Issuu

The Independent

March 2, 2017

Opinion What people are saying on Facebook facebook.com/ theindependentnews

LETTERS

You can follow The Independent on YouTube. Go to youtube. com and search “Chewelah Independent”

Page 7 Follow us on Instagram by checking out instagram.com/ theindenews

Readers comment on Breaking news: PACA set to receive grant (289 like it, 76 love it) Angie McLaughlin said: Oh my gosh! Tears in my eyes as I read this!!!!!!!!!!! Don McLaughlin would be so proud. Greg Jennifer Bell-Towne said: Fantastic!! All you members of PACA should be proud of what you’ve accomplished! I’m so thankful for all the work you are doing to bring a theater to our community!! Mary Lentz said: Wow. That is cool.

POLLING THE PUBLIC

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 50% of American Adults now believe the economy will be stronger a year from now. That’s a 16-point jump from 34% in October and the highest finding since regular surveying began on the question in 2009 just after the Wall Street meltdown. (via Rasmussenreports.com)

TO THE EDITOR

Books need to press boundaries I am writing in response to Dr. Houk’s letter regarding his thoughts on banning “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Words are an incredibly powerful medium. They can raise us up, educate us, cut us deeply, offend us, bring us joy, bring us to tears, be terrifying, teach us right from wrong, give us hope, bring us peace, show us the way, be hurtful, show compassion… Words are what we built our civilization upon. But they are only a combination of vowels and consonants, until we give them meaning. We can all agree that some words are more socially acceptable than others and even those have changed over the course of history. I agree that we should ask our students to be respectful of each other in school. When you use certain words against someone, you don’t always see the

hurtful consequences of the words. There are certainly worse things you could say to someone that doesn’t even include the words Dr. Houk mentions in his letter. When you see those same words used in a book, most often, you see the consequences of the words in black and white. In a classroom setting, you can discuss why some words are considered unacceptable, hurtful or how they impact the characters in the book. I read somewhere, “A truly great library contains something to offend everyone.” You could say that about any book. There are even words and phrases in the Bible that could be considered offensive to some people. Words have power. Right or wrong, good or bad. We can’t avoid them, so let’s learn from them. T. Rice Spokane, WA Former JHS Librarian

Don’t remove our parks To The City of Chewelah, As property owners and neighborhood residents near property parcel# 0256490, ID: 13421 in Chewelah Pinebrook Estates Div. 1, we believe this property should remain Peye Creek Park. Planning Commission members, years ago, did their jobs on behalf of The City of Chewelah and Growth Management, by setting aside this particular parcel as a park. This plan mattered then and still does. Many who purchased properties in the Pinebrook neighborhood, Crestmore Park additions and other nearby neighborhoods, did so because a formal commitment was made by the City to set aside this particular green space on Peye Creek. There is no good reason to sacrifice the park for building lots. Ample building lots for homes already exist right there in Pinebrook. Lots and homes on Peye Creek Park would have negative impacts on N. Victoria, North and N. Kruger streets, let alone Pinebrook streets. The City of Chewelah would be unwise to undo this planning agreement

to cover this land with lots and homes. It is not forward-thinking to rid Chewelah of green spaces within its city neighborhoods. Parks of all types, easily available on foot, are valued and enjoyed by residents. Peye Creek Park, though undeveloped, is utilized by neighborhood youth who fly kites and play ball there out of the street. Many residents walk dogs on leashes through that park and into Pinebrook streets and neighboring properties. This parcel is a temporary home to ducks in spring since a significant part of it is wetlands. A variety of wildlife, including bird species, are regular residents here. These are all daily quality-of-life assets that make Chewelah a desirable place to live. We urge you to honor the commitment you made in 1992 to area residents. We urge you not to go ahead with changes you propose to Peye Creek Park. Sincerely, Winston and Susanne Griepp Chewelah

The poor will pay more for less coverage As she has done countless times over the past few years Cathy McMorris Rodgers will vote to repeal and replace Obamacare when the vote comes up in a few days. But why does that repeal include a roll back on Medicaid expansion, the least controversial and most cost effective part of Obamacare, a program that allows people making less than 35K to get insurance, many for the first time, a program that in this

state is called Applecare. The outline of the repeal bill is to block grant the federal money to states that supports Medicaid expansion and then gradually decrease it year by year, effectively suffocating the program. The bottom line message, poor people will pay more for less coverage, if they have coverage at all. Tom Drake Addy

The

independent LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Independent welcomes Letters to the Editor with no more than 250 words. The editor reserves the right to reject letters or edit for clarity, brevity, good taste and accuracy or to prevent libel. No poetry, attacks on private individuals or letter-writing campaigns, please. All submissions must include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number. Thank you letters should relate to a public event, organization or official. Personal thanks to individuals, for help through an illness for example, should be handled as a “Card of Thanks” in the Classifieds or as a display ad. Please limit submission to one letter every two weeks. Mailed or faxed submissions must be signed. All submissions become the property of The Independent.

