Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Birds of a feather gouge together

Youths participating in the Junior Livestock Show are some of the best the Inland Empire has to offer. They demonstrate what hard work and determination can do.

You won’t find these kids hanging out in gangs, causing trouble in school or terrorizing neighborhoods. They are too busy planning their future and setting positive goals for their lives.

Why can’t our county commissioners give a break on fairground rental to the 4-H and Future Farmers of America clubs?

If they were troubled teens, drug abusers or school dropouts, you can bet there would be some kind of program started up to excuse away their actions. It’s time we start rewarding kids for good behavior and quit giving all our attention to the bad apples.

This will be the 61st year for the Junior Livestock show. If fairground fees have been waived this long, hasn’t a precedent been set? It looks pretty bad when past commissioners can overlook rental fees and present commissioners see fit to milk all they can out of these kids.

If the junior show has to move next year, maybe it’s time for he agricultural producers to show support by boycotting the Spokane Interstate Fair. Coeur d’Alene puts on a nice fair, too.

The commissioners are worried that we see them as a bunch of dirty birds. This is just not so.

Vulture is much more accurate. Neil Ostheller Fairfield

Pollution scale underestimated

Spokane seems more in the fog in ways that just weather. As we watch the move into serious air pollution with only car emissions being regarded as the culprit, blinders continue to exist.

How interesting that in each concern, from the mass burn incinerator to planes flying overhead, little is mentioned of what these emissions do, when combined, to produce the pollution pudding of burning grass, blowing dust, wood burning, etc., that are all there to be breathed by Spokane humans and wildlife.

Accumulation of the output, as well as the very limited monitoring possible of combining chemicals, is not being considered at all. On days we are told not to burn in unapproved wood stoves, the improvement of air quality has television telling the public to go ahead and light up, being careful to burn cleanly. There is no real communication to end the pollution process.

Winds may move pollution out of the air over Spokane at the moment but the toxic cloud circling Earth continues to grow. Are we really satisfied here to also close our ears to hearing that the aquifer water level continues to drop as we go hellbent to develop and increase the population as fast as possible - often without infrastructure in place?

Only clean air and water can serve the ever-growing urge to make Spokane serve people escaping from more polluted areas. Such new arrivals already are speaking out. When will those governing listen? Ora Mae Orton Spokane

ANIMAL WELFARE

Circus no fun for the animals

I’m disappointed over Joe Ehrbar’s “Balancing acts” article (Weekend, March 8). I suggest he help poor Spokane get with the times.

Each year you’ll find more and more of us crackpot animal lovers outside of every circus, protesting the exploitation and abuse of animals for the purpose of human amusement. In the future, willing human performers will be the only stars of the circus. That’s what should be expected from a “first-rate big top,” not the “hilarious animal tricks” Ehrbar and the circus advertisers promise.

Here, in 1996, how many people still consider elephants being forced to dance and balance on narrow beams hilarious? Are tigers conditioned to stand upright on their back legs behind a Spandex-laden woman with a whip performing tricks?

My argument is with the George Garden Circus International, not with the local paper. But the writers owe us more than just a plug for this sad excuse for entertainment. I know there are many people who are entertained by the humiliation and misery of animals. But circuses are stirring up enormous controversy worldwide. Surely, others in Spokane are outraged by a practice that forces animals to live in cages and chains, and perform.

Incidentally, I notice the words, “this is an activity of El Katif Temple and is not for the benefit of the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children” appear in barely legible print under an advertisement for the circus, opposite Ehrbar’s review. How about having the money from this show go to People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) or to the Animal Liberation Front? Jenny Goss Spokane

Bemoaning ills not much help

Indeed, there are some problems that stand out at the Spokane Humane Society, not the least of which is the big-hearted, narrow-minded public.

Is there anyone out there who honestly believes that all the critters there choose to call the shelter home?

The public needs to step forward and reclaim their animals and practice responsible ownership. I find it appalling how many people consider critters disposable.

Spaying or neutering only makes sense, especially with all the unwanted animals at Any Shelter, U.S.A. Thanks to the Humane Society’s SAFE program, this operation has been made even more affordable.

Yes, the shelter needs repairs. If even for a minimal amount of time for any major refurbishing, where would the critters go? Obviously they cannot go home. In some aspects it would be easier to change a tire on a moving truck.

