Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Foster bicycle commuting

So, Spokane is one of the six dirtiest cities due to vehicle pollution. One obvious way to help resolve this, is to encourage bicycle commuting. However, many in the city’s planning department, as well as many of large businesses, do little or nothing to encourage bicycle riding.

I had my bike stolen when it was parked within 50 yards of a security guard at a local hospital. It was parked in the provided bicycle rack, which was inadequate. If you drive around the parking garage, where the cars park, there is a video monitor on every floor monitoring the activities of everyone coming or going. If this type of security were extended to bicycles, maybe more people would be encouraged to ride.

This is just one option and one opinion. A combined effort of employers and the city is needed to encourage bicycling and other forms of transportation. This would help us to rely less on our cars and therefore reduce pollution. Robert Fairfax Spokane

Departed needn’t be obstruction

Where should the Centennial Trail’s incomplete sections be routed? God forbid they be allowed to pass along the periphery of certain cemeteries.

Out of reverence for the deceased we shouldn’t disturb their mortal slumber? With that kind of obeisance to the sanctity of our humanity, even after our spirit has departed, we would never have organ donor programs or remembrances that are a celebration of life.

Trail users are nature lovers and fitness buffs There may be rare acts of rudeness along the trail but I haven’t witnessed any. The trustees of the cemeteries have supervised the beautification of their grounds. They have so much in common with the trail users, if only they could get beyond the occasional loud voice or infrequent lapse of conventional behavior.

Just as I have signed on as an organ donor, so would I be willing to help preserve the enriching mood the trail generates. I am far from alone. Let us show you how good we are and can continue to be.

A few signs at along the trail to remind uninitiated users where they are and that services or mourners may be near should pre-empt most indiscretions. Others could be dealt with through tactful suggestions or a statute similar in intent to a speeding ticket.

Let’s not compromise the trail and a promise of a quality of life for the living to a well-intentioned but misplaced consideration for those who have gone to their reward. Permit a five-year trial period for the route as planned. Keith Springer Spokane

Time for a new police chief

I’m appalled that the chief of police thinks he’s above a normal citizen ranking, and above the law, with Sheriff John Goldman backing him all the way.

I think it’s time to look for a new chief of police. And Goldman ought to think about who is paying his wages. This is not a person we want as a representative of our city. This is a person who should be a role model for the Spokane Police Department, not a liability to the city.

The Spokane Police Department has always been respected in the community. I would hate to see Spokane start looking like another Los Angeles just because of one person’s uncontrollable temper and others who choose to turn their backs rather than address a serious offense by a high-ranking official. Guy and Theresa Dewalt Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

Restore parole controls

Until July 1984, Washington had an indeterminate sentencing system that required for all parolees: an investigated, appropriate residence; an approved workplace; and a professionally trained parole officer. These measures were meant to ensure compliance with parole restrictions.

Washington replaced indeterminate sentencing with fixed sentencing and in doing so relinquished control of those who had served their full sentence.

Why did Washington do this? Fixed sentencing had failed in other states to provide for controlling the behavior of convicts who had served their time. That’s why the indeterminate system is now used by all but a few states.

The Legislature’s well-intentioned Sentencing Guidelines Commission, swayed by emotion, recommended that all felons released from prison be free to live without parole restrictions.

This system increased by two-thirds the minimum time to be served for all offenders incarcerated after July 1984. It also has increased the need for more prisons, city and county jail space, and levied a charge upon all taxpayers for no reduction in arrests and convictions.

It has also increased parents’ fears because of the unrestricted freedoms of sex offenders.

Only the Legislature can declare fixed sentencing a failure. It can benefit from the experience of other states by restoring parole restrictions and professional parole officer supervision of all ex-inmates in the community, this to be supervised by a parole board free of political appointees. A. LaMont Smith, DPA Criminal justice consultant, Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Don’t add to taxpayers’ handicap

I used to think Jack Kemp was a pretty smart guy, until he told New Yorkers they should vote for Steve Forbes because of Fobes’ flat tax proposal.

