Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Help fight city’s planned blunder

At last, the Logan neighborhood’s fight for survival is front page news. “Logan fighting for its air” (July 12) focuses not only on the carbon monoxide levels on North Hamilton but also on the central maintenance facility the city plans to develop to service all city vehicles from police cars to garbage trucks.

The proposed facility between Hamilton and Perry, from Marietta to North Foothills, is across the street from my home at Marietta and Perry. After years of restoring this old house and surrounding it with a lovely garden, I can see property values slide downhill as garbage trucks rumble by, Logan school kids dodge traffic and floodlights shine through my windows all night.

This facility does not belong here or in any other residential neighborhood. Shops, garages and fuel tanks should be located on industrial land.

Endless streams of vehicles should not roar through streets where children walk to school or ride their bikes.

This is not just a Logan area problem. All taxpayers should be concerned. You’re paying for this monster and quite likely you’ll pay to relocate it when it outgrows its space. Christine Houldson Spokane

We don’t need imported expertise

The July 13 Spokesman-Review featured an article, “Downtown faces formidable obstacles.” I will respond to the out-of-town “expert’s” lambasting of Spokane’s mega-malls, suburban subdivisions, strip malls and even our downtown skywalk system.

First, an “expert” is a person from out of town - never a local consultant - who is not as familiar with our living environment or specific local factors as we who live and work here. Strip malls are a waste of real estate and are inefficient. Mega-malls are the most efficient use of real estate and a necessity now and in the near future. Mega-malls could improve parking by building multistory parking garages.

I agree that our suburban sprawl is inefficient and an environmental waste. Improved public transportation would be more ideal and a solution to much of the traffic congestion and real estate wasted for parking.

Our downtown skywalk system is a necessity for downtown business. I will not walk around between stores when it’s zero to 20 degrees! Street-level stores are visible from the skywalk, so one can take a stairway if desired.

Rather than pay megabucks to an out-of-town consultant, why doesn’t the City Council save our tax money and listen to us who live here? John D. Brown Spokane

Wal-Mart, right this way

I was distraught to read the article about opposition to Wal-Mart. I personally have been wishing Wal-Mart would come up to our area for the last 10 years, and I welcome it with open arms.

As far as extra traffic it will bring to U.S. Highway 2, have those people never been out of Camelot? Look at the housing areas and buildup already in their area, and look at the traffic on U.S. Highway 2. They can’t blame all that on Wal-Mart. It’s been that way for years. Jane Floyd Spokane

Dirty deal for youth-serving venture

Regarding the July 13 “Slice” question, “What’s one thing Spokane tells itself over and over that happens to be a lie?” Answer: Spokane is a great place to raise kids.

The Spokane Valley population is growing rapidly, as is the crime rate. There is little entertainment to fill the leisure hours of 12- to 18-year-olds. Unless they excel in sports, they spend most of the time on the bench. Unless they have private transportation, they are unable to participate in the organized programs downtown. Video games are costly and some are in locations where gangs organize.

A concerned couple opened a dirt bike track in the Valley. This is an organized, healthy, cooperative, supervised sport many could enjoy. Now the couple must close its enterprise due to complaints and difficulty with zoning.

I would rather see cars with bikes going by my house than street drag races. As for noise, I hear baseball crowds cheering every night from the local school yard and music and public-address calls for square dancing from Sullivan Park. I don’t consider noise from people an interruption of my peace but a sign there are a few things people can still enjoy.

I hope the Bliesners can reopen or relocate their track. Lee Tobias Veradale

Planned Parenthood here, grateful

On behalf of the staff and board of directors of Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman Counties, I would like to thank all of our wonderful supporters who have contacted us with their concerns following the bombing of our Spokane Valley location.

We would like to assure the public this incident will in no way deter us from continuing to provide the quality health care for which we are known and trusted. Our Indiana Avenue and Pullman clinic sites will remain open. The Valley clinic will be in full operation as soon as possible.

