Hand-counting was poor idea
First, I want to thank all of the volunteers who staffed the polling site (Tuesday) at the Latah County Fairgrounds. The entire process was efficient and I enjoyed seeing friends and neighbors working the polls and casting their ballots.
I was dismayed, though, to deposit my ballot into a plastic Rubbermaid tub with a cutout slot. When I asked about the lack of the usual ballot deposit box, I learned that our county clerk has decided to waste county resources and squander volunteer time to experiment with hand-counting ballots. This is like experimenting with drinking untreated water. People used to do it because they had to. We don’t do it anymore because we made something that works better. Humans are very good at inventing and using tools. We are actually pretty bad at counting without mistakes.
I am disappointed at the poor decision-making demonstrated by our new Latah County Clerk, Julie Fry, in choosing to explore less reliable methods to count ballots in our county. She will not receive a vote from me in the future.
Jennifer Johnson-Leung
Moscow
Honored to run
I want to express my deep gratitude for the support that friends, contributors, businesses, and the community provided throughout my campaign for Moscow City Council. Even though the election did not result in a win for my campaign, your donations, efforts and enthusiasm are greatly appreciated. I’ve had the honor to be a Moscow resident for the past 26 years — it’s not just the place I live, rather it’s a community I love and a city I call home; the love I have for this place is profound. That has not and will not change.
I genuinely and sincerely campaigned to serve our city, and the voters have indicated they would like others to do that important work. This is what elections are for. I congratulate Sandra, Bryce and Drew.
I’d like to also thank my campaign consultant, Truman, for his work. This campaign could not have had a better digital and communications manager. Also, my daughter, Aidan Barnhart, for the hours she spent designing the campaign style and wordmark and building all the campaign collateral to specifications, and my son, Lake Campbell, for the encouragement and humor. I will be forever indebted to my Mom-in-Law, Patricia Nelson, for the action she took on my behalf with fundraising, sign distribution and connecting my campaign to important people. And I’m thankful for my extraordinary, beautiful, and insightful wife, Cindy Barnhart, for providing the marketing expertise and thoughtful council I needed.
I am honored Kenton Bird agreed to stand as my treasurer. Kenton is a pillar in our community and has a lifetime of good works. It has been a distinct pleasure working with him and I am deeply grateful for his support.
Moscow holds a special place in all our hearts, and we will continue to advocate for what’s in the city’s best interest for the years to come. Thank you all again, and although the outcome is not what we hoped for, it was an honor to have your support during this journey.
Joe Campbell
Moscow
Stop the killing
I invite all my comrades for peace and justice, Muslim, Christian or Jew to join in solidarity with nonviolent peace protests around the world calling for an end to Israeli indiscriminate mass slaughter of Palestinians, men, women and children.
The United States must stop unending sales of weapons of mass destruction to Israel, used to rain down bombs and missiles destroying Gaza and its homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, shelters and infrastructure. The death count as we write has reportedly topped 10,000 with more than one-third innocent children. There are countless more injured, maimed, permanently traumatized and displaced.
The bombing of Palestine, funded by the U.S., is state terrorism from the sky and is no more moral, humane or less heinous a war crime than the horrific Hamas atrocity on Israel citizens on Oct. 7. There is no moral justification and we do not support violent extremism, whatever the cause. Every precious Israeli life matters. Every precious Palestinian life matters. We mourn the brutal killing of peoples by violence everywhere. All deserve to exist in peace and dignity, not in perpetual illegal occupation, fear, insecurity and humiliation. The cruel and illegal occupation of Palestine must end. Justice and recognition of the legitimacy and rights of the indigenous Palestinian people must be restored. Israel, too, has a right to exist in peace and security, but not as an occupying apartheid state over the Palestinian people.
It is time for a just peace with security and dignity for Palestinians and Israelis. The U.S .must demand a cease fire now to end the senseless bloodletting and join the nations of the world calling for a diplomatic process which leads to peace, justice and freedom for all the people of Palestine and Israel.
Frank Rodriguez
Moscow
Ready to continue service
Thank you to all who participated in Tuesday’s election and I look forward to continuing to serve the community as the trustee for Zone 1 of the Moscow School District.
Jim Frenzel
Moscow
Lessons learned during election
I want to thank everyone who voted in our local elections and a special thanks to those who chose to reelect me as a trustee on the Moscow School Board. I am humbled by the opportunity to continue serving our community through the education of our young people.
During the recent campaign, there seemed to be agreement among all the candidates — and people I spoke with — that improvement of our facilities is a top priority. I hope we can all work together to make this possible. It is a complex challenge, and as a board we have made some initial attempts in the past, but we now need a renewed effort. I am sure you will be hearing more about this and I hope you will lend your support to move this from planning to reality. Our students, teachers and staff deserve facilities suited to the needs of the 21st century.
I also heard much about transparency. Please know that our entire board welcomes communication with the community. The best way to bring concerns is at the beginning of every board meeting when there is always a time devoted to public comments. By law, we cannot discuss issues brought to us in this way because they must be topics publicized in advance on the official agenda. However, we can add them to a future agenda or address your concerns in some other way. Another lively subject was books in the library. There is a process and channels of communication in this regard and the place to start is with a visit to the school librarian.
It was an interesting campaign and much good can come from the interactions and discussions. Again, thank you for helping to keep our public schools the “Pride of the North.”
Dawna Fazio
Moscow
