Letters to the editor: Dogs, climate, legislature
Dogs
I have been “targeted” by Boise Parks and Recreation for the last three years for dog off leash. Clearly, Parks and Recreation hates dogs. All the tickets I have been given were within 100 yards of the dog off leash sign. My dog is extremely well-behaved and has an electric collar. I can make him heel instantly with his collar. He was at heel the last two times they wrote the ticket. Parks and Recreation has a major public relations problem because of their unethical dog enforcement. Furthermore, off leash has been relegated to the “greasy” trails that should be avoided in the winter. Parks and Recreation needs some thoughtful people on their board, if they hope to improve their public relations standing.
David Lockwood, Boise
Appeasement
The article by the Washington Post published in the Statesman Opinion page on Jan. 15 is quite possibly the most uninformed and biased opinion recently published. And that list is quite long. The article follows an earlier opinion cartoon showing the burial of the “appeasement” Democratic foreign policy. This cartoon did not go far enough since “apologizing” and paying “tribute” has also been a large part of the Democrats’ policy. One has to be reminded of the fall of the Roman Empire which started with diminishing military strength resulting in Rome paying cart loads of “tribute” gold to the Huns and other barbarians in exchange for their stopping raids of Roman Providences. Tribute and concession demands simply grew as Rome weakened. We all know what happened.
Iran and North Korea are the modern day Huns. Trump is indeed obsessed. Obsessed with fulfilling campaign promises including correcting bad “policy” both domestic and foreign. A rose by any other name is still a rose! If the Trump haters and Obama lovers want to tie Obama’s name to that bad policy, so be it. But rest assured the name is not the obsession, correcting bad policy is.
William Eisenbarth, Caldwell
Climate change
I have lived in Coeur d’Alene for the past 34 years. During that time I’ve noticed substantial changes in the climate. During the winter, for example, we have rain much more often than we used to. The amount of snow is noticeably less, as well, with barely enough snow most winters to have a white Christmas. I’ve spoken to other people who have lived here longer than myself and they all say the quantity of snow is much less than 40, 50 or 60 years ago. In addition, three of the past five years we’ve had choking smoke from wildfires that obliterated most of the months of August. That had never happened before. To anyone who thinks that Idaho has somehow escaped the impacts of human-driven climate change, I would suggest they have been sold a river in Egypt (called denial). Or been duped by misinformation. The proof is right outside your door. Just ask our governor. A year ago he said as much: Climate change is real and we need to deal with it.
Bill Irving, Coeur d’Alene
Legislature
What is with this legislative session? So far we have heard legislators talk about bills that involve local school mascots, city governments, county laws and school bonds. I would suggest these legislators run for local government office and quit trying to make laws that are based on their personal bias. For a group of people who want the federal government to leave them alone, they are trying to control all local forms of government. Hypocrisy is the word that comes to mind.
Larry Chase, Boise
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 3:49 PM.