Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

WWP people, take a bow

Re: “Frustrated WWP makes only small gains,” News, Nov. 21.

WWP should be applauded for its efforts during our vicious weather situation. Paul Redmond, WWP chairman, has no reason whatsoever to feel chagrined. His crews and linemen are doing a terrific job under obscene working conditions, working long, frustrating hours.

On the whole, this experience has been an occasion to bring out the best in us. So many are offering what warmth they have and offering any help in any way that they can.

So, Redmond, instead of feeling chagrined or even apologetic, accept our understanding of your pressures and your frustration. And bless your caring, concerned, hard-working crews. Bea Drake Spokane

Anti-wood-heat ad irksome

During our recent ice storm, we were enjoying our wood heat and the security of knowing we wouldn’t be cold or hungry in our home when the electricity went off. Then, on TV, another of the anti-wood-heat propaganda ads came on.

I realize that the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority people are just trying to justify their jobs, but I pray they will do their jobs with a little more compromise and common sense. Jim Brown Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Voting: This is not a hardship

Re: Sharon Leon’s Nov. 18 letter (“Let’s hold Saturday elections”).

Leon means well, but the problem is not the voting day.

An apathetic electorate is the problem - a society that has lost the perspective that we are the government. A society that shuns responsibility and wants something for nothing.

Quoting the letter, “Many people are too tired and busy after working all day to want to stand in line to vote,” , this is a great example of the me-ism that permeates our society.

How does, “being tired and standing in line” compare to the winter nights at Valley Forge, the Battle of Gettysburg, the rainsoaked trenches of France, the battle of Iwo Jima and the Tet offensive? I’m sure that given the choice, the millions who fought in these and countless other battles would gladly exchange their experiences for those of standing in line to vote.

I look at voting as one of my responsibilities as a citizen - one that I don’t take lightly. The inconvenience of spending a few minutes at the polling place is nothing compared to the time I spend educating myself on the matters of the election.

Rather than complain about having to wait in line to vote, be thankful others are voting. Take a few moments to whisper a thank you to those who preserved that freedom. Another suggestion: Thank the precinct workers for tending to the duties of the polling station. Harry A. McLean Jr. Spokane

Caring people do what jail cannot

Re: Ursula Longie’s Nov. 18 letter, in which she asks, “Jails don’t work, so why can’t we try a different approach to handling our kids?”

Longie, I was very happy to read your letter. As a recovering drug addict, I have firsthand experience that jails and prisons are not the answers to what ails this society. Fifteen or more years in various jails and prisons did nothing to help me. Every time I returned to society I was just that much more of a career criminal.

What it took was an education. I needed to learn that I was an OK person and that there are people in the world who really care about me. If I had had to stay in prison until I had learned this lesson, I would still be there.

I, too, am tired of always reading or hearing the same old song of always finding excess funds to build jails for our young people.

We don’t need another generation of drug addicts and criminals. It’s hilarious that our country can be stupid enough to think that we can lock ‘em up and the problem will go away! Pretty soon, we’ll have a prison in everyone’s backyard. And will we be better off? I think not.

Why don’t we show a little compassion and educate rather than incarcerate? It couldn’t make things worse and it might even help. Doug Behrens Spokane

Abuses not just military problem

I’m a senior NCO, a Sergeant 1st Class in the Army Reserve and pleased that I will retire in April 1997 after eight years in the active Army and 16 as a reservist. Although I have a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Washington University, I choose not to become a commissioned officer because I feel a responsibility to the enlisted soldiers.

I hold seven Army commendation medals and have been NCO of the Year six years out of 24. I am the recipient of a designation that’s the highest honor bestowed upon an NCO in the Army’s European Command. I am also a woman.

Sexual harassment is not new. Women are just as guilty of harassment as men within the service. I have seen it everywhere, throughout my career. I haven’t witnessed it during my time in the reserves.

The Army doesn’t make you or change you from the individual you were before you joined. Your values and attitudes are a part of who you are as a result of influences and role models you are exposed to as a child.

I had $15 to my name when I joined the service, and made more life-altering decisions by the time I was 20 years old than most people make in a lifetime. I needed the service but never compromised my integrity.

As the Army is under attack, look around your office, school, home, business, church or perhaps even The Spokesman-Review. How are you treating one another? Do you honor everyone for who they are as a person?

Let’s take a personal responsibility. Let’s stop it anywhere, anytime we see anyone intimidating a child, someone with AIDS or someone different from ourselves. It starts and ends with us. We can then start to make a difference and end abuse and harassment in all forms. Brusan Wells Spokane

MEDICAL CARE

Good policy may have short shelf life

Re: Dr. Frederic Shepard’s Nov. 15 (Roundtable) guest column, “Key consideration is what’s best for the individual.”

A couple of observations:

Milliman & Robertson, while a fine organization, is not a health care research organization. It is, among other things, a consulting firm that consults on health care. Its clients (for the uninformed, those are the guys who pay M&R’s very high hourly rates) hires it to do certain projects. So, you might take M&R’s conclusions with some skepticism.

As to Shepard’s reassurance that here in little ol’ Spokane no one is mandating mastectomies be done on an outpatient basis, it’s no secret that we are not immune to national trends. If this is happening elsewhere, it will happen here, particularly when Group Health Northwest is likely to be purchased by Kaiser, a major player in the HMO world.

If you ask your own doctor how much of an influence insurance companies and managed care have had in changing their lives, you would be shocked. Unfortunately, this kind of clout given to (or should I say taken by?) the insurance companies may just be the beginning. Welcome to managed care. Steve Berde Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

WEA crossed important line

In a major understatement, the Review headline says the Washington Education Association has been “accused of not reporting political finances” (News, Nov. 16).

More accurately, the WEA violation alleged by the Public Disclosure Commission is among the largest in commission history.

That WEA apparently had to break the law to finance its political agenda shows how out of touch it is with its own members. Teachers are not voluntarily funding the union’s political agenda. So, the WEA cooked up an illegal dues scheme called Community Outreach Program to funnel more of members’ wages to political activity.

In PDC depositions, WEA lobbyist Robert Maier admitted that the Community Outreach Program “was an internal ploy to raise more WEA-PAC money.”

If the allegations prove true, WEA flagrantly violated the state campaign finance reform law enacted by voters in 1994 to protect open and free elections. If it has broken this law, the union has trampled its members’ free speech rights to not be forced to fund political activity they disagree with.

The Seattle Times headline reveals how WEA is ruining the reputations of honest, hard-working teachers - “State says teachers broke election rules.” If the rule was broken as claimed, teachers aren’t the culprits. An out-of-control, arrogant union leadership that spits on the concept of fair and open elections is the culprit.

Teachers can still join the Washington state class action lawsuit against the teachers union by calling 1-800-336-3600. Teachers, only you can hold your union accountable to you. Cindy Omlin Mead

Clark’s shelter column terrific

Bravo to Doug Clark for his Nov. 24 column (“Cuisine great, privacy lacking at storm shelter).

I, along with my mother and Clark’s mother, have taken refuge at a dear neighbor’s home, and we enjoyed many much-needed chuckles. His remarks about “phreeloaders” gave one cause to think and were much appreciated. He usually writes great columns. I’m a fan.

Thanks, Doug. Gretchen George Spokane