Letters to the Editor

Colville has a big investment in ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) sidewalk corners, yet many of the sidewalks are not ADA compliant or are too narrow, too rough, or impassable for wheelchairs. So the next time you see a wheelchair going down the street, it probably is out of necessity, not because they want to race the cars. And when you actually see a wheelchair edged up to the curb facing the crosswalk at an ADA ramp, stop and let them cross; they are not sitting there just to enjoy the scenery (that applies to non-handicapped walkers also). Please use the crosswalk signals; that’s what they are for.

Dear editor, There are three groups of people in this world: those that make things happen, those that want things to happen, and those that wonder what happened. Try not to be in the last group. Recently and nationally, the second group advanced to the first group.

How to Drive People and Businesses Away
We hear complaints daily about the high cost of gas. California, Hawaii, and Washington (blue states, interestingly) have the highest gas prices in the nation. Washington has no plan to lower prices, in fact just the opposite. If your vehicle has a 20-gallon gas tank, every time you fill it up, you’re spending almost $20 for gas tax and Climate Control, with the latter to increase over time. That could add up to an extra $1,000 or so a year, in 10 years – yikes. Why are we doing this to ourselves? Additionally, Washington has the third highest combined state and local sales tax. And in the 2024 ranking, Washington had the 10th highest property tax. As you know, there are some pushing for an income tax, as well. Do we want our state to be No. 1 in the nation for taxes? Again, why are we doing this to ourselves?

Jingo or Valor?
Valor is the word bestowed upon every military veteran of the U.S. military. What is valor? The Scribner-Bantam English Dictionary says valor is “bravery, courage; synonymous with gallantry, heroism.” Jingo is defined as “patriotic song; one who favors an aggressive foreign policy, or who boasts of his country’s warlike achievements.” Our Indigenous ancestors welcomed the stranger and did so without the need for the claimed teaching from Jesus. As one of my elders taught, “Jesus never walked this land.” Can it be argued that after Indigenous ancestors welcomed the stranger, the planet became vulnerable for destruction, evolving toward extinction? Is that valor? The settler-colonial myth of Thanksgiving is that Indians and colonists were as compatible as bed bugs when in actuality the first Thanksgiving, while not a jingo holiday yet, was a celebration by settlers for the recent genocide of local Indians. By the rules of jingo, that was a celebration of valor. Is genocide of Indians valor? Is Amerikkkan Indian Boarding School (aka ”work camps”) valor? Is the kidnapping and transport of Africans and destroying their families for the Amerikkkan Empire valor? Is White Christian Nationalism valor? Is Agent Orange valor? Is U.S. Air Cavalry door-gunning Vietnam peasant farmers gunned down valor? Is burning Vietnam villagers, valor? Is the U.S. destabilizing healthy governments, economies, and installing puppets kneeling to Amerikkkan Imperialism valor? U.S war crimes upon Palestinians valor? Terrorizing Afghans, Iraqis, kicking down doors overnight valor?

In the upcoming midterm election, we will be choosing how we will be represented in Washington D.C. for the next two years. The current representative, Michael Baumgartner, has voted six times against bills ordering Trump to halt the war in Iran, thus abdicating his constitutional duty as a congressman to authorize wars. Another Congressional privilege is the imposition of tariffs. While tepidly ques- tioning tariff policy, when given a chance to overturn Canadian tariffs in February 2026, he voted “nay,” letting Trump de- cide tariff policy. Baumgartner claims to support public transparency in the matter of the Epstein files, but did nothing until Trump gave him permission, and when the files were not released in their entirety, he went silent. He claims to be skeptical regarding the issue of data centers, and even introduced a bill with a catchy name, but the bill had no guarantees that would protect the public. That bill attracted zero cosigners, so is essentially dead, much like the other 23 bills and resolutions he sponsored; none have become law and more than half failed to garner a single co-sponsor among the other 434 members of the House. We need to elect an eastern Washington representative who will fight not just for us, but for the integrity of the House of Representatives. That’s a tall order and Carmela Conroy is ready to take on the challenge. Vote for Carmela Conroy. Take our democracy back.

By the time you read this, we will be less than one week from election day. Washington state votes by mail and, according to state law, ballots must either be received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, or postmarked by that date, and received up to the date the election is certified. That can make things difficult for folks who haven’t voted yet. The U.S. Postal Service advises sending ballots at least seven days before the election, so that deadline has passed. You can still use the mail, but to ensure your ballot is postmarked by Nov. 3, you must hand-deliver it to a USPS employee at a post office and ask them to hand-postmark it in your presence. You can even photograph the ballot after it’s postmarked to document that you mailed it on time. Additional ways to get your ballot counted include using drop boxes up to 8 p.m. on election day or hand-delivering your completed ballot to the auditor’s office in Colville. Drop boxes are conveniently located throughout the county – for a list, consult VoteWA.gov, where you can also track the progress of your ballot as it is processed. Voting is a privilege many of us take for granted. But the truth is, if we do not vote and we are unhappy with how our government operates, we have little to complain about. Make your voice heard; do what you need to do to return that ballot on time.

Choosing candidates comes down to the following questions: is the state of our country what I want? Do I want more of Trump’s outrageous corruption? Am I okay with the cruelty of our president and those who blindly look the other way? What about the recklessness of starting a new war with no viable plan to explain it or even plan adequately for it? Am I comfortable with a president who spits in the face of our courts? Or that denies that our economy is in shambles and instead expects people to be satisfied with things as they are? If, like me, you have answered “no” to these questions, why in the world would you support our current representative, Michael Baumgartner? Have you heard from him even a weak response to any of these crucial questions? I don’t want my congressional representative to sit idly by and accept the abuses of this administration by excusing Trump out of the fear of his retaliation. We can’t afford such cowardice from our leaders. And we can’t expect congress to represent our needs if we are too ill-informed or cowardly ourselves to condemn these abuses. It is our duty to vote against the president’s supporters in congress if we are dissatisfied with things the way they are. I trust my neighbors in the 5th district to do the right thing when they can no longer deny the harm being done to them, their families, and our beloved country by this despicable president.

