Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Library view oversold, overpriced
Many of us can’t understand why the Spokane Public Library board and City Council feel so strongly about the view from the library.
Is it because tourists come to Spokane knowing the library has a view of the river and they just can’t wait to go inside and see it, or because the view creates an atmosphere where the words jump off the pages? Or maybe the view of the river creates such serenity for its readers that it’s indispensable. Does the library become a lesser place without a view? Do the books become less? The lights dimmer? The chairs harder?
It must be something, because they think it’s worth condemning property, attorney fees and court cost, plus the cost of the property, which is in excess of $2 million.
Do you go to a library to see a view or read a book? The value of a view is like art; it is based on personal taste. It doesn’t improve the efficiency nor does it detract from the efficiency.
Subjective viewpoints should be used when purchasing personal items, not when spending tax dollars. What the hey, after the new $36 million Lincoln Street Bridge is built, they can enjoy that view instead of the falls. Jeffery L. Johnson Spokane
Give it up, Barnard
Sheri Barnard has suggested she may run for mayor again. What part of “no” can’t she understand?
The voters of Spokane resoundingly defeated her in the last election. While Barnard was never known for actually listening to the voters, even she should take the hint.
Barnard had a chance to be mayor of Spokane. She blew it big time. Voters want more than perky. They want a mayor who will actually do something, like listen to them.
I hope Barnard will realize the voters do not want her. I hope she will have the dignity to retire and let someone who can actually do something serve as mayor. Skip L. Brown Spokane
Butt-tossing ban a good idea
Concerning the new law against throwing burning cigarettes out the windows of vehicles:
I’m glad to see that laws against inconsiderate smokers who use the world for an ash tray are finally in effect. This law is long overdue.
It’s not only a good law for fire safety reasons but also for littering and the disgusting look of intersections around Spokane and other places.
My one questions to pro-smokers is: If smoking isn’t a disgusting habit, why do they throw their butts out their windows? Why not keep it inside their car so they can enjoy the aroma of the after-burn and all the litter and cigarette tobacco falling all over their car?
Congratulations on passing this new law. Maybe Spokane will be a prettier place. George M. St.George Spokane
SUICIDE
Being so judgmental the real sin
Re: “It’s a weakness and sinful” by E.L. Ripple (Letters, July 30).
What is truly a weakness, sinful and pathetic are people who are totally ignorant about the causes of suicide and what would drive a person to take their own life.
Ripple says suicide is one of the most heinous crimes against God and man. Only God knows why and only God, in his perfectness, can judge. God judges by what is in the person’s heart. God loves all his children, no matter how or why they take their life.
I’m sure that if Carl Maxey, as well as others, could have figured out a different way, they would have. Then, they would still be alive today. The real crime is people who, in their ignorance about mental health and the reasons for suicide, take it upon themselves to judge others, causing even greater needless pain and suffering for the victim’s family. My sincerest regret and sympathy go to Maxey’s family and to all families and friends who feel so helpless and suffer greatly in the wake of a loved one’s suicide. Connie J. Carothers Spokane
It’s murder and it is wrong
Why all the discussion about suicide? “Why this choice?” and no mention of the fact that killing is wrong? It is murder, be it doing away with another person or oneself.
We have no inherent right to murder. It’s an individual’s free will that chooses such. Undoubtedly, at the time, it looks like a good idea to the perpetrator, who may think: “I’ll just put myself out of this situation. Regardless of what others may think of my choice, this is what I want to do.”
An outsider can’t know those inner promptings that could be due to despair, to lack of faith in God, in a supreme authority to whom to turn for love, mercy, forgiveness and the ability to face the future no matter what it presents.
Unless one is mentally ill, the free will always chooses a good. That is, it chooses an action that appears to be right for what one is planning. I thank God I have been created with a free will. Eileen L. Wilson Spokane
SERVING FAMILIES
De-funding child care has its costs
Re: “Child care says no to welfare (Region, July 30).
The community must understand how welfare system changes will affect children being served. The forum the article refers to came about because concerned citizens are alarmed about these changes.
