SPEAKER: Press does disservice

The Coeur d’Alene Press, with its piece, “Slippery slope gets slicker with resignation,” has engaged in professional misconduct and in my opinion, has outright withheld the truth about the subject Hayden City Council meeting.

I was at the Hayden council meeting when Lynda Putz spoke on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

Lynda’s testimony to the council followed a rather spirited, and some would say self-aggrandizing series of comments by a previous citizen about the upcoming gathering of White Supremacists somewhere in Hayden.

More accurately, what Lynda stated is “It is the tendency now, for the ideological Left to label anyone who advocates for more freedom and less government bureaucracy as a ‘white supremacist,’ rather than engage debate about policy and governance.” Lynda further pointed out that as an ethnic Mexican, she has never experienced racism in Hayden. And her stating that she is a “white supremacist” was merely to point out the folly of the political Left, that because she acts and speaks like a patriot, she should therefore fall into the pejorative category of “white supremacist.”

As a nation, we are in the midst of the greatest cultural and political chasm in my lifetime. And much of this is a direct result of a lack of civility and respectful discussion between political opponents. Name-calling, slanderous implications of mal-content, and outright withholding of the truth has been a large contributor of this in the past few years.

This is an endeavor to divide our community by appealing to cheap emotions. Governance and policy-making based on such is fraught with peril. I have observed The Press doing this repeatedly while hiding behind a thin veneer of objectivity. It is my personal opinion that The Press crossed a line here, and is guilty of slander.

THOMAS SHAFER

Hayden

Editor’s note: Readers may decide for themselves. Here’s the video of Ms. Putz speaking to the Hayden City Council: https://bit.ly/3phfy56