April 25 Letters to the Editor

Voting Schmidt, Baig

Idahoans dodged a bullet during the recent legislative session when the House failed to override Gov. Brad Little’s veto of a bill targeting libraries for failing to ban materials some call harmful to minors. But the gunfire is far from over, and we can’t relax until legislators return to Boise before it resumes.

Shots are already being heard in northern Idaho — including in Latah County.

Here, two seats on the county library board are being contested. One of the contestants, Colton Bennett, vows to work “to keep sexualized material out of the hands of children.”

That must draw laughs from the county’s older kids, who know there is no limit to the most sexualized of material, video pornography, readily available online through their own phones or other devices. No need to seek in vain for anything approaching it at the library. The people most interested in scouring library shelves for what they call harmful materials — and the rest of us call books — are adult would-be censors.

Bennett doesn’t stop with only one threat to our libraries, either. He also wants to reduce “the excessive tax burden” we pay to maintain them. My latest annual property tax bill shows I paid $64.28 toward that end, a whopping 3.1 percent of my total obligation.

Sorry, Colton, but I’m voting for Wayne Schmidt for the board seat you seek, and for Saba Baig for the other. I will do that either May 1-12 at the courthouse or May 16 at the fairgrounds.

Jim Fisher

Moscow

Benjamin for mayor

During the past six years I have had the privilege of working on a range of community projects with Francis Benjamin and have found him to be reliable, organized, smart, resourceful and most importantly, kind. He understands people and computer technology, what to do with data, how to support and promote organizations and how to bring together different voices so that all can be part of a community conversation.

Francis is a positive and thoughtful leader who will work with Pullman residents to solve problems and promote goodwill. As a co-organizer of Pullman 2040, Francis created a framework for volunteer organizations to communicate and interact with like-minded groups throughout the community so that volunteer efforts could work across disciplines and be more efficient and effective. He has demonstrated thoughtful leadership on the Pullman City Council for many years and has extensive knowledge on how the Washington State Legislature operates. Francis will be a strong advocate for our city and for these reasons I support him to be the next mayor of Pullman.

Bobbie Ryder

Pullman

Responding to candidate

Vote on or before May 16 in the races for Latah County Library Trustees. You can vote in person where you are registered or file for an absentee ballot at vote idaho.gov. On the ballot, you will select two trustees.

I would like to respond to candidate Bennett’s agenda:

1. He pledges to enforce “obscenity laws” and keep “sexualized” material from children: We are fortunate Republican Gov. Brad Little vetoed proposed legislation that would have “protected” young library patrons from material that “some/any” person considers inappropriate. Parents are urged to be aware of television and the internet. Parents have the responsibility to “guard” their progeny from material they find obscene or sexualized. It’s not the role of a library trustee to determine.

2. He wants to reduce the amount of money that the Latah County Library receives. The district could probably use more money. As in most organizations, the budget is heaviest in salaries. Surely you believe, as I do, any employee should be paid a fair salary. Beyond that, library patrons depend on many things that cost: computers (for research, seeking a job, etc.); new books (fiction and nonfiction); STEM materials; Libby (where those unable to visit a library can access books — how wonderful this was during the height of COVID-19), etc.

3. He wants to reimpose late fees. In 2018, late fees accounted for less than 1% of the library budget at a large city library, according to the American Library Association (ALA). ALA states that going fine-free helps “erase barriers to library use that disproportionately affect low-income households.” Libraries provide a significant social benefit to low-income patrons, allowing access to a wide variety of materials and services without having to spend additional funds.

4. He pledges to work to provide education and literacy resources to all county residents. As a past Latah County Library Trustee, I can assure you this is the current situation.

Judy B LaLonde

Troy

Note: LaLonde is president of Friends of the Troy Community Library

The private sector’s turn

I appreciated Mac Cantrell’s recent letter (Daily News, April 19) about the financial and climate benefits of the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA.) Last year the Moscow City Council approved a Climate Action Plan for city operations. City staff made a strong case that the actions would both reduce the city’s carbon footprint and create short-and long-term savings through efficiencies and the deployment of new technologies.

Now it’s the private sector’s turn. Households and businesses account for about 97% of Moscow’s greenhouse gas emissions. What can we as citizens do to reduce this number and at the same time save money? As we transition away from an economy based on the burning of fossil fuels, what specific actions can we take right now to maximize the efficiency of the energy we use?

We can weatherize our buildings. We can transition to more efficient heating systems. When we buy new household appliances, we can upgrade to things like induction stoves: getting away from gas stoves will have an additional benefit of cleaner air in our homes.

Income tax incentives are available through the IRA now, and soon there will also be rebates for low- and middle-income households, in particular, to help cover the cost of these improvements. There’s also a 30% rebate for installing home solar. This website gives an overview of these opportunities: daneclimateaction.org/what-you-can-do/Federal-Funding-for-Individuals#home.

These programs will also create jobs in the traditional building sector as well as in new technology, and they will collectively reduce Moscow’s contribution to greenhouse gases: what’s not to like?

Mary DuPree

Moscow