The changes started with Congress. It removed the requirement that states pay subsidized rates at the 75th percentile of the market rate in each region across the state. This basically had given children being subsidized access to 75 percent of child care providers. The new rate will be around the 56th percentile.
Congress also drastically reduced food program funding. For many providers, losing this program means the difference between staying in business or moving on to a job that has other benefits.
One of the biggest changes is parent co-pays. All parents accessing child care will pay a co-pay. Many pay, but the change comes for families that may be close to self-sufficiency. Their co-pay goes up drastically.
Providers are concerned they won’t receive these co-pays, not because the parents are irresponsible, but because the reality of a minimum wage job is harsh. These cuts have occurred at the same time that people coming off assistance are required to take any job and find child care within 10 days.
The low rate and high co-pays are what concern providers. We feel the children’s welfare will be compromised. I have three children in my care who are subsidized and they will stay as long as they want. I can’t afford to fill vacancies with these new rates. Shannon Q. Selland Spokane
‘Free’ services really are not
I feel compelled to correct some misinformation contained in Mollie J. Dalpae’s letter, “Services better than Fulcrum’s free” (July 15).
Dalpae stated that while Fulcrum’s Interchange program charges parents a fee for services for supervised child exchanges, other organizations in Spokane provide the same service for free. She specifically mentioned SCAN, the Martin Luther King Center, Lutheran Social Services and the state’s own Department of Social and Health Services.
Fulcrum Dispute Resolution Clinic presented the concept of The Interchange program through a proposal submitted to the Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium this spring. Consortium members conducted their own research throughout Spokane regarding organizations offering child exchanges and supervised visitations. Following this, the consortium wrote to Fulcrum, stating: It has been identified in the Spokane area that there is a gap in services for children exchanges and supervised visitations. While Fulcrum does charge, the fees are on a sliding scale based on income. They are nominal, some being as little as $1.
DSHS does not provide for child exchanges, nor earlier this year did the other organizations mentioned by Dalpae. While these organizations may now offer exchanges and/or supervised visitations for “free,” those services are underwritten by the local, state and federal funding they receive. Fulcrum does not receive such funding.
Apparently, Dalpae also misinterpreted the July 8 story regarding our services. All staff working in The Interchange program receive specialized training. Judith Gilmore, associate director Fulcrum Institute Dispute Resolution Center, Spokane
PARENTING
‘Best parenting advice around’
Re: the July 26 Your Turn: If that style of parenting is so great, why doesn’t any facet of society operate that way? Say, our military for example: Fall in line whenever you want, eat when you feel like it, go to bed whenever, listen to your commanding officer when it suits you, etc. Or, better yet, the work world, to which those children will someday be exposed. The same dippy theory applies; “Whenever!,” or “If I feel like it.”
The biggest myth yet in this whole thing should be that the child is the center of anybody’s universe. Just what society needs - more self-centeredness! How ridiculous.
Dr. John Rosemond’s methods make sense. Keep his column! It is the best parenting advice around. Wendy J. Kelpin Coeur d’Alene
Help children fit into the world
Most parents I know do not agree with Kathy Brainard. Reading Dr. John Rosemond’s column is one of the highlights of my week.
How nice that Rosemond is bold enough to be politically incorrect in the 90’s and gives parents an endorsement to be in control of their families. I love and adore my children, and I know I’m doing the right thing by teaching them the universe doesn’t revolve around them.
I’m a stay-at-home mom of 6-year-old twins and I’m preparing my boys to know that the world does have expectations for them that they must conform to. We do them no favors by letting them be in control of those things for which we should be giving them limits.
They are to honor and obey their parents, because we’re the earthly manifestation of God in their lives. If they aren’t taught obedience to their parents, how are they going to be obedient to God when temptations come their way?
There are certain moral absolutes, and here’s how it goes: God, marriage, children. If we rearrange those, the proper balance is lost.
I’ve tried both ways, and it gets pretty old when the marriage is put after the children. I was raised that way and it’s too much pressure for the kids, as well. They’re part of a family, not the center of it.
