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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Letters To The Editor

IN THE PAPER

How can Clark sleep at night?

Congratulations, Doug Clark. You brought The Spokesman-Review down to a new level of not only encouraging but promoting murder, rape and/or assault. You’ve made Michael Nall a big man now. You published his threats and promises with the obvious feeling that “little Kevin” has it coming, and you only wish you had the nerve to be a part of his comeuppance. Your column will hang on the prison walls until Michael Nall can point to it and say, “I said I’d do it, and it’s done.”

You’ve just given Michael Nall an entire prison population as a waiting, watching audience and Michael Nall has no more chance of backing down than Kevin has of avoiding the confrontation either. When the day comes - and it will - that you can print that Michael Nall made good on the promises you ensured would not be forgotten, I hope you will sleep better knowing you played no small part in Kevin’s demise. A judge and jury will decide Kevin’s sentence; you just set his fate. You may call it reporting, I call it abetting a murder. Roger Webb Spokane

Clark column sophomoric

Doug Clark’s Jan. 19 column about Kevin Boot’s likely reception at Walla Walla was sophomoric and unnecessary.

Boot deserves justice, but readers of The SpokesmanReview don’t deserve Clark’s taunting and participation in the sending of threats by violent criminals.

Being gleeful about more violence does nothing for Felicia Reese. Jack O’Dea Colville, Wash.

Baptist coverage wonderful

Thank you, Spokesman-Review, for your fair coverage of the Southern Baptist churches that celebrated Martin Luther King day together.

They show that people of different races and backgrounds can join together as people of faith to find unity and to seek the Lord.

It is wonderful to see such men of integrity being covered by the local newspaper. Mike Ingram Spokane

AROUND SPOKANE

Get the facts about Pittsburg

In response to the Jan. 19 article, “Vote sought on 29th Ave. traffic barrier,” Dal Vander Meer of E3004 18th and long-time member of the Heritage Congregational Church located at 29th and Pittsburg should get some facts straight before misleading the public and press.

First of all, the barrier on 29th, as quoted by the Spokane Fire Department, does not delay response time. The access is from the west and often the use of 29th isn’t needed at all.

Also, Pittsburg, according to the plans at City Hall, has never been a designated arterial; it is a designated residential street just like the E3000 block of 18th.

I live on Pittsburg, and in the past year my husband and I have battled two very serious illnesses. I am sorry that Mr. Vander Meer can’t use his obvious idle time a little more productively and help fight the battles of serious illness that are killing the people of our community daily, and stop worrying about a quicker access for church members. I’m sure if you asked them which is more important to them they would rather help reduce cancer, MS, SIDS and other illnesses strong in our community, and leave Pittsburg to the city, where people are using facts to make their decisions. M.A. Dahlstrom Spokane

Community stopped whooping cough

The citizens of Spokane County can be very proud of the rapid and effective response locally to the whooping cough outbreak. In 1994, 17 Spokane County residents, mostly children, contracted this disease - a 425 percent increase over last year! Due to prompt action throughout our community, though, the risk of a major outbreak was contained.

Clearly, the physicians, hospitals, labs and clinics all deserve emphatic thanks for quickly responding with diagnosis and treatment. School personnel and daycare operators were prompt in seeking help and coordinating their responses with health personnel and parents. The media should be commended for their rapid, accurate and informative coverage.

Parents were an indispensable resource preventing the outbreak from spreading. Parents took the threat posed by this disease seriously and took their children to their doctors for immunization and treatment. They cooperated with school officials in seeking prophylactic treatment for children who had been exposed. They avoided situations which might have exposed their children. Due to these actions, the pertussis organism had too few people to infect, and the outbreak stopped.

The effort is not over, though. Parents must remain diligent in seeking immunizations for their children; inadequately immunized children are fuel for the fire. Pertussis vaccinations are over 80 percent effective. Immunizations are among the safest medical treatments that people can get. They are less of a risk than antibiotics, CT scans, surgeries and certainly less of a risk than getting the disease itself. The immunizations given to your children protect them from this and other terrible diseases. Kay Cobb, immunization liaison Spokane County Health District

Library system not fair

I am a seventh-grade student at Sacajawea Middle School and recently I went to the Manito Library to check out some books for a report for school. Turns out, I wasn’t able to check out the books because a new tax went into action that day to have all non-Spokane city-residing citizens pay $40 a year just to be a member of the library.

I live two miles outside of the city limits, and my parents pay city taxes. Why should they have another stupid tax when they pay enough already? The library is a public service, and we shouldn’t be punished for living even just five miles outside the city limits. It takes away our rights to a free public service open to anyone. I think that because of this new tax, the library will lose the business of citizens residing outside the city limits.

Furthermore, what is going on with these new sales receipts? I thought we were supposed to be conserving trees, not wasting them.

I am a concerned 12-year-old citizen and I think City Hall should take a new look at the screwed-up library system. Tyler G. Byers Spokane

‘Critic’ title doesn’t fit

In the Jan 18 article, “City Council balks at going into the bicycle business,” written by Kristina Johnson, I was referred to as a “frequent critic” of the City Council.