No doubt there could be a better director at the shelter. Perhaps with some hands-on experience and time, Paul Bousarge could’ve become one of the best. Even if he met everyone’s expectations, someone would give the shelter the once-over, seeking a scapegoat.

The “killing room,” as it is so quaintly described, is a part of reality that isn’t going to go away. Mauve walls won’t change the fact that, at present, euthanasia is not optional. And the so-called no-kill shelters only add to the problem by turning animals away at the door.

What a great day it will be when only victims, terminal or mortally injured critters, have to go to that room. J. Kevin Christ Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Sandpoint victimized all around

On March 10, racist Richard Butler and his crew came to Sandpoint. They flaunted their philosophy on street corners not their own and hid like cowards behind videocameras.

We were also visited editorially by Spokesman-Review cartoonist Milt Priggee, who drew an unkind joke about Sandpoint. I am particularly offended by Priggee’s cartoon because it is like being attacked by someone I thought was a good neighbor.

When that “joke” appeared some time ago, it was sick. It is still sick.

Sandpoint’s citizenry is sick, too - sick to death of both the bigoted right and the cynical left. We want to be left alone by the likes of Richard Butler and also by the judgmental, sensationalist press. We don’t invite racists to live here, nor do we invite self-righteous, inaccurate attention from the media.

Something wonderful did come out of Sunday. Near where Butler and his crew were yelling at passers-by, a group of Sandpoint teenagers held a counter-demonstration, waving quickly made signs that read, “Don’t listen to them!” and “Sandpoint is too great for hate.” They were fearless and they were right.

You may think you are right, Priggee, but the media are no more right attacking Sandpoint than Butler is in bringing his message of hate.

Those kids with the homemade signs are what Sandpoint is about. The Spokesman-Review owes them and the rest of Sandpoint an apology. Sandy Compton Sandpoint

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Schools, candy sellers trying hard

Steve Hanson must be new to the area (“Candy sales to buy computers?” Roundtable, March 7). The Spokane Public Schools technology levy to provide computers for our city’s schools was turned down by voters last year. The replacement levy that just passed was to continue funding for current programs and operation costs.

Public schools are doing their utmost to see that finances are wisely spent, as many programs are being reduced or eliminated. Private schools usually do operate on a tight budget, but they can screen who they will let through their doors and avoid the significant cost of dealing with kids who have problems, including drugs, violence and sexual abuse.

It serves no purpose to rage about how these problems aren’t the responsibility of public schools. The fact is, these kids show up in our classrooms every day. Laws mandate that we provide for these students’ education in the regular classroom. Their needs will not be met by punishing them for their inability to cope.

How many physically and mentally challenged students attend private schools? I’ll bet not many. It can be expensive to accommodate people with special needs (but well worth the investment).

Money from school sales goes to pay for extra things such as sports uniforms, field trips and computers. The next time a child asks you to buy a box of candy, at least commend the child for good citizenship, responsibility and incentive. I wish I could say it’s common to see these qualities in adults. Don Van Curler Spokane

Esteem must be understood, earned

A person with self-esteem does not need to lie, hurt others, protect the ego, or impose anything negative on others in any way. Those with false self-esteems do all of these.

An esteem for the “self” recognizes that the self one possesses is no different from the self of others. Tastes differ, talents differ, propensities differ, but, where it counts, we are essentially all the same and are directed toward what is good - justice, truth, beauty, empathy, etc.

In their misdirected efforts to find what is good, some ingratiate the images of their own making and not the image of God within. The “aggressive, violent and hostile people” with high opinions of their existence do not indicate high self-esteem. To put oneself at risk by behaving in a threatening manner is self-destructive.

One tries to put the image one makes of the self as being more worthy of goodness than are others. They measure goodness in terms of what protects that image.

These self-created images are built during the younger years, when people experience threats to their essential “selves” - neglect, mental abuse, physical abuse, false praise, unrealistic expectations, judgments by others, etc. - and need to preserve them by building these false “selves.” The most extreme examples of this malady are multiple personalities and sociopathic behavior.

