Letters for July 16, 2024
Library Act 710 is not about censorship
Opposition and protests against Idaho’s Library Act Number 710 leave me baffled and wondering if the opposition has actually read the law. Have you?
Opponents shout transphobia and homophobia as drivers of the law. The law makes no mention of transgender and only scant reference to the latter and only in the context of stating materials displaying images or details of sexual conduct, either hetero or homosexual in nature, are inappropriate materials for the children. Do you disagree with the idea that a 4-year-old should not be able to randomly find such images in the children’s section of a school or library? These same people accuse the law of being a form of censorship, which is either an intentional misrepresentation or proof of their ignorance of the actual law. Not a single item will be removed from a library as a result of this law. This law is about age-appropriate materials and is no more about censorship than laws limiting access to cigarettes, alcohol or firearms to minors are about violating human rights.
If a parent wishes to instruct their 5-year-old on various sexual positions, sadomasochism or torture, (all mentioned in the law) they are free to borrow such materials from the adult section of the library and share them with their children. This law does nothing to interfere with this possibility. Rather it gives the public the ability to request such materials not be available in the children’s section.
David Barnes
Sandpoint
Extremist nonsense in community newspaper
In “No More Excuses: Spokane Should Enforce Camping Bans,” Chris Corry of the Washington Policy Center delights in the recent corrupted Supreme Court’s ruthlessness in the Martin v. Boise decision, saying it’s now just fine to push the homelessness problem “somewhere else,” I guess.
Corry is gaslighting readers when he pretends the social service agencies currently providing limited services to a portion of the Spokane homeless population are suddenly, magically adequate to the challenge. While they do their best from the separate nonprofit silos they protect, the crisis in Spokane last winter is proof positive it is not adequate.
As a frequent critic of Spokane’s spending on any social service, Corry know that bringing in MAGA consultants, like Alec Baldwin’s little brother and right-wing extremist podcaster Richard Prager isn’t going to do anything to solve Spokane’s homelessness crisis. It’s going to take a real community effort that won’t be free.
Who’s next, Mr. Corry, Stephen Miller to come in and help us separate homeless mothers from their children? There’s no excuse for running this kind of extremist nonsense in a community newspaper, except that the publisher is on the board of Corry’s employer. No excuse indeed.
Jim Wavada
Spokane