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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Though the vote count has not yet been officially announced, I have it on good authority that <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Moscow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>School District</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> voters have failed to pass a $29 million facilities bond levy that would have built a new high school and paid for much-needed renovations at <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>West</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Park</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Russell</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName>Elementary schools</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is, in my opinion, both a short-sighted and wrong-headed decision, but alas, it isn’t surprising.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>An unholy alliance of anti-public education zealots, the self-interested, and the delusional (i.e., those who believe that a West Park and Russell-only bond can be cobbled together and p!
assed in the fall) came together under the stress of budget cuts at the University of Idaho, the rising cost of gas and other commodities, and economic fears about the future to doom this bond.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>The consequence will be the loss of Russell Elementary.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This will happen as surely as night follows day, and it’s a great shame.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’m sorry for it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I recently learned that my own elementary, <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Quirk</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName>Road</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> in <st1:place><st1:City>Belleville</st1:City>, <st1:State>Michigan</st1:State></st1:place>, was torn down eight years ago.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I attended Quirk from 1970 to 1976, and the school was slated for demolition even then.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’m surprised it held out (and held up) until 1997; it was roughly the same vintage as <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Moscow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>High School</st1:PlaceTy!
pe></st1:place>.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I understand that there are many people in this town who felt that they couldn’t afford to pay any more in taxes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I understand that, and I respect it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But today’s decision will have long-term negative economic consequences for <st1:City><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A town with inadequate educational facilities will not be able to attract the new business it needs in order to make up for the cuts at the <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName>Idaho</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We’ll suffer for this decision in the years to come.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I don’t say this happily or gloatingly; I say it because I believe it to be so.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>If there is one consolation, it’s this: it is far better to lose with dignity and honor intact than to have been associated in any way with Jack Wenders, Dale Courtney, and the belligerents who have flooded Vision2020 these last few weeks with innuendo, accusation, and personal assault on an unpaid, under-appreciated, but dedicated public servant and on the unquestionable generosity of the Trail family.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Next to the Wenders’ salary ad in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, the worst piece of deliberate disinformation that I’ve seen was a flyer entitled “What Your School Administration Doesn’t Want You To Know,” which was passed out yesterday to students in front of Moscow High School.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Had I put my name on something so despicable, something designed to frighten and inflame high school students by threatening them with a Columbine-style camp!
us, complete with armed guards and razor wire, I would be unable to hold up my head in public without the aid of a crane and scaffolding.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I wish it could have been otherwise.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I wish the supporters of public education in <st1:City><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> could have come together and recognized that in the two-year process that preceded this vote, all options were considered, including a renovation/rebuilding of the high school in its current location downtown.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That option was determined to be unfeasible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s still unfeasible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nothing about today’s vote has changed that.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When we wake up tomorrow morning and read the official tally (roughly 56% against, 44% in favor), know that we have done a grave disservice to students, faculty, and staff throughout the <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Moscow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Sch!
ool District</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, and that any remedy – a new watered-down bond, a new watered-down proposal premised on renovation alone – will not pass.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Gritman</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Hospital</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>’s Emergency Room should prepare itself for an influx of patients.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jack Wenders and Dale Courtney will have broken their arms patting themselves on the back, and everyone else will soon find that they have a bullet-hole in their foot.</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">www.auntie-establishment.com</SPAN></DIV>
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