Letters for July 10, 2024

Coeur d’Alene ordinance

If the incident involving the racial slurs against the University of Utah’s women’s basketball team would still not result in charges, the new Coeur d’Alene city ordinance is not enough.

This incident stained our community’s reputation. It has caused our hospitality and tourism industry incalculable loss. It has stained Gonzaga University and the Spokane community’s ability to host future NCAA events.

The new ordinance places the rights of bigots above the rights of our community. The new ordinance is not nearly enough.

Russ VanderWilde

Worley

Maycumber for Congress

In the wake of Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ retirement from Congress, a large slate of candidates emerged. Republican state Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber from Republic in Ferry County offers all voters the best possible choice. An experienced legislator, her record advocating for the interests of her district’s constituents speaks for itself. She earned bipartisan respect for knowing the important issues. Her background in law enforcement received the endorsements of every police and sheriff’s department, firefighters, their unions and the rank-and-file members. Her advocacy of Second Amendment citizen gun rights captured the highest accolades.

Her competitor presents well but prematurely and unsuccessfully reached for a U.S. Senate seat midterm while still a state senator for the 6th District. That didn’t work for him or us, his supporters. Jacquelin has no self-interest other than those of her constituents. I urge everyone to carefully examine her record and candidacy to support her in the upcoming primary.

John Weisenburger

Spokane

They are right to be cautious

We should learn some important lessons from the experience of the Spokane Airport Board in their public/private partnership with John Sessions (“Liquidation of Historic Flight Museum”). First and foremost, those responsible for the use of other people’s money, especially public dollars, have a responsibility to make good, if not wise, decisions. Wasting public funds on frivolous things is not wise, or acceptable.

Second, any public/private project comes with risks that have to be carefully weighed and questions that need to be answered. What will the benefit be to the general public; will the costs be justified; and are the strings attached (by either the private party or the government) acceptable to both parties, and especially acceptable to the public, who will fund the project?

Who stands to benefit the most from the expenditure of public dollars? The public, not the government or private citizens/businesses, should benefit the most if their dollars are funding the project. In this case there seems to have been no benefit for the general public, or even most of the users of Felts Field. The primary beneficiary of the partnership seems to have been John Sessions. The Spokane Airport Board should be embarrassed by their decision to subsidize a wealthy person’s hobby with public funds. They are right to be cautious about entering into another such agreement.

Chan Bailey

Colbert

Simple fixes save taxpayers money

I drive up and down Cedar Street nearly every day. I’ve noticed that in recent years the pavement has been much more stable, lasting several years longer. I attribute this newfound stability to the fact that the city painted the seams of the road with some sort of tar. Ordinarily, the new roadwork would break up and form potholes, sometimes within a year. I laud the city road crews for that.

My concern is that they have forgotten how much pavement is saved by a simple fix and are now focusing primarily on new road work. I’ve seen no new work on seams for several years. I’m convinced the taxpayers can be saved plenty of money for each extra year our pavement lasts.

Bruce Embrey

Spokane