I don’t agree with that designation. I would prefer to be thought of as an occasional reality check for certain members of the City Council. George McGrath Spokane

ANIMALS

PETA concepts unrealistic

The suggestion that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is helping to protect animal species for generations to come (Letters, Jan. 17) is erroneous. The ill-conceived philosophy of PETA opposing all uses and control of animals by humans represents such a large threat to endangered species that respected environmental organizations such as the Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy have challenged or opposed the actions of PETA.

It is difficult for a thinking person to accept the statements by the founder of PETA, such as “the lion will lie down with the lamb,” or “eventually companion animals … I don’t use the word pet, I think it’s speciesist language … would be phased out.” It is clear from such statements that this organization harbors unrealistic expectations of animal behavior and needs and dictates that humans should not have dominion over animals. The latest message of PETA, expressed blatantly by (letter writer) Mary Cosentini, is that humans are evil, but other animal are not, so animal rights should take precedence over human rights.

It is unfortunate that extremist groups such as PETA have corrupted the concept of animal rights to the point that the term is no longer applied to the rational consideration of the rights of animals relative to those of humans. Robert C. Speth Pullman

Get your animals spayed, neutered

All dog and cat owners, please spay or neuter your pets.

The Jan. 18 article about the Florida man who refused to spay his dog and then buried her newborn puppies alive is heartbreaking, but by no means unique. Dogs and cats can reproduce at an incredible rate when not spayed or neutered. Shelters are forced to kill millions of unwanted puppies and kittens every year because their owners refused to act responsibly. Countless others are abandoned to suffer from starvation, lack of shelter and veterinary care and abuse by cruel people.

Please don’t add to this tragedy. Spay or neuter your pet today. Anne Sciortino, secretary Animal Advocates of the Inland Northwest, Spokane

Moose poaching must be stopped

President Al Beckwith, the members of the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council and I have become aware of several recent incidents of moose poaching in Northeastern Washington. According to officials at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 14-16 moose have been illegally taken in Pend Oreille, Stevens and northern Spokane counties in the past three to four months. These violations of law, showing complete irresponsibility and an extreme lack of respect for our limited resources, are not acceptable to our members and to other responsible, ethical hunters.

The Wildlife Council has a reward program where we will pay $500 for information that results in the identification of persons responsible for the illegal taking of moose as well as big horn sheep or caribou. We will honor all requests of confidentiality for informers.

Persons with information that would make them eligible for our reward should notify wildlife agents who will investigate the incident.

We must see this reprehensible activity stop! Robert D. Panther, executive director Inland Northwest Wildlife Council, Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Bald is the better style

A recent Hot Seat fried Andre Agassi for cutting off his hair and joining those of us whose hairstyle is blow-dried billiard ball. The editor regretted that the “no-hair” style was given a lot of exposure and feared the style would catch on, forcing the public to endure multitudes of newly-bald men.

As one who has endured every snide reference to his follicle failure, I feel his fears are misplaced. Let me share with you current hairstyles which seem to come from “Samurai Barber.”

A large soup bowl is placed over the victim’s head and all hair below the bowl is banished. The look is one of a sheep dog that’s been shaved from the nose down.

A style worn by “hip” twenty-somethings employs the same method, but the longer hair on top is pulled back into a pony tail. It resembles a bad toupee, but closer examination convinces you that a small furry creature has been glued upon this person’s head with Brylcream.

“Cover up,” the fashion at most high schools and colleges, requires you to form-fit the bill of an ordinary baseball cap by staring into a mailbox for hours, then shrink-wrap it to your head. The resulting expression is of someone trying to cover up a haircut he got from his younger sister.

Although we may undergo a trend towards “hair today, gone tomorrow,” it’s not welcomed by the follicly challenged. We’ve always known we were blessed with a smooth crown so that when God looks down, he could pick us out in a crowd. Rick Melanson Spokane

Conservatives care about people

This is in response to Virginia Goldman’s letter of Jan. 11.

I am a conservative. I care about people and not just the almighty buck. The difference between us is the fact that I would like to use my money to help others directly, which is much more efficient, rather than give it to the government, which wastes more than half the dollars.

One hundred years ago, friends and neighbors would get together and take the homeless into their homes, give them food and clothes, and build them new houses. Today, people will get together and give them a few things, but from a distance. We cannot build them new houses. Why should we? The government will do it! We pay for it, and we pay for the bureaucracy that runs it.

As for the millions of dollars that go to retired legislators, where has she been for 40 years? Who has been in control for the better part of that time? Who proposed the bills that raised pay and retirement? Let’s look at Tom Foley. He lost the election. He was fired! And yet he will retire with more money per year than we make in four.

Don’t tell me the Democrats never used pomp and circumstances. The limo was probably a government vehicle already, so we would have paid for it anyway. The driver was probably hired by the Democrats. Just watch the next few years and see who really cares for America. Peggy Hoppes Spokane