New York taxpayers would lose big under a flat tax, as would taxpayers of other states that have huge state income taxes, such as California and Illinois. The reason? They would lose their federal tax deductions for these taxes, which, at 2-3 percent of gross income, can be substantial.

Winners under the flat tax proposal would be taxpayers in states that do not have deductible state taxes, e.g. Washington, which, under the current federal tax structures, subsidize taxpayers in states that do.

Stated more bluntly, under the current federal tax structure, Washington state’s taxpayers pay a disproportionately high share of their income to the IRS.

Don’t infer from the above that I support the flat tax proposal. I think loss of the home mortgage interest deduction would be a disaster for home prices and that charitable contributions would take a big hit. It’s just that when enumerating the inequities in the current tax code, I think the preferential treatment some states receive would be a good place to start.

Is it a coincidence that these tend to be states with large congressional delegations? Michael Helland Elk

As thugs go, Buchanan’s OK

After hearing the stories about how bad Pat Buchanan would be as our president, I was somewhat comforted to hear his sister Bay’s assertion on TV and in the printed press that he’s not a Nazi, fascist, racist or bigot, but really just an equal opportunity thug.

We need a president who’s not afraid to beat up anybody he doesn’t like. Wallace Baucom Colville, Wash.

Relative costs a useful yardstick

“How much does a gallon of milk cost?” “How much do a dozen eggs cost?” These questions were asked during the last general election, are being asked during the primaries and will be asked during the next general election. However, they miss the point.

The point is not the actual cost, because that’s relative - relative to the income and consumption rate of the family purchasing these items.

For the average family of three, consisting of a working mother making just above minimum wage, and two growing children, milk will cost 10 percent of her earnings (gross, not take home). We aren’t talking about Washington state, where the minimum wage is higher than the average and milk can be purchased for less than $1.80 a gallon. We’re talking about the national average.

I don’t expect my politicians to do their own shopping, so I don’t expect them to know the cost of milk or eggs.

I’m troubled about all politicians because, so far, none of them seem to know the relative cost of either item. If I find one who does, that politician will earn my respect.

If a politician knows the actual cost and thinks that, because milk is so cheap, every man, woman and child should be able to consume half a gallon or more a day, that politician will lose my vote. I don’t care if I agree with them perfectly on every other issue. That politician will still lose my vote. E. Arthur Seaton, II Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Prejudice exists, is surmountable

We have three Hispanic sons. In 1994, two of them were stopped at 7:30 a.m. on their way to work.

The police did not issue a ticket, but did detain the oldest while they “checked him out.” I don’t know if it was prejudice against minorities or kids, but I bet that if I, a middle-age white man, had been driving, my passenger would not have been ordered out of the truck.

I was angry. I cooled off considerably when I realized the extent to which we have not experienced racism. In 14 years as a mixed-race family, this incident and a few slurs on the soccer field are about it.

There was, however, one enlightening incident. Our youngest brought home a letter from a teacher trying to organize a minority students program. He showed me the letter and said, “Pa, I’ve never been discriminated against. Why does she think I need special help? Does she think I’m retarded?”

If you look for prejudice, you’ll find it. Have an attitude and prejudice will find you. Meanwhile, the motivated, disciplined and nonconfrontational will succeed - regardless of race.

Case in point: Colin Powell was born black and poor, has a mixed-race family and faced the usual prejudice against minorities. He chose to work hard, ignore the prejudice and work around the discrimination. Gen. Powell had a spectacular career, is our most respected leader and would be our next president had he chosen to run. Jim Shamp Spokane

ENVIRONMENT

Forests, public being ripped-off

Fiscal conservatism, as currently advocated by Republicans, only covers a specific range of federal programs. Many of their targets are social programs. Other programs, generally classified as nonsocial, are protected by Republicans.

One example of a Republican-protected federal program that blatantly supports big business is subsidizing the timber industry. Taxpayers fund land sale preparation and road building in areas to be logged on federal land. Many of these sales have actually lost money for federal coffers.