Our schools are trying to reinforce the image one has of one’s self by saying “it is good” without defining goodness or what constitutes the self. Michael Michels Spokane

Education now about manipulation

Janice Moerschel’s letter (Roundtable, March 11) reflects general public ignorance about the shift in the purpose of education.

Education is no longer to produce a literate individual in a free nation - to cultivate and discipline the mind. Education, as now conceived, is to socialize the collective child. To this end knowledge is incorporated as it is used and applied in addressing social and life-related issues conceptualized in unit themes dealing with such things as religion, lifestyles, gender equity, prejudice, discrimination, the environment, homelessness, welfare, poverty, violence, crime, disease, etc.

This new education system is called progressive education. Process is especially important in progressive education. It means a series of actions or operations conducive to an end.

To bring children, inductively, to the desired way of thinking, known as higher-order thinking skills or Socratic thinking, children are being subjected, summarily, to material that initiates cognitive dissonance in the children, creating conflict between what the child knows (cognitive) and what the child believes (affective) to effect a change in how the child behaves (psychomotor).

Books such as “The Giver” by Lois Lowry are a prime example of the material used. - not the exception but the norm. Recent Perspective letters reflect this process.

Education, as now conceived, is not education - it’s social engineering. Illiteracy breeds violence. This will not stop until parents face the truth and stand up and be counted. Lynn M. Stuter Nine Mile Falls

ETHICS

Technically alive not good enough

In response to “Court’s rule is not to play God,” Opinion, March 9:

No, it’s not “our” view, (Opinion editor) John Webster, and the proper wording should be “physician-assisted euthanasia.” There is a distinct difference. Check your namesake’s book.

Say that you’re 90 years old. You’ve had that really good life - happy, fruitful, creative. Yes, you’ve failed a bit. Many of your friends have passed on. A significant number have been warehoused in nursing homes. After your visits you shake your head, saying that’s not the person you knew - sedated, non-ambulatory, seldom laughing.

You ask yourself, if the real person could somehow look down on himself now, what would he say? You know the answer.

And more, you’ve just learned you’re forgetting of the route home from that old, familiar walk to the store is the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Despite your family’s heroics, you know Alzheimer’s people wind up warehoused until death - a situation so repugnant that it’s unimaginable.

You do not fear death. To you it’s part of life’s master plan. Yet, Webster would make you endure that degrading, worse-than-death warehouse. He and others would take from you the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness - that most noble of constitutional statements that we all memorized in school.

Instead, Webster and those of like mind would make you take a 12-gauge into the garage and. … Believe me, it happens. That’ suicide, Webster. Talk about pain, and not just physical.

I rest my case. Harry G. Merrick Chattaroy

Convenient killing simply evil

Wake up, America! Dr. Jack Kevorkian and doctors who perform abortions are mislabeled under a title we have come to trust. They are not doctors. They are exterminators.

One exterminates unwanted children and the other exterminates the unwanted, feeble old or terminally ill. These wicked men are murderers and should be so denounced and stripped of their titles as doctors and made to stand trial for those they have murdered.

Let society take heed not to legalize murder, for legalized murder - euthanasia and abortion - is the door to eugenics, the theory of how to breed a superior human animal by eliminating inferior specimens. What a ghastly, grisly theory. But these men are up to it.

Of course, legalized murder is the answer to our soaring health problems and costs, and eugenics will certainly be the end result for implementing national socialized medicine.

Beware, America. Eliminate these wicked men from among us lest we fall into their evil hands. J.J. Jarvis Newman Lake

RULES OF DEBATE

Rule-jiggering example regrettable

In response to recent letters on the Greater Spokane League ruling on state debate team finals, I found some of the comments inaccurate to downright confusing. As an observer, I beg to differ.

What was the purpose of the new ruling? To give students from smaller teams more of a chance? Debate teams are often from similar-size student bodies. Team size is bigger, not its school.

Economic considerations? Please, not all Mead kids are “rich.” The most qualified students to attend? Had that been the case, the Mead students who were shut out would have qualified. These students scored significantly higher than the G-Prep kids who attended, but were discriminated against because they were from Mead.

Punishing Mead students because other schools wanted to increase their chances sets a poor example for our young people. After all, they are children and we should be preparing them to go out into the world. Showing them that by manipulating the rules you can win prepares them for something else entirely. Dorothy Horning Mead