Letters to the editor: Water rights, Roe v Wade, the big lie, indoctrination task force

Water rights

I would like to address the irrigation dispute in the Bellevue triangle. We live in Richfield and have senior surface water rights. Our rights are not the oldest. They are, however, from 1888. Your article discusses how great it is the junior groundwater rights holders were able to access water; however, your article neglected to mention farms like ours that have older water rights. We were shut off June 10. We lost our hay crop and have no recourse. There are farms hurt by this decision and no one is discussing it. Only one side of this story is being reported. The government did a study 10 or so years ago; it proved the junior ground rights holders are draining the aquifer that feeds Silver Creek and the Littlewood River. This decision gives junior groundwater rights holders over some more senior surface rights holders priority for water. I have to wonder why Gov. Little stepped in to help one group of farms over another after the Idaho Department of Water Resources determined the right thing to do was to shut off the wells in the Bellevue triangle? Farms like ours are up a “dry” creek without a paddle.

MerriJane Hayes, Richfield

Roe v Wade

I was shocked and upset that Gov. Little chose to join 11 other governors in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. I understand that he is facing challengers for his office who are much more radical than he, and that this is an attempt to appease the lunatic fringe of his party. But to do so at the expense of women is unconscionable.

Isn’t it ironic that some people refuse to wear a mask in public places or to get vaccinated for COVID-19 because they don’t want the government to tell them what to do with their bodies? Yet those are the very people the governor is pandering to by telling women what they must do with their bodies.

Which is more of a government overreach? Requiring someone to wear a mask in public or mandating that a woman have an unwanted child?

Mary Mosley, Meridian

The big lie

Despite all the credible news sources affirming that the 2020 presidential election ran smoothly and fairly and even Trump’s own Attorney General saying the DOJ’s investigation uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud, the Idaho Statesman published an opinion piece where the entire premise was that the 2020 election was a “pandemic mess.” Jay Ambrose uses this assertion to then claim that states across the country are merely trying to “tidy up their election laws.” By printing opinions like this one from Ambrose, the Statesman is helping keep the voter fraud lie alive in the minds of far-right Republicans. I suggest your editorial department make the effort to do a better job in removing content that is demonstrably false and is perhaps the greatest underlying threat to our democracy.

Rick Tholen, Eagle

Task force

Thank you to the teachers who spoke out about the lieutenant governor’s indoctrination task force. Teachers are valuable members of the community, and it is sad to see them scapegoated and fearful of their state government.

The teachers, of course, responded with principled and intelligent comments. Noting the similarity between the task force proceedings and post-World War II McCarthyism was an astute observation. Wikipedia says this: “McCarthyism is the practice of making unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to communism and socialism.” And this: “The primary targets of McCarthyist persecution were government employees, prominent figures in the entertainment industry, academics, left-wing politicians.... Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive and questionable evidence….”

The lieutenant governor and her cronies are hurting Idaho and risking collateral damage to public education. Idaho already loses out from chronic underinvestment in education, and the last thing state leaders should be doing is giving teachers another reason to go teach elsewhere. Until the task force proves that it has a fair and legitimate purpose (looking to root out Marxist boogeymen falls short), every time I hear or read about it my next thought will be that it’s like McCarthyism.

Mike Sherack, Boise