Support for Moore
Dear Editor:
We are teachers committed to the educational success of all of our community’s youth, and we endorse Adrianne Moore for State Representative for the12th District Legislative District. Adrianne recognizes the critical role mental and physical support services play in allowing all students to be successful, regardless of their background.
In our classrooms, we regularly teach students who are hungry, sick, suffering from trauma, or homeless. Without their basic needs met, many of our students simply cannot access the educational opportunities provided by our schools. As the former Associate Director of one of Okanogan County’s most successful nonprofit social service agency, Adrianne has a proven track record of supporting educational attainment by ensuring that at-risk youth and their families receive critical support services, including mental health, housing, and food support. Adrianne’s groundbreaking work on the Childhood Needs Assistance Assessment resulted in the implementation of multiple essential support services for our community’s families, including new after-school programs and the expansion of preschool services.
With the anticipated increase in mental and physical health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Adrianne’s commitment to increasing funding for rural schools, ensuring that students have access to school nurses and counselors, and fixing the broken school funding formula is exactly what our community needs to ensure that all of our students can be successful when we return to school. With Adrianne Moore as the State Representative for the 12th District, we believe that meaningful access to education for all of our community members can become a reality. We hope all teachers who support Adrianne across the district will get involved in this important campaign.
Dani Golden, Cara Christensen, Adam Kaufman, Hana Baker, Kelly Grayum, Matt Hinckley, Brynne Edwards
Better choice
Dear Editor:
I watched the online debate between Katie Haven and Andy Hover with great interest. Whom we elect will play an important role in the future of our valley and the whole county. “Same old, same old” is not what we need in a world that’s changing so fast all around us.
Both Katie and Andy are fine people. They appear to agree on many issues. The difference seems to be that Katie is ready to deal with those issues now. Andy seems content to let things ride along as they have been. An obvious example is the pressing need to plan for future development of the county, including dealing with water availability and fire issues.
When Andy was elected, I had hope that we’d finally see some movement in completing the Comprehensive Plan to manage growth thoughtfully. Despite promises and court orders, more than three years after Andy’s election, we still don’t have a workable draft for public comment. Andy didn’t seem to have any idea of how to get this moving or show any strong feelings about its importance. Katie has made it a top priority.
On public health issues, I’ve been watching the lack of leadership from the county commissioners for months. Katie struck me as much more prepared and has the will to deal with these difficult issues.
Finally, I was very disappointed in Andy’s seeming disconnection from racial issues that are tearing our country apart. He has called Commissioner DeTro’s vicious, public racism just a “mistake.”
Andy also thought there was no problem with racism in the county. Even though few Blacks (less than 1%) live in the county, Andy ignored other important minority populations who are affected by discrimination and racist attitudes, including Native Americans (13.2%) and Hispanics/Latino (20.7%). Katie understands the dangers of hate speech and racism and has also made promoting civil discourse a priority.
As I said, Andy Hover is a fine person whom I respect. But I believe that Katie Haven is a much stronger choice for the future of the Methow Valley and Okanogan County.
Randy Brook, Twisp
