home and community for the homeless. A tent for many is the closest thing to privacy and security they have. Disbanding Camp Hope would disburse people to other parts of the city where they would be more difficult to reach and help, more of a burden on our health care and law enforcement services.

At Camp Hope they have a sense of community, food, showers and most importantly, outreach from organizations in that big white tent that can provide addiction resources, mental health referrals and in some cases, placement in housing or shelters, even a job. This is a slow process. It takes six weeks just to get an ID. In cleanup sweeps, they often lose important papers and identification.

Each individual in the camp has a very different need to address and all resource agencies have one location to work from at Camp Hope. In one location they can apply for jobs, dress, shower and be provided with transportation to get to a job. There is no one solution for all homeless people.

Homelessness is a problem worldwide and it is a societal problem. The lack of affordable housing and addiction/mental health services, jobs that pay enough for the cost of living, the loss of a partner/wife/husband to cancer and COVID-19 all contribute to homelessness. Depression can lead to drug and alcohol abuse.

Only compromise will solve this problem or it will continue to be in our future.

Karen Jurasin

Spokane

911 response

An article in the S-R the other morning says that Camp Hope needs more assistance from the police department (“Camp Hope tightens security, but staff say they need help,” Oct. 7), but what about the taxpayers? I live in the Hillyard District and last night some people rang my doorbell around 10 p.m. and said that his lost cell phone had been traced to my address. I am able to talk to people on my front porch from my bathroom window and I told him he was mistaken and to please leave. He continued to harass me, so I called to my nephew who lives in my downstairs and he came up and told them to leave.

To make a long story short, we called 911 and there was no answer, we then called Crime Check where we were put on hold and after 20 minutes of being on hold, we were told that they notified dispatch. By then these people left after I told them the police were on their way and I had a gun and I would use it.

My question is, what if my house were on fire or I were truly in danger from these people, what would I have done? This really scares me and I am at odds as to why 911 calls are not answered. If someone could tell me what to do when I pay my taxes and provide my own fencing, that I cannot count on any type of protection from our city.

Patty Neilsen

Spokane

Waking up the mugwumps

Sitting on the fence for three score and more years has been an acquired vocation.

Without thought or consideration, each major political party controls members’ stand on policy, or that member loses contributions or the support of that party. Reminds me of the old company store days, “do it our way or starve.”

Being blunt, there is a new marshal in town. Truth and honesty are slowly corrupting into lies, deceit and political terror. If you disagree with a philosophy, you can be singled out, ridiculed, barricaded, have your family threatened with harm and violence (i.e. governors, judges, poll workers, civil workers and military personnel). The marshal wears a four-point star proudly on his chest with the small letters of m-a-g-a on each point (an acronym for ‘manifest another guerrilla attack’).

Our new marshal has garnered followers who are tired of the old and sloppy methods. The community they are establishing can be symbolized as the prairie dog haven and they have belief in their pied piper, who is willing to lead them not to the sea, but to the nearest highway to perish under a bus.

Finally, assign any name you dislike as the new marshal and take out your crayons to highlight any phrase as red, blue, brown, black or white. After you name and color, welcome yourself to the prairie dog city, you just became “one of them.” Or, you can become a mugwump and think for yourself.

Kit Heston

Nine Mile Falls