FROM THE EDITOR

More than ever, you need to think local

urn on the news and the “NCIS” which make world is burning. you feel like your florist Step outside? Well could be a serial killer. if you live in Chewelah, you Global poverty is probably stepped into several at its lowest than in any inches of snow, some neighother time in human borhood kids are riding by on history. their bikes trying to do jumps This is not to say of snow berms and the world things are peachy, one is most definitely not burning only has to look at the By Brandon in Stevens County (until the Syrian Civil War, skirHansen summer forest fire season, I mishes in the Ukraine Brandon is the suppose.) and famines in several managing editor Considering the amount of different countries. The of the Chewelah anger, venom spouted at “the world is still a brutal Independent other side” and overall anxiety place but it’s losing its and a graduabout the direction in which we edge quick. ate of Eastern as a country are headed, please The reason why Washington take a few moments to consider people are so worried University. If this. From 1945 to 2011, the and getting so angry you’d like to send Brandon a Letter world experienced a continued is they’re getting an to the Editor, drop in warfare and the global overload of informashoot him an email death rate dropped from 22 per tion. Thirty years ago, at brandon@ 100,000 to 1.4 per 100,000 in you got the bulk of your chewelah same time period. news from perhaps a independent.com. Crime rates as reported by nightly news program several reputable studies and and a newspaper. Fifty sources have shown that there years ago was much the has been a steady decline in violent same but with fewer news organization crimes. This flies in the face of popu- and no cable news. lar shows like “Criminal Minds” and The problem is with the internet, we

immediately hear about what’s going on all across the globe. Before, you’d be in a quiet town like Chewelah and would be fairly oblivious to a shooting in Chicago or a bombing in Baghdad. But now we’re bombarded through social media and the internet 24-seven. Someone can completely construct their own narrative this way using our 300 million-plus inhabitants and their antics. Is there going to be a gun crime with 300 million people living in this country? Yep. Is there going to be someone abusing our social services? Uh-huh. With such a high number of people and now such a fast way of communicating news stories, people are able to find any scenarios they want. Is a teacher making some political statement in the classroom? Well how many teachers are out there If even just a handful are making some sort of political statement and news outlets report on that handful, it seems like an epidemic. When in reality if you use statistics, the instances of this happening are miniscule and way down the decimal point line. See EDITOR Page 13

GUEST OPINION

“Mockingbird” a necessary novel

he book “To Kill a is a classic with what By Rhonda Mockingbird” has been was a controversial plot Christian fought over for many at the time. To Kill a Rhonda Christian years. Many people think it Mockingbird is a great is the Jenkins Jr./ should be banned for its lannovel and should not be Sr. High Librarian guage and storyline, which in banned from schools. and long-time fact does not make sense beThe ones who beChewelah resident. cause those themes exist in lieve this novel should real life as well, and we can’t be banned say it is beerase them from history. It has many cause of the use of profanity, the n-word important values imbedded in the story and the overall racism towards African for us to learn, as well as a lot to teach Americans. Obviously they don’t underus about our history. This 1960’s novel stand the meaning of the story though,

because the whole novel is denouncing racism and prejudice. Even the main characters, such as Atticus, the attorney for Tom, is standing up for Tom to prove to Maycomb and his children that just because Tom is black, it gives white folks no reason to disrespect him. Atticus is setting an example. Plus, he is upholding his own moral values, so at least he isn’t hypocritical. But these aren’t the only reasons. Atticus knew See CHRISTIAN Page 9

Rosellini’s plan to fund bridges deserves another look

emember the old saying: Hindsight is 20-20? If only Washington voters had followed Gov. Albert Rosellini’s tolling plan to build, maintain and replace our state’s major bridges, we would have replacement funds today. Now, lawmakers in Olympia are scrambling to find the billions needed for the new I-5 bridge connecting Vancouver and Portland. Predictably, tolling needs to be included in the funding scheme, but it is still a political hot button. Rosellini, the Seattle Democrat elected governor in 1956, staked his political career on tolling. In the early 1960s, he proposed four new toll bridges which are vital traffic arteries today. While he eventually won

By Don C. Brunell Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@ msn.com.

approval for the bridges, he lost his re-election bid in 1964. In effect, we all lost the ability to fund future infrastructure from reserve accounts that would be established from permanent tolls. Just as the original I-5 bridges across the Columbia River were built with tolls, those tolls ended when the construction bonds were paid off. Drivers paid a 5-cents to cross the Columbia between 1917 and 1929. Then when the second structure was completed in 1958, they were assessed a 20-cent crossing charge until 1967. Rosellini supported building toll bridges across the Hood Canal,

Lake Washington and the Columbia River (not in Vancouver). When he proposed making the tolls permanent he was pummeled by voters who were convinced lawmakers would simply divert the excess collections to fund other state programs. Unfortunately, legislative history worked against Rosellini. So the last of the Rosellini tolls came off the Highway 101 Bridge connecting Astoria and the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington. That occurred on Dec. 24, 1993. The heart of Rosellini’s proposal was in Seattle. As a way to alieve traffic congestion on the l-90 Lake Washington floating bridge, Rosellini championed construction of a second floating bridge. It would cost $21 million and be constructed across the lake starting at the south end of the University of Washington campus. Rosellini proposed a 35-cent permanent toll in each direction and wanted See BRUNELL Page 9