Letters: May 25

Poisonous Hemlock

We have Hemlock growing all over the place here on the Palouse as well as in Whitman County.

There are no funds supposedly according to the Weed office to fight Poisonous Hemlock from its continuous spread in our water ways.

There are landowners, that do nothing in controlling it, and Poisonous Hemlock is spreading.

This Poisonous Hemlock runs from Moscow along the bicycle trail to Pullman, Albion is covered in it; Union Flat Creek that goes past LaCrosse is thick with it.

People here in Whitman County need to take care of this invasive weed as well as the Canadian Thistle.

What happened to the days of when the Weed Board or the Weed Abatement fined farmers and others for not addressing their weed issues? All parts of this Poisonous Hemlock are deadly.

Eating a small leaf of this plant will kill an adult within three hours.

There are no known antidotes for this poison.

Dr.

Cathleen Clancy, associate medical director at the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C., said that across the United States last year, there were 63,000 cases of exposure to this poisonous plant.

Even if the weeds were treated with extremely toxic pesticides, the flower stalks, when dried, drop seeds that will germinate again and again.

The seeds that are in the soil now, along with the plant material will have poisonous effects for several years after they have been sprayed with herbicides.

Leaving the plant parts in the area is asking for serious repercussions.

Poison Hemlock will take over all the areas along the river, making a simple stroll or farming along the creeks, streams and river a life-threatening situation for the citizens of Whitman County.

Some of the information that we did receive did come out of the on-going issues along the Truckee River.

It’s time to be proactive!

Randy and TerryLynn Hinderer, Pullman

You are welcome!

It makes perfect sense that many people don't give Trump high marks when you understand that over 95% of the coverage he has received has been negative.

That according to a recent Harvard study.

What might get lost in a world of nonstop mudslinging by the press is who our choices for president were.

The other choice was the corrupt Hillary Clinton, only a willingly ignorant partisan voter could cast a vote for.

Voters had to withstand eight years of an administration that promised to fundamentally change our country and wanted to stop the conversion.

Hillary would have only made things worse.

We had a community organizer president that spent more time assisting protestors and enemies of this country than trying to work with people with differing ideas.

Not only didn't he work with them, he used the IRS to intimidate them.

We are now learning that in his final year he used the intelligence community to "unmask" political enemies.

His justice department was corrupted from the start, and allows his cronies to get away with many crimes.

What again did Richard Nixon do? We suffered through an anemic economy with no policies that would change that course.

All the while his friends (and Hillary's) in the banking industry were raking in the money.

Trump has already done more to stimulate the economy in his first 100 days.

The Supreme Court should be made up of people who interpret the Constitution, not those who chose to legislate from the bench.

We were one justice away from a court that would have robbed us of our constitutional rights.

Thankfully that threat has been averted by not letting Hillary get that chance.

We now have a president that is on the side of law enforcement instead of the criminals.

You won't see this president constantly dividing us along economic, political, and racial lines, when he is in a perfect position to promote healing.

If you really think this country needs God to save it, rest assured he did that on November 8th.

Rob Lewis, Colfax

2017 Spring Concert

Just came from my first Colfax Elementary Spring Concert, and maybe they are all run like this, but congratulations to Mr. Cammack and the 1st through 5th graders. I was so impressed with all aspects of it. Kids came in quietly and some of the boys even had on ties and suits. It was a big deal to them and they took it seriously. Each grade sang three songs, which were fun and patriotic. If this is an example of the whole elementary school, congrats Colfax, you make your community proud. This is a well oiled machine. A special thumbs up to the second grade boy on the top row with the green shirt, he was really feeling it and put his whole heart into it.

Doreen Riedner, Colfax