Education should have priority over bypass

The recent story in the Bee regarding the possible sale of the University’s Agricultural Station land in Sandpoint to provide desperately needed funds for education indicates that the State’s priorities are out of whack. When more than a million dollars can be dumped on an ill-conceived bypass instead of being redirected into the education of our youth, it’s time to stop and take another look.

Things are and never will be the same as they were when the political hacks — local, state, and judicial — conned us into the Sand Creek Byway. Oil production has peaked. Global warming threatens life on earth. And the failure of the federal government to control the economic system assures us that our lifestyles will never return to the good old days.

Will a Sandpoint bypass even be necessary. Presumably, the Bypass was intended to get those long-haul trucks off of First Avenue, particularly those carrying stinking loads of cattle. The rising price of diesel may well force shippers into using the most efficient form of transportation – steel wheels on steel rails – and if that doesn’t convince them, perhaps government regulation would. So, with only a few the long-haul trucks around, with the public traveling in smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, and with fewer of them as mass transit, bicycles, and other means of reducing the use of highways are developed, why a bypass?

There is also the possibility that cattle will no longer be shipped through Sandpoint, or anywhere else. Not only does the transport send tons of carbon dioxide into the skies, but the huge amounts of methane generated by the cattle in feed lots contribute significantly to global warming. Furthermore, there are far better and less expensive ways of getting our protein than eating from the top of the food chain.

Thus, as we deal with the problems presented in the 21st Century, it is readily apparent that education is far more important than an outmoded highway system. Why not halt construction on the Bypass, clean up the mess and landscape over the scars, and use the rest of the money for education?

Remember, the best dollars ever spent by the government was when the GI Bill sent our veterans to college. Their contributions to society were repaid many times over the original cost!

JOSEPH HENRY WYTHE

Sandpoint