Letters To The Editor
IDAHO VIEWPOINTS
Alltus does have party’s support
Staff writer D.F. Oliveria said in his column that Kathy Sims had not objected to Bob Macdonald’s changing parties (“House race just gets curioser,” “Hot Potatoes,” Aug. 27). It is my understanding she told the reporter that in a free country, Macdonald has the right to join whatever party he wants.
After the Democrats did not support their duly elected candidate (Cecil Kelly), Oliveria somehow equated that with Republicans not supporting Jeff Alltus because we let Macdonald do what he wanted to do without saying anything.
Alltus is supported by the Republican Party. He is an excellent legislator who studied the legislation and worked well with other legislators. He deserves everyone’s support and certainly has Sims’ support. Ruthie Johnson Hayden Lake, Idaho
Most coaches make vital contribution
Staff writer D.F. Oliveria’s editorial concerning area coaches is right on the mark (“Our view,” Aug. 26).
I have been a high-school sports official for 12 years. I have observed many outstanding coaches as well as several I would never allow to coach my children. Most of these people donate countless hours to help the kids learn some of life’s fundamentals, including sportsmanship, working on a team, competitive spirit and the value of a well-conditioned body.
Something you did not touch on, however, is the role parents play in this development. Most problems that I have encountered have been with the parents/fans of the players, and I’m not talking solely about the high-school level.
I’ve been booed at first-grade T-ball games for calls as a volunteer umpire. I’ve witnessed shouting matches between parents and coaches over their children’s playing time. Some parents may talk about things such as sportsmanship, but their actions do not reflect their words.
What we need to emphasize to our children is respect - respect for teammates, coaches and administration. Roger L. Stewart Coeur d’Alene
SPOKANE MATTERS
Soccer requires real grass
Why is money being spent on Joe Albi Stadium for an artificial soccer field? It appears the field is being widened to meet dimensions that will allow the semipro Spokane Shadow to call the bouncing AstroTurf field its home.
Many support the effort as the improvements also will allow our high-school teams to prepare for state tournaments against East Side teams that play on artificial turf. However, this view is bad for high-school soccer, for the Spokane Shadow, soccer fans and Spokane.
Soccer is a natural-grass game. Anyone who’s watched a good match on natural grass and tried to watch good teams struggle on artificial turf can see that the game is significantly degraded on artificial turf. Instead of a graceful display of distribution, collection and movement on natural grass, the turf game is like watching 22 skilled athletes stuck inside a giant Lotto Powerball game, groping hopelessly at the bouncing balls.
We’re looking the wrong way if we use Seattle as our model for building Inland Northwest soccer. The international governing body for soccer, FIFA, has mandated the use of natural grass for American professional soccer. Unfortunately, many amateur and developmental level teams are led by people who don’t understand the game and don’t understand the importance of FIFA’s message.
Soccer is the world’s game and the world plays on natural grass. Area high schools and the Spokane Shadow should be playing on a 120-yard-by-80-yard natural-grass field so they can learn this beautiful game at international levels. John E. Finnegan Spokane
Park meant a lot to nursing students
After reading the article about Natatorium Park on Aug. 23, I felt compelled to tell of the experiences and fun my classmates and I had from 1932-35 at the park.
Twenty-six of us entered nurse’s training at St. Luke’s Hospital. On our afternoons off, we went down to Nat Park. Many times, my parents came from Wallace with a picnic lunch and we had a picnic in the park. We were always hungry - hospital food not being the homecooked meals we had been used to - and we were a trifle homesick. These were truly the Depression years.
We were not paid by the hospital and our folks couldn’t send us much after paying tuition. Therefore, we resorted to all kinds of tactics for entertainment and to be able to ride the bumper cars, Ferris wheel, Carrousel and Jack Rabbit. The latter turned out to be the most fun and cheapest. The man who ran it told us if we all got on and screamed, and it brought more customers, we could ride free!
There are only 10 of us left from that class. If all goes well, we may have our 65th class reunion in the year 2000. I just had to tell you about how much we enjoyed Nat Park and how sorry we were when it was gone. It helped our morale a great deal. Laura B. McPhail Mullan, Idaho
Friction - aye, there’s the rub
Forty, 50 years ago, orchards stretched from State Line to Spokane. Sprague Avenue once was aptly named Appleway. The sweet aroma of fruit blossoms filled the air - as did the pollutant of choice then, DDT.
Twenty, 30 years ago, Rathdrum Prairie teemed with cattle, native grasses and boulders, brush and gopher holes. The Spokane Valley, by then, was an overflowing salad bowl of truck farms providing inexpensive, vineripened produce with the help of chemical fertilizers and modern pesticides.
People came to visit and never went back home. This area grew. Those who raised food were shoved aside by those who ate food. This was called progress. This was called good.
Today, grass growers brandish the Jacklin Seed Co. logo, plumes of smoke and county tax receipts defiantly. But progress and grass growers’ reluctance to create reasonable and responsible alternatives to field burning will, in time, result in their being forced out.
We can squabble over who came here first and whose rights should be placed first. We can assign blame once the green fields are replaced with asphalt and it doesn’t matter anyway.
One thing I’ve noticed through the years is that oldtimers and newcomers alike never seem willing to live side by side. Compromise is viewed as concession, consideration for others as spineless.
