Letters to the editor: surplus, good Samaritan, stopping notifications and others

Spend surplus

I am glad that Idaho has a surplus, but please don’t send me $75. Our legislature was elected to govern. Use the taxes to fix our roads and educate our children. Teacher pay is among the lowest and many of our roads are horrible. So use the money collected to help us all. Sending me $75 doesn’t do anything.

Allen Lee Wenger, Boise

Good Samaritan

Idaho Sens. James Risch and Mike Crapo played a pivotal role in the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, bipartisan legislation that will help address the impacts of climate change by fixing what ails our rivers and streams, restoring forest and habitat health, and improving water security. The new law also establishes, for the first time, a dedicated program for cleaning up abandoned hardrock mine sites. While Congress still needs to direct funding to the new program, it will help greatly to fund abandoned mine cleanups throughout Idaho. More needs to be done, however, and Congress needs to also pass Good Samaritan legislation that will remove liability hurdles preventing state mine remediation agencies, watershed groups and conservation organizations from taking-on abandoned mine cleanups. In short, the law treats those who want to clean up abandoned mines as if they created the pollution in the first place, making most cleanups off-limits. Meanwhile, underfunded state and federal agencies lack resources to remediate the tens of thousands of abandoned mines that pollute the environment across the West. By passing Good Samaritan legislation, Congress can maximize the effectiveness of the new abandoned mine remediation program.

Pat Finnegan, Grangeville

Stopping notifications

As we look at the numbers across Idaho, we are clearly at some of the worse times of the pandemic. The West Ada School Board had a meeting last Monday which was a pivotal time to figure out what they would do about the pandemic going forward. They had already gotten rid of their mask mandate and quarantining those that had been exposed. Would they go back to mandating masks? As the largest school district in the state of Idaho, would they set the right example for the rest of the state? They did not, and in a shocking move, they voted 3-2, to stop letting parents know when their child has been exposed to COVID in the classroom. It almost seemed to be laughably unreal, except this pandemic is no laughing matter. Doctors and parents took to social media to condemn their actions, “just when I think they can’t get any worse – the height of irresponsibility,” as one doctor stated. Should we recall board members? Three people have the power to keep our kids safe in schools? I sure hope we can do better than the current board and administration.

Mindy Crow, Boise

Break camp

Mayor Lauren McLean, I am appalled every time I drive but the Capital building in our once beautiful city and see what it is becoming. Shopping carts, tents, tarps, and cardboard now dominate the public space that was once a clean, beautifully landscaped, park-like setting.

Why are you allowing this? Is the goal to turn Boise into a vagrant mecca like LA, Seattle, or Portland? Once you let that camel stick its nose under the tent you will never get it out.

Boise is a beautiful city, and I am always proud to show it off to my visiting friends and family. With this eyesore in our downtown, I would be embarrassed to take them into the city now.

If the vagrant advocates want to protest, let them carry signs and march. Don’t let them set up a shanty tent town in our beautiful city. It is a disgrace and you should be ashamed to allow it.

Take it down.

Robert Ubry, Middleton

Exciting times

Is this not the most exciting time in the history of America? We all have a front-row seat to the demise of democracy in America. We have the majority of the people in America supporting bills that will improve their lives, yet the Senators in power only listen to the rich.

We have the Republicans that are all walking in lockstep to the leader Moscow Mitch McConnell. The Democrats want to lower prescription drug prices, Republicans and some Democrats getting contributions from these very companies are against it. Republicans know that when you support the minority that you have to suppress voting to stay in power.

When you look at history, you don’t see much difference between Germany in the 1930’s and the Republican party of today. They supported a liar, a cheat and a coward for four years. A man that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives. Now you want that same person back in power. America is going to be destroyed not by a foreign power but by the very leaders in power now.

Jerry Johnson, Payette

Negotiate

Dear Sen. Manchin,

I sincerely hope that my opinion is important to you even though I live In N-Idaho. I can’t help but think that N-Idaho’s logging industry’s fate is very similar to Virginia’s coal industry’s fate. Both have provided good livelihoods for many people, shaped by long history and established culture. Here in the northwest, polarization between foresters and conservationists has turned into cooperation, fostering sustainable forestry, as conditions on the ground changed.

The same seems to be happening for coal country with coal being pushed out by cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. Even more importantly, the urgency for reducing CO2 emissions necessitates the transition from fossil fuel to renewable resources. The Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to facilitate not only climate legislation but also support and create a profitable transition for coal mine owners and workers. The writing is on the wall for coal just as it was for the logging industry. Now is the time to negotiate to pass effective climate legislation before it is too late. Please negotiate not just for your voters but for our children’s future as well.

Gabrielle Duebendorfer, Sandpoint