Letters for Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022

Breach the lower four Snake River dams

I applaud Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee’s commitment to not let Washington state lose our salmon.

Words are nice, but we need action. Their recent report states that breaching the lower four Snake River dams is the best way to recover our once-abundant Snake River salmon populations. The recovery goal for wild Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon is escapement of 127,000 fish. In the past 10 years, the average has been 12,675. Four of the past five years have been below the 10-year average. They are on the path toward extinction.

The path to abundance must include breaching the lower four Snake River dams. This has been clear for decades. Taxpayers and ratepayers in the Northwest have spent billions in failed salmon recovery efforts in the Snake River. Breaching the dams would save money in the long run. As the report shows, we can use truly clean sources to replace the relatively small amount of power that the Snake River dams generate.

A power source that completely alters an ecosystem and kills a keystone species cannot be considered clean. I call on Sen. Murray, Gov. Inslee, and other Northwest lawmakers to act quickly to breach the lower four Snake River dams and replace the services that they provide. The salmon do not have time to waste. They are on the brink of extinction. For the sake of future generations, we cannot let extinction happen on our watch.

Henry Roller

Walla Walla

Use common sense with dams

Nice to see Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee made the right decision regarding dam breaching.

For those that say electricity is not needed from the Snake River dams, they are not paying attention to future electricity demands. Conservation alone will not meet this growing need, and wind and solar systems alone will not deliver the needed power.

Idaho is quickly growing in the number of people and Washington state is banning the sale of new fossil fueled vehicle and is phasing out fossil fuel for all new homes (time will come all new vehicles will only be available as nonfossil fuel-burning vehicles in all of the states). All of these vehicles and homes and additional people are NEW demands for electricity.

The Seattle Times Editorial Board asked a great question when it said, “What is the next step if dam breaching of the Snake River dams has little to no effect on fish runs?”

There is also the common sense solution to the reported fish challenges. There are limits on the taking of game animals and sometimes due to low number of animals, no animals may be taken. Common sense would say if fish runs are endangered, stop fishing. Do not be so greedy by saying it is “our right” to fish until the fish are gone.

For those who still believe dam removal is needed today, turn off the power to your home or business so you will become accustomed to a lack of electricity.

Mike Cloke

Clarkston

Go ahead and indict

Attorney General Merrick Garland won’t indict Donald Trump. His whole play is to get Trump to do something that could be construed as obstructing an FBI investigation – hence obstruction of justice.

Trump weighing in on whether the affidavit should be released – Garland would be yelling obstruction of the investigation.

Trump releasing these documents he says are already declassified – I can hear the howls – “Obstruction! Obstruction!”

Same old play as the Mueller investigation. No there, there. Garland is Obama’s Rachel Maddow – all innuendo.

The FBI wouldn’t be raiding Mar-a-Lago if it didn’t know Trump has the absolute goods on their corruption. Those documents.

If they indict, all these documents become public. Whether they’re classified or not, the documents will come out.

We should double-dog dare the FBI to indict – and to stick its tongue on that frozen flagpole!

Cris Kennedy

Hayden

Does anybody know their rights?

I am astonished by how many people don’t know their basic rights. We have God-given rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which include the right to travel freely without a commercial license and to film from public anything our eyes can see to hold our public servants accountable. By law, they have no expectation of privacy in public.

The U.S. Constitution protects and secures our constitutional rights as laid out in the Bill of Rights. Our civil rights are another matter, but for the most part few know what they are either.

Bowing down to “authorities” that manipulate and intimidate us into giving up our rights is unacceptable in a free country and in society. If the people continue to remain ignorant of the law and these rights, we’re heading down the road to totalitarianism and it’s hard to turn it around.

Research what your rights are and stand up for your basic rights. We the people are responsible for monitoring what our elected officials do and for what laws they are passing with or without our knowledge. The last three years are a great example of what our ‘leaders’ will do to the people if we continue to cower in fear and are ignorant of the laws of this great country.

Know your rights and use them!

Todd Horner

Spokane

Tell-a-vision

A cellphone is much like a portable television.

Teachers of value.

Danny Ebbinghassen

Spokane