Letters for Wednesday, Oct. 1

Naturalization ceremony a reminder of the Constitution’s promises

On Sept. 17 – Constitution Day – I witnessed 52 candidates from 27 countries become U.S. citizens in Spokane. They came seeking what our Constitution promises: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Their stories are more than personal triumphs – they are reminders. Many fled regimes that censored speech, punished dissent and weaponized law enforcement. They escaped systems where justice is not blind but bound, where due process is denied, and peaceful protest is met with military force.

These new citizens chose America not for its perfection, but for its promise. They came to build lives rooted in freedom, fairness and opportunity. That promise must be protected.

Today, in America troubling signs persist: censorship disguised as regulation, retaliatory prosecutions that silence opposition, and corporate mergers that prioritize profit over people. We see attempts to rewrite history, restrict rights, suppress scientific inquiry, and erect barriers to education, voting and economic stability – especially for communities of color and low-income families.

Some governments protect the powerful while punishing the principled. Some media distort truth, turning platforms into partisan echo chambers. If dissent is silenced and truth politicized, democracy begins to crack. Dissent is not a threat to democracy –it is its lifeblood.

Let us honor their courage by defending our Constitution with equal resolve – not just in ceremonies, but in courtrooms, hearing rooms, and ballot boxes. The rights they came to claim must be protected for them, for us and for future generations.

Gloria Jean Wells

Newport

Appreciate auditors’ work

I wish to commend Lori Larson, Stevens County auditor, and Marianne Nichols, Pend Oreille County auditor, for their very powerful defense of vote by mail published as a guest opinion column recently in this paper. They laid out the process, history, security and accuracy of the system we use, in a straightforward essay which ought to put to rest any hesitation voters may have with this voting system. Coincidentally, the Oregon state auditor published a similar defense of vote by mail, including the compelling statistic that over the 25 years that Oregon has used vote by mail, with more than 60 million votes cast, there were 38 incidents of vote fraud and every one of them was successfully prosecuted. No doubt Washington statistics are similar.

Vote by mail ensures more people get the opportunity to vote, and really, isn’t that what a true democracy aspires to? It is encouraging that elected Republican officials have gone on record to reassure the public that our voting system is safe, secure, convenient and accurate. All voters, regardless of party affiliation, owe these officials our thanks.

Dianna Michaels

Colville

Yes, parks; yes, schools

I’m excited to support our city parks and schools as they have crafted plans for expanded resources and improvements to our park and school facilities throughout Spokane.

By voting yes to the Spokane park levy and Spokane Public Schools bond in November, we add lighted ball fields and improve scheduling so that citizens can use school recreational facilities, and schools can better use public parks facilities. There are plans to renovate several schools, expand aquatics programs, construct an indoor tennis facility, add ball fields, expand exhibit space at the MAC, and add a new city park, and that just gets it started. Go to togetherspokane.org and see what is being planned for your neighborhood. Making it all that more exciting are the collaborations with such groups as Boys & Girls Club, Hoopfest, Launch NW, Spokane Indians, Spokane Colleges and more, who have signed letters of intent to contribute their own resources and programming to many of these projects. Talk about smart investments!

So be sure to look out for those ballots in October and vote yes parks and yes schools!

Dale Damron

Spokane