Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Let enterprise be private, unregulated
The City Council is so off-base about the River Park Square parking garage project that it’s laughable.
The mere suggestion that government should form a partnership with private enterprise clashes with the entire concept of a free enterprise, capitalistic economy.
If the City Council really is serious about growth downtown, it should ask Nordstrom to leave immediately and begin courting Wal-Mart. The fact that 50,000 of the 90,000 households in Spokane make $25,000 per year or less should indicate that few can afford to shop at Nordstrom anyway.
If the City Council would like to encourage development of the downtown area, it should get out of the way. One novel idea would be to reduce levels of taxation and regulation on business. A second would be to get rid of parking meters. (After all, people can park for free at NorthTown.)
People need to have a reason to live and work downtown, and a good business atmosphere - not a government-subsidized marketplace - would stimulate growth more than any cockamamie private-public partnership in which the private entities reap profits and taxpayers pay the bills.
All over the nation, it seems private businesses that can’t make it due to government taxation and regulation constantly are crying for the government (i.e., the taxpayers) to bail them out. A dangerous precedent was set years ago when the federal government bailed out Chrysler Corp.
These shenanigans must stop. We no longer can afford corporate welfare anymore than we can afford welfare for individuals. Janice Moerschel Spokane
Wasted federal aid is your taxes
On Feb. 7, I heard a report on KXLY-TV that county commissioners had received a grant of $300,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for restoration of two golf courses (damaged by flooding). If this is true, it’s an outrage.
There is no emergency that requires the restoration of golf courses. How can anyone justify spending - wasting - federal tax money on such a project? How could the county commissioners receive money under these terms?
This is the kind of thinking that makes for never-ending federal budget deficits. People think that because it is a federal grant, it’s free money and we should get as much as we can.
The commissioners would never think of assessing each household in Spokane County $5 to repair these golf courses. That way, people could see directly how their money was being spent (wasted). No, they get a federal grant, and it’s “free” money.
We never will get to a balanced federal budget as long as this thinking prevails. Shame on you to anyone involved in this waste of emergency funds. Harvey A. Dunham Spokane
LAW AND JUSTICE
Make drug policy make sense
The New England Journal of Medicine’s call to grant marijuana legitimate status as an approved pharmaceutical marks a giant step in the right direction for American drug policy. Instead of resisting, the Clinton administration should embrace it as a safe, sane solution to the dilemma posed by drug war posturing.
Marijuana should not be a Schedule I substance doctors are banned from prescribing or even experimenting with. It should be listed as a Schedule II controlled drug that may be legally administered to relieve pain and suffering. After all, the Federal Institute of Drug Abuse has its own research marijuana field in Mississippi.
By the time Ronald Reagan took office, there were 25 people in the FDA’s compassionate use program. The government was, and still is, engaged in harvesting cannabis and shipping it to a former tobacco plant in North Carolina. There, it is processed into cigarettes and mailed to doctors who distribute it to patients.
So, for 25 years, the government has been supplying pot to people for use as medicine. And for 25 years, the FDA’s official classification of the drug reads, “Medical uses: None.” Cocaine, on the other hand, is listed as a “local anesthetic” and equally addictive morphine is listed as an “analgesic.”
This classification policy makes about as much sense as denial of painkilling narcotic drugs to the terminally ill for fear they might become addicted.
If people were treated properly for pain, there wouldn’t be a need for Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Tom Hawkins Grand Coulee
Some get justice; others get delays
Our friend, Dave Witt, was murdered April 28, 1996. The man who is charged with shooting him, an alleged Seattle gang member in town for only three weeks, was arrested that same day.
Witt has now been gone from those who loved him for 10 months. Still there has been no trial. It originally was set for November, then January, then April.
Yet I read in the paper that Tom DiBartolo’s trial for the alleged murder of his wife is set for March 24. He was arrested Jan. 30, 1997, just shy of two months before his trial is to begin.
Why is it that high-profile cases take precedence over others? Why should the family and friends of a fine, hardworking young man raising his 4-year-old son have to bear the agony of postponed trials?
Where is fairness and justice? Kay Cobb Spokane
THE ENVIRONMENT
Quit adding to problems with roads
It is about time for something to be done about corporate welfare in America.
