Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Good sense, decency prevailed

Thank you, citizens of Spokane city and county, for your expressions of concern and support during the recent visit to Spokane of Flip Benham, national director of Operation Rescue.

It is clear that the city of Spokane and the Spokane Police Department enforced a policy of zero tolerance toward trespassing, violence and property destruction during protests.

Coverage in The Spokesman-Review was a real comfort to the staff and patients using the clinic because it was clear that regardless of city leaders’ individual positions on the difficult questions related to reproductive choice, all of us agreed we wanted peace and nonviolence in Spokane. Citizens in our community saw that Spokane would not tolerate threats to legal businesses or breaking city or county laws.

It was also nice to see that the local television stations and The Spokesman-Review offered balanced, neutral coverage of events without sensationalizing the protest activities. This probably went a long way toward containing conflict and the potential for the development of confrontations and violence.

Violence and public confrontation need not be imported into our community. Hopefully, we will continue to hear mature and wise voices speaking out, “Not in Spokane.”

Thank you for being such a civil community. Sandra L. Meicher, executive director Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman counties

Get welfare recipients working

Bravo for putting jail inmates to work!

Now let’s get the able-bodied welfare recipients on the same community projects - park care, litter control, neighborhood centers, etc. Sherm Blake Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Story underplayed the good part

Criticisms expressed in your March 1 article concerning a child sent to the “wrong” hospital should not go unchallenged. There was a disturbing lack of proportion both in the family’s reaction and in the fact that you deemed this incident to be newsworthy. Somewhere in the furor generated, the fact that a sick child was safely and expeditiously transferred to an appropriate center for medical care appears to have gone unnoticed.

As physicians whose patients’ well-being often depends on prompt stabilization and safe transport, we can attest to the excellent service provided by Northwest Medstar and the other Inland Northwest emergency medical teams. These selfless men and women work under difficult conditions, often at considerable risk to their personal safety. They deserve the respect and support of the community at whose beck and call they place themselves in jeopardy.

It would be refreshing to see their accomplishments given as much publicity as you chose to give their alleged deficiencies. Drs. Ronald Shapiro and Donald A. Barford Spokane

Russians story ‘one sided’

Many people waited for The Spokesman-Review article about Russian refugees. The reporters had enough time and resources to collect information. I think that the aim of this publication was to introduce Russian refugees to the American community, tell about Russian culture and traditions.

The articles which appeared in two issues of The Spokesman-Review were disappointing to me. Is it possible that, after all their research, reporters were only able to find several large families on welfare and failed to represent those people in the Russian community who are hard working and well educated?

The article is not a place for discussing an incident at school. The readers will draw their conclusions based on an unfair representation of the situation at Ferris High School. The reporters failed to interview the majority of Russian students who are working really hard and thinking about going to college. They only expressed the opinions of two dissatisfied parents.

This one-sided report on the Russian community failed to show how many of the hard-working and educated Russians in Spokane can be a positive asset to the community. Lidiya Yanusheva Spokane

Paper appears biased against police

The Spokesman-Review’s anti-police bias was very clearly stated on page one of the March 9 edition in the headline article about a recent unfortunate death of a mentally unstable man. The deceased was in the process of attacking three police officers who were trying to to arrest him at the request of the man’s mother.

This article was side-barred with a notation of “Recent victims of police shootings.”

Victims? Sad events, yes. Victims, no!

Only in Spokane and Los Angeles are the “bad guys” held as victims. During these two years in question, thousands of police actions ended in success, not violent death. James E. Ady Veradale

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Welfare reform plan a total waste

The claim that SHB 1481 will help people get off welfare simply isn’t true. I believe the opposite may be the case.

As I studied the proposal, I came to section 11, No. 3, relating to Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients attending four-year colleges. I was amazed to read that only basic, secondary and vocational education will be considered. Four-year liberal arts education will be prohibited.

This proposal demands that all who receive public assistance and want to further their education, increasing their chances for higher paying jobs, will be forced into education preparing them for service-based jobs, regardless of their ability. These jobs in most cases pay less than what is needed to provide for a family in today’s economy. This would further the need for the underemployed to depend upon government for some form of financial assistance. The cycle wouldn’t be stopped, the rules would just be changed.

Bills like this, state or federal, are nothing more than the old game of “new federalism” tried by Nixon, Reagan and Bush. They all failed because it doesn’t work.

