Letters to the Editor Feb. 7, 2010
The comments that President Obama made about not spending money on boats and in Las Vegas - AP story in the Feb. 3 Press - should come as no surprise as President Obama is a person who has never worked at a real job or owned a business and had to meet a payroll. He has no idea how the economy works. Quick lesson in economics, Mr. President: People need to spend money to keep people working and paying taxes. What a concept. Even a 10-year-old child understands this.
The hospitality industry has a huge impact on the entire economy. Mr. President, it's time to grow up and be a man.
DEAN OPSAL
Hayden
CITATION: Feds get heavy-handed
I was recently up Hayden Creek and got cited for driving down a road by U.S. Forest Service for $175. The Federal officer had stopped, got out, asked me a few questions and cited me for diving down a road that apparently was barricaded. When I drove down the road, the barricade was torn down. I was following another vehicle. I had stopped at the side of the road, where people go to do recreational shooting. I was picking up empty shell casings, A.K.A. cleaning up the environment, when I got cited.
The Federal officer told me that he had been kicking people out of there all day. In other words they had planned to entrap people out there, because that is a way of taxing the public, to make their quota for the month. According to the sign where the barricade was placed, was on private property. In short they are the ones breaking the law.
At least eight other people I have talked to got citations that day. I think the law is getting a little greedy. I think that our community needs to be aware that they better watch every single step they make, because the law wants to fine you for walking and breathing.
GABE ELLISON
Post Falls
McEUEN: Been there, done that
Did we not already spend a lot of money and time on what to do with McEuen Field? The comprehensive plan was completed years ago when Dell Hatch and John Mueller (organized a number of local meetings that were well attended to make a plan).
These choices were already made. Nothing has changed. Why waste more time on the plan?
We wanted green space, a play park, playing fields, a venue for music and Saturday market and non-visible parking. We have been waiting years for this to happen, so why waste more time. Our town spoke out years ago and we are still waiting. The library is awesome and we are ready for the next step. Let's take it, not talk about it again!
CATHY GEPHART
Coeur d'Alene
HAIL, CAESAR: Go back to the original
Years ago I was introduced to the best-ever Caesar salad, coddled egg and all, at of all places, the officers' club at the Marine station, El Toro, Calif. I'm talking more than 40 years ago - and I have never enjoyed anything like it since.
Whoever started putting chicken in Caesar salad?
The original called for anchovies. That's what made it unique. Of course, if you don't care for anchovies, omit them; but chicken? Come on now, restauranteers!
And while I'm on the subject, bottled Caesar salad dressing? No way, folks. Look up the original recipe. They are out there and well worth the effort. Try it. You'll love it!
DIAN BURRELL
Coeur d'Alene
BARCODES: Support American products
One way to help our economy is to read the barcodes on products. Buy them only if they start with the numbers 00-090. This means the product was made in the U.S. or Canada. Go shopping and look for those numbers.
WERNER WEBER
Hayden
HARRISON: Growth isn't best path
I just want to comment that up to now the area around Harrison has seen development on an individual scale and generally to the improvement of life in that beautiful region of the country. The Powderhorn development organizers are now trying to get zoning that will enable them to bring in a 1,300 home, three golf course community.
This development is counter to all that is great about this area. The big bucks are starting to take over. The people currently residing in this area will have to submit to the side effects such as higher property taxes and the high population density that will result. Many are on fixed incomes. I have a small lot in the Harlow Point area and hate to see this big - for profit - development occur.
LEE A. HADWIGER
Pullman, Wash.
IRA: He was a gentle man
We too knew Ira Loudenbach. We will remember him for his broad smile and always being there to help you with a household plumbing problem.
Ira was a kind man. A gentle man whom we often passed on the sidewalk as he walked hand-in-hand with his wife. He missed his wife. We can understand that.
KATHLEEN WENDELL
Coeur d'Alene
HONOR: Knife
program is working
Major Jim Phillips and nine other members of the Washington Air National Guard presented a free Christmas concert at the Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Center on Dec. 5, 2009. They are members of The Band of the Northwest, also known as the 560th Air Force Band, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base. Major Phillips is commander of the band. The band has performed for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thanks to our donors, each band member received a Buck commemorative sheath knife in appreciation of their service to our country. Special thanks to the Buck family, Buck Knives Inc., The Coeur d'Alene Press and Post Falls Press.
The following donors have contributed funds for one or more U.S. Air Force Buck commemorative knives for our veterans:
Gratia Griffith, Graham and Betsy Crutchfield, Kenneth and Joan Wolkenhauer, DAV - Fort Sherman Ch. 9, Bill and Kay Conner, Coeur d'Alene Elks Lodge No. 1254, Don and Donna Quane, Syd and Sonya Buck, Don and Lauren Woodhouse, Dr. Leanne Rousseau, John and Tammy Pilgrim, Clay and Carol Folda/Rustic Home Furnishing, Hayden Lake Rotary, Coeur d'Alene Builders Supply, Heidi Tsadilas/Gourmet Way, Ruth Ann Sletten and Julie Lind/Hayden Creek Salon and Spa, Tim and Robin Broesch, Ron Hill/Crescent Electric Supply Company, Ed Snider/Beau Vigne, Marianne Kober/The Picket Fence of Hayden LLC, Mark and Lynn Freeman/Kuma Stoves Inc., Sydney Peterson/TML Construction, and anonymous donors.
GRAHAM CRUTCHFIELD
Hayden
ILLEGALS: Back Jorgenson's bill
Sen. Mike Jorgenson introduced S1303, a bill requiring all Idaho employers to verify the legal status of new hires by using the federal E-Verify program, along with penalties for noncompliance. E-Verify is successful at causing the self-deportation of illegal immigrants in the states adopting it, most notably Arizona.
