Letters To The Editor

Wed., Dec. 17, 1997

INTOLERANCE

Beliefs not part of all neighborhoods

We were pleased to see that Aryan Nations member Charles R. Hodges was insulted by your article, “Idahoans answer racism with ‘not in our town”’ (“We don’t want area mongrelized,” Dec. 7).

Hodges went on to claim that through the efforts of the Aryan Nations, the communities in North Idaho are a wonderful place to live - I suppose taking credit for the fear that many people of color experience in our region.

We want all members of the Aryan Nations and other white supremacist groups to be insulted by the attitudes of the majority of Idahoans our friends and neighbors who rebuke the hatred, prejudice, violence and racism exemplified by the Aryan Nations, skinheads and other such groups. We urge all citizens of Idaho to stand against such hatred and exercise their constitutional right of free speech. Speak out against racism, hatred and prejudice. Speak for democracy, equality, freedom and human dignity.

Ironically, Hodges’ letter appeared on Pearl Harbor Day, a day when we remember those who fought and died so that we might maintain our freedom and civil rights, as well as the rights of oppressed people of other parts of the world. Let us not allow a small group of present-day Nazis to taint what so many fought so hard for. The Aryan Nations has nothing to do with safe and decent communities. They are a blight on our society that we must never accept. Allen B. and Charlotte A. Chrisman Bonners Ferry, Idaho

Churches reject misguided attitudes

Ecclesiastes 3:7 states: “There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” Following prayerful consultation among their leadership, a number of area churches have endorsed this statement:

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we, the members of the following churches, reject the misguided attitudes and malicious behavior of the few people in this area who have recently targeted others simply because they are part of some group, nationality, or religion.

We offer hospitality and sanctuary to all who have been - or are being persecuted on that basis. We also pray that the Lord of all peoples might transform the hearts of those who have so willfully disturbed the peace and ignored God’s law to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

On behalf of: Faith Presbyterian Church, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Falls Full Gospel Assembly of God, St. Pius Catholic Church, Lutheran Church of the Master, St. Thomas Catholic Church, Community United Methodist Church, Calvary Lutheran Church, Community Presbyterian Church, Dalton Gardens Assembly of God, Unity Church of North Idaho, First Church of Christ, Scientist Coeur d’Alene and First Presbyterian Church, Coeur d’Alene Grant MacLean Hayden

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Change McEuen to benefit all

It’s unfortunate some people accuse the downtown business community of a secret plot to destroy McEuen Field. To portray hard working citizens, many who have lived here for generations, as somehow trying to cheat the city out of something is insulting.

The Hyett Palma report makes no specific proposals for the development of McEuen. What it does, in plain English, is reaffirm McEuen’s value to the community, recommend it remain public domain, suggest that it does not currently serve the needs of the population and advise that any subsequent change or development be made only with great public participation.

With it’s main use being adult softball, we must question if Mae McEuen’s noble crusade for youth sports is being served at the field that bears her name. Would she approve of softball over youth baseball? Would she applaud the fact that supervised youth recreation on this property is only offered a few weeks out of the year.

I urge you to go to Front Street, look at McEuen’s quarter mile of chain link, and ask if this is the best it can be and should it stay exactly this way for eternity as the “save McEuen” proponents in this city want. Looking at comparably located properties, this becomes even more apparent.

With careful, community-involved planning, which this proposal sets in motion, this area would better serve, as Charlie Roan recommends, “the need of the community as a whole.” Dave K. Walker Coeur d’Alene

Your giving is making my Christmas

As Christmas time grows nearer, it seems that the true gifts of Christmas grow farther and farther from our hearts. Yet, I’m glad to say, this past week I have been proven wrong.

I am a student at Lake City High school. As part of our food drive we have been going door to door collecting food. At almost every door we have knocked upon we have been greeted with a friendly smile, a giving heart and lots of food.

