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WBCSD accountability
To the editor, Property owners in WBCSD would like to see their tax money for local schools be well spent. We all care about the children and want the best education for them. Thankfully, we have an accountant on the school board who knows how to record and summarize financial transactions and analyze, verify, and report the results. Her name is Kathy Nash. Kathy is an accountant by profession and applies those principles to her work as a trustee. She does this for our district as a volunteer (NOT paid), as well as having a private business.
Being a school board trustee demands tremendous diligence as they have fiduciary responsibility for our tax dollars. It also requires a huge time commitment – the last meeting lasted from 6:00 pm until after midnight.
There were over 40 pages in the trustee packet to digest before the meeting.
Since Kathy was sent 9 pages at the last minute, she asked for more time to examine them. She respectfully recognized it was not the fault of the payroll person, and in fact, complimented her. She abstained from voting.
Another trustee said he had time to read them and made a motion to accept them. This was not only disrespectful to Kathy, it did not recognize a fellow trustee’s desire to do a thorough job of accounting for the district. The motion passed. Thank you, Trustee Nash, for trying to be the best you can be for the school district. Thank you also for honoring your fiduciary responsibility to all of us taxpayers!
-Kathryn Barlow Spirit Lake
The dangers of digital IDs
To the editor, One of the biggest fears many critics express about biometric ID systems recently materialized when Aadhaar, a biometric digital identity program operated by the Indian government, was hacked.
1.3 billion people in India are currently enrolled in the program, and around 60% were affected by the breach. Anonymous hackers said they gained access to sensitive personal data for 815 million Indian citizens, now selling for $80,000! That wasn’t even the first breach of their system.
Breaches are alarming when you realize that biometric data (fingerprints and eyeballs) can never be changed the way we can change our passwords after an account has been hacked. When the Aadhaar system was set up, Bill Gates claimed that there were zero privacy risks in using the system.
Tell that to the 815 million people with personal data exposed!
In 2012 the Indian government said it just wanted to give people without IDs a formal method of government identification to reduce the incidence of stolen or fake IDs, while providing access to government programs. Initially introduced as “voluntary,” Aadhaar later became mandatory to access state benefits and welfare programs. (A trap snapped?)
Now it’s required to access nearly everything, such as bank accounts, pension payments and medical records. It centralized tracking of employment status, purchasing records, movements between cities, and even farmers’ crops, giving the government unprecedented surveillance powers.
These centralized systems can shut off anyone’s access to necessities at the government’s whim. Do we still believe governments will refrain from abusing such power?
Jeff Bezos recently announced Amazon is launching its palm-based identity service. He touts the benefits (for corporations) while ignoring problems caused by security breaches (for us). Should we trust corporations to protect our biometric data? Would you willingly comply with a US biometric digital ID?
-Kamori Cattadoris Newport
Trump is the coward
To the editor, I cannot begin to say how disgusted I am at the behavior of a person claiming to be an adult who acts like a 2 year old spoiled brat.
In the last couple weeks he has revealed he has no use for people that aren’t perfect, disabled people have no use in his society. He wants to do away with special education per his project 2025. He can’t accept the fact that a powerful Black woman is going to kick his butt.
He is a coward through and through. As a leader for our country if there were actually something terrible that happened he would be the first one hiding under his desk as a coward that he truly is.
Wake up America, this evil, hateful racist needs to go!
-Jeannie Hutchins Newport
Minnich is an upstanding man
To the editor, I was recently going through the Pend Oreille County voter’s pamphlet to find out who was running and to read their views so I could make an informed decision on how to cast my vote. As I did this, I was delighted to find that Steve Minnich (Steve Haroldson Minnich) is running for County Commissioner in District 1. I was happy to see this because I have known Steve for several years, and I have no doubt he would make an excellent County Commissioner.
In the time I have known him, Steve has consistently proven himself to be a man of his word. He is honest, kind, intelligent, and genuine. How do I know this? I know this from personal experience.
Several years ago, after experiencing a serious injury, I found myself in an untenable living situation for which I needed help.
At that time I reached out to Steve Minnich to ask for help with my situation. This wasn’t easy for me, but I knew I needed to do something. Let me point out that, at the time, I had never met Steve nor had he met me. Nonetheless, he arranged to meet with me in a public location, talk, and try to come up with a solution to my situation. I don’t think there are many individuals who would go out of their way to help a complete stranger, but that is exactly what Steve did. He didn’t do this for any personal gain. He did it because that is who he is.
Therefore, I am honored to offer my full support to Steve in his run for County Commissioner. Pend Oreille County will be well served to have him in this position. I say this without reservation. I have no doubt he is competent and capable of filling this role.
You will not go wrong by casting your vote for Steve Minnich.
-Debra Moore Newport
Who is running our country?
To the editor, Kamala Harris has the delegates to be the nominee for president.
This move has Democrat donors and voters fleeing by the masses. Looking at her political career, she has accomplished nothing. The only “accomplishment” I can find is when she was the AG in California, she imprisoned Black men at a much higher rate and for longer terms than normal. Many were found to be innocent years later.
Remember when Kamala ran for President? She polled at 2% and dropped out before the first primary. She is the border Czar and look where we are.
JD Vance just spoke at the border and said “she is allowing millions of illegals into our country, giving them amnesty and allowing them to vote. Democrat politicians won’t have to rely on their voters anymore because they will have the illegal vote.”
The Democrat Convention begins on August 19th. I’m guessing Kamala enters as the nominee but I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets replaced. The polls currently show she has no path to beat Trump. The Ds know this.
Either way democracy falls. They will choose our leaders for us. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
Joe Biden was forced out due to cognitive decline.
Barak Obama and others threatened Joe with the 25th Amendment if he didn’t drop out of the race.
This convention will be interesting.
Who is currently running the country? If Joe can’t, then who is?
Israel just took out two top terrorists. One in Beirut and one in Iran. Iran has promised to strike back.
The US will side with Israel. We just sent 12 warships to the region. We are on the brink of war and I would like to know who is calling the shots from the WH.
-Glen Pierce Spokane/Cusick
Decades of breaking glass ceilings
To the editor, Perhaps it would be useful to discuss DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) being used in politics. Years ago, I represented my company at a diversity council hosted by the University of Houston. Why would corporate America embrace DEI for their employees?
The idea was to use every employee with diverse backgrounds to achieve the goals of the company which was to make money. How could any organization ignore the potential contribution of their employees or members?
It would be like driving your car with one wheel removed. After decades of breaking glass ceilings in American workplaces, women are now fully utilized as contributors and leaders.
Turning to politics we now have the opportunity to elect our first female president who is also our first female vice president.
We have seen many female presidents on TV and in the movies, and now it could become a reality. We already have female governors from both parties. It’s time for women to have the equality they deserve and have earned while building our nation.
One job I had was to train female firefighters when the fire service opposed their participation. We develop techniques to allow women to do the same job as the men. That’s when fireman became firefighter. Same goes for policeman becoming police officer.
Now it would seem silly to limit any job or profession by one’s gender.
If you don’t like it, vote to put women back in their place as second-class citizens, but that reminds me of women who accept abuse from their husbands, partners and male bosses.
Women objecting to being abused will be curtailed in a Trump administration.
Will women vote against equality and to limit their inclusion in our society?
America has always been a diverse nation that includes immigrants who contribute to make us great and prosperous.
-Pete Scobby Newport
