Letters To The Editor

(From Letters to the editor, Saturday, September 9, 1995:) Sandy Smith’s Sept. 2 letter about Cozza-Standard traffic concerns should not have included a reference to 15 mph, and should have read, in part: “The Cozza Drive-Standard area has a multitude of problems due to continued growth and development…”

SPOKANE MATTERS

Cozza-Standard problems not ignored

In regard to Loren Harris’ letter (Aug. 16), I feel obligated to make some clarifications. North Standard was striped to help control traffic and provide space for pedestrians, cyclists and parking. Neighbors in the area requested that the street not be designated a bike way only because we have no alleyways for parking and no sidewalks for pedestrians.

Regarding the reduction of speed to 25 mph, I agree with Mr. Harris, in that a speed limit of 15 mph is only as good as its enforcement.

We also have trouble with commercial delivery trucks using Standard and Cozza Drive as shortcut routes. Legally, any truck 10,000 pounds or more gross weight is not to use these streets except for local deliveries. There is a $66 fine for violations. The neighborhood is currently working with the city and police department to enforce traffic laws.

The Cozza Drive-Standard area had a multitude of traffic problems due to continued growth and development and we’re continually working with our steering committee, cop shop, City Hall, city council and developers to deal with these problems in maintaining a quality of life in the neighborhood.

We must all work together to be a part of the solution - not the problem. Sandy Smith Spokane

Group active in combating abuse

We respect and admire the work of individuals and agencies who were given the opportunity to express their views about child safety in the Aug. 27 edition of The Spokesman-Review, and we support the community forum concept.

In fact, in recent community planning meetings involving over two-dozen agencies, the gap in child sexual prevention services for preschoolers was targeted as a top priority. Every year, Spokane Sexual Assault Center treats more than 200 preschoolers for sexual abuse. These are only the confirmed cases.

ACT for Kids, a division of the Spokane Sexual Assault Center, provides the most up-to-date services to meet the needs children face in the ‘90s to protect them from and educate them about sexual abuse.

This summer, the Washington Office of Crime Victims Advocacy awarded ACT for Kids a two-year grant to provide child abuse prevention services for Spokane County’s 35,000 preschoolers. This grant enables ACT for Kids to offer training about child sexual abuse dynamics and personal safety to vulnerable children’s first line of defense - their parents and child care providers.

Please take action on behalf of your children against the devastating effects of child sexual abuse. For information about your participation in ACT for Kids training workshops, call me at 747-8224. Jean McGinn, supervisor ACT for Kids, Spokane Sexual Assault Center

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Rotten system can, must be fixed

Here are some important facts that most Americans have yet to comprehend:

1. Because U.S. foreign policy is primarily geared to the creation of cheap labor markets and easy access to foreign natural resources for multinational corporations, the majority of what is called defense spending is actually corporate welfare. American workers are subsidizing their own job loss.

2. The loss of manufacturing jobs has turned big inner cities into concentration camps for unneeded people, and the creation of a drug war has become a welfare subsidy for the law enforcement and prison industries. A full-time worker earning $6 per hour contributes $12,000 a year to the gross national product. The same person in prison contributes $24,000 a year to GNP, which makes the development of a police state a profitable enterprise.

3. The United States has only one political party, the Money Party. While Democrats and Republicans pander to different social groups, the same powerful economic interests who bought Democrats for 40 years are now buying Republicans.

4. The survival of freedom and democracy depends upon the death of special interest government, which can only be accomplished by passing legitimate campaign finance reforms. Chris Farnam Spokane

It’s about caring, not just money

Just because someone has millions of dollars doesn’t mean they can’t have a heart and soul for the poor. Many rock stars, actors, actresses, writers and athletes give large sums of money to charities they believe in.

Just because someone makes a huge success out of their God-given talents doesn’t mean they automatically sell out to stony-hearted and selfish politics.

An excellent example of one of the most compassionate and caring heroes in this century was born into an extremely wealthy family, Robert Kennedy. We’ll never know what could have been, with his brand of concern, except in our hearts.

Yes, the Democratic Party is the party that hears the cries of the poor and is willing to do something - even the rich Democrats.

Just for the record, I personally know people who make less that $6 an hour who vote Republican and have no compassion for the poor. Karla Kirby Spokane

Killing Amtrak preventable mistake

Cuts in Amtrak funding for 1996, approved by the House of Representatives on July 25 and by the Senate Aug. 10 threaten the existence of national passenger train service.

Amtrak has said it could survive a 34 percent cut in operating grants compared to 1995, given recent service cuts and other legislation now before Congress meant to reduce Amtrak’s costs. But the Senate voted to cut Amtrak operating grants by 53 percent, from $392 million to $185 million, which would jeopardize all remaining Amtrak service - even on the busy Northwest corridor. Capital items needed to make Amtrak operations more modern and efficient were also cut.

At the same time, the Senate left alone the mammoth highway program - and the House raised it by $1 billion. The nation is not well served by cutting energy-efficient, environmentally friendly programs like Amtrak in favor of roads. The autos-can-do-it-all mentality was wrong in the 1950s and it’s still wrong.

Not everyone has a car or wants to rely on it as much as will be necessary if Congress stands by the priorities it has set for transportation. A committee to reconcile differences in the House and Senate bills will meet after Labor Day, and is likely to listen to the public - if the public speaks up. Ross B. Capon, director National Association of Railroad Passengers

IN THE PAPER

Rede story item was correct

Mark McGee states in the Aug. 26 letters to the editor that part of the Wiccan Rede was misstated in Kim Barker’s Aug. 15 story on Wiccan prison rights. I’m the sponsor/teacher for the Airway Heights prisoners, and I would like to add something to Mark’s comments.

The entire text of the Wiccan Rede is lengthy. The part Mark quotes is only two lines of the whole writing. A stanza which appears earlier in the text says, “Mind the threefold law ye should, three times bad, and three times good.” There are then two unrelated lines, and then it says, “These eight words the rede fulfill: An harm ye none, do what ye will.”

“An” in the old writing used to mean “if,” so this is saying, “as long as no one is harmed in any way, you may do what you please.” This covers a broad category of behavior, including the way you treat yourself.

So, the Threefold Law is part of the Rede, but the Rede is comprised of many different laws, including the one Mark quoted. Therefore, I concur with Ms. Barker’s original statement. Abigayle Murray, founder Inland Northwest Pagen Alliance, Spokane

Why ask after the fact?

Taking a survey about cartoons was a good idea, although it should have been done before, not after, making changes if you’re serious about paying any attention to the results.

The new ones you have printed are a sorry lot, in my opinion. However, if you will put back our old friend, Marvin, we would feel better about it all.

Maybe you should have included Priggee in the survey. Or, you could put him in a separate throwaway section with Doonesbury. Glenn Lundell Spokane

Keep Earthweek

What happened to the Sunday paper’s Earthweek: Dairy of the Planet? I look forward to it. Please don’t discontinue it. I really like how it gives you an outlook on what’s going on geographically around the world. Christine Demarest Spokane

‘Girls’ reference not appreciated

I found The Hot Seat paragraph concerning state Attorney General Christine Gregoire and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings to be greatly lacking in professionalism on the part of the editors (Aug. 27).

It’s as condescending and sexist to refer to professional women as “girls” as it is to refer to any woman as a “girl.” If the editor can’t speak to the issue he is trying to address on its merits, then perhaps the editor doesn’t have any business speaking to the issue at all. Teresa Smith Spokane