Virgil Edwards, of the Disability Action Center, and I recently met and have spent time getting to know each other face-to-face because of "air time" in your paper.

I was one of three to submit a letter to the editor supporting the naturalness of Tubbs Hill...nothing more, nothing less. Our letter was published on March 11, and Virgil's response regarding ADA access on Tubbs was published in "My Turn" the next day. (Someone involved with the McEuen planning process had delivered our letter to Virgil before it was published.)

The good that came of this is that the two of us met due to this unfortunate "stirring of the pot."

As a result, we have come to recognize, and more clearly understand, each other's passions: one of us for Tubbs Hill with empathy for the disabled and their access to places of beauty... and the other of us for the disabled with empathy for the naturalness of Tubbs Hill.

We have also discovered we are in total agreement on many aspects regarding the proposed development of McEuen Field. For one, both of us do not want Tubbs Hill to become a de facto adjunct to The Coeur d'Alene Resort. We are also hoping McEuen Field (omitting the separate entity of Tubbs Hill from the proposed plan) will become more like our City Park, in keeping with the character of our community, and less like a 5-star resort.

As for the proposed trail on the north face of Tubbs, we are looking forward, instead, to possible improved access at Tenth Street as stated in the Tubbs Hill Foundation notes from their March meeting... quite apart from the resort and with a much lovelier view.

We also believe the proposed path that is to hug the base of Tubbs Hill, on McEuen, will be a wonderful, accessible trail that could easily have the feel of Tubbs with appropriate landscaping (which would not require excessive maintenance) on the McEuen side of the path. We look forward to having two new points of accessibility...without touching the steep north face of the hill.

Yours for working together...

LINDA WRIGHT

Disability Action Center

Coeur d'Alene