Last July, an unrelated rider to the Congressional budget bill, the “logging without laws” rider, passed Congress and the president. This further increased financial liability, as well as adding other kinds of losses to taxpayers.

The day after the rider passed, the timber industry rushed to court and convinced a judge to interpret the rider as allowing immediate logging of every timber sale ever offered, but not ultimately logged, in every national forest in Washington and Oregon.

As a result, healthy trees right next to prime fish-producing streams have been clearcut. Healthy trees growing on and protecting watersheds have been logged. Flooding potential is increased. Endangered species have been put at further risk.

What’s more, timber companies have purchased these trees at past market value.

Taxpayers are losing all around on this rider. Responsible loggers, their companies and concerned Americans should support its appeal. J. Gary Kavanagh Spokane

Forests valuable for more than wood

There is an insidious aspect to the never-ending demands of timber companies to log old-growth timber. A survey by the National Institute of Health has found that 79 percent of the 150 most frequently prescribed medicines have been derived from natural sources.

Some 50,000 species of plants and animals become extinct each year, mainly because of the destruction of their habitat - the world’s rapidly diminishing forests.

Our Northwest forests are among the few surviving temperate climate old-growth forests in the world. They undoubtedly contain many plants and much animal life that could be sources of undiscovered compounds that would be of immense benefit to humankind. Such ecosystems have likely taken tens of thousands of years to evolve.

Sens. Patty Murray and Bill Bradley, D-N.J., are sponsoring legislation to modify the salvage rider sponsored by Sen. Slade Gorton so the measure will not allow healthy old-growth forests to be logged.

Citizen input on this issue is needed as soon as possible. Julian Powers Spokane

Help Murray stop corporate takeover

The timber industry in America has profited from government subsidized mills, having the Forest Service build the roads for its use to enter natural areas and from below-cost timber sales.

When the trees are cut and processed, the industry sells us finished goods at market value - after companies have reduced the cost of production by lobbying our government for subsidies.

These companies claim to be stewards of the land and say that trees are a renewable resource, yet they continually insist on being allowed into new, delicate, pristine areas that were previously untouched.

What happened to the renewable resource?

Now the timber industry has Sen. Slade Gorton in its back pocket, sponsoring bills catering to an industry that is rapidly destroying America’s natural heritage.

Through slick marketing strategies the timber industry has attempted to dupe Americans into handing over all of our natural resources at a bargain rate: the salvage logging rider.

Sen. Patty Murray is sponsoring legislation to preserve the right of American citizens to contest the corporate takeover. She also defines salvage timber in less ambiguous terms, thus allowing the people to be represented in decisions concerning the use of our public lands.

Write or call Sen. Murray and reiterate your support for a representative America, not a corporate-ruled America. N.G. Hannon Spokane

Caribou: Accommodation necessary

Ken Olsen’s March 3 article, “Caribou transplants usually don’t survive,” doesn’t answer the question, “Why don’t they?”

A recent report by Idaho Fish and Game biologists lists the following causes for loss of 34 transplanted animals: unknown, 14; predation, 7; emigration, 7; man-caused, 2; and other, 4. Because of the large proportion of unknown, we have no clear understanding of the causes of mortality in this population.

Despite the heavy fine and potential jail time, I believe poaching and harassment remain threats to caribou. Of 25 deaths reported in southeastern British Columbia during 1967-83 (where the season was closed), I found that 19 had been shot, two had been wounded and were destroyed, and four were killed by highway traffic.

Will caribou survive in North Idaho? I think the answer is yes, if we are willing to live with a few inconveniences. Some road closures and limitations to snowmobile access must be accepted if we want caribou. Let us also hope that Idaho Fish and Game hires a couple of cat hunters to take out those cougars that develop a taste for caribou.

Let’s keep the lines of communication open between environmentalists and hunters. Most hunters also are sportsmen who enjoy the outdoors.

As for the individual who boasted that “this bullet’s for the last caribou,” I suspect that he and his buddies played a large part in decimating the mountain goats that once populated the Selkirks. Donald R. Johnson Worley, Idaho