Your headline, “Chamber poll shows broad support for Rail with Trail project” (Oct. 11) is misleading. The true story, gleaned from information within the article and the poll fact sheet, is that Chamber of Commerce members who chose to participate in the “Support for the Joseph Branch Rails with Trails Poll” is slightly over one-third (34 percent) of its total membership, hardly a majority or consensus.

However, a true majority (71 percent) of members opposed the entire trail, had no opinion or failed to participate in the poll.

Speaking of the poll: Of 125 members who chose to participate, 70 voted “strong support” for the trail. That’s only 19 percent of the Chamber’s total membership. Even collapsing votes in categories of “support” and “support only segments of the trail” with those who voted “strong support” musters only 29 percent in favor — hardly “broad” in any sense.

A more accurate headline: “Fewer than one-third of Chamber currently supports Rail with Trail Project.” Or perhaps, sadly, “We are pushing a trail whether you like it or not.”

Gail Aschenbrenner West

Spokane

Editor’s note: Of the 125 Chamber members who participated in the online poll, 56 percent said they “strongly support” the Joseph Branch Rail with Trail Project. Another 16.8 percent said they “support” the project. Another 10.4 percent said they “oppose the entire trail,” while 5.6 percent said they had no opinion. It’s true that only 34 percent of members participated, and that was made clear in the article.