Letters

Precious legacy

Last week’s Gazette quotes Kirby Wilbur, state Republican Party chair, as exhorting local constituents to turn out in big numbers to “stop those wild-eyed drug-crazed Seattle liberal hippies.” Could he have been joking?

He looks like a jolly man. I am tempted to point out that Seattle is also populated by a lot of fat, narrow-minded, mean-spirited hicks, but my Grandma tried to teach me good manners, and I don’t think she would have liked that.

Maybe my grandma could have taught Mr. Wilbur something about good manners.

Can you imagine George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson resorting to language so base? Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln’s reaction to a political discourse lowered to that tone? Is this how we are to squander our precious legacy of a civil society?

One is reminded that democracy was tried in ancient Athens, for a brief time in a limited form, and given up as a bad job.

Our house in Elberton was a polling place for a long time, and one of the inspiring bits of history we have found around the place is a WWII era poster with a Lady Liberty, more stern than my grandma, exhorting us with her torch to turn out at the polls and “Make Democracy Live!” Wouldn’t that be a better reason for my Republican friends and neighbors to turn out in strength come November?

John Elwood,

Elberton

Long run

How many times have we heard the county brain trust admonish us to shop local? So now they sign a contract for solid waste disposal with a non-local company. There is more to the issue than a little savings on a contract. Empire Disposal employs local people who spend their incomes in Whitman County. As a result of this new contract, at least seven local people will lose their jobs with Empire.

Empire Disposal is also one of the biggest (if not the biggest) customer of Whitman County’s transfer station. In keeping with the commissioner’s cost savings plan, Empire Disposal should consider finding a lower cost opportunity for the disposal of residential and business solid waste the company collects other than the county’s transfer station. Of course this would deprive the county of a significant amount of money in its coffers. But hey, saving is saving.

Yes, there is a savings on the contract to ship our county’s solid waste but what will this cost the county in the long run? I think the county has made a wrong headed decision. Try looking down the road more than a block next time.

Fritz Howard,

LaCrosse

Discrimination

The League of Women Voters was born more than 90 years ago from the long fight to get women the right to vote. Since 1992, when League members studied health care policy, we have worked to ensure access to quality health care for all. The League also has a strong commitment and belief that public policy in a diverse society must affirm the right of individuals to make their own reproductive choices.

That’s why the League is so deeply concerned about recent proposals that would allow employers and health plans to block contraceptive services and discriminate against women.

By a narrow margin, the U.S. Senate recently defeated an amendment that would limit access to contraception for women if any employer or insurance plan has an undefined “religious or moral objection” to it. This open-ended invitation to cut back on preventative health care services would turn back the clock for women and for American society.

We understand that not everyone agrees with the League on this subject. But we strongly believe that public institutions, including schools and hospitals that receive substantial federal assistance, should not limit the health care choices available to their employees. Institutions that serve the public at large should not impose their own views but should respect the conscientious decisions of each individual.

The League of Women Voters believes that all persons, regardless of gender, should be eligible for preventive health services. Allowing employers to exclude contraceptive services is discrimination based on sex, and it’s wrong.

Alice Schroeder, president

League of Women Voters of Pullman