Maybe compromise and consideration are just too much progress for this area to handle. Marilyn Roberge Rathdrum, Idaho
WASHINGTON STATE
Nursing home case mishandled
Regarding the Aug. 30 article on Valleycrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center: Do the elderly people of Washington state mean so little? I have followed all of Valleycrest’s violations in the news and from firsthand experience.
It has been fined thousands of dollars. Does money fix everything? Evidently not.
If a day-care facility gets shut down for lack of staff, the children are placed in adequate environments. What is it going to take - a death at this nursing home?
The elderly go to nursing homes because the majority of them needing our help rely on us, and the system continues to let them down. A lot of those people cannot even communicate. Are they going without food? Is their medication being withheld? We will never know.
This should have been stopped eight months ago, but the state will continue to take Valleycrest’s money in fines and our elderly people will continue to suffer. Heather Teigen-Freeman Spokane
Foreman will end waste, bungling
As a state employee working for the Department of Corrections at Airway Heights, I am outraged at the tax dollars being spent on numerous community and statebased educational programs and facilities for habitual criminals. The special prison holiday, “Inmate Appreciation Day,” is wrong, too.
Having worked in prisons for more than 17 years, I find agreement among corrections and law enforcement people that our best rehabilitation efforts have failed, with recidivism still being much too common.
Prisons should not be nice places where people sit around in some outcome-based educational program just to occupy their time. Instead, prisoners should be working, providing some type of service to our community.
Unfortunately, liberal state bureaucrats pull the wool over the eyes of many legislators. The legislators then mistakenly take the position these programs are needed and legitimate.
As a result, management is out of control and ineffective. Taxpayers can no longer afford this.
Dale Foreman is aware of and concerned about waste in state government. By electing Foreman governor, we can stop this waste and abuse. John Bouchard Davenport, Wash.
Sign and check situation misunderstood
I live at 2803 N. Hamilton, the location of the now famous Gombosky sign gambit: “Staking out territory,” Aug. 14, a story with photo that showed my mother, April Schreier, and state Rep. Lonnie Sparks in our front yard waving to motorists.
Every time I read a letter to the editor against Sparks, I get angry about what some people will do to get elected. It’s time for me to tell people what really happened.
Sparks did not pay my mother $150 to take the Gombosky signs down from her property so he could put his signs up. We wanted the Gombosky signs down and asked Sparks to put his signs up.
In fact, Sparks asked us not to take the Gombosky signs down because he wanted time to give Gombosky the courtesy of removing his own signs.
A few days later, Sparks gave my mother a $150 check for the right to advertise on our property. The payment was absolutely not necessary, nor was it asked for.
I believe Rep. Sparks gave the money to my mother out of his personal sense of kindness. Steven Schreier Spokane
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Reject exploiters - elect Kaun
Our nation, and the Pacific Northwest in particular, need leaders with the long-term vision to make decisions that oftentimes will be painful in the short term but are necessary to maintain the richness of this place we call home.
This requires that our elected officials not be recipients of special-interest campaign funds that will affect their future votes. We need a fresh approach. We need to stop listening to those who have gotten rich as our problems worsen.
A recent example is the large editorial space given to former Sen. James McClure (R-Idaho) concerning Bonneville Power Administration and the dams. For 24 years, McClure did the bidding of large timber corporations in the Senate and pushed their agenda on our public lands.
McClure’s legacy is the flooding and silt-filled salmon streams that we are saddled with. He now sits on the board of Boise Cascade. Who does he speak for? Not the good of the region - that should be clear.
We need to shut these voices out as we ponder our future. Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) represents the moneyed interests that are dragging us into the abyss. He votes in lock step with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his pro-corporate profit and anti-environmental agenda.
For a long-term, substantial, beautiful America, Sue Kaun is the clear choice for the 5th Congressional District. She will bring a clear and honest voice for our district to Washington, D.C. Greg Jett Spokane
Here’s what I believe
I believe that a man who cheats on his wife is a proponent of family values.
I believe that a man whose best friends are members of the movie industry will do much to elevate the values of our youth.
I believe that a man who courts big business will do his best to save jobs for the “little guy.”
I believe that a man who hired a White House staff, 50 percent of whom had been drug users the year before employment, will do his best to eliminate drug use in our country.
I also believe that the Earth is flat and the moon is made of green cheese. Bernadette Fairchild Post Falls
MINING
Story not rich vein of mining savvy
Big nuggets of gold on top of the ground at Murray, Idaho? Very possible. But S-R staff writer Craig Welch got everything else wrong. In fact, I believe he wrote the story without ever visiting the area.
I have lived in Murray. In the 1960s, I managed a mine development project five miles up the gulch from town. But we were looking for lead-silver.
Even back then, you could spot an occasional dreamer stumbling around with a metal “wand” in his hand. They always got results: bottle caps and old horseshoes. Welch was just as bumbling in his Aug. 23 article, “Golden dreams.”
He wrote that in the early days, miners used hoses to spray water against rock walls. How ridiculous. If Welch is talking about hydraulic mining, they didn’t do it around Murray. However, that method was employed elsewhere, using giant water cannons to wash a gravel band down into sluice boxes.
You might find big nuggets on the piles of dredge tailings. Screening of river gravel only caught the more abundant smaller pieces. But Welch referred to tailings as “giant piles of mud.” Wrong! They are giant piles of river rock, washed clean in the dredge. Howard Cameron Spokane