Letters To The Editor

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Nation teetering on the brink

Shutting down the government is a good thing. It shows us that we don’t need so much government and it shows us what might happen if it shut down completely.

Clinton knows that we will go bankrupt if we continue to spend money like we’re doing, yet he continues to play politics. The increase in jobs that he talks about are government jobs, which must be paid for by the ever-decreasing private job market.

The GOP plan isn’t perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction. We are coming very close to being unable to pay the interest on our national debt. When this happens, everything will shut down.

With the traitors in our government sending our jobs and our money to foreign countries, that time is getting closer than ever.

The sob sisters who are crying for the poor welfare people (who sit in their chairs at home drinking beer or are out on the street protesting) are ignoring the poor working people who are unable to clothe and feed their own children. Millions of children are out on the streets, getting into trouble because one job isn’t enough to support a relentless bureaucracy and both parents have to work. Leo K. Lindenbauer Spokane

Nethercutt falls short of promises

What’s a nice guy like George Nethercutt doing in the Gingrich militia? Finding out that his voting record is reflective of a right-wing extremist idealogue is like discovering that your favorite uncle belongs to the Klan.

I guess what he meant by his campaign rhetoric of being an independent voice in Washington was that it would be independent of the moderation that his district (and the nation) long for.

Perhaps the political baggage of being the “giant killer” is just too heavy for our representative. Charles W. Booth Cheney

We replaced Foley for this?

As a student of economics at the University of Wisconsin some 55 years ago, I was taught that it was a responsibility of the federal government to ensure full employment. It did so in times of depression by spending more than it took in in taxes. Then by virtue of the progressive income tax, it would take in more in good times than was required to reduce the federal debt.

This philosophy which brought us the Public Works Act, Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Youth Act and myriad other federal programs brought us out of the deepest depression in our history and into its longest period of prosperity.

There now appears to be a new philosophy. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich blames President Clinton for the shutting down of national parks and the furloughing of thousands of workers because he is unwilling to sign a budget balancing act that would reduce the taxes of the wealthiest by billions, give substantial per-child deductions to the middle-class taxpayers and increase taxes on the vast army of laborers earning less than $30,000 per annum by reducing the earned income credit.

Is this really what the Spokane voters who chose George Nethercutt over Tom Foley thought they were going to get? Fred J. Meyer Coulee Dam, Wash.

YOUTHS

Good kids deserve recognition

A couple of weeks ago, an amazing 37,000 members of the Future Farmers of America and other agriculture-oriented youths registered for the Future Farmers of America convention held in Kansas City.

While this event took place far from our area, I believe it deserves national recognition.

This also points out the fact that not all youths are into gangs, drugs and violent crime. Mrs. B.M. Moon Spokane

Programs can stem youth problems

I’m concerned about the possible cuts for the community centers that the City Council is considering.

I would like to encourage everyone who cares about gang violence to let the council know that the summer teen programs are very valuable, filling up some vacant hours when folks aren’t home from work and teaching the kids something - not letting minds wander to mischief and worse.

It’s money well-spent. With the number of kids attending increasing, the Community Center Association is working on a program for year-round use. Cathy Gunderson Spokane

AROUND SPOKANE

Don’t leave mess to our children

I attended the Department of Ecology’s public hearing Monday night talking about the toxic cleanup program proposed for downtown Spokane. I left with a deep, deep sense of disappointment.

The proposed plan falls far short of addressing the problem. In fact, it is a short-term solution. Further, it does not address what happens if the proposed program that’s implemented fails and continues to affect neighboring areas. Whose responsibility is it to address the situation then?

I feel that while it is a past generation that created this problem that we are now dealing with, the solution that has been proposed leaves the problem to our children, to a future generation, to take care of adequately. When future development within the contaminated area occurs, as we know it will - that is, current buildings on that site torn down or altered with plans for others to be erected - future generations - our children - will have to deal with the problem that we swept under a few inches of asphalt. Is this the legacy of our downtown that we want to leave our children?

Twenty-one years ago, we promoted a theme, “The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth,” as we were hosts to the world for Expo ‘74. It’s time to practice what we preached.