The opposition to Jorgenson's bulletproof enforcement legislation is clever. Senator McKenzie's bill, purportedly written by the Idaho Dairymen's Association attorneys, had zero enforcement mechanisms! At least one other weak-on-enforcement bill will be introduced and may contain purposely unConstitutional language. An Idaho state bill with unConstitutional language would be defeated in the courts and they know it!
No tactic is too underhanded for Idaho businesses and legislators when trying to kill meaningful enforcement in order to keep a constant flow of illegal workers!
Cold-hearted illegal immigrant profiteers with their highly paid lobbyists and their enablers in the legislature care nothing about the growing number of Idaho's unemployed. Department of Labor statistics show that there are no jobs Americans will not do, including agriculture - for living wages. Wages paid to illegal immigrants are suppressed or even decreased when adjusted for the 2010 cost of living!
Many Idaho legislators have no problem loading the social costs of illegal aliens onto the backs of taxpayers. What are these legislators getting in return for exploiting citizens at a cost of $200,000,000 per year?
Demand your legislators show compassion for Idaho's unemployed and citizens struggling to pay their taxes in this terrible economy by endorsing S1303.
DR. DENNIS and CAROLYN COOKE
Coeur d'Alene
CHANGE: It's up to the people
I chose not to watch the State of The Union address on TV knowing that it would be more of what I've seen every time the current (or any for that matter) president speaks. The commentary afterward was relatively predictable: Democrats applauded the president, Republicans denounced him, and various independent factions espoused their own ideals and agendas. Great, more of the same. What happened to the change that we were promised or the jobs that were promised? How is spending going to be curbed, let alone cut?
"We the people" have elected the people who work in government. We have chosen who represents us to each other, not just to the world. WE are to blame for what is going wrong in our country and, WE are the ones who must fix the problems. I tire of the finger pointing and posturing. Great. So, Obama didn't like the way Bush ran things. I'm guessing that the next president won't care for the way Obama is doing things currently. That's the nature of people, regardless of class, status, education or income level.
How to fix our problems? How about elect the most qualified person to office, rather than the lesser of two evils? I tire of candidate A being elected because candidate B had dirty laundry. I'd rather elect candidate A because he/she is the BEST person for the job. The campaign process is an INTERVIEW process. It's the way "we the people" get to know the candidates, learn their qualities and experience, and then select the best person to get the job. Our politicians also need to remember that yes, they can be fired.
Do you remember how Arnold Schwarzenegger got elected? The people of California felt that their elected Governor wasn't doing a good job and removed him. That same process is law in 18 states. This too can happen in a state near you. If it isn't a law in our state, well, that's what the election process is about, changing our elected officials. If they didn't do a GOOD job in the last term, are you going to allow them to do a mediocre job in the next term as well?
When a politician cries for change does he/she want to truly change policy or do they just want to change who is in office now? Now is the time to change the way our country is run, now is the time to change policy, now is when we need to send a message to our elected officials that they need to do those tasks that "We the people" have elected them to do. Now is when WE need to step up to the plate and make change happen. If we want health care to be reformed, WE need to make those reforms. If we want there to be less government spending, WE need to stop begging for the handouts that government is so willing to give at the cost of our independence as a sovereign nation and our rights to be private citizens.
As the election season for 2010 begins, how are YOU going to view the candidates? Do you want the most polished, or the most qualified? Ask: Will they be able to deliver on achievable promises, or are the candidates giving us the same song and dance that we have received for so many years?
D.B. PICKETT
Rathdrum
HOMELESS: Citizens applauded
On behalf of the 2,900 homeless and near-homeless folks who visited Fresh Start on more than 9,500 occasions last year, the directors and I would like to send a resounding "Thank you" to the citizens of Kootenai County.
Thanks in no small part to the articles appearing in The Press, we have been overwhelmed with the response shown by the community. It was truly heartwarming to meet and work with the numerous volunteers who spent countless hours, as well as those who brought the many, many donations of food and clothing to the Drop-in and Warming Center. We are also truly appreciative of those who helped us financially with their contributions.
We were able to help more than twice as many visitors than we did during the previous year, and to continue with the overnight warming shelter on the coldest nights. We have been able to increase our normal hours of operation to 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
We are quite proud to be serving the homeless in such a caring and generous community.
HOWARD MARTINSON
Executive Director, Fresh Start Coeur d'Alene
PARKS: Too valuable to return
I was surprised by Bill Scutter's letter about the governor's attempt to eliminate the parks department as a freestanding entity. Is the public distrust of government not easily understood when you realize how easily it disregards past agreements? Would YOU consider giving anyone a valuable gift, if you KNEW that the terms under which it was given would be discarded with so little concern?
I would like to suggest that the way to reduce expenses without infuriating the residents may be better accomplished by giving up the state's attempts to CONTROL all the access points to Lake Coeur d'Alene and charge a fee for use of land that the citizens already owned and had free access to until the last few years. Development can and will be done privately when and if the demand is sufficient, but taxpayer money should never have been used to that extent.
Meanwhile, even a little development should not take priority when the money is not there, and combining agencies with totally different purposes is USUALLY a recipe for disaster, and an agreement related to a valuable gift MUST always be secured by a clause assuring return of said gift if the terms are broken!
There are many ways to aid the economy without selling the state's integrity. I would be glad to discuss and/or debate some of them with anyone who is seriously interested.
WALTER G. MERRITT
Tensed
Hear ye, hear ye!
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