In the June 8 edition of the Valley Record, Jim McKiernan provided a highly uninformed, simplistic and unfair slam on the Snoqualmie Planning Department, and in particular, the planning director, in his editorial on the “roadblocks” to achieving the objectives of the downtown business community.

There are no roadblocks coming from the Snoqualmie Planning Department other than the laws and regulations approved by the Snoqualmie City Council, intended to implement the vision of the city. The planning director has the responsibility to the community to ensure that all development follows all legal procedures and conforms to all applicable regulations. If there is a concern to address, it is with the regulations themselves, not with the person responsible for administering them.

I have worked for the Snoqualmie planning director for the past six years and have found no one with more integrity and more concern for the well being and longevity of Snoqualmie, and in particular, for the downtown.

The complaints to which Mr. McKiernan referred in his editorial were, at best, gross misrepresentations. Mr. McKiernan forwarded these complaints to the public without ever bothering to first check them against the department and person he was writing about. Reiterating second- or third-hand complaints against someone without first checking the facts is called gossip, or worse, slander.

Mr. McKiernan, you have a responsibility to your readers to provide accurate and true information, even when it is in the form of an editorial. This cheap shot has nothing to do with responsible journalism. I would like to challenge readers to check into the background of any of the examples you have used in your editorial. Let’s keep the local paper the Valley Record, not the Valley Enquirer.

Mike McCarty

Snoqualmie