Again, thank you for your support, without which we would not be able to achieve our mission. Sandra Meicher, executive director Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman Counties

WOMEN, THEIR CHILDREN AND WORK

Mother asking for anxiety she feels

Re: “Day care to spare?” Perspective, July 14:

As a licensed in-home day care provider, I have to say that part of staff writer Kelly McBride’s problem in finding day care could be the fact that she refers to us as ‘baby sitters.” Come spend the day with me and see how much I sit.

Then she uses words and phrases such as “ideal,” “panic,” “situation that would let me relax.” Those are red flags that shoot up in every decent provider’s mind as we interview parents. I would turn you down, the main reason being there would be very little that I could do to please you for my $1.70 per hour before taxes.

Too many parents romanticize being a “working parent.” You want someone to nurture, praise, love, protect, teach and raise your children for you, but you want it at cut-rate prices. I have seen parents who don’t bat an eye at paying inflated prices for a beautiful suit, car, haircut, etc. But when it comes to their most valued possession, they complain about $350 per month.

The most important thing you said is that one of the only other choices you had was to stay home. What a novel idea. Since that is an option for you, why would you place your “sobbing children into someone else’s arms when you still have nagging doubts”?

Oh, that’s right. You said you love your job. Surely, that must come before the option you have of raising your children yourself. You said you feel as if you haven’t done enough. You’re right; you haven’t. Janice Duvanich Spokane

Decision to work unfathomable

The July 14 Perspective article by staff writer Kelly McBride has bothered me all day. She says she has no choices because she loves her job and loves her children.

When she leaves work, do her co-workers or employer cling to her, sobbing? Twenty years from now, will they or her readers feel deeply grateful that she sacrificed her children for them? And will her children agree that an expensive college was certainly worth being raised by day care? And lastly, does any mother ever suffer anxiety attacks and choking fears at home because her employer, co-workers, etc., may be being abused, neglected or just horribly sad because she’s not there with them?

I understand the mother who chooses work over welfare. I don’t understand McBride. Eleanor Hill Spangle

Putting family first pays

How can a woman who watches her kids as they cry for her justify it as saving money for college?

We should write about women who stay at home, vary their work schedule to exchange day care with other women who work at home, or work at home and stay with their children.

A lot of women who stay at home are educated, feel women have a choice and choose raising their children. We choose for our children to be with us even if we have to take cuts and can’t buy those extra things in life. Women shouldn’t knock women who stay at home to raise their children.

There’s a famous saying, “Educate a man and you educate the world.” Educate a woman and you educate a family. The most precious choice is seeing our children grow up and being the one there to share that with them. Holly Lewis Spokane

Fair pay, respect in short supply

I have been a day-care operator for more than four years. I have dealt with wonderful children and some not-so-pleasant children. It’s sad that so many women are put into the position of having to find day care. I think the “need” and the “have to have it all” generation are playing a big part in this.

I pride myself on the good care and love I give and have given to children. I take pride in my job, but much too often find that I’m not appreciated. Why can’t people look up to us as professionals and in accordance pay us like professionals.

We are raising the next generation. I have had people call me and their first question is how much do you charge? This makes me sick. Is a monetary value all their child is worth? Just what would be a fair amount to pay the person who has the caller’s child nine to 10 hours a day and feeds, potty-trains, disciplines, teaches and nurtures that child?

If all mommies would open a day care for as little as one year, I’m sure they would have whole different outlook on us day care operators. This would mean giving up their jobs, lunches, dry cleaning and grocery pick-up, interaction with other adults, sick time, vacation time, and medical appointments to strictly stay home and make $15 to $18 a day per child. I’m sure they would find it’s not as easy as it may seem.

Think about this the next time you’re looking for a qualified day-care center for your child. Sherry Brownlee Spokane

Workable compromise exists at home

I find it hard to muster sympathy for staff writer Kelly McBride and her search for day care.