I urge the paper to continue to carry John Rosemond’s column. He’s a breath of fresh air in the overly permissive parenting of our present culture. Elissa K. Gregory Spokane
Imagine future of underdisciplined kids
In response to Kathy Brainard’s letter criticizing Dr. John Rosemond’s parenting column (“Dictatorial, disciplinarian way is wrong for children” July 26), picture this:
Her children are adults believing they are still the center of the universe (everyone’s).
An adult who may want to eat at 3 p.m. instead of his company’s usual 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
An adult who is invited out to a dinner but refuses to eat his meal because “he doesn’t like it.”
An adult who doesn’t sleep until he is tired, maybe at 2 a.m., even though he must be at work at 7 a.m.
An adult who as a child never cried because his every need was met, now crying and whining because society doesn’t meet his needs as mom did.
An adult who, never having been told no, is told no many times a day in the workplace. What will he do? Have a tantrum?
Now, imagine an elderly couple (children gone) who have nothing to say to each other because their relationship came second to “the children” and so was never nurtured. Ethel R. Hurst Athol, Idaho
Teach children to get along
Our children deserve to be taught techniques for happy associations with others. Starting at the cradle, teach them love, etiquette, ethics, a tolerance for those who have differences and a gentle consideration and concern for the needs of others.
Here are some of my thoughts on lifestyle:
Practice what you preach.
Smile, smile, smile.
Practice economy, saving and sharing. Live within your means and enjoy it.
Practice a healthful lifestyle.
Find the fun of learning and creativity. Build something.
Take responsibility for your own activities.
Admit fault and then correct your errors.
Stay with the plan as you yourself learn the basics.
Here are a few activities to avoid:
Feeling envy and/or self-pity.
Gambling with your own or others lives or livelihood, on the highway or in a casino.
Arguing, bickering, rudeness or unpleasant retorts in communications with others. It’s unlikely that any child who knows how to give love, how it feels to receive love, and how to respond with concern to those in need will ever become a gangster. Glory N. Merkle Spokane
Rosemond’s principles tried and proven
I commend you for printing Dr. John Rosemond’s column on parenting. I appreciate his words of wisdom and sound advice. Our four children are married and we now have 10 grandchildren. We’ve used the principles Rosemond recommends and they have worked for us. Alberta M. Richmond Hayden Lake, Idaho
ABORTION
Bombing beside the point
It’s unfortunate that John W. Nugent uses the Spokane bombing incidents as a smokescreen to justify his “religion,” which promotes abortion. I doubt that the “religious extremists” convicted of the bombing were hearing from and obeying God when they committed these “acts of violence and domestic terrorism in the name of God.”
Nugent’s attempts to divert our attention away from the fact that he and the Planned Parenthood organization he represents support and readily supply abortions is all too familiar and obvious.
His statement that “No organization works harder to prevent abortion than Planned Parenthood” is as absurd as the J.R. Reynolds Co. saying that no organization works harder to prevent cancer than the tobacco industry. His statement would be laughable if the consequences were not so extremely severe and final.
Abortion is clearly the killing of a human being. Trying to explain it any other way is living a lie. John E. Lagerquist Pullman
Abortion the real terrorism
Re: John Nugent’s letter (“Conviction stands for something,” July 29).
True terrorism tears a tenderly developing child from the warm comfort of her confused mother. Mr. Abortionist, you daze the issue with your dazzling words. Jerry Malone Spokane
LAW AND JUSTICE
Medical marijuana decision wrong
I am outraged by the state Supreme Court’s decision to deny cancer patient Ralph Seeley access to his medicine.
The court insists the decision was made in the name of protecting our children from medical marijuana. Medicine for cancer patients is no threat to our children. California and Arizona passed laws allowing medicinal use of marijuana and have not fallen off the face of the Earth. In fact, far fewer people are suffering needlessly in those states.
As a believer in God, I ask all of you to pray for Seeley and others who are suffering. Please pray also for peace in this insane drug war. Tom G. Hawkins Grand Coulee, Wash.