Letters To The Editor

YOUNG FLIER

Don’t equate crash with failure

In Paul Dean’s commentary, “Someone should have known better,” the courage and determination of Jessica Dubroff has been eclipsed by those who are attempting to attribute the cause of the tragedy to a system or a parent that allows a child of 7 to pursue a dream, and perhaps incidentally, a record. He has portrayed Jessica’s father as ambitious, insecure, grasping and unfulfilled. Had Jessica been successful, Lloyd Dubroff would be portrayed as a supportive, loving father who encouraged his daughter to seek and achieve her dream.

The latest reports indicate that the flight instructor, Joe Reid, was at the controls at the time of the crash. Technically, Jessica was a passenger in the plane. Let us not diminish the courage and determination of an exceptional young lady by calling the attempt a “blindingly foolish father-daughter field trip.” We need to encourage our children to seek their dreams, not stifle them or condemn their parents because there is an element of risk involved. The real tragedy occurs when a child is discouraged from dreaming and reaching for a goal that brings with it a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem. Jessica did not fail because her father failed her. She succeeded because she had the courage to try.

Dean did not raise the consciousness level of parents whose children dare to pursue a dream. Rather, he maligned the character and questioned the motives of a father who loved his daughter and supported her quest to excel. Dean should have known better. Brian R. Williams Coeur d’Alene

Don’t judge pilot’s parents

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly we pass judgment on others, especially if those we’re judging are dead and cannot defend themselves (“7-year-old pilot’s dream ends in disaster,” News April 12).

Jessica Dubroff was 7 and flying a plane. She was attempting to do something important to her. If she had achieved her goals, we would have cheered her on. But she died and we jump to the conclusion that she was a child forced to do things against her will, mistreated by her parents as unloved.

In a world where playing in your own back yard is not safe, she was attempting to do something that she loved. Don’t pass judgment. We do not have that right.

Theresa Hale Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

So, what else is new?

I don’t understand all the commotion over the good ol’ boy cronyism taking place in Spokane County government or the fuss over the county’s hiring practices (“Fired state inspector gets county job,” April 14). It’s been that way for a long time over at the ol’ courthouse, although it’s gotten blatantly worse under the dumb-and-dumber administration that we the voters put into office over there.

Hey, look at it this way: An unqualified or underqualified good ol’ boy will fit right in. This guy and the county deserve one another. Chris Anderson Spokane

Attack on golf clubs unwarranted

Re: Ann Marie Schultz’s attack on the men’s and women’s club of any golf course (“Golf among the tee’d off set,” Letters, April 10): She is misinformed.

Both groups are an asset. They support the courses during cold weather, rain and aerating, when they’re not in playing condition. They are the ones who put on most tournaments and amateur events. They also stake out the hazards on the courses and work with the greenskeepers.

Who provides sponsors for golf tournaments and still pays full greens fees? Club members!

Hangman Valley’s men’s club members have physically worked to restore the course after floods. They’ve purchased signs, ball washers and more. Members are responsible for repairing greens and policing the course.

The ladies forecaddie and help with tournaments. In general, they care, support, work with the pros, the U.S. Golf Association and county commissioners and establish members’ handicaps. Now they are being abused by those who do not understand what they represent.

So your husband had a bad time getting a prime time? I have spent 45 minutes getting a tee time. We all have to redial, as do all club members. This is a county rule.

As for Denis O’Farrell, men’s club president, he was not inferring you should belong to a golf club. He was trying to abort the misstatement made toward the clubs. They don’t deserve the bad publicity bestowed on them of late.

Public courses are still public and far from being country clubs. Herschel A. Stoops Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Guess we must take it on faith

The first action taken by the group that would take control of the Stevens County Republican organization, April 13, was to deny the county chairman the traditional privilege of chairing the convention.

The remainder of the meeting they rose one by one to expound “Christian principles and values.”

Apparently, common courtesy, decency and civility toward their fellow humans are not considerations among their “Christian” principles.

May our Lord and savior forgive them. Jean Bell Springdale, Wash.

What next for pro-choice party?

Over 130 years ago, black people were considered property by many.

Those who sought to justify slavery said it was a choice; blacks were not really people and had no rights and no say. Therefore, they could do as they wished with blacks, all under the auspices of a diabolical ideology of self-interest, convenience and monetary gain.

One small step above the aforesaid were those who purported that slavery was wrong and that they personally would never participate. Nevertheless, in their hypocrisy they embraced the philosophy that those who chose to own slaves should have the right to do so. It was said a slave owner had the right to own and do as he saw best with his own slaves.

A large group recognized the evil of slavery and tenaciously stood against it. It proclaimed it to be immoral and unethical. It realized that a black person was a human being, not a frivolous object to be terminated on an arbitrary whim; rather, blacks had a God-given right to life and freedom. A small radical fringe group was overzealous in its aversion to slavery. Those in it took it upon themselves to terminate slave owners.

Paradoxically, the same political party that said owning a black man in the 1800s was a choice is the same party telling us in the 1900s that selective eradication of babies through abortion is a choice. In light of these facts, I wonder who its target will be in the new millennium? Clinton B. Hunt Cheney

Remember veto in November

I am dumbfounded with grief and disbelief that President Clinton vetoed the partial-birth abortion ban.

I don’t know how he can justify this with his conscience. Against an 286-129 majority in Congress, not to mention the will of many Americans, he chose to continue to allow the hideous killing of children.

These infants, before their heads are delivered, get their brains sucked out, and their bodies go limp. They are dead at the moment of birth. This is what the president called “late term pregnancies.” Is this fair?

This is a real-life horror movie - only you can’t go home.

What will happen at the polls in November? I know that I don’t want this on my conscience when I stand before God at the end of my life and have to give account for myself. Linda J. Reed Spokane

AGRICULTURE

Bluegrass growers, consider hemp

Chuck Armsbury’s letter (April 17) regarding facts and reasons to grow hemp in lieu of grass is articulate and should be a compelling motive for growers of bluegrass in our region to seriously consider.

Hemp is one of nature’s primary resources. The inane law prohibiting production of marijuana is probably the main reason hemp is not produced in the United States.

It would seem practical for grass growers to research this potentially lucrative crop. It’s reasonable to presume that cannabis is the best alternative to growing bluegrass.

Grass growers should use their influence with politicians to encourage them to help make this changeover possible.

Why not grow hemp in our besieged area and eliminate all controversy on the subject of grass burning? Grass farmers are such an important element in our agricultural community. They must not be inhibited in earning their livelihood. Bruce Milbourn Spokane