Letters to the Editor

Dawes has sensible state government in mind

I hardly recognize my Republican Party, neither nationally or in Idaho. Oh, how far right the pendulum has swung! Much recent Idaho legislation under the guise of “freedom” seems to have the opposite effect, even undermining local control. Moreover, any Republican legislator who wavers from the Idaho GOP platform can be subjected to a party tribunal and censored for not towing the party line, even though a large majority of constituents favor their rep’s vote on an issue.

Idaho’s legislature needs moderation. Kathy Dawes will be a leader in helping make this happen.

Keep state and federally managed lands open to the public and fully accessible. We should not sell or trade public lands to private entities whose goal is profiteering. Manage public lands for sustainable use, including diverse recreation opportunities.

As a former teacher, Kathy understands the importance of public education. School funding at the state level should be a priority for a strong public education system. For those who prefer home or private schooling, fine; just don’t ask taxpayers to help foot the bill.

Women’s health care has been prominent since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Doctors and other health care professionals are leaving Idaho. How can a small group of predominately male lawmakers have any right, to enact laws governing women’s health care? These important decisions should be made between a woman and her physician!

Let’s support candidates striving to “bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.” I support Kathy Dawes for Idaho House Seat B, and hope many other Republicans in District 6 will do the same!

Dan Pierce

Moscow

How to help with suicide prevention

Suicide has rocked my family. In memory of my child, Katie Thew, who battled chronic pain and died by suicide on Oct. 6, 2022, I offer this article to help other families avoid this grief.

Rampant mental health challenges including depression, with more and more communities recognizing they lack adequate resources to help, inspired the creation of a month (September) devoted to suicide prevention which recently passed. Now our family is mourning another milestone, the two-year anniversary of Katie’s death.

Each of us can learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness and a crisis. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) helps individuals and families learn how to address the challenges of mental illnesses. Please consider visiting the state of Washington NAMI website at namiwa.org to learn more. There are also courses like QPR that help laypeople learn how to recognize and respond to a mental health crisis. Information on QPR courses can be found online at qprinstitute.com. One thing taught in QPR is that we can call 988 for help 24/7.

Even with solid organizations like NAMI, and helpful courses like QPR, suicide prevention remains challenging in our community. What can each of us do to help? We can become trained on how to help prevent suicides. We can push school boards to prioritize mental health education. We can demand health care systems improve access to mental health services. In short, we can learn how to help support those who may not be able to help themselves.

Pam Kohlmeier

Spokane

Don’t vote because of gender, ethnicity

It distresses me when I hear people saying they plan to vote according to a candidate’s gender or ethnicity. That sounds prejudiced. Should we not vote according to reason or a candidate’s experience and policies? Voting according to color or gender sounds biased and shallow. It is also bigoted and racist.

Was not the privilege to vote kept from women because women were viewed as ditzy? Preferring a candidate solely upon sex and/or skin color sounds ditzy. Let’s show we are better than that by digging in to learn more about the policies, experience and character of each candidate.

Ruth Butler

Moscow

Vote no on Initiative 2124

I was shocked to hear a respected member of the state legislature urge a yes vote on Initiative 2124. He had my vote until he made that statement. Here’s why I question his advice.

Initiative 2124 sounds like a simple change, making our longterm care benefit program optional. But the actual impact would be to bankrupt the program. If that happens, the program will die.

Washington’s longterm care benefit program will provide a benefit that starts at $36,500 and grows with inflation. That is roughly $100 a day for a year of help paying for home modifications, home care aides, help with meals, medications and getting around. This allows people time to figure out how to care for an aging or disabled family member.

In Washington state, about 820,000 unpaid family caregivers are caring for loved ones, paying for those costs out of their own pockets.

Most people are not prepared for longterm care expenses. But I-2124 would take away this care benefit not only from those who opt out, but from everyone.

That’s why I’m voting no on I-2124. You and your family deserve the time and support that Washington’s longterm care program provides.

Karen Kiessling

Pullman

What about Trump, Vance lies?

Dale Courtney’s latest column (Oct. 8, Daily News) was hilarious. I laughed until my sides ached. He is shocked, shocked, by a relatively small number of falsehoods uttered by Tim Walz.

By contrast, Donald Trump has uttered literally thousands of outright lies; he spooned out at least 20,000 lies in the four years of his presidency. Practically everything he said or wrote about the 2020 election was a lie — except for the fact that it took place in 2020. His claims that it had serious fraud, that he won in a landslide, that his people have “tons” of evidence of fraud, that Italian intelligence tampered with voting machines, that Dominion Voting Machines changed votes for Trump to votes for Biden, and countless other statements about the election were all lies.

One thing we know about compulsive liars, which Trump certainly is: They will tell more lies. Moreover, Trump’s running mate, Sen. Vance, has given us quite a few falsehoods as well. He even complained during the vice presidential debate when he was fact checked. How dare the moderators point out that he was lying!

The hilarious part is that Dale only seems upset by Tim Walz’s lies but not at all about the vastly greater volume of Trump lies and Vance’s lies, whose falsehoods are at least equally numerous as those uttered by Walz. I wonder why Dale doesn’t even mention them.

David Nice

Pullman

Vote for Dawes

I encourage my fellow Latah County citizens to vote for Kathy Dawes as our Idaho State House Representative, Seat 6B.

I had the privilege to volunteer on several community projects spearheaded by Kathy. She is a gifted leader, always incredibly energetic, organized and well-informed.

Having worked with our special needs students and adults with developmental disabilities for 22 years, I am aware the programs and agencies intended to serve them are chronically underfunded. As a teacher for many years Kathy knows the educational needs of the students. She also understands what opportunities should be available in our state as they become adult members of our communities. Kathy will use her knowledge and skills to work effectively with our other legislators and responsible agencies to improve the programs these folks need and deserve.

Please vote Kathy Dawes for Idaho House seat 6B. She will do a super job for all of us.

Sherry Dodson

Moscow