Letters To The Editor

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Loss of student paper a shame

Regarding the article about closure of North Central’s student newspaper:

While I am a 1995 Shadle Park graduate, I was also a staff writer/editor of the Shadle Highlander for two years. My experience on the newspaper proved invaluable and steered me toward a career path I had never dreamed of.

I was dismayed, however, to read adviser Kevin Foster’s quote that he did not recruit writers for the following year, and that maybe he had in some way failed.

Of course he failed; as an advisor his job is to not only advise but to recruit. By the tone of the article, maybe if North Central promoted it’s own paper and student journalists then there would’ve been more interest.

In all my time at Shadle Park our news staff was continually encouraged by administration and the student body. It was rather disheartening to read that future North Central students will be denied the opportunity to discover their journalism skills.

High school journalism may seem insignificant as a class to many people, but through it I interviewed someone living with AIDS, two victims of the Fairchild shooting and was given the opportunity to attend a forum concerning violence among teenagers in Spokane. All of these contacts have made me a more informed and concerned individual. It is a shame that others will not be given the same life-changing opportunities.

Jennifer Lindsley Spokane

Drug policy too easygoing

Re: “Schools adopt three-strikes policy” (June 27):

Letting students who get caught with drugs and/or alcohol get a clean slate every two years is too lenient. Their shouldn’t have their record cleared.

As the policy currently stands, theoretically, a student could get caught four times in four years, once per year, and not be expelled. The policy should state that if a student is caught with drugs and/or alcohol three times at any time in school, no matter when the previous offenses took place, that student is expelled.

In regards to Mary Brown’s statement in the article, “There is such a proliferation of drugs they do not know it’s wrong … It does not register with them that there’s anything wrong with drug use.” I say, bull!

Next year I will be a sophomore at North Central High School. I know that drug use is stupid, deadly and illegal. In fact, when I finished Bloomsday I was disgusted that some people were trying to get signatures for an initiative that would legalize marijuana.

To Brown and the rest of the school board: Don’t throw all high school students into the same group just because some idiots drink alcohol and/or use drugs. And get tougher on the jerks who do. Roy D. Dickens Spokane

Deal first with society’s shortcomings

Re: “Spokane schools fail to narrow the gap, ” (News, June 13): I find it difficult to believe that Cynthia Lambarth and her fellow administrators have just discovered, after a four-year study, that minority students are suspended more often, achieve lower test scores and drop out more often than whites. (But not Asians why?)

Perhaps they should look at the study done at Notre Dame University. This in-depth study showed conclusively that, generally, what goes into the school is what comes out. The only way you can possibly accomplish the goal of equal suspensions, etc., is to ignore or accept unacceptable conduct on the part of some students and/ or lower your overall standards so that fewer students will be suspended.

We still have a great discrepancy in how society treats and accepts different races and colors. Until we solve that ugly problem you cannot substantially change the conduct of our students. Your approach can only lower the quality for the better students who want an education, and turn your schools into jungles.

Until these problems are faced and solved by all of society, I would suggest that educators devote their efforts to educating and helping, but not equalizing, all of our students to the best of their individual abilities. Then pray that our society can straighten itself out so that all children can come to our schools prepared and early, looking forward to the advantages of a good - not generic - education. Bill Bollaert, former teacher and school board president Silvis, Ill.

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Prostitution not worth the money

In regard to “Prostitutes become human prey” (News, June 23):

I am a 21-year-old, lifetime resident of Spokane. I grew up in a poor neighborhood and our family endured many hardships. I was raped by a stranger when I was 6 and I have been sexually assaulted and date-raped a number of times.

I’ve always tried to avoid men who seemed suspicious or violent. I carry pepper spray everywhere I go. I rarely go places alone anymore, even in broad daylight. Despite the precautions I take, I have still encountered too many incidents of sexually motivated violence.

What I don’t understand is why 15-year-old girls are on Sprague selling themselves for a couple hundred dollars a week. Most are aware of the dangers of rape and even murder lurking around every corner.

Rape lasts a lifetime. And for those of you who think the money is worth being sexually abused, here’s a reality check: it’s not.

Think about what you will be spending those 200 hard-earned dollars on after you do run into one of these weirdos - doctor bills and makeup to cover the bruises. A list of descriptions and habits of these dangerous men may seem helpful, but what about the hundreds more out there we don’t know about? Why isn’t this list given to every female Spokane resident?

Spokane doesn’t want to read about the murder of another local prostitute. I would hate to hear about another rape that could have been prevented if someone had not walked Sprague for a quick dollar. C.E. Wilson Spokane

Indians tired of getting raw deal

The first Americans were just that, the first. Indians were here on this continent long before Columbus’ “discovery.”

We were a population of up to 4 million before termination, assimilation, exploitation and finally being “civilized” to 500,000. Today the Indian population is only a fraction of what it was before.

In the process of civilization our religious freedoms were bent, alcohol was introduced (legalized to Indians in 1952) and boarding schools were set up to torture. Diseases also found a new home in America. Mother Earth was stripped, mined and polluted.

Now, a little more than 500 years later, we’re still going, only stronger and prouder. Endurance. The only way to go is forward. The white man chooses to ignore us. He puts us under the Department of Interior among the animals. At least it’s a step up from being under the Department of War, now called the Department of Defense.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It’s made for everyone except the true first Americans. Treaties never existed to the white man in his White House. This is why we demand recognition.

Indians have been more governed and watched than any other race in history. We are tired of being put at the bottom of the human race. We can’t be ignored forever because we won’t let it happen. I salute our warriors who are standing up for Indian rights and Indian country. Ella Begaye Inchelium, Wash.

Caring for body helpful for soul

I disagree with Tom Durst’s letter of June 25, “We’re too concerned with our bodies.” We’re not concerned enough with our bodies.

