McLANDRESS: Asset to health board

Commissioner Duncan’s thought to remove Dr. McLandress from the Board of Health is ludicrous at best and terrifying at worst. Not because I think there should be a Kootenai County mask mandate, but because the idea of canceling somebody, especially a compassionate, hardworking, and longstanding resident of Kootenai County because you don’t agree with them is just wrong.

Anyone declaring we should prohibit anybody with medical experience from serving on the Board would be like Delta hiring new pilots…so long as they didn’t have any flight experience. Or limiting the appointees to the Idaho Bond Banking Commission to people who don’t, you know, understand math.

Dr. McLandress has served North Idaho in many capacities through at least four decades, including as a doctor for generations of families, including mine. He knows this area, he cares about the people, and anybody with a brain is grateful that he has generously offered his time to serve on the Board. Whether you agree or not about the mask mandate, he is exactly the type of person we want on that Board.

Leave the cancel culture to other states that have ended up in serious trouble because of it. We want to have discussions and debates with insightful, experienced, and honorable people such as Dr. McLandress. He’s not a politician, so he’s not worried about public opinion, which is an attribute we need to see in more people right now.

Dr. McLandress should continue to serve on that Board.

REBECCA ZANETTI

Hayden