Appreciation

I appreciate the grocery stores giving special hours to seniors. However I went to Albertsons eagle store this morning. There were more people there than other times I have gone. There was severely more crowding of seniors with a greater chance of virus spread. With this concentration of elderly it only exacerbates the chance of a major outbreak with severe consequence of major death tolls in the neighborhood. The other problem was most of the shelves were empty of staples, whether produce bread, or meat in the meat counter. There were empty shelves on all isles. The store should be stocked as fully as possible before the seniors show up. This would reduce time shopping and reduce contact between people. I think the stores should think out these thing before announcing to the public, Seniors do need help but do not increase the chances for infections.

John Brown,

Eagle

Greed

With the mass hysteria and hoarding going on these days, surrounding COVID-19, I am reminded of a quote from Gandhi-” The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” These words could not be more timely than they are today. I have gone to two different grocery stores over the last few days, with my very short, and appropriate, grocery list. It took four trips to those stores just to get a few essential items. I saw people with overflowing carts, and many empty shelves in their wake. Some of the items, that were hard to find, made no sense to me. Produce and dairy products are perishable. Why buy more than you can possibly use in a day or two? Why buy a year’s supply of canned goods, and frozen foods, when you see that you are emptying the shelves, therefore denying your neighbor of those same items? Can we really call ourselves a civilized country, when we seem to be acting like it’s everyone for themselves? Luckily, I have also witnessed acts of kindness, which have restored my faith that there are still good people that walk among us. I came to work one evening after trying to get a few cans of chicken noodle soup for my husband, who is undergoing chemo. He is very limited in what he can eat these days. There wasn’t a single can on the shelf. A coworker heard my plight and brought in two can of soup the next night from her own supply. Let’s learn from people like her. We are in this together and will all come out better on the other side if we work together! I applaud the hard working people in the stores who work tirelessly to keep the shelves stocked!

Michal Voloshen,

Boise

Senior students are especially concerned about their college journey and decisions for next Fall. I want to remind seniors that they do not have to give an answer until May 1st (College Signing Day).

Tips: Take the time to revisit every college’s website that you have been accepted to.

1. Take a virtual tour and really pay attention to the details. Write down notes of pros and cons.

2. Review the department and the professors. Check what research is happening or news articles about the department professors.

3. Look at student satisfaction which can be found on https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/fisk

4. Review your financial aid packages of all colleges.

5. Look up clubs and contact the people listed who are in charge of the club by email.

6. Review past activities that are held in previous years.

7. If your major requires an internship, take a look at the companies that provide internships. Do some research on what interns do at the companies.

8. Review the help centers and the hours they are open. Are they available to everyone? How is it staffed?

9. Look up the research projects and grants that are taking place and research those students that were part of the research. Reach out to them.

10. Update your resume and start thinking about how you can help, whether it is at your home or in your community.

Rebecca Carroll,

Boise

Emergency

The U.S. Coronavirus Task Force and the Center for Disease Control have both recommended that non-emergency, elective surgery be postponed to free up hospital space and supplies to fight COVID-19. Planned Parenthood received 37% of their funding in the most recent fiscal year from U.S. taxpayers. The procedures that Planned Parenthood conducts require surgical supplies like gloves, masks, etc. What about ventilators in case of emergency? Planned Parenthood needs to suspend “business as usual” and get those supplies out to the hospitals and health care workers that really need them, now. This is a National Emergency!

Howard Henning,

Nampa

A solution?

Most voters are continually amazed at how our Idaho Legislature can act and vote as if we are still in the 19th Century, and not the 21st Century.

The legislative agenda again this year appears to be single focused: How can we reduce property taxes? Forget about the fact that Idaho is in the bottom 1/3 of states in property tax rates, continues near the bottom in terms of school and teacher funding, refuses to listen to so many leaders of major businesses who need better educated employees or may have to move much of their employment base out of state (as Micron Technology has already done), fails to invest in our infrastructure maintenance and improvement, and finally, refuses to recognize transgender residents as “people,”......we could add more but it would be like “flogging a dead horse.”

I will suggest a partial remedy: Since the legislature has already had to adjudicate several laws in the past, and LOST those cases, costing our taxpayers about $3.5million, and since the Idaho Attorney General has already recommended against this law restricting transgenders, knowing it will cost as much as $1Million to defend, and finally, because the legislature feels so strongly about the righteousness of their transgender bill, they should be willing to pay the legal costs out of their own legislative budget. That would certainly change the dynamics.

Chas Bonner,

Eagle

Freedom

Well our state legislators have taken another step to denying women the right to make their own decisions. For those legislators who hate government intrusions on our rights as citizens. They have shown their hypocrisy . They scream and holler about gun rights / personal choices. The losers are women who want their rights to make decisions that affect them the rest of their life and kid’s life choices. As we all know the choice of having children is personal. The cost of feeding, providing a home and having personal expenses to raise a child have increased. Lots of single parents cannot afford daily expenses and now the legislators have event made it difficult for those who are forced to have a child. Okay I get it, you want no freedom of choice. It’s now time for people who want this to step up and provide support or adoption to these women. If you are going force them to do this you need to make a plan for 17 years of support during their growing up years. Causing hardships for both women and children is cruel. Are these same people trying to get rid of death penalty here in Idaho? Be careful who you elect!

Larry Raganit,

Caldwell