To the editor,

The citizens of the USA and those who love freedom and democracy have a common enemy and his name is Vladimir Putin. A Soviet Union KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before resigning in 1991 to enter politics and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1996 he joined President Boris Yeltsin’s administration where he served as director of the FSB, the KGB’s successor agency, and then as prime minister. He became Acting President on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. He has essentially been [the] head of the Russian government ever since. He has no lost love for the USA, freedom and democracy. He wants to rebuild the former Soviet empire or failing that to exert control over all the nations surrounding Russia.

How does he seek to do this? As a former KBG agent Putin was schooled in the acts of sabotage, propaganda technics and campaigns of lies and disinformation. His primary goals using these techniques are three-fold. He seeks to weaken our nation by fermenting hyper-partisanship with the result we turn on one another including our once highly respected intelligence agency as the enemy not him and he seeks to weaken our relationships with all of our allies including those former Republics of the Soviet empire.

Putin’s technics work because he and those who at best inadvertently or at worst with malfeasance use those technics to sow such discord in our nation that we have come to view those who don’t adhere to the “party” line as traitors to our nation. He doesn’t favor one political party over the other he simply uses them and their followers to create hyper-partisanship destroying our working democracy thereby making our government look dysfunctional and weak to ourselves and to other nations in the world.

We have a choice for our future. The right choice is to reject hyper-partisanship and propaganda aimed at making us believe the worst about our fellow citizens. The right choice is to reject the tyrant and his USA capitulators in favor of democracy, freedom, the rule of law and the US Constitution.

Tom Fitzsimmons

Pomeroy, Wash.

To the editor,

“Freedom” vs. Freedom. Your “freedom” not to mask nor vaccinate denies others their freedom to stay safe and alive!

Norm Luther

Spokane, Wash.

To the Editor,

I read with dismay the article by Todd Myers, Director, Center for the Environment, Washington Policy Center in Issue Feb. 24, 2022, addressing yet again the dams on the Snake River located in Washington.

He too, ignores the source of the problem, as did the Sammamish high school students who likely sourced no other material than that given them by anti-dam activists focused on Lower Snake River dam. These activists know/should know that the dams on the Snake River in Washington are not the source of spawning grounds. Since time began millions of fish were prolific from these spawning grounds yet in the late 1800s the fish were overharvested and began installation of dams.

Do you know where those spawning grounds are? Idaho. You can do a search to inform yourself when all dams were put in on the Idaho rivers and tributaries to and on the Upper and Lower Snake River. You can also visit Lower Granite Dam for some of this information and to get a good visual with the relief map on the wall at the Visitor Center.

Did you realize that the dams in Idaho do not have fish ladders? Yes, there are no fish ladders in the dams in Idaho. The spawning grounds have officially been closed to these fish. They were supposed to put in ladders. But have yet to do so.

For all the money thrown around for over 100 years to create studies and simply just flap their gums regarding the dams with fish ladders in Washington, fish ladders could have been put in every single dam in Idaho.

If you want a thorough history of dams in Idaho and the warnings given, buy or borrow the book Whistling Past the Tombstones Or Remove These Dams written by Pomeroy resident Fred Mensik. The book is available where books are sold and probably Denny Ashby library and surrounding libraries. Fish are not the only wildlife that was once prolific in the United States and elsewhere and Fred covers this in his book as well.

Ann Blachly

Pomeroy, Wash.