Sept. 20 Letters to the Editor, Part 3: Our Readers’ Opinions | Opinion

Of course, the Democrats tell us there would be no fraud in vote by mail.

I’m so sad to hear that the Lewiston Tribune will no longer be featuring Leroy Hyatt’s column. It is unlikely that he remembers me, but I attended several weeks of fly-tying classes back in the early 1980s. …

I have enjoyed his column immensely over those years and often break out my kit to try another of his favorite patterns.

I share his love of Idaho’s great trout streams. The Lochsa, Selway, Kelly Creek, and Cayuse Creek are my favorite places in the world. …

My personal all-time favorite pattern is the bloody muddler. It features a spun deer hair body, grizzly hackle tips for wings, and numerous other nuances to enhance the body and tail to match the hatch. …

I thought it was supposed to resemble grasshopper on steroids. Hyatt’s book says it is a minnow.

I tie them in sizes from No. 4 to 12. Larger sizes are a challenge to cast on windy afternoons, but they often will attract the biggest fish up from the depths of the hole.

The downside is that no matter how gentle your presentation is, the fish spook fast so you must cover a lot of water. The upside is they are very buoyant, easy to see and, if you add liberal amounts of head cement, they’re exceptionally durable. …

Thank you, Leroy Hyatt, for passing your tying skills on to me and for making 40 years of fly fishing memories possible. Sadly, he and I have never fished together. …

Remember when you were young and everyone told you how you’re going to live forever and save the world because you’re righteous and brave?

Say you find out you’re dying, which you still might think is impossible, but the stupid doctor won’t shut up about it. You are given a choice of two breakfast options for the rest of your life. One is a soggy bowl of corn flakes, cocoa puffs and fruit loops that will certainly taste terrible and kill you with diabetes. The other is some Hillshire Farms, Jimmy Dean super nitrate sausage that is boiled in lard, definitely assuring heart disease.

Whichever one you choose, you must have it every day until you die. Then, when you realize you have no other choice, you’re informed that both breakfast options have been involved in child sex slave operations.

Now you’re feeling so depressed that you decide to vote in the 2020 election.

When President Bill Clinton had an adulterous affair, evangelical Christians screamed out: “Character counts.” Character does count, of course. And now we have a president who continually tries to abuse his authority, is cruel and cold-hearted toward certain mi­norities, uses profanity and vulgarisms in public, deceptively covers up his past misdeeds and pardons his convicted, criminal friends. But good character doesn’t count anymore with evangelicals. Now the hypocritical “excuse” goes out that we can’t expect the president to be a saint. Does this apply to former President Clin­ton, too?

Yes, we have seen President Donald Trump bowing his head in prayer with Chris­tian leaders, and we have seen him standing in front of a church holding a Bible up in the air. But all the while, he would go out and address a rally of his fanatical followers using profanities that you would not want your children to hear.

He certainly does not live by that same Bible he held up in the air. The apostle John wrote about a coming, great antichrist. And he continued: “Even now many antichrists have arisen” (l John 2:18).

An antichrist-type person is not only evil, but he also deceives weak-minded, foundation-less Christians by claiming to have the same political agenda that evangelical Christians have. In good conscience, most evangelical Christians have now found a new savior and hero in Trump, giving only lip service to the old, abandoned, cross-bound savior. If Trump could have his way, this letter, along with other cri­tical letters, would be prohibited.

I have read many opinion letters to the Lewiston Tribune, and I find a disturbing message in describing Melania Trump’s accent in the letter submitted by Juliian Matthews. It’s time to call out this type of rationale for what it really is. The observations mentioned in that letter will not bring this country together. It will only further divide us.

What is very clear is that the writer’s words indicate a very strong prejudice. You state that Joe Biden’s wife Jill looks like an American, while Melania Trump does not. What country do you live in? Only someone like Jill Biden, who looks and speaks like an American should be allowed in the White House. Really?

So, according to you, anyone with a Spanish accent, an Asian accent, an India accent — and the list goes on — should not be allowed in the White House.

By the way, exactly what does an American look like? Most people in America know how diversified we are. Take note of what you see everyday, and try to understand what all Americans look like.

Do you see only gray-haired, white, rich and married-to-politician types? Of course not.

