Letters for Dec. 21, 2022

Public safety

Within a two-day window, downtown Spokane experienced three incidents where public safety was severely jeopardized. A shooting in front of the carrousel, a burglary assault in Riverfront Park and another assault in the heart of downtown.

Our legislators owe our community a response to the increase in violent crime and property crime. Sen. Andy Billig, who will be serving once again as the Senate majority leader but has continued to let down the constituents he serves regarding public safety, has two major public safety issues that he needs to show leadership on.

Senate Bill 1054 was passed in 2021 which restricts when police can pursue a suspect in a vehicle. The current law in place should have been fixed in 2022 but politics won which has led to more criminals speeding away because they know police cannot do anything.

SB 5476 was passed in 2020 and was a response to the Blake decision regarding drug possession. SB 5476 sunsets in July 2023, which means that in the 2023 legislative session Sen. Billig can lead by providing a response to a law that is leading to drastic meth and fentanyl overdoses. Possession and use of illegal drugs should be a felony as without proper punishment overdoses will continue at a record pace.

Please reach out to your legislators requesting that they respond to the public safety challenges our community is facing.

Chud Wendle

Spokane

SPS needs a racial equity policy

A KXLY Nov. 7 article and video showed a teacher at Shadle Park High School using the N-word and then trying to justify it. This was after she had attended a Shadlewide staff meeting where the leadership made clear that no one was to ever use the N-word. Some other teachers in the district have also used the N-word.

Unfortunately, there has been random teacher and principal hostility towards DEI training, too. When I reviewed the SPS e-docs, I found that SPS students have a conduct policy but teachers and principals do not. I believe the next step is to develop a racial equity policy for staff. Policies have teeth (resolutions are soft with variable consequences). Everything needs to be spelled out and the consequence for violating the policy must be made clear. Thank you SPS for what you’ve done thus far with DEI, but it’s only the first step. You have much more work that needs to be done.

Deborah Cano

Spokane

American Taliban

The Taliban mullahs of the U.S. Supreme Court want one thing. They want to replace democracy with Christian theocracy. Theocracy is a system of government in which the dictates of religion override other freedoms and civil rights guarantees. Justice Alito and other conservative justices think that our society isn’t Christian enough.

The Supreme Court rulings included the striking down of Roe v. Wade regarding abortions and Maine’s extension of public funds to rural private schools, requiring that it include religion-based institutions. Providing public funds to religion-based institutions violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment which dictates a clear separation between church and state.

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert spoke at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colorado, declaring, “The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church.” Now we have a member of the legislative branch saying we need a Christian theocracy.

Mike Pence’s most dangerous statement in the Nov. 20 “Meet the Press” interview with Chuck Todd was about affording a fetus constitutional rights. What that would do is set up criminalizing women or anyone causing any issues with a fetus. Pence wants to ensure that abortion is banned nationally by passing state-by-state laws.

The 2022 election results sent a clear message to the Republican Party. The women of America said, “Tell the Taliban mullahs on the U.S. Supreme Court that we want our reproductive rights!”

Mike McCarty

Spokane