SMOKING ORDINANCE

Enforcement lacking

I am disappointed in the lack of enforcement of the new smoke-free air ordinance in Boise. My husband and I tried to enjoy an evening on the Grove on June 20, only to be bombarded by secondhand cigarette smoke. The vast majority of the patrons on the Grove were smoking. We were there trying to enjoy the drum and bagpipe music courtesy of a local fire department.

I am a pregnant woman and health-conscious citizen. I was repulsed by the defiance of the law and disappointed that there wasn’t any enforcement it. There was adequate signage stating that the law was in effect and also instructing smokers where they were permitted to smoke. Help me understand what the enforcement procedure is.

BETHANY STANLEY, Boise

DEFENSE BUDGET

Nation’s protectionneeds to be a top priority

America’s air superiority in jeopardy? Our overall national defense in jeopardy? It is starting to look that way.

Six months until automatic national budget cuts go into effect, called sequestration. If Congress doesn’t pull a budget together by January, automatic cuts across the board go into effect. This includes the defense budget as well. This includes cutting the building of vital next-generation equipment already in the works and partially built. This includes the F-35 serving to equip and update our U.S. military for air supremacy, preparedness and readiness.

Southwest Idaho is a strong pro-defense, pro-military area. We understand the importance of a strong national defense, protecting our country against all threats.

Congress needs to see that not operating within a budget is no way to run a business or a country. And while they are squabbling politically, our national defense and protection will be the loser. Please contact your U.S. senators, asking them to vote for a strong defense budget.

MARY E. HARVEY, Meridian

CHILD SEX ABUSE

Use Sandusky trialas a call to parents

I’m writing to encourage our community to use the child sexual abuse trial of Jerry Sandusky as a call to action.

As parents and as members of this community we need to ask ourselves what we can do to prevent even one more child from being sexually abused.

Teaching our kids about scary strangers and just focusing on people on the sex offender registry won’t keep kids safe. Research shows that we adults know that children are most likely to be abused by someone they know, trust and often love and admire.

Too many children are harmed by sexual abuse because we — as individuals, organizations, and communities — are afraid to be wrong and don’t know what to do. Most of us don’t know how to even raise the issue or with whom we’d even talk about it.

As a member of this community, I urge each of us to decide for ourselves what is OK and not OK around children, and look up who you can call to talk about your concerns.

Because when we act early, we can prevent child sexual abuse — before a child is harmed in the first place.

STEVE LAIL, Boise

WOLF PUP

State should focuson relocation efforts

On June 21 the Statesman reported that Idaho officials had hoped to reunite a wolf pup with its pack and hired experts to do so. Did the state spend as much in the relocation effort as it spends when it rents helicopters to gun down wolves in northern Idaho? I remember last year, officials saying they hoped to kill adult wolves in the spring, so their pups would also die. Why not kill this pup? It would be as shameful as what is routinely done in Idaho.

TYLER JAGLOWSKI, Boise

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

Don’t let governmentsolve all our problems

Are we really just tools?

According to the news, we must be. We’re obese because of the food industry. We need laws governing our intake. We demand special laws to address every isolated breach of common sense. We need closed primaries because we can’t be trusted to choose our own candidates. Not far-fetched, considering our purported gullibility for political soundbites. What do we expect from an electorate with an eighth-grade reading that grew up on entertainment news?

We are not tools. We live in a free (still, I think), capitalistic society, which in theory, puts us in charge. The Internet allows access in all walks of life to unprecedented levels of information. If we want to be educated, we can be. If we want to eat healthy, we can. If we want to affect policy, we can with a nonpartisan vote. If we value freedom of choice, we’ll take responsibility for those choices and fight like hell anyone who suggests otherwise.

We choose. Every time we abdicate personal responsibility and allow another entity to either influence our own innate common sense or intercede in a big brother role, we encourage and reinforce the notion that we are, in fact, tools.

CLIFF CROMWELL, Boise

FIVE WIVES

Liquor debate botched

Regarding “Five Wives and Idaho: an arranged marriage, (Our View, June 8)” what a sad day in Idaho! Shame on Mr. Anderson not crafting a better response to Ogden Distillers than, “the name ... would offend.” As a bureaucrat, he needs to represent appropriately. Shame on Mr. Turley for including himself unsolicited. I can’t say if Anderson would have responded correctly in the end sans this provocation; Idaho does not need an East Coast professor forcing Utah vodka on us.

JAMES QUINN, Boise

HOMOSEXUALITY

Don’t grant special favors

Abraham Lincoln, in his speech after his nomination for the U.S. Senate, quoted Jesus: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In his address at Cooper Institute, regarding proponents of slavery, he concluded. “What will satisfy them? … This, and this only: cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. … We must promote slavery as normal and good.”

Change “slavery” to “homosexuality” and you have our current situation. Freedoms of speech and religion are canceled. Students have been suspended and employees have been fired for offending homosexuals or not supporting the “gay agenda.”

Unsatisfied with marriage, homosexuals want society to stop distinguishing between sexes. Macy’s now allows transgender customers to enter women’s dressing rooms. The Obama administration, via the Department of Justice, is requiring the University of Arkansas to allow a man to use the women’s restroom. Jennifer Braly, formerly Russell Braly, is a 38-year-old twice-divorced father. Born a man, Braly, self-identifies as a female. Braly, however, remains anatomically a man and is currently raising money online for sex reassignment surgery.

This is what compromise with homosexuals leads to. We should allow no laws granting them special consideration.

ALLEN MARSH, Nampa