Looks familiar
From the looks of the Season's Greetings pages of Dec. 24, the newsroom at the Tribune has the most employees of any department.
So please explain to me why the same articles are being published multiple times on the pages of the Tribune.
Examples: On Dec. 27, an article on a rescued yellow lab was published on facing pages (2C and 3C with picture), word for word.
And in the Jan. 2 Outdoor section is the third publication of the story on the baby orca born in Puget Sound. The same article ran on Dec. 31, page 6C, and on Jan. 1, page 4C with picture. Really!
As a former, long-time employee of the Tribune, it saddens and irritates the crap out of me to see such poor proofreading. Step it up people.
LeAnn Stevens
Anatone
Wants safer highway
Apparently, Patrick Nelson (Dec. 31) does not consider facts or logic, but I will offer some for others who have read his letter to consider.
The lawsuit to which Nelson refers was brought to bring a better, safer alignment for U.S. Highway 95. A better alignment than the one the Idaho Transportation Department prefers does exist, one that would "fix" Reisenauer Hill.
Had ITD built its desired road, the accidents along Reisenauer Hill would have continued.
Could a safe highway have been built more than a decade ago? Not legally, unless ITD had rebuilt along the current alignment. While ITD was performing the legally required studies, it should have worked to reduce accidents south of Moscow.
It should have worked to reduce accidents there decades ago, independent of the realignment issue.
Perhaps the best option would be to fix the current road, keeping on the current alignment with no "taking" of farmland and no dangerous orphaned stretches of highway.
David Hall
Moscow
Economy depends on ports
... In the Pacific Northwest, our river systems provide local farmers and manufacturers the means to competitively export their products. On the Columbia/Snake River system, barges move 9 million tons of cargo annually, valued at $3 billion, and provide the most fuel-efficient means of transporting cargo. A typical four-barge tow carries as much as 538 semi-trucks or 140 rail cars and uses less energy than trucking and rail combined. ...
Our waterways require periodic maintenance. ... Without maintenance dredging, sediment builds up and creates navigation hazards which lead to reduced volumes and efficiency. Some areas of the Lower Snake River currently measure half the required depth for safe port access and navigation.
Although the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is
authorized and funded by Congress to maintain the Lower Snake River channel at a depth of 14 feet, maintenance dredging has not occurred since the winter of 2005-06 because of ongoing opposition to dredging. Since then, the corps has worked with state and federal agencies to develop a sediment management plan that balances both the economic and environmental concerns of the region.
Under the current plan, maintenance dredging is scheduled to occur between mid-December and the end of February, when fish populations would be least impacted.
The Columbia/Snake River System is the primary export channel for wheat and barley, the leading exporter of wood products and mineral bulk material on the West Coast, and the world's third largest gateway for grain exports. It is essential that this waterway is maintained. ...
Larry Cochran
President, Washington Association of Wheat Growers
Ritzville
