Letters for Aug. 13, 2023
Lots to look forward to
Well, here is the latest scoop: Gov. Ron DeSantis says if elected, the first thing he will do is start “slitting throats.” Donald Trump says his first task will be to instruct his DOJ to get the Biden crime family and the Democrats, and lastly, the beloved MTG wants to shut our government down this fall. Lots to look forward to from our friendly GOP folks. Have not heard what CMR’s plans are yet.
Bob Sanborn
Colbert
Misled by moms
Don’t be misled by “moms.”
A top vote-getter for the Spokane Valley City Council is president of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty.
Going by their name, one might assume this well-funded nationwide organization is doing good things, but the truth is quite the opposite.
They are mostly responsible for the push to ban books that tell of our country’s history of racial inequities, and information about people in the LGBTQ+ communities as well as their viewpoints. Members have advocated for and committed intimidation and violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified “Moms for Liberty” as an anti-government extremist entity, comparing it to parent groups which tried to re-segregate schools during the civil rights movement.
Their claims of being for “parental rights” actually is about taking away the parental rights of parents who don’t agree with them.
Parental rights have always been about deciding what’s best for your own child, not about having someone else’s parent taking that right away from you!
Keep this extremist out of your local government.
If you voted for her and you’re not a racist and a homophobe and didn’t realize who you actually had voted for, you still have time to correct your honest mistake by voting Rachel Brisco for Spokane Valley City Council in November.
Tom Topping
Millwood
History was warm, too
On Aug. 3, it was 94 degrees. Some 60 to 70 years ago, in 1956 and 1962, it was 103 degrees. Was there global warming back then?
Deann Decaire
Spokane
No one understands red flag warnings?
People, people, people. What don’t you understand about red flag warnings?
It’s extremely hot, extremely dry, has been for months and any spark will start a fire. Until a few days ago, we have had nothing but sunshine and clear skies, so any fires in the region have been human-caused.
Use some common sense. Don’t toss your cigarette butts or use your garbage container instead of your burn barrel (I know some of you have one). Just be safe.
It would be nice to get through a summer without dealing with all the smoke. Don’t get me started on the four fires that were intentionally started earlier this month. Those people are at the head of the idiot’s class.
Gary Prusa
Spokane Valley
Fires and equitable distribution of shelters
Earlier this month a horrific thing happened: Finch Arboretum burned. It was a hot, dry, windy day. Neighbors in the area of West Hills pray today won’t be the day, but on Aug. 3, fires started and evacuations were issued.
Daily, we watch people slumped over in their vehicles. We watch people slip into the woods on foot right behind Catalyst, where the fire truck stayed parked to keep watch after the fire was extinguished. We find scorched foil and cigarette butts. These things on concrete don’t start a blaze, but they do up this way in dry, forested areas.
The city and the Department of Commerce don’t take our concerns seriously as they continue to approve and fund shelters and transitional housing here, clustering a volatile population in dry timber. Catholic Charities calls the neighbors “NIMBYs” yet they have not signed a promised good neighbor agreement. They continue to seek funding for more projects in the neighborhood, where they already have six. Their CEO says publicly his shelter tenants attract a certain population that live outside their fences. So, they built a big fence around Catalyst and that is where the fire started, just outside of that fence. It breaks my heart to see so many suffering on the streets, yet burning down Spokane is not the answer. Treatment and a safe location to set up a camp would be places to start. The area is officially a hot spot for crime and fires now.
Is this supposed to be normal?
Elizabeth Goodwin-Oakes
Spokane
Congress can fix permitting process
As a Union Carpenter in Spokane, it is great to hear that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Congress are considering ways to reduce review times on major energy and infrastructure projects on public lands, which will allow workers to get on these job sites faster.
Rep. McMorris Rodgers, chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, is in a strong position to ensure that as the country invests in energy infrastructure, the skilled workforce on these projects are paid fair wages and benefits.
Congress must prioritize the benefits of these projects, along with community input and the needs of working families including prevailing wage provisions.