Thanks to the many giving and loving people in our community. They have made Christmas a little bit better for all of us. Carrie M. Rahm Coeur d’ Alene

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Bravo, Post Falls School Board

Yea to the Post Falls School Board for not bending to the demands of the Kootenia Property Owners Association. I would like to know exactly how many of them have children in the Post Falls schools? And how many of those are in the middle and high schools? Probably not very many.

Also, have any of them recently volunteered in our schools? That is something they may want to try! See exactly what it’s like to be in the overcrowded schools.

I have had a problem with this group for a long time. If they don’t live here, how do they know what is “best” for us? I think they should keep their noses in their own business and in their own towns.

I do, however, agree with one thing. Year-round schools could be a great asset to the community, and I think it should be further pursued. But again, I applaud the Post Falls district for trying solve this problem.

I think the teachers and all the staff at all the schools are doing a wonderful job of teaching and supporting our children. Just think of how much better they could do their jobs, if the worry about overcrowding and such were gone. Louise R. Buffaloe Post Falls

Bond needs support, not strings

In response to Kootenai County Property Owners Association’s offer to support the upcoming bond levy with conditions, no thanks! Ms. Lawless states,”It’s the Christmas season and a most fitting time for people of good will to find common ground to solve common problems.”

People of good will don’t make offers to help and attach a string of conditions. When an offer of help is made, people of good will do it unconditionally.

We have a school board, voted in by the people of Post Falls, to make decisions. It is not right for the Kootenai County Property Association to dictate to them on the dollar amount they think the bond should be. I do appreciate the association’s acknowledgment for the need of a new school and the ending of double-shifting. I would hope they can still support our March bond, with no strings attached. Patti O’Reilly Post Falls

What is wrong - and why?

The most interesting TV show in town may be the KSPS show hosted by a Friends of Seven employee featuring school board members and District 81 Superintendent Dr. Gary Livingston.

The show is certainly entertaining and I confess I’d like to be reassured regarding the high standards of our education system. However, nagging doubts persist, such as the dismay shown by Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and Gov. Gary Locke over the results of the fourth-grade achievement tests.

We’re told it’s all right because the tests were new, but one can’t help but wonder where we’ve been all this time. Serious doubts were raised by IBM CEO Louis Gerstner at a governor’s conference on education when Gerstner said we are witnessing the collapse of the education system. Quoted studies state that the United States ranks 13th or 14th of 15 country comparisons (Financial World, Aug. 12, 1996).

The story of a young exchange student from Yugoslavia who said, “My studies are not as advanced as they would be at home so I will have a lot of making up to do when I go home” certainly is not reassuring (Spokesman-Review, Dec. 8).

If our educational system is lacking in quality, what is the cause and how can it be corrected? A recent study revealed the U.S. has the highest level of spending per student among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries: U.S., $6,010/year; Norway, $5,420; and France, $4,600 (“Education at a Glance,” OECD, 1995). R. William Bender Spokane

PUBLIC HEALTH

Pertussis hit the vaccinated hard

A while back you published a letter of mine in which I gave preliminary Centers for Disease Control statistics on the pertussis outbreak we had last winter. I have since obtained the final statistics compiled by the CDC and the Panhandle Health District.

It seems the preliminary results were a little off and I feel the public should know exactly what the final results were in light of that fact that everyone jumped to blame those who don’t immunize for the outbreak.

Of 156 total cases, 89 were confirmed by taking cultures. Of the 156 cases, 86 percent were fully vaccinated and the other 14 percent at least partially vaccinated, with the exception of the 2-month-old who was too young to have been vaccinated. In fact, the CDC has determined that refusal of pertussis vaccine played no part in this outbreak.

Considering that Idaho has an overall immunization rate of 66 percent, yet relatively few of those who contracted pertussis were unvaccinated, it seems as though the vaccinated individuals were more likely to contract pertussis. Go figure. Deborah D. Winkler, vice president Concerned Parents for Vaccine Safety, Cheney

THE ENVIRONMENT

Raitt critic should check history

Just because there’s gold in them thar hills doesn’t mean we have to remove it. Is it possible the mountain is worth more than the minerals inside it?

