Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

We need a proposition 13 here

Hooray for Tom Jamison! (“Property taxes are out of control,” Letters, April 20) So glad to hear not everyone has their head buried in the sand when it comes to property taxes.

Hopefully, more people will begin to realize that unless some tax relief is initiated soon, many residents will lose their homes due to an inability to pay the high taxes being levied against them. I would love to see a proposition 13-type initiative on our ballot. It worked in California and it could work here. Ruth Evans Cheney

Proposition 13 - one unlucky number

I disagree with Tom Jamison (Letters, April 20) that we may need a proposition 13-style property tax rollback like the voters passed in November 1978 in California. We’ve lived in Spokane County over 15 years and, although we’re on a small, fixed income, we feel fortunate to be here.

In 1978, I had been employed in the city attorney’s office in Oakland, Calif., for 10 years as a legal secretary. We had four or five employees on the CETA program who helped with the overload of work. They were paid partly by the city, state and federal governments. With city and state funds reduced by proposition 13’s passage, they were laid off. Many city services were no longer available, such as the parks and recreation department programs for little kids in the summer. CETA people went on unemployment or welfare and I was paid to work overtime. Money always has to come from some fund, somewhere.

Our property taxes were also cut in half. Every home was not covered; one had to live in the house so reduced in taxes. If you sold your house and purchased another place, it was reassessed at the higher tax rate, and so was the one you had sold. The proposition was effective immediately upon its passage.

Whatever is done here should not take the form of proposition 13 or cost people jobs and cut services. Lillian O. Forster Spokane

Don’t develop away our future

The pending lawsuit over the condominium project on the bank of the Spokane River seems symptomatic of a malaise facing all of Spokane: unrestrained development.

We are, respectively, a Spokane native and a five-year area resident, both with extensive experience of larger cities throughout the country. Without fail, those cities that have made the worst impression on us are those that were unable or unwilling to curtail their urban sprawl. Spokane has, until recently, not had a real problem with this.

Our desire is to live in a city mindful of its citizens, its heritage and its environment. This is why we keep coming back. It is why I have such pleasant memories of growing up here. To allow the greed of a select few developers and their backers to dominate the lives of all the residents of a community - as is in danger of happening with the proposed condominiums as well as elsewhere throughout the region - is contemptible.

The lawsuit is laughable, and no court worthy of the term “justice” should pay it any heed. Acres of previously developed property stand neglected and vacant. Shouldn’t these be put to more efficient use (and we don’t mean parking lots) before any more of the city’s dwindling natural areas, whether urban or outlying, are plowed under?

We want to be able to someday show our children what a beautiful city Spokane is. We’d like to be able to do this from life, not pictures. Nathan Huston and Celeste Dye Spokane

Federal Way does not relate

Federal Way, Federal Way. Why is it that the only incorporated city we hear about is Federal Way?

Could it be that almost all of the other incorporated cities have had their taxes skyrocket, or most of the people aren’t happy with the incorporation? There has to be a reason.

Federal Way and Spokane are two different cities. They are on completely different sides of the state. They have totally different weather. How much money do you think Federal Way spends on snow removal each year?

Yes, Federal Way’s population is similar to that of what a Valley city’s would be. But what is the difference in square miles or population per square mile in the two areas? For some reason, we never hear that addressed. Why?

Let’s vote no on incorporation. Marcia Papich Spokane

IN WASHINGTON STATE

West champions lobbyists’ causes

Sen. Jim West certainly is doing his best to stimulate the state’s economy. His health bill places greater control of insurance rates with the insurance companies and his grass burning bill, just passed, is going to stimulate business drastically for the doctors, the hospitals and the insurance industry.

The elderly, the asthmatic, those suffering from emphysema and other congestive disorders will think of him often during the grass burning season - all year long, now - as they are gasping for their breath. I can vouch for this, as my wife has emphysema and cannot go outdoors when those grass smoke fumes are in the air.

I trust the lobbyists who fill his campaign coffers are quite pleased with his efforts. It is strange that “while there are many more voters than there are lobbyists” that the lobbyists apparently come first in the hearts of our GOP legislators. Andy Kelly Spokane

THE MEDIA

Grass burning bill not newsworthy?

I think we ought to nominate The Spokesman-Review for the Hot Seat.

As an avid newspaper reader, I use the newspaper to find out what’s going on in my local community. What a surprise this morning (April 22) to read that Gov. Mike Lowry had signed into law a bill permitting the grass farmers to burn any time they feel the weather is permissible.

Isn’t it interesting that The Spokesman-Review probably pays staff to sit in on hearings and meetings in Olympia, yet the general public was not made aware of this law that had to have passed through the House and through the Senate for it to become law? There has never been one thing printed in our paper in regard to this.

It is interesting that Gov. Lowry would say he received no notice of opposition to this, when our papers have been full of letters to the editor opposing the grass-growers burning season over the past four or five years.

I would like to have a newspaper in our community that would be pro-active instead of reactive. How about some new news instead of just old news? Judith Ross Spokane

Why did Shalala get a pass?

It amazes me there has been only one letter, that of E.H. Springer (April 21), commenting on Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. She said that in the Vietnam War, we lost because we did not send our best and brightest, and that the men who were sent were from rural America and from the inner cities.

It is beyond belief how anyone in or out of government could make such a ridiculous statement. One reason more people aren’t upset about this is that the news media have not printed her remarks. I haven’t seen them printed in any newspaper or magazine. There was one short comment on television. Why didn’t this paper print her remarks? Lorelle Pederson Newport, Wash.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Republicans reward the rich

Wake up, America, and smell the Republican agenda. At a time when the gap between rich and poor is the largest since the 1920s, they seek to accelerate the process.