This bill exposes the cycle of co-dependence that the government has enjoyed far too long. The poor are dependent upon the state for welfare, in part because of high population and the switch from an industrial- to a services-based economy. And the government is dependent upon the poor for high-paying jobs and the security this sort of class separation brings. This cycle will continue as long as the poor are viewed as the welfare program for the rich. R.L. Wiese Spokane

Facts of reform twisted

When will the press, including this “good paper,” have the courage to expose the lies spread by the Democrats regarding the school lunch program?

They claim that the Republicans want to take food out of the mouths of children only to increase the wealth of already wealthy Americans. This is a shameless twist of the truth.

The Republican plan will reduce the annual increase in funding from 5.1 percent to 4.5 percent. This is in essence a cut, but it is a $230 million increase in spending over the current budget.

President Clinton’s own budget plan called for a budget increase of only 3.1 percent. Yet he goes to schools and has the nerve to tell the school staff, students and the American people that the Republican plan is the enemy. This is the most outrageous form of hypocrisy.

I think it’s time the truth be told. This paper deserves as much blame as anybody for continually shrouding the truth. Daniel W. Briggs Spokane

Critics wrong about school lunches

I have been hearing a great deal recently about Republicans cutting the school lunch program and taking food out of our kids’ mouths. As a parent of two elementary school students, I wanted to find out the truth. I called Rep. George Nethercutt’s office and found out.

The block grant proposal would not cut the current funding level at all. In fact, a 4.5 increase is requested for each of the next five years. This money would be given to the state with the restriction that no more than 2 percent go toward administrative costs. So 98 percent would have to be used for the nutrition of our children.

What the block grants would do is give the states control over the school nutritional programs. This sounds good to me because I believe Washington state is going to know more about Spokane’s children than Washington, D.C., does. This proposal also would save money by cutting out the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., that tends to be bloated and inefficient.

Sounds to me like there has been a lot of misinformation being put out on this subject. Makes me wonder what other ideas are being distorted. G. Dexter Phillips Spokane

Federal retirement not as billed

In retort to Betty Jean Blackman’s letter of March 7, I would like to correct the misinformation some citizens have about the Federal Employee’s Retirement System (FERS).

FERS has been the retirement system in force in most departments for civilian federal employees hired since January 1984. It is similar to most other large-employer retirement systems. When an individual retires, the government pays an annuity based upon years of service plus eligibility for Social Security. A recent SpokesmanReview article said an employee at Kaiser with 30 years would get 35 percent, while a federal employee with the same time would get 30 percent under FERS.

Federal employees pay for their retirement. Looking down my last leave and earnings statement, I have deductions for FERS, FICA, Medicare and TSP, which all relate to retirement. These total 12.8 percent of my regular gross salary plus deductions for federal income tax and health insurance. The preposterous assumption that government employees get a free ride is far from the truth.

Unlike the stereotypical bureaucrat representation of the old civil service retirement system, in which employees could retire at 55, FERS retirees have portions of their Social Security removed for early retirement, similar to everyone else.

I hope this will educate those who sound off about how good they think others have it before checking the facts. Glen A. Harroun Spokane

Free lunch time is past

Recently, as Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan was speaking to a congressional panel, it was obvious to me as a novice that he is caught in a box. He was imploring Congress to lower the deficit.

Our dollar’s value is falling like a rock. And it wasn’t all the fault of the Mexican $20 billion partial bailout. He knows he can prop the dollar by raising the interest rates further. By doing so, he risks recession that may be on the horizon anyway.

Mexico and Canada are in a world of hurt, but we owe more than they do.

By reducing the deficit, we restore confidence internationally for our dollar, so the flight to safety doesn’t have to be Deutchmarks.

That means we have to face reality. Our government has allowed us to spend and spend. It is my belief that funding for PBS, the Bureau of Mines, welfare, school breakfasts, foreign aid, tobacco and wheat subsidies, ad infinitum, will have to be reduced. The quicker the better.

We’ve had too many free lunches and now it is pay-back time. Nathan Narrance Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Grain of salt called for here

David Clinton of the Columbia River Alliance (CRA) doth protest too much! (“David Clinton believes dams get too much blame,” March 7).

Hydropower dams are not the exclusive cause of salmon declines, but biologists at federal and state fisheries agencies, the tribes and even Bonneville Power unanimously blame the dams for at least 80 percent of human-inflicted salmon deaths.

Clinton may believe changes in hydropower operations are based on weak science and might harm the salmon. Again, biologists overwhelmingly disagree and the Northwest Power Planning Council concludes these changes are absolutely necessary to save the salmon.