History clearly indicates we should ask ourselves these questions before we move the mountain. But are we able to show enough foresight to use hindsight? Not if we all think like Joe B. Gilmer of Troy, Mont., (“Bonnie Raitt’s warbling sour notes,” Letters, Dec. 7).

Gilmer, rather than looking at the big picture the past paints for us, chooses to rely on the rhetoric of polarization that has plagued us in the past. He denounces Bonnie Raitt for donating funds from her concerts to groups to oppose proposed mining on the Clark Fork River. He uses terms like “radicals” and paints a picture of the “lifeblood of our economy” being choked off by them. It’s the same old battle cry that has haunted environmental issues for a century.

One does not have to be a radical on either side of the mining issue to see the right thing to do. In fact, it’s those of us who see the merits and faults of both sides of environmental issues who can ask the right questions. History provides a local example of mining similar to the proposed project on the Clark Fork. Look what happened to the Coeur d’Alene River.

With inflammatory rhetoric like Gilmer’s and those of narrow vision on both sides of environmental issues filling our newspapers, history will need to do more than repeat itself. History will have to stutter. Mike J. Ruskovich Blanchard, Idaho

Greenhouse gas theory invalid

We haven’t read about it in the stories by staff writer Karen Dorn Steele, who covers the subject for The Spokesman-Review, but the “global warming” debate is over and the culprit turns out to be the sun, not such “greenhouse gases” as carbon dioxide.

Fluctuations in global temperature over the past 250 years have coincided exactly with solar radiation, which varies. The computer models that predict global warming because of greenhouse gases have been discredited. According to those, the global temperature should have gone up over half a degree Celsius since 1980, but it has actually trended lower.

The increase in carbon dioxide has benefited mankind by accelerating plant growth - the green revolution - without increasing global temperatures.

Arthur and Zackary Robinson at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine provided the information above, and more, in a Dec. 4 Wall Street Journal column (“Science has spoken: Global warming is a myth”). They cited sources available to anyone - the Astrophysical Journal and the Marshall Institute. Why, then, has none of this been included in Steele’s reporting about global warming?

Part of the answer may be that a global warming crisis (or ozone, biodiversity, acid rain, radiation, population or other crisis) sells newspapers. No crisis, no sales. An environmental crisis also increases support for environmental groups, and Steele once received a $47,000 grant from the environmentalist MacArthur Foundation. Fred R. Hobbs Spokane

Sierra Club’s coattails not so clean

Amen to Street Level writer Paul Lindholdt’s “A wake-up call for xenophobes, a revival for the avaricious” (Roundtable, Dec. 7).

Yes, conspiracy theories are tiresome, as are paranoia - and pandering to paranoiacs to make money. I only hope Lindholdt will apply the same standard to his Sierra Club.

When I turn on my e-mail, I see the Sierra Club moderator constantly accusing “big business” of conspiring to foul the air and kill little children, and the Forest Service of clearcutting the planet. This agitating gets old.

The Sierra Club raised 9.1 percent of its budget on sales of such things as sunglasses, books and T-shirts last year; another 7.2 percent in advertising and 5.2 percent in outings and lodge fees, etc. (Sierra magazine, Sept. 1997) and spent 34.2 percent of its budget trying to influence public policy.

The Sierra Club’s daily rantings on e-mail spew doom and gloom, stereotypes and hatred for “big business,” but the powerful club operates like big business itself. This is not the same club I believed and admired in my college days. Barbara Coyner Potlatch, Idaho

Letters To The Editor

Supreme Court hears case that pits Idaho abortion ban against federal protections for pregnant women

North Idaho man gets probation for possessing child porn

Idaho wrestling coach hit a 14-year-old. He struck this deal to avoid criminal charges