Letters to the Editor

Vote ‘Yes’ For Libraries
On April 28, voters have the opportunity to approve a small levy increase for our Stevens Rural County Library District (SCRLD). This would be the first voter-approved levy increase since SCRLD was created 28 years ago. Over those decades, inflation has significantly outpaced the annual 1% revenue increases allowed without a vote. Despite demonstrating incredible creativity with grants and operational efficiencies, our libraries have been forced to cut programs, staffing, and hours to offset continuous budget shortfalls. This small increase in funding is desperately needed – there’s just no more blood in the turnip.
Our libraries are an exceptional value. Not just to us individually, but also as a critical investment that stays in our communities:
providing babies and toddlers with access to free books, storytimes, and songs, as well as opportunities to develop crucial fine motor and language skills;
helping ensure Kindergarten-readiness, so kids, families, and local school districts achieve academic success;
providing free high-speed internet;
offering free programs that allow patrons of all ages the chance to explore their interests and expand their knowledge.
If this levy is approved, a property owner with a residence valued at $200,000 would only pay an additional $3 per month. Is $3 dollars too high a cost to help improve an adult’s resume, a teenager’s job skills, or a 4-year-old’s Kindergarten-readiness? What will be the cost to our communities if we fail to make this investment?
Please keep our libraries and our communities strong: vote YES on April 28.

Dear Editor,
Regarding the "squandering" of taxpayer money for our war fighters' special dinners – how dare that word be used in the same breath with our military members. We enjoy life in the still greatest country on earth thanks to our courageous troops. It's a military tradition to provide our soldiers with a special meal before dangerous deployments. The perspective that it is wasteful seems misled and petty, especially in the wake of the recent Nick Shirley expose on Somalian mega billion dollar fraud crimes. Let us be grateful to our military members. A nice meal before they risk their lives for us is a very small way to thank them.
Regarding the Washington state "tax the rich" mentality, this concept is rooted in socialism, which sadly has overtaken the Democrat Party. Socialism and Marxism are ideologies of greed and envy. Taxing the rich is the age-old bait to get the masses to support the leeching of those who worked hard to garner success and to naively support their own demise. As the legendary Margaret Thatcher quipped, "The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." And the millionaires are leaving Washington state taking their capital-producing businesses with them. When the state collapses, let's revisit the "let them go” attitude.

On April 28, the Libraries of Stevens County is sponsoring a levy request aimed at maintaining programs and services throughout the County at current levels. And what do we get at these current levels?
Our local libraries provide a lot more than just the physical books, movies, or audio you can check out; which you can even borrow online.
Our local libraries offer free wi-fi, internet access and computer use. Space is provided for seed exchanges and gardening classes, job training and practice interviews, story times and read- alongs for local kids, craft times and projects for all ages, and more. The local library branch provides a safe place to go after school until parents get off work, interactive public art projects, and meeting spaces for private groups.
Need to borrow camping or exercise equipment, yard games, or kitchen appliances? How about passes to state parks and local museums? Not sure how to find information or resources you need? Your local librarian will help you out.
Also, please keep in mind that the amount of this levy is small. If you own a $300,000 property, you are looking at $132 annually, an increase of just $4.35 per month more than the current levy rate. And if you don't own property, well, you get all the library services for free. So join us in supporting this valuable community asset on April 28.

