C1 My Turn: NIC trustees on the right track

By ANNE PATTERSON

I love it when people start emerging from the swamp.

Deborah Rose, who sits on our Kootenai County Planning and Zoning Commission, gave us a boatload of fallacious arguments designed to poison our minds against our newly elected NIC Board of Trustee members. Hysterical because the voters chose last fall to select new trustees whose values align more with the values of the community, Ms. Rose seems unaware that the “wake up call” already went out, and we the people put Greg McKenzie and Michael Barnes as Trustees at NIC.

Hysterical people rarely make sense, so I had to read Ms. Rose’s Opinion Piece carefully looking for a logical argument. Boiling it down took some time, but she seems to be saying that our new trustees are going to destroy NIC and put lives at risk.

They are RINOs who do not understand their roles as Trustee. The college may lose its accreditation due to their “reckless actions.” You may be holding your breath to hear what the dastardly devils have done to wreak such devastation. The answer may seem anticlimactic. They had the nerve to rescind the mask policy put in place by President MacLennan. Oh my!

Ms. Rose went on for 16 paragraphs, but at the end of it she failed to present any connection at all between the decision of the board to rescind the mask mandate and the terrible consequences she predicts are now coming our way.

She did make one very good point, however, sharing a bit of history about why NIC exists. It was due to the “sheer determination of the residents of North Idaho during the Great Depression. Families wanted affordable accessible quality education for their children.” Now I could build a bridge on that.

Does she realize that local families still want affordable, local higher education for their kids? Has she asked how fees have risen over the years and why? Is she aware that the college board in past years has had quite a focus on international student recruitment? Is this why the board decided we needed to build a dormitory in 2002? Why does a community college need a dormitory?

I thought the community college was for the community. Isn’t that why the determined residents of North Idaho during the Great Depression made the college a reality? I am convinced they were not thinking that people from other countries would be lured here and given room and board for $18.37 per day per year.

There is a LOT that has been done by our board of Trustees at NIC over the years that has transformed the campus from a place where local kids/adults could afford to learn, to a globally attractive school. These are just a couple of the things I’ve noticed over the 30 years I’ve been here that raised red flags.

I would say that contrary to what Ms. Rose claims, the new Trustees may indeed be what steers our community college away from the “rocks of globalism” and back into the safe channels of deep community water that will provide fiscally responsible leadership and excellent academic opportunities for our LOCAL people and their children.

So, don’t be too alarmed, readers. Ms. Rose may fear that our new Trustees are putting the future of our college in jeopardy because they aren't going to force the students and teachers to wear filthy masks on their faces. But this is a bit like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater when there IS NO FIRE.

I do not believe for a second that Banducci, McKenzie and Barnes are partisan, radical, OR henchmen, nor do I know or care who she is calling a “high school dropout.” Both of our new candidates have livelihoods that require substantial education and training. So that comment was childish and revealing of the level of maturity that Ms. Rose possesses.

It is alarming to me that someone who would write a hysterical hit piece against decent, capable men with no substance or basis to support her attacks is currently sitting on our Kootenai County Planning and Zoning Commission. I have a feeling that there is a lot of house cleaning ahead for the citizens of Kootenai County and the City of Coeur d’Alene.

Wake up, voters! These types will continue to inhabit the political swamp of North Idaho until we drag them out of the water and VOTE THEM OUT! County Commissioner Leslie Duncan was not in favor of Deborah Rose being re-appointed this past January and I can certainly see why. Maybe Ms. Rose should focus on her OWN job in planning and zoning, and quit sticking her nose into the business of the Board of Trustees at NIC.

Anne Patterson is a Coeur d'Alene resident.