When I worked for the Libraries of Stevens County, I spent most of my time trying to help communities solve problems. “Costs are too high, Bryan.” “There’s nothing for kids to do around here.” “Nobody can find a decent job.” “Young people are leaving town, because there’s nothing here for them.” If you don’t believe that the government can be a force for good, I get it. It’s hard not to look to D.C. or Olympia and feel anything but frustration. But libraries are not government – they are a collective of local community members trying to make a difference here right now – people of your community trying to help. And libraries are not just a place to find books. They lend everything from blood pressure cuffs to board games to pickleball rackets. They provide access to printing and the internet, because they know that broadband access in Stevens County is a huge challenge. They provide support for job seekers, a safe place for teens to hang out after school, and homework help. More importantly, libraries might be the last public institution that actually wants to hear from you. That’s because the people who work for your local library are behind you in line at the grocery store, members of your church congregation, and in the stands at the same high school football games – all struggling with the same problems that you are.
Vote yes for libraries on Nov. 3.

Funding and Endorsements Favor Eric Simpson for Auditor
In the race for Stevens County auditor, it is interesting to look at two compelling data points. First is the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) which requires financial disclosure and secondly, who is publicly endorsing the candidate. Lori Larsen has raised $19,021. Lori made a $5,000 loan to her campaign plus $10,336.45 designated as self-paid, totaling $15,336 funded by Lori Larsen. Additionally, $3,200 was received from seven donors. This indicates that Lori cannot raise campaign funds and has funded 80.7% of her campaign. The key donors are enlightening:
• Lorrie Sampson: $500. Former Coroner who lost her reelection.
• Tim Rassmusson $250. Former Prosecutor pursued legal action against three former County Commissioners. The commissioners were exonerated by the State Court of Appeals.
• Carmela Conroy: $250. Democrat candidate running against Michael Baumgartner.
• David Snyder: $1,000. Spokane resident
• Valerie Snyder: $1,000. Boise resident.
Currently, no endorsement in Lori’s ads. Some letters to the editors have supported Lori, Including Lisa Wolf, chair of the Stevens County Democrat Party. Eric Simpson has raised $49,809.85. He loaned $2,700 (5.4%) to his campaign. Has raised $39,545.72 from individual donors, $3,129 from businesses, $2,746 from others, and $1,699 from the Stevens County Republican Party. There are 104 lines listing contributors for Eric in the PDC. Eric is endorsed by the Stevens County Republican Central Committee. Lori is not. Eric’s ads contain over 260 individual endorsements. A lot of people have this race figured out. Vote Eric Simpson.

When I drive into Chewelah from the south, I pass by the Republican headquar- ters where I am greeted by a sign saying, “Reclaim America, Vote Republican.” Re- claim it from what? For the past two years, Republicans have dominated all three branches of federal government, with Michael Baumgartner, aiding and abetting virtually all Trump policy demands. Republicans must approve of the war, schizophrenic tariff policy, inflation, stagnant wages, slow job growth, abuse of public property, worsening public health, sketchy food safety, deportation of American citizens, and self-dealing by the wealthy. They also must approve of higher healthcare costs, lowered air and water quality standards, sell- ing off the National Parks, and lower educational standards, right? And that’s only a partial list, and only at the federal level. What about Stevens County government, largely controlled by Republicans my entire adult life? What do you plan to reclaim here? What we have is what you built! At the state level, Democrats in Olym- pia continue to direct more money back to Stevens County than we send them. That is an inconvenient fact. Our representa- tives bemoan their minority status, but their idea of important issues starts with wolves and ends with license plates – is- sues front of mind to all their constituents, I presume. In fact, the slogan on that sign I men- tioned seems better suited to Democrats. “Reclaim” suggests change, not a continuation of Republican policies. If you truly want to reclaim America, you’ll need to vote Democratic.

Dear Editor,
As a Sinaikst descendant, I have participated in the reburials of ancestors from the Slocan Valley, in what is now British Columbia, and the reburials of those dug up were in 1980, before the water came up behind Grand Coulee Dam. Their bones were taken to a lab and studied, as though they were less than human. They were very spiritual people and strongly connected to their community and treated others like they would have wanted to be treated.

A letter endorsing Eric Simpson for auditor last week raised alarm bells for me. Wanting to learn more, I visited Simpson’s campaign website and learned that he seems to be an election denialist, opposes mail voting, and wants to go back to hand-counting ballots. One of the auditor’s jobs is to administer elections in compliance with Washington law, not according to his personalized version of how he believes elections should be run. By itself, that is disqualifying. But back to last week’s endorsement. The theme of that letter strongly suggests a philosophy of voter suppression and that only some “true citizens” deserve the right to vote. Further, no “true citizen” should object to odious burdens placed in the way of voter registration. That’s paraphrasing the letter, of course, but the gist is accurate. The letter implies that, currently, there is no verification of citizenship and identity when registering to vote. That’s simply not true. The systems currently in place have kept our elections safe and accurate, facts any “true citizen” could observe for themselves if they made the effort. Does Simpson share this philosophy? And yes, every citizen has the right to vote, without fear of discrimination. Federal law outlines these rights. In the aftermath of the 2020 election we witnessed rogue local election officials across the country attempt to impose their personal beliefs on the election process. Some went to jail for election interference. We don’t need that drama in Stevens County. Vote experience, vote Larsen.