There are a lot of different Americans, many with accents. You are putting your ignorance and prejudice views in print for others to see. It’s just shameless and disgusting.

The letter by Matthews and similar letters should be thrown into the trash, where garbage belongs. The Lewiston Tribune should have done the same.

Dislikes Scrimsher’s manner

Backstabbing, gossiping and two-faced cattiness are usually prevalent behaviors in female-heavy work environments but when I read about the insubordination that has occurred and appears to be continuing at the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office, it is appalling and an embarrassment for the taxpayers of Nez Perce County.

Although I do not condone Sheriff Joe Rodriguez’s alleged sexual harassment, I also do not support the manner in which it appears Bryce Scrimsher used to rally the deputies so he can secure votes in the upcoming election.

It is more respectable to come in as a true opponent by owning the plot to overthrow the current sheriff than to hide under the guise of “assisting” a fellow co-worker as grounds for termination.

It is beginning to sound a lot less like the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office and a lot more like a bunch of immature schoolgirls who don’t know how to play nice at recess.

Remember boys, “If he does it with you, he’s going to do it to you.”

I encourage voters in Asotin, Garfield and Columbia counties to elect Brooke J. Burns as Superior Court judge.

Burns was my law partner before I retired at the end of 2018. She was thorough in her work and advocated for the best interests of her clients. She acted professionally and was respected by others, including opposing counsel.

Burns is able to see both sides of a controversy and will seek to find a result that is just and fair to all involved. A judge has to make tough decisions. Burns will seek to find the correct law and apply it to properly make those decisions.

It is also the most judicially efficient to have the Superior Court judge from this district live in Asotin County, like Burns does. There are few judicial districts in Washington state where one judge presides in two or more counties. Our district is one of these. Most of the judicial cases are in Asotin County and the judge here is able to travel to Pomeroy and Dayton as needed to handle the lower volume of business.

For example, Garfield and Columbia counties have two motion days a month, while Asotin County has two per week. A judge residing in Asotin County is here for the many matters that come up on short notice, such as juvenile detentions, removal of children in emergencies, criminal charges and orders that need to be signed for attorneys. That judge can still fully cover the other two counties.

As I look around at the world today I certainly see a lot of darkness — the darkness of COVID-19, fear, uncertainty, corruption, riots and unrest just to name a few.

What comes to my mind is a photographer who takes his negatives into a darkroom to develop them. We know that he does that because if the light hits those negatives, they will be destroyed.

I developed the negatives of alcoholism, hatred, bitterness, fear, lust and shame for years. When Jesus, who is the light of the world, came into my darkroom, he destroyed all those negatives. He took me out of the darkness and put me into his marvelous light.

Have you ever heard, “in the light of new evidence we are dismissing this case” or “finally someone shed a little light on this” or “I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel”?

That is what truly gives me hope for this time we are living in. I believe that eventually light will come into all of these areas of darkness, expose the real truth and destroy the negatives. I believe this because I saw the light and the Lord destroyed the negatives in my life.

On Sept. 14, the Los Angeles Times carried in its World and Nation section an article titled “Today’s headlines: A climate apocalypse now.”

The article stated: “In 2001, a team of international scientists projected that during the next 100 years, the planet’s inhabitants would witness higher maximum temperatures, more hot days and heat waves, an increase in the risk of forest fires and ‘substantially degraded air quality’ in large metropolitan areas as a result of climate change.”

It is now only 2020 and we have all of the above and recent events have proven climate change is not a hoax, as President Donald Trump claims.

Six of the 20 largest blazes in California history have occurred this year. Climate change deniers can no longer claim record-breaking wildfires, heat and air pollution are not occurring. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon described the wildfire conditions in their states as apocalyptic.

In a book titled “Firestorm,” Edward Struzik describes how wildfires will affect our future. The title of the book came from the 2016 wildfire that occurred in and around Fort McMurray in Alberta. The Fort McMurray fire was so intense it generated a “firestorm” and the pyrocumulonimbus-driven lightning strikes set off several fires 21 miles ahead of the fire. This surprised the wildfire scientists.

As for Idaho, we might see a repeat of 1910 when 1,737 wildfires burned through 988,000 acres of forests in the state as well as Montana and Washington. It is a matter of when and not if.

