[Vision2020] If it's Sunday ...

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (July 11, 2014) Lewiston Tribune.

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If it's Sunday ...

Marty Trillhaase 
JEERS ... to Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. If it's Sunday, it must be "Meet the Press" (www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press) featuring Labrador playing politics with the immigration issue one more time.
Here's what he told host David Gregory about the thousands of children seeking refuge in the United States from the drug cartels and gang violence threatening them in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador:
"The thing this administration needs to do is immediately deport these families, these children."
That so thoroughly misrepresents the situation that even Gregory called Labrador on it. These are not families seeking economic gain. They are fleeing for their lives. They are seeking protection under a 2008 law - signed by President George W. Bush - to protect children from exploitation.
Then Labrador went after the Obama administration for the failed immigration policies that erupted in Murrieta, Calif., where hordes of anti-immigration protesters blocked buses carrying undocumented immigrants.
"Right now, the frustration you see in Murrieta, the frustration you see throughout the United States is because they feel that this administration is doing nothing about border security."
And why is that?
The White House has pushed for immigration reform.
The Senate has passed a bill.
And immigration advocates say they have enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass a bill in the House.
But Labrador - who ran away from a bipartisan House panel attempting to craft a bill - has been urging Republicans to drop the issue.
Remember when a young Boise immigration lawyer campaigned for office arguing his background would enable him to help broker an immigration deal?
That was only four years ago.
CHEERS ... to U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho. Of all the condolences Idahoans offered on the passing of former Gov. John V. Evans, there was something uniquely poignant and authentic in Risch's words:
"John Evans was one of the most civil and gentle people I dealt with in the political process over the years. He was a committed Idahoan who deeply loved his state. Being in the banking business, he had a clear understanding of free markets and their importance in a free society. His leadership was greatly respected. Vicki and I send our condolences to Lola and the entire Evans family, who we have always considered good friends."
Evans was a Democrat.
Risch was the Republican leader in the state Senate.
It says much about both men that they looked past political differences and recognized their common humanity.
JEERS ... to Idaho County Commissioner Jim Chmelik of Cottonwood. Rallying suction dredge miners at Riggins last week, Chmelik stepped into one false analogy after another.
Here's what Norm Klobetanz of riversandmountains.biz reported:
First Chmelik equated a group of miners thrown off the Salmon River by a federal government enforcing the Clean Water and Endangered Species acts with the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision to preserve slavery until the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution intervened.
Next came Rosa Parks - whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger was a seminal moment in the Civil Rights movement.
And finally, Chmelik likened the situation of suction dredge miners with that of Japanese-Americans who, in a wave of World War II hysteria, were imprisoned in internment camps in places such as the Minidoka War Relocation Center near Twin Falls.
Chmelik was addressing a group of people whose civil rights had never been challenged because of the color of their skins or ancestry. Nobody is enslaving these folks. Nobody is forcing them to the back of the bus or imposing Jim Crow laws against them. Nobody is locking them up in a concentration camp.
As an elected official - and one who has ambitions to attain even higher office - Chmelik is supposed to be responsible.
If this is the limit of his education, he needs to take remedial history lessons.
If not, he should consult the Ninth Commandment.
CHEERS ... to University of Idaho President Chuck Staben and Lewis-Clark State College President Tony Fernandez. They've decided that only sworn members of their respective community police departments should carry weapons when responding to Idaho's misguided guns on campus law.
In contrast, Idaho State University has equipped its campus security officers with Glock 17 9mm semiautomatics. Boise State University plans to expand and arm its security force as well.
That runs the risk of inflaming the situation. Only police officers have the authority to detain and question citizens. Police tend to be better trained and more experienced, especially when it comes to dealing with people who are armed.
Staben and Fernandez are showing restraint.
CHEERS ... to the Port of Lewiston. Wednesday, it granted the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley's sole ice skating rink a reprieve.
Earlier this year, port commissioners leaned toward evicting the fledging LC Ice Arena to make way for Clearwater Converting's expansion.
Doing so would be in keeping with the port's economic development mission. Clearwater Converting employs more people and would generate more revenue, Port Manager David Doeringsfeld said.
But Lewis-Clark Amateur Hockey Association members need time to raise money toward a regulation-size rink elsewhere.
The port persuaded Clearwater Converting to delay its expansion and extended the ice arena's lease for two years, with the option for a third - while incrementally raising the rink's rent towardcvfbcx a market-based rate.
That's putting the broader community first. - M.T.
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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
  
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