She states “I do not have any choices here except to opt to stay home.” She then justifies her choice to work in financial terms and the fact that she loves her job. It seems to me she likes her job more than her children, when she “turns her sobbing children over to someone else.”

There are the women who really don’t have a choice; it’s work or welfare. Those who choose work are applauded for their work ethic. The real choice began when she chose to have children. Loss of personal freedom, money crunches and “a 2-year-old who never stops talking” come with the deal. Saving for college educations seems petty in comparison to having trophy children who are weekend hobbies and pictures on the desk at the office.

There are those of us who work at home to be with our children. There are many at-home choices. I don’t make a lot of money, but with my 5-month-old, 2-year-old and 4-year-old, day care expenses, not to mention gas, clothes, etc., make earnings nearly equal costs.

Some of us can tolerate temper tantrums and poopy diapers because this is the life we chose and created. It’s zooming past faster than you can believe and we intend not to miss a second of it.

My husband supports my decision to have my office at home and be home with the children. Together, we have made financial and personal sacrifices we know are temporary, just like the time we have with our kids. Micha’el Alegria Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Hypocrites are threat to marriage

As a heterosexual, married father of two, I don’t understand how the validity, sanctity or biblical acceptance of my marriage would be affected by the legalization of marriage between gay people.

The best man at my wedding 16 years ago was a gay man. He and his partner have been together for 20 years. They own a home together and share a loving, monogamous relationship with all the ups and downs of any marriage.

I agree with people who say marriage is under attack in our country today. But the enemies aren’t the people who want to legalize and sanctify the union through the rite of marriage. The enemies are self-righteous, frightened hypocrites who practice serial polygamy by marrying and divorcing spouse after spouse, frequently exchanging an older model for a new and improved one - such as the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

If homosexuality is truly a sin, God will deal with the sinners. In the meantime, we ought to stop the hate and allow our fellow human beings to legalize their loving unions. Encourage marriage and monogamy; don’t deny it. George X. Hale Greenacres

Big hole in ‘Defense of Marriage’

The House has passed the Defense of Marriage Act to prevent the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. Those who voted for the bill based their opinion largely on Scripture, so I’m waiting to see if they will also move to ban federal recognition of marriages involving divorced persons.

Deuteronomy 24:4 calls divorce an abomination, while Malachi 2:16 indicates God hates divorce. Jesus even takes the time to address the issue of divorce directly, something he did not do regarding homosexuality. In Luke 16:18, Jesus said whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.

I doubt our representatives will introduce such legislation because the Defense of Marriage bill’s primary author, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., have five marriages between them. Such a reality exposes this bill for what it is: a desperate attempt to gain political points by self-serving politicians. Craig A. Peterson Spokane

Women back Clinton on the issues

Re: “Women shouldn’t support Clinton,” (Letters, July 13).

Nancy J. Keller, I’m not the least bit confused as to why I might vote for Clinton. I’m appalled at your obvious lack of knowledge about the issues, since you chose not to address them but instead leveled personal attacks on the president.

My female friends are career women, blue collar workers, college students and stay-at-home moms. They don’t whine, aren’t victims and do demand respect. Some of the reasons they may vote for Clinton are:

He thinks we need more money for children’s education than for weapons.

He thinks we need fewer guns on the street and less National Rifle Association influence in Congress.

He believes in a cleaner environment and not letting big business ruin the planet.

He believes in personal and corporate responsibility.

He believes working-class men and women should have a decent wage while they are helping to make CEOs filthy rich.

He believes smoking is addictive, harmful to youth and that something should be done about it.

Are these enough reasons or should I continue?

If a couple decides to stay together after an infidelity has occurred, it is no one else’s business unless physical abuse is an issue. To the best of my knowledge, Congress and the press have beaten-up on Hillary Clinton but Bill hasn’t.

So get off your sanctimonious high horse. Try as you might to imply it, Slick Willie is no JFK in this White House bedroom scene. Vicki Webster

Spokane