.png)
To the editor, RG * NEW appreciates the work that went into the Wolfred County Park Feasibility Study released June 25, 2024. After a review of the study and a walk through the property with boundary neighbors, we have comments and questions.
POC acquired the 167 acres from Washington State Parks in 2022. The property, located a few miles north of Newport adjacent to Highway 20 and one mile along the Pend Oreille River, is undeveloped, productive timberland.
The Port of Pend Oreille and POC is proposing to develop a large portion into a sports complex with baseball, soccer, football fields, lacrosse, pickle ball, tennis courts, and a 240+ parking lot. Included is RV/tent camping, nature trails, motorized marina and more parking.
Important to RG * NEW is the adverse environmental impact this proposal will undoubtedly have on the environment and wildlife habitat, which includes bald eagles’ nesting habitats. Habitats protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
In the feasibility study, authorized by the PORT and POC Parks and Recreation Board, this “preferred (recreational) concept was derived…with the overwhelming community, county, and stakeholder support.” We disagree with this. There was one quickly assembled and poorly advertised public meeting held June10th. You want buy-in and support, you engage the community and stakeholders through several presentations, visioning, focus groups, plans, and research.
Was there a community assessment that determined a need for this play land development? There wasn’t one. Unfortunately, POC doesn’t have an initiative where people can vote on these projects.
Who will be responsible for paying for this multi-million dollar project and the operation and maintenance over the years? Will the fees being considered pay for it? Is the County maintaining current parks and recreational facilities through fees?
Finally, would this project provide needed affordable homes and sustainable living wage jobs?
-Phyllis J. Kardos RG * NEW Chair Newport
Thank you for the pickleball court
To the editor, Please join me in saying a big “Thank You” to the City of Newport Council and Staff for building the new Pickleball Courts in Little People’s Park on South Union Street.
Thanks also go out the Kalispel Tribe for their financial support and to the Newport School District for sharing their expertise on this project.
Now that we have first class Pickleball courts, “Let The Fun Begin!”
I hope to see you on the courts having fun and getting exercise.
-Joel Jacobsen Newport
Open challenge to Deilke and Pend Oreille County Republicans
To the editor, Dear Mr. Deilke and the POCR Central Committee, Hold next month’s POCR meeting in Metaline or Metaline Falls.
There are 147 registered voters in the Metaline Precinct and 271 in the Metaline Falls Precinct; 418 total. Both precincts are staunchly conservative and consistently vote Republican. Why do you, as the official Pend Oreille County Republican party, turn on these party loyalists and attempt to disenfranchise them?
But that’s exactly what you’ve done with POCR’s lawsuits against County Commissioner Brian Smiley, PCO Election winner Joe Seaney, and County Auditor Marianne Nichols. Don’t the people of the Metaline and Metaline Falls Precincts have the right to choose their own elected officials to represent them?
Keep in mind, Mr. Deilke, that Mr. Joe Seany [Sic. It’s spelled SEANEY] defeated Mr. William Bisson, 63-14. Had Commissioner Brian Smiley faced a PCO opponent, a similar landslide would have undoubtedly ensued.
Since you have such high regard and concern for the political welfare of those precinct’s citizen voters, shouldn’t you meet them face to face?
Here’s the challenge: Hold next month’s POCR meeting in Metaline or Metaline Falls.
Face the people whose representation you are so eager to usurp.
-Kelly Flanagan Metaline
Why the high assessed home
values?
To the editor, Home values in Pend Oreille County dropped last year, so what explains this year’s massive increase in assessed values?
In a recent statement to the Board of Equalization, the assessor’s office claimed the Washington State Housing Market Report showed that property values have increased 55% from 2019-2022. However, that report also shows that median home prices dropped last year. The average price of four-bedroom homes declined by $57,000. Furthermore, state law requires the assessor to fairly assess the true value of every property each year, not every five years.
Deputy Assessor Nathan Longly blamed assessor Jim McCroskey. He told the Board that the assessor had not done his job for the last five years, so they needed to apply a massive increase this year. “[D]ue to staffing shortages and tremendous movement in the real estate market, the Assessor’s office has not been able to keep up…. due to the number of properties affected by the office’s inability to make proper adjustments... the total needed adjustment has been applied for these missed years in this year’s valuation.”
Three problems: 1) The assessor has increased property values in each of the last five years based on market data.
2) According to data reported by McCroskey to the State DOR, the Assessor’s office has been fully staffed with its authorized 5 fulltime employees every year except in 2021, when it had 4.45.
3) The county assessors have one of the smallest workloads in the State. According to DOR, their workload is 25% smaller than the average county assessor and 40% lower than the average in Spokane, Stevens, and Ferry counties.
The Assessor’s excuses do not hold water. Property values are dropping. He has a full staff and one of the lowest workloads in the state. The Assessor owes us an honest answer.