All nine of the major religions indicate that the soul of mankind is a sign of God, and that he created the human body as a house, so to speak, for that immortal part of us, the soul, during our existence in this world of grim reality.

The religions also agree that the soul possesses an eternal life. Therefore, is it not within reason that the better we care for our body, the better for our soul? Major E. Dunne Spokane

Vandalism was attack on rights

Actions of the unknown vandals who defamed and destroyed property at the Peace and Justice Action League underline the daily reality of prejudice and hate experienced by our gay and lesbian residents. Such hate extends to those at PJALS, who simply help them to exercise their constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly.

Justice must be extended to all of us, whether we are born rich or poor, black, white, brown or shades thereof, heterosexual or homosexual. This is the uniqueness of a Democratic society and the foundation of our strength as a nation.

Our city must stand firm against all forms of intimidation and hate. Janet G. Stevenson, chairwoman Spokane Human Rights Commission

TERRORISM

Bombings may be connected

How prophetic. A U.S. Air Force spokesperson was quoted as saying, “It’s Oklahoma City all over again” about the June 25 American-Saudi air base explosion.

Perhaps now is a better time for us to question authorities about the persistent allegations of Middle East terrorists masterminding the Oklahoma City disaster.

These allegations include three Middle Eastern men purchasing explosive fertilizers, having those fertilizers packed into 100-pound bags (to generate greater blast effect), operating a brown van which was following Tim McVeigh’s vehicle when he was pulled over for a traffic violation, and later that van being found abandoned at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

How much does McVeigh know? Only time will tell.

My condolences to the victims and families of the Saudi disaster. Robert Spaulding Post Falls

THE ENVIRONMENT

Good management a long-term thing

Our family has been in the tree farming business for over 100 years, and I submit that no one has more interest in protecting our forests than we do. In earlier years the main interest was making a living with very little thought given to long-term management, but that has changed dramatically.

Big timber companies started the tree farm program over 50 years ago to encourage better management and to ensure a continuing log supply.

Kay Stoltz (“Forests’ health must be restored now,” Letters, July 1) needs to develop a little patience. Those of us involved in forestry have to think long-term all the time. We’re now planting trees and conducting thinning operations on our land that won’t produce income in my lifetime.

The land my dad had thinned prior to the devastating 1939 fire escaped relatively unscathed, but some of the unthinned land burned so hot that it still hasn’t recovered.

After the Tillamook burn in the 1930s very little salvage logging was done because of low log prices. That resulted in an even hotter fire a few years later and even in a third fire. Salvage logging was done after our 1939 fire, and (with no tree planting) we are now commercially thinning this land to produce a healthier forest and to reduce the fire danger. At the same time we’re improving wildlife habitat and the aesthetic values.

With improved management practices we can end up with forests superior to unmanaged stands. Everything man does is not necessarily bad. Sonny Poirier Blanchard, Idaho

Natural is not always for the best

Regarding the June 27 guest column by Timothy Coleman, “Forest fire is a natural component of the ecosystem”:

Violent death is also a natural component of the ecosystem, yet everyone does as much as possible to prevent and avoid it for themselves and others. Should we do any less for our forests and the millions of innocent creatures that live in them? Coleman is actually advocating lots of violent death so he can have a “natural” place to live.

We manage medicine to avoid epidemics like the flu, which went all over the world and killed millions of people 80 years ago. We can manage forests the same way.

Saying I don’t want the federal timber next to your property thinned because you thin yours so it’s healthy and not prone to set fire to “public lands” is no different than saying I don’t have to inoculate my family against disease because you inoculate yours so the disease will never come.

I would suggest that the Colemans of the world stop living in their dreams and start living in the real world. Shirley Hines Malo, Wash.

Burning ban will backfire

The June 8 article about pollution from dust blowing into the area really shows the shortsightedness of the Department of Ecology decision to ban bluegrass burning statewide by 1998. The “healthy heaping of dust” coming into the Spokane area will only get worse if this emergency rule is upheld.

A green and growing bluegrass field is the best protection cropland can receive to eliminate the problem of blowing dust.

A statewide ban of bluegrass field burning will only cause more agricultural land to be cultivated, exposing more acres to the wind.

Bluegrass is planted once and left in production for five to 10 years, eliminating the need for cultivation. Bluegrass is burned one day each year to remove the residue and rejuvenate the plant into producing another crop. The other 364 days each year the bluegrass crop is protecting fragile cropland from wind and water erosion that has the potential to cause pollution many times each year.

Benefits of the bluegrass sod can be extended even longer through burning and no-tilling future crops in rotation, which is a proven practice.

The phase-out of burning when no economic alternatives are available will only hurt the bluegrass industry, causing a reduction of acres of bluegrass protecting the land.

The DOE will trade one type of pollution for another to appease the vocal few whose complaints are based only on a feeling and not backed by science. Art Schultheis Colton, Wash.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Whitehall motivated to fight crime

As a resident of Spokane’s 3rd District, I am very pleased that Ken Whitehall has decided to run for state representative.

The increase in juvenile crime concerns me greatly and I am worried about the safety of my children and my neighbors. I trust that Whitehall will be intensely motivated to fight this epidemic of crime because he was a victim when his fiancee was murdered by juveniles in 1994.

I am tired of politicians always talking tough about crime and then doing nothing. Whitehall will work hard to make sure what happened to his fiancee won’t happen to you or, worse yet, someone you love. Jim Raskell Spokane

Home valuation seems incredible

My tax valuation notice arrived today, showing an increase of $9,000.

Over the past three years my 80-year-old house has increased $20,000 in value. How is such an increase possible?

I do hope enough signatures will be obtained to put this tax deal on the ballot. Leon A. Barefield Spokane