Do the right thing, Washington Water Power. Clean up your mess the right way so our children won’t have to deal with it tomorrow. Bill Hockett Spokane

What does management want?

There seems to be a hidden Goodale & Barbieri agenda at Broadview Dairy. Management’s initial offer of a rollback of 16 years’ cut in pay set the Teamsters up for the strike. After five months of negotiating, their previous offer of a rollback of $2.63 cut was countered by union officials on Nov. 6 of $2.37 - a rollback of 14 years in wages.

Don Barbieri rejected the last offer. It seems Mr. Barbieri wanted the strike from the beginning.

Now losing business because of inexperienced replacement workers, Goodale & Barbieri has the excuse needed to close the plant. This seems to be his real agenda and their only goal. This makes no sense when Spokane needs more better-paying jobs. Spokane does not need any more motels with more lower-paying jobs. William Blain Otis Orchards

Peace-justice league a blessing

As Thanksgiving approaches, I wish to thank publicly a group of dedicated, caring people. These people are active in their churches and synagogues with their prayers, presence, gifts and service. They are active in the world and our city as members of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane.

In a time when our less fortunate neighbors are being penalized for being poor, when our working-class citizens see their jobs being sent across the border, when we become numbed by the everyday taking of life, PJALS calls us to acts of compassion and justice-making.

PJALS sometimes acts like a guilty conscience, sometimes like grace in a graceless world. Spokane is a better place for its presence in our midst. Janet Stevenson Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Remember those in armed services

The tradition of Thanksgiving has long been celebrated as a time of reflection on the many blessings we enjoy. Over the years, those who served before us made many sacrifices and endured numerous hardships to preserve for future generations the blessings of liberty and freedom. Even today, as we sit at our tables of bounty and give thanks, there are men and women deployed throughout the world who are preserving those same blessings. For many of our people, these are difficult times - enduring separations from loved ones, often under austere conditions and without the support of friends and community.

As you give thanks this year, please pause to remember the men and women of the armed services who, like previous generations, help to preserve the way of life we hold so dear. On behalf of all the members of Team Fairchild, I would like to thank everyone in the Inland Northwest for the continuing support you have given us and wish all of you a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. Brig. Gen Arthur J. Lichte Fairchild Air Force Base

Church perpetuating poverty

Every time my blood pressure goes down, something comes up to send it through the ceiling again. After reading the comments of Catholic Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland on Nov. 15, condemning the GOP welfare proposals, I saw red.

What’s perpetuating the poverty he speaks of is the subsidizing of sin in this nation. The bishops are derelict in their duty to tell people the consequences of their actions, so why should people change? A lot of us have found out that being moral, conscientious and responsible doesn’t pay. It’s my personal experience to find that Catholic Charities takes better care of those who enjoy the habit of sin.

The lawfully married young people are fed up with both having to work only to have everything taken from them to satisfy the people who breed indiscriminately. It’s my belief that we get to heaven on what we consent to giving and sharing, not what is taken from us to throw around.

For some years, I’ve been telling lawmakers to start taxing bishops more heavily. Maybe then they’ll get the feel of a taxpayer. Margaret Schuster Spokane

S-R just trying to harass Hagadone

After all these years, your editorial staff is still trying to influence the growth rate and tourism advantage Coeur d’Alene enjoys (Nov. 12, Our View).

Anti-hydroplane, to me, adds up to the fact The Spokesman-Review is still on a campaign to continue the harassment of Mr. Duane Hagadone and Hagadone Hospitality.

When I want a first-class place to stay, it will still be The Coeur d’Alene Resort complex. John Stoltenberg Cashmere, Wash.

Remember what we’re thankful for

In response to Jack DeBaun’s letter, “Equal time for the discontent” (Nov. 20):

Thanksgiving falls on one day of the year. That leaves those with a need to seek out the negative in life 364 days to complain and one day to be thankful. If it seems that life in America has dealt you a bad hand, maybe a day in Rwanda at a four-star refugee camp could give one a new appreciation for the original reason the Thanksgiving holiday began in this country. Kari Rimbey Colfax, Wash.