"Keep Moscow out of Whitman County"

A letter to the editor in today's Daily News from our very own April Coggins:

Doug Bauer’s editorial (Opinion, Sept. 23) about the upcoming water summit has me pondering a few things. If Whitman County decides not to participate, will the city of Moscow gain authority by default over Whitman County? If Moscow declares the sky is falling, must the other government entities of the Palouse be required to operate under the premise that the sky is falling?

Moscow has a curious way of negotiating with its regional Palouse neighbors. First, Moscow tries to sue Whitman County into submission, then they threaten to withhold cooperation for emergency services and now they demand cooperation in their “water crisis.” As a Whitman County resident, I resent this intrusion and would like to remind Moscow’s interlopers they have no authority to make decisions on my behalf. I do not agree with Moscow’s NewCities recommendation to “make the state line disappear.”

If Moscow objects to Whitman County retail development being built so close to Moscow retail development, maybe Moscow shouldn’t have built all the way up to the Whitman County border.

How hypocritically rich that Moscow’s environmental concerns for Paradise Creek don’t seem to start until the creek is on the Washington side. Apparently, Moscow sees no problem with stormwater runoff from their large retail parking lots, University of Idaho livestock pens and dumping from their sewage treatment plant flowing into Paradise Creek and ultimately into Whitman County. Moscow’s stormwater objection is that possible run off from the Hawkins Companies development will flow into Paradise Creek, except that any run off will be on the Whitman County side of the border, flowing directly away from Moscow.

Moscow’s objections to odor, light and traffic due to the Hawkins Companies development are just as hypocritical, but I will leave that for another time.

April E. Coggins, Pullman

'Nuff said!