After offering a scant $17 billion program cuts designed mostly to help the middle and lower classes, they serve up $188 billion in tax reductions for the wealthy. They even fought attempts to close a loophole that allows billionaires to renounce citizenship in order to avoid taxes. So much for deficit reduction.

The so-called flat tax is another tasty bon-bon they are pushing. The net affect of such a tax would be to dramatically lower taxes for the wealthy and dramatically raise them for everyone else.

Republicans have carefully avoided cutting corporate welfare and subsidies, even as they seek to shred the safety net for innocent children. They want people to get off welfare and go to work, while they fight attempts to raise the minimum wage. Sen. Phil Gramm even says such a minimum wage is unnecessary.

If our country is to prosper for the next 200 years, we need to address the problem of income inequality, not promote it. If we do not, we will surely go the way of ancient Rome. Gregory P. Hande Spokane

Lunch subsidy does need reform

The school lunch program has hit a hot button when it comes to any sort of perceived reduction. In fact, the Republican Congress has increased the lunch program by 4.5 percent. Only in government or the media can an increase be considered a cut. Someone should provide factual information so ordinary, unbiased citizens could make informed decisions.

Of School District 81’s approximately 30,000 students, 28,000 supposedly eat school lunches. These lunches cost $1.92 each. The federal and state governments contribute 42 cents for every lunch, thereby reducing the cost of full-price lunches to $1.50 per lunch.

Students with an income of poverty level plus 30 percent pay nothing. Students with an income of plus 30-85 percent of poverty level pay 40 cents. In addition, the Agriculture Department provides a large amount of “free” food from their “surplus” programs.

According to District 81, 28 percent of the students get free lunches, 10 percent get reduced-cost lunches and 62 percent pay full price. Taxpayers are subsidizing 100 percent of the free lunches, 80 percent of the reduced-price lunches and 22 percent of the full-price lunches.

Why should I subsidize students who have incomes above 85 percent of the poverty level and probably above my income?

I believe lots of room exists to reduce the cost of the school lunch and other nutritional programs and still feed those who really need it. No one wants to see anyone go hungry, but we shouldn’t have to feed those who can afford to feed themselves. Wayne Lythgoe Colbert

TERRORISM

Takes no courage to kill babies

I share the concern of many Americans regarding the slow, progressive erosion of individual rights, but I’m highly suspicious of anyone who chooses freedom to bear arms as their rallying cause.

If the Branch Davidians and the Weaver family had held the same spiritual beliefs but had no weapons of any kind, there would have been no bloodshed. This by no means condones the violent behavior and poor judgment of the federal agents.

Those who squawk the loudest about gun control and try to lay in the best supply are literally creating the self-fulfilling prophecy of having to use them. Federal agents don’t raid hospice shelters or Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity.

There is a nobility in the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi: absolute nonviolence. Those who have focused strength of conviction from the heart outward are invincible. Every action they take enhances their cause.

Naturally, it doesn’t have the potential for high-drama play time that militia clubs have: hideouts; clandestine meetings; secret passwords and handshakes; maneuver drills; guns; explosives; and cute little uniforms. They pay lip service to phrases like “courage of our forefathers.”

How much courage does it take to blow up babies?

Courage is standing unarmed in endless rows of marchers, like the scene from “Ghandi.” The world listened. They won the battle and the war. They never had to justify their means.

There are ways to oppose violence without becoming part of the problem. Let’s use our “right to bear arms” to embrace victims with unconditional love. Lucy Forman Gurnea Loon Lake

Federal actions just as wrong

The carnage in Oklahoma City is terrible. But what do you expect Davidians to do? Thank the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms for roasting their children?

Attorney General Janet Reno announced during the Ruby Ridge shootout that she had a hit list.

The ATF can shoot women and children without warning. It can incinerate women and children, as at Waco, Texas. But a handful of men striking back at the federal giant Goliath are evil cowards?

The feds declared war against those on the hit list, and the feds set the terms at Waco. How can we expect a desperate, terrorized few to be honorable?

Now that the feds are about to make Timothy McVeigh a hero and a martyr, the score presently stands at Feds 80, Davidians 200. Marvin Faulhaber Veradale

Riding rabble to the top

Apparently, the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building is in retaliation for what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI did in Waco, Texas.

Hearing this, President Clinton chastised the verbally pugilistic radio talk show hosts because they blatantly used inciteful language when they condemned the federal government. They told the president not to condemn the messenger for the message.

These verbally pugilistic radio talk show hosts, the Rush Limbaughs of contemporary radio, are both the message and the messengers. Their attitude of “I’m right and if you disagree you are crud,” their refusal to discuss unless that discussion involves only praise for their side, their use of inflammatory language - all these go beyond content. This style is not designed to inform. It’s designed to allow the personality using it to ride the rabble to largely undeserved notoriety.

To accuse the government of doing wrong is one thing. To present that accusation in such a manner as to make the accuser more important than the accusation is totally another matter.

In the Oklahoma City bombing there was no attempt to differentiate between guilty agencies and agencies that do good. Nor was there any attempt to protect the innocent, the children of the government workers. This attempt at revenge was directed at the federal government as a whole, and anyone who got in the way? Well, “that’s just the way it goes, too bad, so sad.”

This is just the type of person Rush Limbaugh appeals to. I, for one, applaud President Clinton. Art Seaton Spokane

Limbaugh, go play mumblety-peg

Leave it to Rush Limbaugh to try to use the Oklahoma City tragedy to insert himself into the national spotlight in order to boost his ratings.

Again, Rush is acting like a spoiled child who constantly cries, “Look at me! Look at me!”

Go outside and play for a while, little Rushie, while the adults maturely discuss our problems. We’ll call you in when self-promotion and grandstanding are called for. Craig Peterson Spokane