This scam almost duped me
The scammer was very, very good. It started when our daughter received a call from a gent claiming to be a Latah County sheriff’s deputy looking for me.
My first mistake was calling the number she sent instead of calling the sheriff’s office directly. The issues cited were warrants out for my arrest for not appearing as ordered in court. I was invited to either resolve it “by the criminal route,” going to the sheriff’s office so they could arrest me, or “the civil route,” paying a surety bond to be returned as soon as it was proven the signature on the summons wasn’t mine. In retrospect, it doesn’t seem reasonable that I should post a financial bond to “prove” willingness to cooperate.
I also missed the clues of a grammatical error in a text, instruction to avoid talking the matter over with any other person lest the fines I incurred be compounded, having a verbal escort to talk me through every step of the way, being pushed to hurry and multiple small tasks being added to increase my sense of urgency.
Fortunately, I absolutely refused to pay anything online, despite repeated offers “to make it easier.” When I had obtained the needed cash and entered the grocery store, the warning against talking to any other person was repeated. The light finally dawned when I was directed to the Bitcoin machine at the grocery store. When I said, “I don’t feel right about this, I am going to take my chance and drive to the sheriff’s office,” my “escort” abruptly hung up the phone. When we arrived at the sheriff’s department, I found the scammer had used the name of a real officer. I was kindly informed the badge number and case numbers were all bogus, and I was the second person today to have fallen for the scam.
Despite my embarrassment, I am writing this letter to advise others to be careful about responding to an unknown phone number. If I had called the local law enforcement office directly, I would have saved myself about 45 minutes of high stress. On the other hand, since we stopped before any money changed hands, the scammer spent a lot of time without his desired reward. That makes me happy.
Susan M. Rounds
Moscow
Who is standing up to Big Wind?
The Whitman County Commissioners have rebuffed multiple requests by local citizens to enact a moratorium on wind farms in order for the wind code to be re-examined. The requests were to ensure the citizens of Whitman County would have a chance to be adequately protected from the adverse impact industrial wind farms have on quality of life. Impacts like shadow flicker, infrasound noise and diminished viewshed, just to name a few.
The code hasn’t been examined in 12 years, since Palouse Winds came online at Oaksdale. Whitman County has the weakest code requirements of any county in Washington per the U.S. Department of Energy, but that doesn’t matter to the commissioners.
It appears that the commissioners and the legal counsel for Whitman County, our prosecuting attorney, Denis Tracy, have been working with Harvest Hills all along. He has delegated all legal matters pertaining to wind farms to the Seattle firm Van Ness Feldman (VNF), who specialize in overcoming local issues and regulatory hurdles for wind/solar projects. VNF is currently engaged in trying to overturn Benton County’s attempt to preserve pasture and cropland (Ag) from an incoming solar company, Innergex Renewable Energy.
It seems like a conflict of interest to me, with VNF representing Big Wind on behalf of the county. Who is looking out for the citizens of the county? Surely not our county officials! And it even gets better, guess who pays for the legal costs of VNF? Harvest Hills Wind Project! So, you could say Whitman County has been sold to Harvest Hills, lock, stock and barrel. We’re easy, cheap, and for sale!
If you’d like to make your voice heard about this, contact the county commissioners at (509) 397-6200 and also show up at the commissioner’s meeting on Monday, Jan. 6, 9 a.m. at the courthouse in Colfax.
Tom Thompson
Pullman
Will Trump cook the books?
The Biden-Harris investment in the economy has taken some time to show results, and some of them will happen only after Trump takes office. As economist Joseph Politano declares: “This rise in U.S. manufacturing construction is absolutely mind-blowing. So many computer chip and related factories are about to open that you’re not going to believe it.”
Just as GOP politicians are already taking credit for the Biden-Harris projects that are already in place in their districts, Trump will declare that he is responsible for these new factories.
Trump has been convicted by New York state for lying about the value of his properties. (They were not just “bookkeeping errors.”) If he goes ahead with excessive tax cuts and tariffs, what is to prevent him and his GOP allies from manipulating economic data to cover up the disaster?
The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell writes that disgraced trade representative Peter Navarro was notorious “for bullying career statisticians to cook the books in the former president’s favor.” Trump cronies, she says, have a “habit of torturing the data until it confesses.” The result will be the absence of valid numbers that businesses rely on to make decisions,” as well as, I will add, reliable data that Congress needs to set budgets.
Back in 2013, Argentina lost credibility in world financial markets, and the International Monetary Fund reprimanded its government for its failure to make “sufficient progress in improving the accuracy of its economic data.”
The following year, The Economist refused to publish Argentina’s false data, and its editors accused President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of replacing “independent-minded staff” with her own people. This is exactly what Trump is already doing now.
This does not at all bode well for America’s once trusted role in world affairs.
Nick Gier
Moscow
DEI: a benefit to UI for 50 years
It is extremely discouraging that the majority of the members of the Idaho Board of Education and the Idaho Legislature’s “DEI working group” oppose DEI programs and policies. They do this without bothering to understand DEI’s mission or contributions.
Diversity, equity and inclusion has benefited UI for over 50 years by increasing enrollment and retention and helping to create a more welcoming environment for all students. Celebrating diversity involves being proud of who you are while respecting and learning from others. Equity encourages us to give everyone an equal chance to succeed. Through inclusion we strive to create a culture that values the contributions of all individuals. With these goals, DEI has profited UI. Some students have been helped to continue their education in spite of having to face bigotry and name calling and all students have been given educational opportunities to learn about and better understand differences in a positive, open-minded way.
For many years, it has been my honor and privilege to know and work with the leaders of diversity offices, Yolanda Bizbee, Lysa Salsbury, Jesse Martinez and, more recently, Mario Pile. I have continually been inspired by their deep commitment not only to their particular office responsibilities, but also to making educational experiences better for all students through uplifting and celebrating our common humanity. A popular DEI event made possible by the African-American Cultural Center was a panel of Black students speaking to and answering questions submitted by an almost exclusively white audience of over 200. This program provided a unique opportunity for increased understanding through meaningful conversations.
Although maintaining valuable and positive human rights programs is currently an uphill struggle, we can help by appreciating DEI goals and accomplishments, as we continue to stand united and to work for equality, dignity and justice for all.
Joann Muneta
Moscow