-Ben Richards Usk
Thank you to the newspaper
To the editor, My mom, Linda Karr, loved your paper. She literally read every word every week for about 40 years.
She had to read it with her magnifying glass for the last 10 years, but she did it.
Thank you for the joy, information and entertainment you gave her.
-Pat Karr Moscow, Idaho
Don’t want to be controlled by the government
To the editor, The election is upon us, and we must think about what we want from our government and the political candidates that will run our local, state and federal governments.
I want clean water and air along with sewers, roads and bridges. I want a functional transportation system and safe food to eat. Crime has always been with us, and I don’t expect government policing to stop all crime. Our future depends on public education and producing productive citizens. Our healthcare system must be affordable and available to patients. We cannot stop climate change, but we can be ready for the problems it causes such as wildfires.
Wars of choice are not something I want to support. Self-defense doesn’t involve ruling the world but providing leadership among nations. I don’t want my grandkids fighting in a third world war in Europe.
We need a secure economy that supports growth of our wealth. That means productive citizens working and producing products.
What we don’t need is politics based on race, gender, fascist ideology, revenge, domination, religion, and intrusion into our private lives.
Project 2025 would put the government in your bedroom and medical treatment rooms. I can’t imagine any woman voting to have her menstrual cycle, fertility and pregnancy monitored by an intrusive government. I can’t imagine any senior wanting to be bankrupted by drug companies. I don’t want to pay tariffs on every- thing I buy.
I don’t want to be controlled by the government. That means I get to decide what I do or don’t do with my life and family. Republicans have indicated that they know what’s best and how American greatness depends on following their edicts and intrusive court decisions.
I want safe drinking water and don’t want the political Kool-Aid and weirdness associated with MAGA and 2025 Trumpism. -Pete Scobby Newport
Is America at a crossroads?
To the editor, Under the Trump Administration we had a strong economy with 2% inflation. We could afford to live. Under the Biden/ Harris Administration, prices have soared and we have the highest inflation in 40 years. The American Dream was built on owning a home and raising your children. My kids, as first time home buyers, can’t afford to buy a home.
When Trump left office, we had the tightest border policy, maybe ever. Under Biden/Harris, we have the most porous border, maybe in history. Some estimates say we may have as many as 20 million illegal immigrants in the US. What comes with that is elevated crime, unemployment and the shifting of resources to them.
Biden/Harris claimed they have created millions of new jobs. The Dept. of Labor just realized that was over estimated by 818,000 jobs. They also accounted for illegals replacing W-2 workers and getting paid under the table, off the books.
Kamala wants an unrealized capital gains tax.
Example: you would be taxed on the appreciation of your home value every year not knowing what you could sell it for. She is also running on price controls to curb inflation.
I remember the communist Soviet Union did that.
These alone will crash our entire economy and stock market.
This November, as I see it, we have two choices.
Take our country back or lose it down the road we are currently on. RFK Jr just suspended his campaign and is supporting Trump. In his own words, ‘to save America.’
Main Stream Media polls usually includes 1 to 2K people and can be biased. “Political Polls” came out including 575K voters. Trump 79%, Kamala 13%. Musk had a poll with almost 6M voters. Trump, 73%, Kamala, 27%. This is ‘real’ America. Most Americans want Trump back. America needs to have Trump back.
-Glen Pierce Spokane/Cusick
Replacement migration
To the editor, As I see it, the billionaires who favor a oneworld government couch their schemes for tyranny in plausible-sounding language to placate the masses. They create a problem, presenting it so as to evoke strong emotions that demand a solution, and then supply their solution, shepherding the herd one step closer toward their goal.
In March of 2000, the UN released a document innocently entitled “Replacement Migration: Is it a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?”
They argued that population decline is a serious worldwide problem threatening productivity in the workplace. Fertility rates are plummeting!
The aging population is declining in health! They outnumber productive adults! Nations must urgently find solutions!
They then cheerfully supplied their solution – no, it’s not to investigate why fertility rates are declining or why the health of aging adults is seriously deteriorating. Their recommendation: Replacement Migration! We’ll just transport people displaced by war or famine to Western countries, skip all the red tape of vetting them, and instantly “integrate” them. Problem solved!
Twenty-four years later, I witness the result of their scheming: worldwide civil unrest, begging for a coup by martial law.
In Europe, this “solution” has already progressed from devastated cities to rural areas. Zero Hedge reports that in Tiperrary, Ireland, the 167 indigenous people are protesting being outnumbered (or replaced?) by 265 migrants housed in the town’s manor hotel.
Ukrainian families were removed to make room for non-Western migrants, 80% of whom are single military age men.
“Other more discreet and suspicious migrant compounds have been sighted in rural areas of Ireland, protected by government security...
The presence of these compounds reads more like a covert invasion rather than an attempt at integration.”
Our government also adopted a “Replacement Migration” policy that taxpayers fund. Could this scenario unfold in our towns someday?
-Kamori Cattadoris Newport