Our representatives said, “The proposal to impose a state income tax on high earners should give Washington taxpayers pause.”
Why? A higher tax for those who pull the most money from Washington to pay the most money to Washington makes sense. Taxing theory has always been, you pay according to ability. Washington’s regressive tax structure hurts the people on the bottom, which is the place the majority of the people in LD7 inhabit. Who do you work for Reps Abell and Engell?
Abell and Engell’s arguments against this tax? Like always, fear-based talking points that don’t hold water:
The tax level will be lowered: if it happens, fight it then instead of forgoing revenue now.
The rich will leave: maybe some will; that’s their choice and loss. The rich don’t get to hold us hostage.
The constitution says no: I guess we’ll find out on this one.
Republicans are happy to impact people’s lives by taking away health care, SNAP, education, energy credits, bodily autonomy, and voting rights. What they miss is that government is meant to make people’s lives better, not worse. For all people, not just the rich. This tax will fund child care, early learning, health care, expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit, and more. This tax is an investment in the people of Washington. And 60% of Washingtonians support it.
What Abell and Engell should be concerned about is the fraud perpetrated on their constituents by the misuse of the legislative response tool.

Open Letter to Annie Bouscal
In answer to your letter saying that Michael Baumgartner voted in favor of the SAVE Act and that this would be voter suppression – I disagree.
I guess I am one of the 71% who support this legislation and part of the 75% who think that proof of citizenship is important if you want to vote.
Most people have their birth certificate and the other paperwork needed to prove that you are a U.S. citizen or they would not have a drivers license or a debit/credit card. Those who don’t, I guess are the ones who stay at home and don’t do anything.
If you have already voted, you will get your ballot in the mail just like before. If you want to sign up, you already have the paperwork needed.
I’m sorry you do not like Michael. I think he is doing a good job, just as Cathy McMorris Rogers did before him.
PS. And in case you did not know, Michael worked in Baghdad in 2007-2008 so he is well-versed as to what is happening right now in that part of the world.

Raise your hand if you were giddy about all the waste and fraud that DOGE eliminated last year. DOGE claimed to have found $214 billion in wasteful government spending, though watchdog groups put verifiable savings closer to $1-$7 billion.
In September 2025, the end of the government fiscal year, the Department of Defense had $93.4 billion left unspent in its budget; instead of letting the overage revert back to the general fund, Pete Hegseth went on a perverse spending spree. While DOGE was cutting congressionally appropriated funding for programs that fed hungry children and adults, Pete was furiously spending $93.4 billion, half of that in the last five days alone of the fiscal year. No, not just defense spending specifically. How do you feel about your tax dollars being squandered on lobster tails ($7M), crab ($2M), salmon ($1M), and ribeye steaks ($15M)? Let your fingers do the walking and see what else Pete purchased with the People’s Money.
DOGE was dissolved in November 2025 well before the end of their 18-month assignment. Did Elon and his Bro-Team warn Pete that this sort of frivolous spending is wasteful and exactly what voters wanted to root out? Or did Pete’s “Department of War” fully fund the DOGE going away party? I am under no delusion that Michael Baumgartner will demand any accountability from Hegseth for these outrageous expenditures, but I’d be delighted if he proved me wrong.

Dear Editor:
I enjoyed listening to what former Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden had to say about the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. at his funeral on March 5.
They all spoke of his hope for America, the marginalized, the voices that continue to not be heard, those that support greed and who have nothing; that makes no sense to me.
Jesse was a great civil rights leader and he did it for all people – regardless of their color of skin, ethnic origin, or creed of religion.

It is not “anti-law enforcement” to expect our government to follow the law. That expectation is the foundation of our democracy.
We all agree immigration should be orderly and lawful. But the claim that the United States has had “open borders” is simply not true. Federal immigration law has remained in place under every administration, and border enforcement has continued. Millions were expelled or removed under Biden’s enforcement. The real issue is that our system is complex, backlogged, and long overdue for reform by Congress – including more immigration judges and clear, workable legal pathways.
Deeply concerning are documented cases in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained or targeted United States citizens and people who are here legally. When any agency violates due process, ignores court orders, or exceeds its authority, it is not “just doing its job.” It is breaking the law and it undermines trust in legitimate enforcement. Holding government agencies accountable to the Constitution is not radical; it is a basic civic responsibility.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man’s permission when we require him to obey it.” That principle applies to everyone – including government agencies.
Americans can support lawful immigration and insist on lawful enforcement at the same time. Those principles are not in conflict. Respect for the rule of law must apply equally to all.
We are strongest when we defend both our borders and our Constitution.

