May 2 Letters to the editor

‘Best of’ was not

In last weekend’s “Best of the Inland Northwest” (a region which I had always thought included Spokane and Coeur d’Alene; but I waive that point), I was rather surprised to discover that nearly everything is Best in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

But then I considered the populations, newspaper circulation, and numbers of potential “Best of” voters in the LC Valley compared to those in Moscow-Pullman. And the fact that virtually nobody I know living at either elevation does much routine business in the other (except, of course, for my occasional Costco runs when other appointments demand).

As you try to survive the unfortunate challenges now facing newspapers, you would do well to remember that these two very different and distinct communities cannot be melded into one, for either local news or advertising. Your statistical imprecision has done a disservice to the merchants and readers on the Palouse.

Bruce Bradberry

Moscow

The situation in Gaza

A couple of my recent letters have been withheld from publication because the Opinion page editor suggested that their content might contain “antisemitic” sentiments, or possibly so. First Amendment rights exclude even a faint perception of antisemitic expression.

But I can not be labeled an antisemite, since I support a people in Palestine who are clearly semitic by ancestry, language and culture. They are being killed en masse, as we write, by a murderous regime whose own claims to semitic ancestry and rights to the land are far less persuasive in my opinion.

American university campuses today are overrun with protests against the certifiable genocide going on in Gaza. The mainstream American media, included in which I believe, must be the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, largely ignore the plight of beleaguered Palestinians. They refer to them and their leadership as “terrorists.” The major news outlets refuse to consider, even for a moment, that the Netanyahu government and Israel Defense Forces may be terrorists themselves. Most allege, along with numbers of mostly Republican politicians, and 80% to 85% of the Israeli population, that Palestinian Arabs should be either extirpated or driven off.

But one dirty little secret is never told. Significant numbers of these on-campus protestors are young, self-confessed Jewish students. You don’t believe it? Then I suggest that you pull yourselves away for a moment from the NY Times, and from FOX, MSNBC and CNN. Consult alternative news sources and videos. Many, many Jewish citizens, particularly the young, have had a gut-full of this horrible massacre and are speaking out against it.

Timothy Moore

Potlatch

Far apart

I have to laugh at Ryan Urie’s April 25 opinion column, “A needed intervention for Trump enthusiasts.”

If I didn’t know better I would say he was describing Biden and the Democrats and he doesn’t even realize it. Just goes to show how far apart we are.

Kirk Koefod

Troy

Consider Bennett

Consider Colton Bennett as your legislator for District 6 Seat A. We need a conservative Republican that works for all of us. And one who will not bow to the leadership and the lobbyists or big business, and who will assess each bill to see if it will raise taxes or grow the government.

We need a legislator, that we don’t currently have, to let them know how we feel about every bill. That’s why we choose solid conservative legislators. Colton Bennett will be that legislator.

Rebecca Crea

Winchester

Crea is chairperson of the Lewis County Republican Central Committee.

Help wildlife

Right now is peak bird migration time. Most birds migrate at night and lights are disorienting, adding to the deaths of more than a billion birds each year. Check out this website: birdcast.info/migration. Lights left on at night also exhaust and disorient insects, causing even more deaths — and reducing the food birds need. It’s simple: Turn off lights and close your curtains at night. Consider installing motion detector lights.

Birds are dying from window strikes, outdoor cats and habitat loss. We can all do something simple to help reduce the deaths. Keep cats inside so they don’t keep killing wildlife. It’s also safer for cats to be inside, away from cars, raccoons and diseased feral cats. It’s simple to put UV reflective stickers on the outside of windows or, better yet, make some birdsaver strings to hang outside. Check out birdsavers.com for DIY instructions. Dirty windows are more visible to birds, and what’s simpler than not cleaning?

Plant native flowering perennials, shrubs and trees to help support our native pollinators, birds and other wildlife. FYI, honeybees are livestock, introduced and spread disease, and reduce resources for natives like bumblebees. Fruit trees, willows and oaks are great for wildlife too, but lawns are not. It’s simple; lawns are food deserts, so replace most or all of your lawn with native flowering plants. Stop using pesticides and herbicides — they kill beneficial insects too. Birds look for insects all day long and need hundreds to raise a nest of young.

Please consider how your home and yard harms or helps wildlife, because — you guessed it — there are simple ways to help, and it’s up to each one of us to do what we can.

Evelyn Simon

Moscow

McCann is the right call

Lori McCann began her career as an Idaho legislator by appointment by Governor Little, a testimony in itself. She then won her seat and has represented District 6 for the past two years as a reasonable, thoughtful, educated and approachable representative.

Lori has lived in the Lewiston area for the past 50 years and is a graduate of the University of Idaho. Her degree is in education. She taught paralegal and legal assisting at Lewis-Clark State College for a number of years and currently works with her husband managing their ranch and his law practice.

To say she understands our concerns is an understatement.

Lori is concerned about education and Idaho’s constitutional responsibility to fund our public schools, provide safe buildings, offer a variety of educational possibilities for our public school students and supports competitive teacher salaries to retain good educators for our children.

Lori has been a supporter of many issues important to our district, infrastructure, police training, lowering taxes and punishing drug traffickers, to name a few.

Retaining Lori as our representative will ensure knowledge and experience at the state level and assurance that our voices will be heard.

Kathy Weber and Bill Lambert

Moscow