Vote no on CHS
Inflation and poor management of our national economy have driven the cost of living out of control. The Clarkston School District’s proposal for a more than $75 million high school is far beyond a near poverty-level community’s ability to pay.
The district proposed a $38 million bond for a new high school in 2014 that was defeated. Now they are asking more than double that number which is really out of the question.
I have just raised my tenants’ rents because of increases in several utility repair costs, insurance premiums and repair costs. Passage of the levy would necessitate another rent increase.
I have empathy for our students’ needs and agree to the need for vocational training facilities and greater security. Why doesn’t the district focus on those needs on an individual basis and propose a project at a far lower cost?
Our society is undergoing radical change across the board. Why lock into a huge expenditure only to learn later it was the wrong decision? I oppose the passage of the high school board levy.
Donald F. Johnson
Clarkston
Thinking through bond
Thinking through the bond for Clarkston High School I’m forced to explore the benefits worth the pain of the property tax increase.
Personal benefits:
I prefer paying for schools over prisons.
I like the idea of supporting people to be equipped for the future.
Educated people are interesting and the kind of people I like to be around.
A graduate today could be the one who saves my life in a decade or two.
Public benefits:
Education is a key out of the prison of poverty.
Educated people typically earn more and are able to contribute more to charity and the tax base.
Educated people are less likely to fill prisons.
Even if someone happily works under their education level, it doesn’t hurt Americans to be able to read and discuss a book, understand history and have a meaningful civil experience.
Our Founding Fathers created a system dependent on an educated populace and that system must support the individual’s education or collapse.
My loudest complaint as I consider this bond: People keep voting for representatives (Dye, Schmidt and Schoesler) who refuse to address the state’s regressive tax structure that keeps us begging for our children through bonds and levies. That is not good representation for Asotin County where people are largely property rich and pocket-money poor. Bonds and levies fail repeatedly and are not a good system of paying for education.
Still, building supplies will not be cheaper the next bond cycle. Seems sensible to pay now to save later.
Janet Marugg
Clarkston
Union supports bond
The Clarkston Professional Firefighters International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2299 supports the Clarkston School District’s bond seeking taxpayer support for reinvestment in Clarkston High School.
The current CHS campus is five buildings with 53 unlocked doors. The new design creates a safe and secure environment in our downtown by keeping the Adams building, auditorium and technology building and consolidating them into one building with three secured, monitored entrances.
Separating vehicular entrances for the staff, students and community will improve safety for people walking to and from the building.
Our organization is consistently in need of job-ready employees. The new teaching facilities included in the concept design will enable the Clarkston School District to establish an emergency medical technician certification course for high school students.
Our professional firefighters serve the city of Clarkston’s residents with pride, integrity and compassion. A quality high school is a gathering place and a point of pride for our community.
For these reasons, our fire union encourages its members and the community to support the efforts of the Clarkston School District to pass a bond to fund construction at CHS.
Trey Irwin
President
Clarkston
Dismayed about ‘Dilbert’
I must express my dismay over your decision to chop or drop “Dilbert,” which is certainly one of the best you carry. I do not believe the author was using hate speech and was only trying to make a point that the “thought and speech police” immediately jumped on.
I know there is very little faith in God, who created all things, and in America, which at least has given us freedom to speak our philosophies without fear of retribution.
God is not only the creator but also the judge, if you will. He will only believe the best of this person, now under persecution, and not the worst.
Go after the real bad stuff — drugs, crime, immorality and graft — in high places.
Stop making mountains out of mole hills. I see this bringing the darkness and divisiveness upon our nation.
Nola Tilton
Lewiston
Join me in yes vote for CHS
Clarkston High School has quality educators. I know, because I retired a few years ago after teaching at CHS for nearly 40 years.
I saw our teachers in action doing a great job in facilities that were inadequate. Imagine what they can do for our children and grandchildren if we had quality facilities for them to teach in. The time has come to help our kids, teachers, coaches and ultimately our community.
A yes vote will let us build a safe school; a school that gives opportunity for on-the-job training and local internships; a school we all can be proud of; a school that proves Clarkston schools provide quality in every way.
Join me in supporting our schools by voting yes by April 25.
Kay Andersen
Clarkston