Clinton may worry about ocean conditions, but the world’s leading expert on Pacific salmon, William Pearcy, says recent adverse conditions make it all the more imperative to fix the hydropower system.

Clinton points to salmon declines in coastal streams that have no dams. In a 1992 inventory, the Washington Department of Fisheries found that half of all salmonid populations are stable or increasing. In coastal streams where salmon are declining, habitat degradation is well documented.

In fact, the only “proof” David Clinton can offer for his positions are some reports written by one biologist and one economist bought-and-paid-for by the CRA.

When the public decides who wins the great salmon debate we should remember that Harvey Morrison and conservationists do not have anything to gain or protect other than the fish. David Clinton very definitely does. Bonnie Mager Washington Environmental Council, Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Another question for the betrothed

A warning label on marriage licenses sounds like an amusing idea, considering the state of mind of the participants. However, I would like to bring up another premarital warning that does need to be approached.

Our experience answering a help and referral line assures us that both the man and woman involved should be given a safe, nonjudgmental opportunity to look at their own sexual orientation before going ahead.

Our families, society, churches, our whole culture virtually drives people into marriage. Some of these men and women have never allowed themselves to think about their sexual orientation. It was too hidden or tabooed. Many of them recognize that they are gay or lesbian but are convinced they can, they must, make it work.

Well, some can “make it work” for a few months, years or more and even have a few children. However, the penalties may be high: i.e. alcohol, abuse, anger, infidelity or just a terribly controlled or twisted personality. Separation and divorce are particularly troubled because explanations to kith and kin must generally be hidden. The children may suffer at yet another level if their peers discover they have a gay parent.

I don’t suppose there will ever be a “declaration of sexual orientation” form to sign at the marriage clerk’s desk, but I would beg all persons involved in premarital counseling to take the opportunity to get this subject out in the open. The pain, fear, anger, hurt, guilt and shame that comes over our phone and in our personal encounters with these mixed-orientation marriages is dreadful - particularly when they truly love each other as friends and human beings but not as husband and wife. Ann Wood Spokane

Toy gun premise misfires

Cindy Greever’s concern for the highway carnage is well taken, as is her identification of drunk driving as a major cause (“Worse shames than toy guns,” Letters, March 9). Her logic breaks down, however, when she tries to justify the glorification of firearms in The SpokesmanReview’s photograph of children “playing” by comparing it to a hypothetical depiction of children playing with toy cars.

In my experience, children don’t play skeet shooting, decathlon target shooting or even hunting. They are most often seen shooting imaginary bad guys or their playmates. This trivialization of person-on-person violence is one of the pieces of the puzzle of escalating violence in this country, which tragically includes children using real weapons against other children.

If The Spokesman-Review should ever feature a photograph of children playing with toy cars and toy sixpacks while engaging in play drunk driving, I will join Ms. Greever in condemning that, but will still not condone the depiction of play firearm violence. W. Ross Coble Spokane

Make parcels subject to inspection

We do have a curious war on drugs going when our country requires the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages even with smears of cocaine on the outside remaining from the wrapping process.

Instead, the postal inspector must ascertain the package being sent in the U.S. mail is leaking from the inside before he has the power to open it - and can only then open it if a judge gives him permission!

We have a curious set of individual rights when Postal Service employees have no choice while doing a job that benefits our country, they must also ship and deliver drugs. This is insanity. Cocaine dealers may use our mail service with impunity, so long as their death-dealing drugs are well sealed.

Some time ago, before the war on drugs, anything shipped by the U.S. Postal Service was subject to being opened if the postal employees had any question whatsoever. A little statement right on the mailing label said “This parcel may be opened for postal inspection.”

When and why was this changed? Surely, any parcel sent through the U.S. mail should be subject to being opened for inspection any time there is a question about the contents. Louise Ellis Spokane

Federal workers should pay, too

In response to the Feb. 22 article, “Thousands of federal workers refuse to pay child support,” I was shocked to learn federal employees are refusing to support their own children. With the talk of going after deadbeat dads or absent parents to pay child support, I can’t imagine the federal government overlooking its own in this matter.

The article stated 64,310 federal employees owe as much as $284 million in child support. In two-thirds of these cases, the children of these absent parents live on welfare. Refusing to pay child support is only refusing children the necessities to live.

The government has chosen not to go after its own, but demands other deadbeat folks to pay support. Where’s the moral in this? Aren’t children just children, no matter where dad or mom works? Shouldn’t everybody be held accountable for the well-being of their children?

Hopefully, something will be done about deadbeat parents, no matter who their boss is. Mary Engle Spokane