RECALL: Unite against it

I’ve kept my own counsel on such controversies as COVID-19, mask mandates, and our toxic presidential campaign. And I will continue to do so.

But I can’t stay mum when the specter of recall against quality Coeur d’Alene council members has surfaced again. This time, the agitators are targeting Dan English, Kiki Miller, Amy Evans, and Christie Wood.

The four attracted the considerable ire of mask foes by mandating, at the request of hundreds of local doctors, that masks be worn in Coeur d’Alene. This, after the Panhandle Health District directors were bullied into overturning their mask requirement for Kootenai County.

It’s spring 2012 all over again.

Then, Mary Souza, the late Kathy Sims, and others tried to recall three council members and Mayor Sandi Bloem because they repeatedly voted for a complete makeover of McEuen Park. The community was held hostage for months while Souza & Co. roamed the streets collecting signatures to force the recall elections.

Fortunately, two young mothers — Sara Meyer and Jennifer Drake — organized a grass-roots effort that stopped the recall bids cold.

And we now have a spectacular waterfront park that is the envy of other cities.

We need to organize again to fight this new threat of recall. The four health district directors who backed the original mask ordinance were left to twist in the wind as they faced harassment without much public support.

We can’t let that happen to Amy, Kiki, Christie, and Dan.

DAVE OLIVERIA

Coeur d’Alene