Letters to the Editor for Sunday, Aug. 17

Let’s ensure our Redband Trout thrives

The Redband Trout that inhabits the Spokane River watershed is a cornerstone species that has become an icon for the region. These fish have endured numerous challenges, with the most pressing being the current low flows.

Trout require clean, cold water and strong river flows. In the summer months, the flows of the Spokane River drop, the weather becomes hot, and sections of the river become hot, causing trout to become stressed and vulnerable.

Therefore, it is vital for the maintenance of adequate flows from the aquifer water for Redband’s to survive. In the summer of 2023, in a forward-thinking effort, the Spokane City Council passed an ordinance that limits watering usage during the peak summer months. These measures support the Spokane River ecosystem and the city’s water supply. We can dramatically reduce our pressure during low flows in the river in a few ways.

First, outdoor watering should occur during the coolest part of the day. Second, consider replacing your lawn with drought-tolerant plants, and third, volunteer for a habitat restoration project. Finally, if you are an angler, fish only in the coolest part of the day, and release trout quickly. As a spokesperson for Trout Unlimited and a Spokane Community member, let’s work together to ensure that the iconic Redband Trout has our support.

Jim Tuck

Spokane River Watershed Project Manager of Trout Unlimited

Joy in a time of disparity

At a time when there is much political discord filling our minds with fear and distrust of one another, it is a delight to find a small ray of hope, peace, and joy to remind us kindness still exists. Thank you to those of you who recently completed tarring the cracks along High Drive. Your tar artwork, a flower and a heart, brought an awareness that there are many of us who care about what happens in our community and our nation. Thank you for taking a moment to send a message of hope and reminding us to share joy as we are able.

Lucretia Berg

Spokane

Fuming over fires

I’m so angry right now that writing a letter to the editor may be ill advised. Seems another fire near TJ Meenach is now requiring our brave firefighters out in 90-plus-degree weather to save people, pets and property. When we catch this pyromaniac, please tell me they’ll not get off with a fine, probation and counseling! Hard time followed by extensive community service for the firefighters and their families should be on the table. I’m so angry and frustrated! And still heartbroken by the recent pyromaniac massacre we have all experienced.

Pam Williams

Spokane

Quit blaming the shelters

If the city of Spokane wants to stop the euthanasia of dogs they need to spend a lot more than $670,000. They will need to build hundreds of dog kennels and be prepared to hire enough staff to round up, shelter, feed, care for, socialize, assess, enhance, train, vaccinate, spay and neuter, provide ongoing vet care and house them indefinitely or as long as it takes to make them adoptable because many of the dogs that come to SCRAPS have been abused or neglected. Most people are not in a position to adopt dogs that are untrained, have behavioral issues that must be addressed, or are a danger to the community if they get loose.

If the Spokane city council is truly committed to a no-kill philosophy they need to put their money where their mouth is and not just commit to adequately funding SCRAPS, but also fully funding TNR programs, free spay and neuter services for low income pet owners, and yes, even legislate breeding bans/moratoriums.

We need to quit blaming our shelters. There are just too many animals being born and dumped with no where for them to go.

Christy Anderlik

Liberty Lake

Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ hypocrisy

I read a past Spokesman-Review article about Cathy McMorris Rogers starting a nonprofit to train leaders.

There is so much of what she says versus what she does that don’t match. Same with Trump. So trust is hard to come by.

She says she emphasized trust, yet supported the big lie.

She wants a nation grounded in virtue, faith, and moral clarity. No wonder she left when this administration took over. The founding fathers established separation of church from state as important. Leave faith to church, not government that tells women they cannot control what happens to their own bodies.

She wants America to continue to be a beacon of “hope and freedom” (if you are Caucasian, have $5 million to buy citizenship.)

She wants opportunity and equality while her party has promoted the death sentence to DEI. She wants freedom (for Republicans to continue to discriminate based on ones political or religious beliefs?) She wants justice (to pardon the insurrectionist, and throw habeas corpus in the trash bin, and promote revenge political prosecutions?)

If she truly wanted these things, she should have stayed in Congress and fought for them. No other Republican is!

Paul Piper

Spokane

Baumgartner is not protecting Eastern Washington

In a recent letter to constituents, Michael Baumgartner promised to protect Eastern Washington. At this point, it is painfully obvious that his definition of protection is completely different than mine. As a senior citizen living in Baumgartner and Trump’s America, I wake up every day with a sense of dread and foreboding. I no longer feel safe in a country that I was honored to serve in uniform during the Vietnam War. Heavily armed masked agents abducting people in broad daylight, and uniformed troops taking over Democratic controlled cities is now a reality. Chaotic and excessive tariff policies seriously threaten the financial well-being of everyone, except the wealthy, who are now in control of our federal government. Looming cuts to Medicaid and the elimination of ACA subsidies will stress our entire health care system, eventually causing premiums for everyone to skyrocket.

Baumgartner is not in office to protect his constituents. He does not care that citizens of my generation are grieving the loss of a country that we loved and admired. His only mission is to show fealty to Donald Trump and to advance his agenda of retribution and revenge. About a century ago Mao Zedong stated, “political power comes from the barrel of a gun.” In Baumgartner and Trump’s America those words we once feared have now come into full circle. That reality will become clear to anyone who opposes the MAGA agenda.

Robert Shoeman

Liberty Lake

Baumgartner doesn’t work for us

Congressman Michael Baumgartner sprinkles his emails with reminders that he works for you – even if you didn’t vote for him. While it’s true that his literal, taxpayer-funded job is to represent the people of Eastern Wash., I don’t buy it.

Baumgartner sent staffers to meet with constituents because he was busy on a lobbying group-sponsored trip to a genocidal foreign state. His office had no comment on Israel’s forced starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, claiming Israel “has not violated international law.” It’s unclear whether AIPAC drafted that talking point for him.

He has no town halls scheduled, but is holding a fundraiser with Jim Jordan. If that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve read accusations that Jordan failed to act to protect wrestlers he coached from sexual abuse by a team doctor.

Baumgartner voted for the one big bad bill, which cut billions of dollars in health care and food benefits while handing money to the very wealthy and increasing the national debt by trillions of dollars. Already Providence has announced plans to close several clinics in Spokane and Stevens County, citing federal cuts as one factor.

Having spent his term hiding from constituents and cozying up to predators and those who enable them, voting party over people and prioritizing his own power over our rights, it’s going to take more than a snappy one-liner for Baumgartner to prove he’s anything other than a MAGA stooge.

Corinna Donnerberg

Spokane