Letters to the editor: Police, hate, Statesman

Police

The letter from Curtis Stoddard (Statesman, Nov. 3) acknowledging racial injustice and the heroism of many police officers and the need for good cops summarizes a serious issue for today’s America. I agree that we need both racial equity and high quality law enforcement. One of the tools to help us achieve both is a higher level of accountability fueled by the ability to remove individuals who misbehave from the law enforcement community. From my limited experience I sense that Boise does a better job of this than many departments. Getting rid of rogue police will benefit all segments of society, including the police. They stand to gain an enhanced level of respect if the community sees them as policing themselves.

Philip R. Ehrnstein, Meridian

Too Great for Hate

I love my state for its diversity and beauty of both people and places. So, when I listened to NPR Kirk Siegler’s report on Oct. 17, “Are Paramilitary Extremists Being Normalized? Look to Idaho for Answers,” I was notably frustrated. My family has lived and worked in Idaho for over forty years, so I am well aware of the negative economic cost and national stigma that past human rights issues have created for our state and communities. During my professional years, I, along with my statewide colleagues, wanted, on multiple occasions, to “show off” our wonderful state. We would suggest hosting regional and national meetings in an Idaho location only to be dismissed because of our state’s human rights history. Fortunately, after several years, what lingered in people’s minds was how Idahoans responded to the hate, violence and armed camps of the “paramilitary extremists.” We, as Idaho citizens, collectively initiated “Idaho Is Too Great to Hate” by establishing and funding human rights institutions and events throughout our state. Now, decades later, we need to re-emphasize that “Idaho Is Too Great to Hate — STILL.” Each of us, from every Idaho community, can do this — right now:

1) Contact your friends, colleagues and business associates in north Idaho to support their efforts to maintain welcoming and livable communities for all;

2) Donate to the Human Rights Education Institute in Coeur d’Alene at www.hrei.org;

3) Contact your state and local officials to let them know that YOU believe that “Idaho is Too Great to Hate — STILL”

Thanks for making a difference — because you do!

Mary Lou Kinney, Boise

Statesman

In the early 1940s, our family moved to a small home behind the Cyrus Jacobs house at Sixth and Grove streets. The home was so near the Statesman that when a Klaxon horn rang and the presses rolled, we could feel a tremor at our address. As a young child, this experience intrigued me. One night I rose from my bed, slipped down the stairs and out the front door unknown to my parents. Up Sixth Street, there was an alley at the rear of the Statesman building. Ducking into this alley, one could view the giant presses and the huge rolls of newsprint becoming a Sunday edition. I was about 5 years old. The ink-stained pressmen noticed and took a liking to me. They formed a newsprint hat for me identical to the ones they wore and arranged a better location in the alley from which to ponder the view. This became a ritual. For about a year, I made this Saturday visit. Perhaps the ultimate irony is that later in life when tracing our family genealogy, I learned that my great-uncle, Jerome Hampton Peacock, was a printer/compositor at the Statesman beginning about 1888.

Jan Hammer, Grand Junction, Colorado