As citizens of Washington state, we have the ability to register our position, either PRO or CON, on any piece of legislation being considered in Olympia. This can be done via a website, making citizen participation both easy and convenient. Our representatives are notified of the PRO and CON totals which can reflect public opinion.
Last week, Representatives Abell and Engell sent out an email purporting to show overwhelming public rejection of the Millionaires Tax currently making its way through the legislature. This is the opposite of public polling results. Because the “Sign-In” numbers seemed unlikely, progressive groups in Olympia dug into the data and discovered, shall we say, some discrepancies. For example, one of the bill’s sponsors had been signed-in CON, and yet when contacted, she denied she had done that.
In a Zoom press conference on Monday, data was presented showing fraudulent manipulation of the Sign-In system and called for investigations by both the legislature and the attorney general. Stay tuned.
We are told that even though election fraud is rare, we should be required to make it more difficult to vote, by demanding proof of citizenship many folks just do not have. The problem described here is not an election matter, but most definitely political fraud. And it is not a small number but extends into the tens of thousands.
I contacted the offices of Abell/Engell for comment. Thus far, no acknowledgment that they were duped or are purposefully misleading us.

I wanted to thank the Statesman-Examiner and Tamara Titus for the wonderful article about Woodland Theatre Kettle Falls and our 50th year of being a community theatre. I did want to invite people, if they were ever a Woodland audience member or a participant, to send in their "Woodland Memory" to woodlandstp@gmail. or P.O. Box 524 Colville WA. 99114. Thank you again and see you at the theatre!

On Feb 11, Rep Michael Baumgartner voted in favor of the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, which, in brief, requires proof of citizenship to vote in elections. On the surface, that seems like a reasonable thing, but the devil is in the details, as they say. When you dig down, this is yet another Republican-inspired voter suppression effort, because when your policies hurt everyday citizens, the only way you stay in power is taking their vote away.
How do you prove you are a citizen? You will need either a passport ($165) or a valid birth certificate that matches the name you use today. If it doesn’t, such as in the case of married women who took their husband’s name, that will require a legal name change, filing paperwork with a court, and a fee of nearly $300. If you have an enhanced driver’s license, you have already paid some of these fees. But remember, that enhanced driver’s license program took nearly a decade to roll out, and Baumgartner said this bill, if passed, will go into effect for the November election. Nonsense!
In earlier times, this would be called a poll tax – charging money to be able to vote. That’s been declared unconstitutional by an earlier Supreme Court and the 24th Amendment. How today’s Court would rule is anyone’s guess. Baumgartner knows Republican policy hurts everyday people. Instead of trying to improve the lives of his voters, making it harder to vote is all he has left.

Imagine it is June, 2022, and the Supreme Court has just issued their “Dobbs Decision” overturning 50 years of precedent and banning abortion nationwide. Joe Biden goes on TV and says of the Justices they are “fools and lap dogs,” “unpatriotic and disloyal,” “a disgrace to our nation,” “an embarrassment to their families,” and “swayed by foreign interests.” Right, you cannot imagine that. Had that happened, Fox News would have called for his immediate impeachment by that afternoon.
Those quotes actually belong to Donald Trump from Feb 20, outraged that the Supreme Court would sustain rulings by multiple lower courts finding the Trump tariffs illegal. Fox News reports with tepid commentary then moves along. Baumgartner is silent. As a member of Congress, it would be Baumgartner’s job to design legislation regarding tariffs as the Constitution says and the Court has now reiterated. But is he smart enough to know tariffs are a tax on the American consumer? Fair question.
Either way, Trump immediately said he would defy the Court and then raised tariffs across the board. This abuse of power and disregard for court orders is an impeachable offense, but I have no expectations of Baumgartner and Congress.