CODE: There's trouble ahead

The other night I was having dinner with a friend of my son’s. He was in town looking at the possibility of moving to this area, and when I asked what he did, he stated he was a building inspector. I asked what he thought of the recent decision by two of our three county commissioners to rid Kootenai County of building codes in the rural areas. He literally dropped his fork in mid-sentence, and asked me if I was kidding. I assured him I was not and then explained what took place at the public meeting on March 19; he was stunned.

He went on to ask me if the two who voted against codes had any idea how detrimental that decision would be to the growth of this county. I further explained to him that there was a handful of very vocal residents, many from California, who had moved here to rid themselves of “government interference.” They were being led in their position by an extremist (Brent Regan), who had gained control of the thinking of this group by spinning fact and stating numerous un-truths. The two commissioners voting against codes had been led to believe their re-election depended upon going along with this extremist and his followers. Politics, pure and simple.

At that point, this man turned to his wife and said, “We might think about moving elsewhere.” This is only the beginning of how this county will suffer with the codes decision by Marc Eberlein and Bob Bingham. Hopefully voters will show these two that politics should never decide such an important decision that impacts so many.

BEV TWILLMANN

Harrison