Tony Edwards
Spokane
Alarming problems in northwest Spokane
As a neighborhood council leader, I am compelled to draw attention to the alarming public safety issues occurring in our beautiful northwest neighborhoods.
Problems in the parks are increasing: transient camping, trash, drug paraphernalia, vandalism, shootings and stabbings. Families no longer feel safe at Shadle or Franklin parks. Most recently, fresh gang graffiti has appeared along North Monroe, Ash and Maple street corridors, and Northwest Boulevard. The correlation between graffiti and gang violence is obvious.
I implore our city administration and elected officials to increase funding for more code enforcement officers and begin aggressive graffiti abatement. Let’s work harder to turn these problems around.
Frances A. Papenleur
Spokane
Progressive trifecta not the way to go
I read with interest J. Kent Adams’ letter (“Spokane will not elect a progressive trifecta,” Aug. 6). It is a well-written letter concerning the Spokane city election and states that several candidates for city offices are encouraging creation of “Spokane’s first-ever progressive trifecta.” The trifecta would consist of mayor Lisa Brown, City Council President Betsy Wilkerson, and City Council Member Paul Dillon. The goal as stated would be to “pass our policies in full force.” Letters were sent out by Wilkerson and Dillon requesting support for their trifecta.
The letter writer questioned that goal as a way to suppress a city government that could eliminate a platform that brings various viewpoints to the table, and the writer concludes that any such goal from any political entity is unacceptable from any viewpoint or political persuasion. Though we reside just outside Spokane city limits, many of our services and purchasing of goods and services are inside those limits.
I concur.
Judy LaMont
Colbert
The Pac-12 ship hit an iceberg
Most really don’t get college football here. Oregon and Washington got on a Big Ten life raft from a sinking Pac-12 ship at half the revenue USC and UCLA will get, and do you blame them? Half of Big Ten revenue is still better than the Pac-12 situation having no SoCal market. Remember, Los Angeles County is Washington and Oregon’s combined population.
We lack empathy. We don’t get those lonely dark, icy highways until late October or November. Outdoor night games in Pullman in cold, wet conditions are a bit of an iceberg to the rest of the Pac-12 ship.
We don’t see Wazzu football stories in this paper on the front page above the fold midweek because we don’t value football like the Columbia, South Carolina, paper values their Gamecocks. (Another zero national football title school.)
College football matters to Americans, just not as much here. And with fewer people near our lone Pac-12 Palouse outpost on the Idaho line, what else could it be? Didn’t the Idaho Vandals get de-SunBelted too?
Meanwhile, in the more popular Sun Belt, college football is bigger than many NFL teams. The NFL Falcons, Panthers, Titans and Jaguars don’t matter as much as teams from Tuscaloosa, Athens, Gainesville, Clemson or even Columbia.
We actually gave up college football long ago to move or stay here. It’s the price of peace and quiet. Wazzu’s imminent demotion and all. I’ve lived in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Carolina and SoCal. Here’s better. Just not the football. So be it.
Mike Reno
Newman Lake
The downfall of the Pac-12 Conference
My father and I watched or listened to games on the radio many times when I was a child, because that was the only source of knowing what was happening with the Washington State Cougars and the rest of the teams on the West Coast. The Pacific 8 conference, then the Pac-10 and finally the Pac-12, was one of the most storied conferences in the entire country!
I am sickened and literally at a loss for words at how the money has drawn eight out of the Pac-12 schools to kill the conference as we know it! I’m a huge college football, basketball and college athletics fan and supporter. But to leave a few teams – in this case WSU, OSU, Stanford and UC Berkley – up in the air? You can’t have a conference with four teams just because no one wants you. This to me is incomprehensible.
At this time, I would like to reach out to any and all college sports fans to say, boycott college football!
I know you probably won’t, but really? The athletes, the talent that is shown and all the hard work these student athletes put into what we see on the field is worth a lot more than these money-hungry colleges looking for a way to make their programs bigger and better.
To all big programs that have wasted no time thinking about the rivalries that will be lost forever: The fun and lead-up to those big games, and the loss of the oldest and best conference in the entire country, I say to you, No!
Brad Sorensen
Spokane