Letters to the editor: Interfaith Sanctuary, IACI, initiatives, salmon, election audits

Interfaith Sanctuary

Interfaith Sanctuary has resubmitted its conditional use application, CUP21-00026, for its proposed 200-plus bed emergency homeless shelter at 4306 W. State St.

We are all fortunate to live in a kind and compassionate city such as Boise where we work together for the good of all the city’s residents. I care deeply about those in our community who are struggling as well as the rest of Boise’s residents. I want to ensure that all our residents are cared for and that we are able to preserve and strengthen safe, stable neighborhoods.

Interfaith’s objective of providing temporary emergency shelter to those in our community experiencing homelessness is commendable, but their proposal simply has too many negative impacts to their guests and to the community for it to be a good solution when other alternatives are available. These many impacts are why I am opposed to the proposed shelter on State Street, and I urge you to deny the CUP.

Frank Balluff, Boise

Smoking

I remember when my teachers used to smoke in the cafeteria during lunch. People used to smoke in restaurants, on airplanes and even in hospitals. For the betterment of our public health this is not allowed anymore. Second-hand smoke causes cancer. It’s not political, it’s just science. We eradicated polio and spared lives when a vaccine was produced. People gladly lined up to receive the vaccine to improve our shared public health. It wasn’t political, it’s just science. COVID-19 is a deadly airborne virus that is causing unnecessary deaths and over-running our state’s health care systems. Wearing a mask and getting the vaccine are proven ways to stop the spread of this virus. It’s not political, it’s just science. No one’s freedoms are being taken away. It is for our shared public health. So just as you would step outside a restaurant/bar to smoke so as not to poison the air around your friends, or when you got the polio vaccine as a child in order to stop the spread a deadly disease, wearing a mask and getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is in the best interest of our shared public health. It’s not political, it’s just science.

Brigid Jude, Boise

IACI

I read with great interest the article by Alex Labeau (Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry), firing back at the anti-vaxxers and purveyors of false information about the pandemic.

Labeau’s comments are precisely on target. They represent informed sentiments of Idaho business people who know the key to our return to a recognizable measure of economic normality is to get maximum possible control of the pandemic — and the best ways to do that are: wear masks and get vaccinated.

Those answers are simple, effective, virtually free. But it’s safe to say many thousands of lives already have been needlessly lost because of misinformation and distortion of the principles and responsibilities of the freedoms we all enjoy. This nation was built on a sense of “community,” of “we’re stronger together than we are apart,” of recognition that our individual actions affect others -- and vice versa.

In this health emergency, responsible people need to speak out in defense of reality. Thanks to Labeau and Idaho’s business community for doing just that.

Steve Ahrens, Boise

Audit

We need an audit of the 2020 election in Idaho because Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin claims there were irregularities in all 50 states. Secretaries of state are responsible for elections in each of their respective states. The lieutenant governor does not believe there is a single secretary of state in the nation who is capable of conducting a fair election. In Idaho, Lawerence Denney should be held in suspicion since he doesn’t know what he’s doing, according to the lieutenant governor. Or even worse, all of these secretaries of state nationwide should be put under investigation for deliberately certifying fraudulent elections. This audit would be one the biggest boondoggles in the history of the state of Idaho. The lieutenant governor should pay the cost of the audit herself. This audit boondoggle should be put on the next boat to a banana republic in a faraway land. Let’s hope the taxpayers don’t get stuck with this million-dollar boondoggle.

Sidney Asker, Boise

Salmon

Fact: Our Idaho salmon are disappearing. Salmon were once very abundant in Idaho with runs numbering 2-6 million. Now, runs are significantly below replacement numbers. Unless changes are made to their habitat and ecosystem, many Idaho salmon populations will disappear in the next 5 to 10 years.

Fact: Habitat change means the four lower Snake River dams need to be removed. Those dams have outlived their usefulness; we get back less than 50 cents on every dollar invested. The electricity produced by the dams can be generated through better, and cleaner, methods.

Fact: There’s a way forward without the dams. We can still serve the needs of Idaho’s ranchers, farmers and businesses and help the salmon, too. Please check out Congressman Mike Simpson’s Columbia Basin Initiative for a common sense, integrated approach.

Bold action is needed, and now is the time.

Molly Mettler, Boise

Initiatives

I would like to say thank you and show my appreciation for the justices on our Supreme Court with their unanimous decision to void, strike down and otherwise destroy the infamous Idaho legislation SB1110, ballot initiative restrictions. SB1110 was a repressive law that would severely restrict the ability of citizens like you and me to bring initiatives before “we the people” to vote on.

These justices prevented the legislative and executive branches from taking away our ability to collect signatures from Idahoans, place an initiative on the ballot to either enact or repeal legislation.

Gov. Little, the executive branch, folded like a cheap tent when he signed this law into existence. He had shown a backbone in 2020 by vetoing a very similar measure created by our “not-for-the-people” Legislature.

Thanks again, Supreme Court justices! Too bad you didn’t require those legislators to pay for all of the legal fees for this court case. We the people of Idaho will pay for this folly.

Frank W. Mattern, Boise