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In this county commissioners race for District 3 one of the important issues — and perhaps the single issue — for many is where the three candidates stand on the Scotchman Peak wilderness designation proposal.

The liberal Democrat and the faux-Republican candidate both support that proposal. This does not really come as a surprise; taking public land out of the hands of the public under the guise of “preservation” is a well-known goal of liberals, and there is no end to their appetite for ever more land to remove from our longstanding use.

Scotchman Peaks has existed for millennia and has suffered no harm without a wilderness designation. There are no plans by anyone to do anything with it than what has always been done: hiking, hunting, enjoying nature. Pressing for a wilderness designation is a solution in search of a problem.

Dan McDonald has the common sense to see this. He is currently the only commissioner who has openly opposed the wilderness designation. Re-electing him will ensure that this board of commissioners retains a voice for those of us who are not in the camp of the environmentalist movement that has made North Idaho a target for their radical agenda.

Please re-elect Dan McDonald as commissioner on May 15.

JoELLEN BAKER

Sandpoint