Have Boundary County citizens forgotten?

December 14, 2015

December 14, 2015 To the Editor: I thought the question at hand was supposed to be about adequate vs inadequate vetting? I thought the Commissioner's meeting with the public last Monday was supposed to look at a resolution expressing concern that we wanted to be sure vetting of refugees was good enough to ensure protection of citizens. That's what the resolution said that was read aloud. I don't think you will find a single person, liberal or conservative, opposed to that idea. No one wants to let potentially dangerous people in, posing as refugees. Everybody wants the best vetting possible. But it seems more time at the meeting was spent on a different focus: "They’re not coming here.” "We’re sending a message that we don’t want them here." "We don’t want their refugees." With all the accompanying cheering and the angry-sounding comments from those in attendance, honestly, at times it seemed this meeting of our Boundary County government and some of its citizens sounded more like a mob. Didn't the written resolution that was read suggest that we wanted full and acceptable vetting that we could depend on? I want my family to be kept just as safe as the next guy does. And if we get what the proposed resolution asked for—reliable vetting that we can have confidence in—yet we still refuse refugees because of their religion or their national origin, what does that say about Boundary County? Have our fellow Boundary County citizens at Monday's meeting forgotten . . . Have they forgotten that our Pilgrims were refugees from religious persecution, as were many others of those early settlers who became the founders of our nation? Have they forgotten that the Savior and his family were refugees, as they fled to a safe haven to protect the life of their young child from the ruler's swordsmen? Have they forgotten that a founding pillar of our Constitution is respecting religious freedom, and the free exercise thereof? Have they forgotten about kindness to others, in this case the hundreds of thousands who are legitimate refugees who have had homes, families, and lives destroyed, who legitimately need help? It seems ironic that a meeting of this tenor was held on December 7, the very day held sacred by our country wherein thousands of Americans serving in our armed forces gave their lives at Pearl Harbor, as they bravely stood forth to defend our nation's freedoms, a beacon to the world. Should Bonners Ferry now have "Idaho's Friendliest City" removed from the city's website, from the masthead of the Bonners Ferry Herald, and from all of our civic booster materials? Chuck Newhouse