Not-so-quick weekend updates

UPDATE: I had originally said the town hall was this weekend but an eagle-eyed reader reminded me that it is in fact scheduled for NEXT weekend.

There are a few important events coming up over the weekend and wanted to give you a heads up about what's happening. I need to stop saying that I try to makes these updates short and sweet because it never turns out to be the case. What would you like better? Would you prefer these update emails long with all the information? Or would you like one email per topic so you can digest everything individually? Let me know your thoughts. ebarnard@kcspectator.com 

Free Idaho Mask Burning Event

Saturday is also the day for the statewide mask burning event brought forth by some of our more patriotic state lawmakers. There are two sites listed in Kootenai County: North Idaho Fairgrounds and 2nd and Sherman. North Idaho Fairgrounds starts at 10am while the one at 2nd and Sherman wants to keep the momentum going in a visible location so is starting between 12-12:30-ish. For the rest of the locations participating around the state, check out FreeIdaho.org.

Vote NO on School Levy 3/9

Just a reminder that today is the LAST day to vote early against the school levy! You have until the elections office closes at 5pm to get in there. The only other day to vote will be on Election Day itself, Tuesday March 9^th.
 
If anyone needs a reminder why we need to vote no on the school levy, just look at my question #8 for Paul Amador below. Voting NO is a direct response to the administrations that have become bloated, operating WELL outside of their local budget, and counting on large swaths of money from federal or state grants to bring in curriculums that focus on social justice agendas (among other things). This is NOT an attack on teachers at our schools. The teachers are trying to navigate through all this top-down BS as best they can, but they can’t do their jobs properly if we continue to allow the administration's bad behavior to pass.

Alternative Forms of Kootenai County Government

This last Monday’s Kootenai County Commissioners Status Update meeting was a packed one filled with angry people who came to tell Bill Brooks exactly where he could shove his Alternative Forms of Government Study Commission. The hard stop at 12pm didn’t allow for everyone to have their 2 minutes of public comment time and the commissioners said this would be a topic at next week’s meetings. Looking at the calendar for next week, the reoccurring Monday morning Status Update meeting is there like it always is, but there’s a new meeting scheduled for 10am Tuesday called Optional Forms of Government Workshop. Neither meeting has agendas attached at the time of this writing, so I’m not sure if this will still be discussed at the Status Update meeting or they’re going to push everything to this Tuesday workshop. We’ll have to wait and see.
 
One other special meeting of interest is the Attorney Center Funding meeting on Monday. This will continue the discussion about how to fund the new facilities to house all the public defender staff that has nowhere to go right now. That’s going to be an interesting meeting to watch because whatever is decided will ultimately be funded by the taxpayers.

Kootenai County Legislative Town Hall 3/13 

Don’t forget: NEXT Saturday morning brings us the latest Kootenai County Legislative Town Hall, this time at the Shepherd of the Hills Church in Rathdrum. So many more things have happened in the last month that I’m sure there are more questions to be asked of our legislators. Here are the rest my questions from last time that were unfortunately were not answered, along with some new ones in bold at the bottom of the list:

1. Question for all: What have you done personally to reign in the governor's unconstitutional extraordinary powers?
2. Question for all: What are you doing to help protect Idaho's sovereignty, for lands, resources, schools, etc., against outside unconstitutional Federal orders?
3. Question for Mary Souza: last year you sat on stage at the town hall; went to multiple local meetings where you looked us in the face and said your top priority was to end the emergency, breaking it down into 9 points. Why is it that your first bill that you’ve sponsored was one about dentistry?
4. Question for all: Why have you NOT publicly put pressure on House or Senate leadership to pass a veto-proof resolution or bill to end the emergency NOW?
5. Question for Paul Amador: As Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, will you put Tammy Nichols' House Bill 63 (no forced vaccinations) on the agenda for discussion and testimony?
6. Question for all: Will you vote in favor of House Bill 63 if and when it is in front of you?
7. Question for all Reps, specifically Doug O: who sponsored the bill: House Bill 17 (now HB220) is an anti-abortion bill that disallows state funding to be used for abortions, but it has exemptions for hospitals, and any federal laws around abortions, essentially allowing abortions to still be done in the state of Idaho. Why did you vote in favor of H17 H220 when you knew that it allows for abortions to still be done in Idaho?
8. Question for Paul Amador: You sponsored HB226 which just barely failed in the House this week. Why would you allow a LARGE chunk of money to go to a nonprofit – which giving large chunks of money to nonprofits is looked down upon anyway – known for social justice programing and color race theory? As a reminder, The National Association for the Education of Young Children, parent company of the aforementioned IAEYC, is known for pushing “Anti-Bias Education” teachers training and curriculum and how to turn in others if they see them doing “wrong”, “reeducating” children to hate themselves and others for being white (including white fragility), teach children how to become social justice activists, and how to tolerate sexuality AT A KINDERGARTEN level with transgenderism.
9. Question for Jim Addis: WHY WOULD YOU VOTE YES FOR HB226???

 
The last two questions make my head spin and are seriously a high priority for me in terms of making our reps speak (right under why the state emergency hasn’t ended after 8 WEEKS of legislation).

Also, for more information about the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children and it’s parent company, the Idaho Freedom Foundation has a great read about the organization.
 
I also have a little problem: my daughter has her first high school softball game at that same time and I won’t be able to sit and watch the town hall in person. Can y’all please take these questions and make them your own? I will go to the church before the event starts and say hi, but I have to leave around 9:45-ish to make it back in time. ☹



 
And with that I'm going to stop now. :) I hope you guys are able to attend some of these events over the weekend and I look forward to seeing you there!