All ears for Sara

Not everybody wants to hear what Sara Paretsky has to say.

Of course, the more people complain, the more eager we become to hear the featured speaker at next Friday's Northern Idaho Distinguished Humanities Lecture and Dinner.

Paretsky is a best-selling crime fiction writer who grew up in the nation's heartland. Her central character is a strong-willed, tough private investigator named V.I. Warshawski. V.I. Warshawski is a woman, by the way.

As intriguing as the fictional character is, her creator is even more fascinating.

And maybe controversial.

"It would be interesting for your readers to know more about Sara Paretsky, the speaker at the Idaho Humanities Council dinner on Oct. 15," one of our readers wrote over the weekend. "If you check Wikipedia or other sites, you can find out more about her liberal ideas. She believes that we have little freedom of speech and have lost many of our civil liberties. She seems to be a true product of the 60s. It would be interesting to know who chose Paretsky as a speaker, the state office or the local/regional representatives."

Maybe this writer is implying that Paretsky is inappropriate for a North Idaho audience (she was chosen by North Idahoans, by the way, as we reported last week), or maybe that's a sentiment we've inaccurately inferred. But as we responded to this particular reader, nobody should judge Paretsky on what other sources have to say about her. They should go to the source herself.

Paretsky will be speaking on her book "Writing in an Age of Silence." Read it. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, read the last couple chapters. Her specifically cited examples of incursions on Americans' rights, our most basic liberties, should do more than send a chill down attendees' spines next Friday. They should constitute a call to action.

We hope readers aren't fearful of that message or rule out attending the dinner and lecture because of Paretsky's perceived political leanings. What she has to say transcends political ideologies of every flavor. Her message is one of alarm - followed by hope - for all thinking Americans who cherish their freedom.

There's no liar here, folks

Timing is everything. Just ask political heavyweights Jeff Ward and Thom George.

On Sept. 16, Ward, North Idaho field director for the Idaho Republican Party, submitted a My Turn opinion piece in which he referred to Rep. Walt Minnick's D+ rating from the NRA. The very next day that rating was upgraded to B+ by the NRA. Ward's column was published in The Press eight days later but still contained the earlier rating. Ward did not contact The Press to point out the needed change, and nobody at The Press noticed that the old rating was still in the column.

Enter Thom George, Kootenai County's head of the Democratic Party. In his response piece, George accused Ward of "knowingly and falsely" giving erroneous information about Minnick's NRA rating.

We simply want to set the record straight that when he submitted his piece, Ward was stating the truth. We regret that we did not catch the discrepancy until after both pieces were published.