Jan Johnson, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/8/11

I am writing in response to your weekend editorial, “Protesters fighting the wrong fight in Moscow,” (Daily News, August 27-28) and Henry D. Johnston’s column, “An asinine exercise in pure stupidity,” (Daily News, August 30) regarding local megaload protests: Both writers are incredibly misinformed, naive and/or disingenuous to think these local protests were ever only about the use of heavy trucks on Idaho roads.

And had Johnston attended the protests, in addition to “hippies,” he would have seen children, families, college students and faculty, and various other community members. Both writers demonstrate an alarmingly narrow understanding of the megaloads and Alberta Tar Sands issues. The only issue Idaho residents were allowed to argue in court is the use of Idaho roads by trucks bound for the Tar Sands. The moral and ethical issues were not allowed in court. Continue reading →

Arrested tar sands megaload protester and WIRT activist Vince Murray

Vince Murray, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/5/11

My grandmother, my father’s mother, lived into her mid-90s, living for most of the 20th century and for a little more than a decade of the 19th century. She was a wonderful person who endured much during her long life, but as she neared the end she always referred to two events that she felt best summed up her time here on earth.

She loved to say to me, “Vincey, when I was young I rode into Yosemite Valley on a wagon pulled by horses over a rough dirt road. Years later, I watched a television as a man walked on the moon.” That change in the technology of travel astonished her, and it said something profound to her about the changes one person can experience in a lifetime. The slow pace of a life dependent upon dirt roads and horses suddenly converted to a life where rockets and computers and televisions were things taken for granted. Continue reading →

Doyle McClure, Colfax

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/3/11

Comparisons of Joshua Yeidel’s tightly crafted letter “Superficial editorial” (about 3 column inches) and Henry Johnston’s flat-earth rant, “An ‘asinine exercise in pure stupidity’ ” (about 20 column inches), on the Aug. 30 Daily News Opinion page, clearly show that “less can be more.” Though unintended, the latter also clearly demonstrates an “asinine exercise in pure stupidity.” Continue reading →

Jodie A. Ficca, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/2/11

I am writing in reply to the editorial in the weekend Daily News (August 27 & 28), “Protestors fighting the wrong fight in Moscow.”

It is a brave endeavor, apparently, to actually speak out in support of keeping Moscow and many other towns and cities along the megaload route undamaged. There is a reason those megaloads are being driven through town after midnight. Exxon/Mobile is very aware that what they are doing has a negative impact on the people and the land they travel through as well as their destination. They are ignoring citizens’ rights to deny access to their property by an entity that is damaging to that property as well as other roads and highways. The citizens have a right to refuse to enable that negative impact. Continue reading →

20-year climate activist and WIRT co-founder Rob Briggs

Rob Briggs, Pullman

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 9/2/11

Normally, I would feel mortified learning that my arrest and incarceration had made front-page news in my local paper (Daily News, August 23). But last Tuesday, I looked forward to telling my mother, who agrees that global warming is worth going to jail over.

My charge was failure to leave the “postcard area” in front of the White House until the Park Police agreed to arrest me. I was guilty as a dog and prepared to admit it. After two days in jail, I was released without charge. Continue reading →

Virginia Lohr, Pullman

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 8/31/11

I couldn’t disagree more with the weekend Daily Newseditorial (Opinion, Aug. 27 & 28). Megaload protesters are fighting the right fight. If global warming isn’t stopped, it’s the end of this planet as we know it.

The editorial board thinks the protests should move to D.C., but the deck is stacked against people working for positive change there, too. After a week of arrests, National Public Radio has yet to do a story on those peaceful protests, and the White House hasn’t commented on them either. Even if the D.C. action proves productive, most people can’t afford to go there or risk days in jail. Continue reading →

Joshua Yeidel, Viola

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 8/30/11

This weekend’s editorial (Daily News, Aug. 27 & 28) about the megaload protests in Moscow is amazingly superficial for professed journalists. By removing all context, you trivialize the protest as a futile attempt to stop an oil company truck.

Of course, the protest was much more than that. It was a signal to all those who are passionately concerned about the Earth, our only home, that they are not alone in their passion or their concern. And it was a signal to those who are unaware of the brutal rape of Alberta, giant tar sands exploitation, that they have something to learn (search “tar sands action” on Facebook or “tar sands invasion” on Google). Continue reading →

Henry D. Johnston

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 8/30/11

In my June 7 column I predicted Moscow’s hippies would dig out their
“leather vests, put on their Birkenstocks and re-adjust their graying
ponytails” in response to the movement of ExxonMobil’s megaloads up U.S.
Highway 95. Now, imagine the belly laugh I enjoyed when I woke up Friday
morning and saw on DNews.com a photo, taken by Daily News photographer Dean Hare, of my exact prophecy.

Continue reading →

Vince Murray, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 8/22/11

When I first read Devin Rokyta’s “Our View” editorial (Opinion, August 16) about the Kearl Oil Sands project in Alberta, I thought he was being satirical, and I almost started laughing. But after reading it several times, my jaw began to drop. Writing to express the opinion of the Daily News editorial board, Rokyta states that the oil sands project cannot be stopped, but that will be true only if we do nothing to stop it – if we merely say, as Rokyta does, that it’s going to happen, so let’s make some money off it. Continue reading →

Sonja Lewis, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 8/22/11

Devin Rokyta (Our View, Opinion, August 16) needs to rethink the megaload issue.

As a 20-year resident of Moscow and 10-year homeowner, I have witnessed how reluctant large self-contained RVs are to freely roam around town to shop and utilize our dining and lodging. Vehicle size is not without consequence!

Imperial Oil/Exxon Mobil’s drivers and support crew may not be eager to find adequate parking and cruise our facilities, either. Continue reading →