Cindy Agidius’ Sept. 13 column failed to make an argument for President Donald Trump by not listing even one of Trump’s accomplishments.

Trump has wins but his reprehensible behavior has put democracy in peril, invalidating any accomplishment.

Unlike Agidius, I will list Trump behaviors and policies that are harmful:

1. Trump shut down the federal government for 35 days, the longest in history, throwing 800,000 Americans out of work.

2. Trump directed Homeland Security to lock up children in cages, separating 2- and 3-yearold babies from their parents.

3. Trump claims business came back to the U.S., but jobs and foreign markets lost during Trump’s trade wars outnumber those. Were solutions needed for unfair trade practices? Yes, but diplomatic solutions would have harmed fewer businesses, farmers and other exporters. Trump doesn’t know how to negotiate.

4. Trump’s COVID-19 policy resulted in thousands dying and 14 million unemployed — the highest since the Great Recession. Then, Trump attempted to overturn Affordable Care Act, with nothing to replace it.

5. Trump was the third president to be impeached. While acquitted by Senate members of the Party of Trump, his behavior was egregious enough to warrant the articles.

6. Trump’s kowtowing to Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and other despicable dictators has made the U.S. the joke of civilized global community.

Every president of the United States should be held to high standards of morality, integrity and honor. This president does not measure up.

If you value democracy, vote him out on Nov. 3.

Reading the Lewiston Tribune on Sept. 13 and 14 made me recall college football in Moscow and Lewiston in the early 1950s.

The “60 Years Ago” said Idaho football coach Skip Stahley and his Vandal football team would take the train to Eugene, Ore., to play the Oregon Ducks. The main thing I remember about coach Stahley is that in October 1954 , I saw his — and our — Vandals beat the Washington State University Cougars in Pullman 10-0. It was the first Vandal win against the Cougars in 29 years. At the end of the game, we tore down the goal posts and took them back to Moscow in parts.

The next week, Life magazine had pictures of WSU students walking from Pullman to Moscow in the traditional losers walk.

The Sept. 14 Flashback has a picture of four North Idaho College of Education (now Lewis-Clark State College) football players. That NICE team went on to a winning 7-3 season, but that was the last year for college football in Lewiston because the state closed NICE the next year.

The school was reopened in 1955 as the two-year Lewis-Clark Normal School.

Of the students and ball players from NICE, Rich Morgan is the only one I know who is still alive.

Tom Campbell wrote a nice editorial about NICE in that paper. He has long since passed away, but his memory lives on in the statue of him across the street from the Tribune.

Hooray for the Vandals and the NICE Loggers.

Scrimsher unfit for office

I note with alarm from the proliferation of signs that Bryce Scrimsher is running for county sheriff.

Scrimsher demonstrated his lack of fitness for public office while serving as Culdesac School Board vice chairman.

In 2017, Scrimsher helped oust the school’s award-winning high school science teacher, 24 hours after she had shown a film about evolution in her classes. (Tribune, April 3, 2018). The action violated federal and state laws. The teacher in question had raised ISAT test scores to the statewide average. Almost half of her students scored advanced proficiency. Her students won a NASA experimental design contest, winning a spot for their experiment on a NASA space balloon (Tribune, May 23, 2016).

Other good teachers under Scrimsher’s reign were sent packing as well.

Culdesac’s test scores have been so miserable they landed the school on the State Department of Education’s list of worst performing schools (idahoednews.org May 9, 2019). The new science teacher hired by Scrimsher and his board this year is not certified to teach high school science. Scrimsher’s clouded judgment as a public official has left Culdesac much worse off than in 2017.

Characteristic signatures of Trumpians in public service, from Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona to Attorney General William Barr in Washington, D.C., are disregard for facts, rampant lying and contempt for the rule of law. Organizations managed by Trumpians never improve; they only get worse. Nez Perce County voters should think twice before electing a Trumpian to a sensitive position of law enforcement.

I would like to nominate President Donald Trump for con man of the century. No, I am not a liberal socialist. I voted for John Kasich.

I am for law and order, fair trade, our NATO allies paying their fair share and bringing back manufacturing jobs to the U.S.

I am not for open borders, sanctuary cities, illegal immigration or lawlessness.

I do know a con man when I see one. To my fellow citizens who support Trump, please repeat after me: Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.