Government-subsidized road building on public lands is an embarrassment. Taxpayers will pay for these roads several times - once for the initial investment and then the additional cost of maintenance every time the web of Forest Service roads blows out. Not to mention the increased sediment in the rivers, increased chance of flooding due to deforestation (which occurs as a direct result of the road access) and increased possibility of massive slope failure.
There is scientific evidence proving that high road density directly correlates with high sediment loads, flooding and slope failure. Many of the roads built with taxpayer dollars destroy pristine wilderness on our public lands.
Sediment-choked rivers provide little habitat for already threatened fish populations. Also, long-term maintenance then is required for lands that previously required little attention.
I am appalled that my tax dollars are being spent to support the degradation of our environment. Simply cutting this destructive program could save the taxpayers $100 million. Sounds like a wonderful idea. Julie Pickrell Moscow
N-waste dump a threat to tribe
“Street Level” writer Estar Holmes (“Roundtable,” Feb. 16) hits hard at the cozy relationship between big business and bureaucrats who’ve made it possible for Ford, Wash., to be the destination for low-level radioactive waste.
What Holmes doesn’t mention is that this convoy of radioactivity will continue for many years.
Holmes doesn’t make clear, either, that the radioactive waste coming to Spokane is going to be dumped right next to the Spokane Indian Reservation. The site is so close, in fact, that the radioactive stuff already there is contaminating tribal water.
The Spokanes are fighting efforts to bring more of the stuff to the site.
This conflict between our Spokane Tribe neighbors and the out-of-state mining company financing the project is an act of environmental injustice or environmental racism within our community.
Last week, The Spokesman-Review reported on Bishop William Skylstad’s participation in the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. Religious, elected and business leaders need not look elsewhere for environmental racism; it is here in Spokane. Racism is an issue on which there can be no fence-sitters. Silence condones it.
These leaders have to tell Newmont Mining Co. we don’t want its nuke dump. Owen Berio Springdale, Wash.
No subsidies for forest damage
Re: “Clinton budget asks loggers to pay for roads” (Feb. 7) by staff writer Eric Torbenson:
I’m glad the president is taking action to help protect our environment and make the logging industry pay for its own profits.
I wasn’t aware the government pays for logging roads but am pleased an attempt is being made to end this program. I applaud the idea of the money saved going to habitat restoration.
Logging representatives say these roads are used not only by loggers but also by recreation seekers and hunters. Why would we need the logging industry to camp or hunt? There wouldn’t be much to hunt if all the animals’ habitat is gone. Why would anyone want to recreate on a hill full of stumps?
The only people who really profit from these supposedly free government-subsidized roads are logging stockholders.
Another part of the pro-logging argument that bothered me was industry spokesman Mike Tracy saying, “They’re trying to stop or slow down all harvest off public lands.”
The key word here is public. I doubt the public pays taxes with the idea their money is paying for roads that result in butchering of their lands - ones they assume are being protected.
I agree with the Forest Service statement, “Road costs will be treated like other purchaser costs.” All businesses have operating costs. The logging industry should pick up its tab as well. Direct our tax dollars to the public’s environment instead of to personal profits. Kim Meyers Cheney
Industry’s inside man strikes again
Undaunted by the fact the national forests already are severely overcut, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has drafted a bill written by a lobbyist for the paper and timber industries with the title “Public Land Management Responsibility and Accountability Act.”
This is a terrible bill that would shut the public out of decision-making, causing further overcutting that would jeopardize water quality, fish and wildlife.
Craig’s bill was evaluated well in the Feb. 2 SpokesmanReview, “Forest act rewrite called chip off industry log.” Maybe those who’ve become discouraged about the future of the forests have cause for hope and good cheer.
Michael Dombeck, the new Forest Service chief, has stated he will not be intimidated by the likes of Sen. Craig. Under Dombeck, the public will be included in forestmanagement decisions. Emphasis will be on conserving and restoring the health of the land. Protecting riparian areas, water quality, soil stability and honoring the Endangered Species Act will be top priorities.
Dombeck let it be known that “every forest supervisor on every forest will be held accountable for showing improving trends in appropriate areas.”
I wish him luck with his objectives. Of course, these goals can never be achieved unless President Clinton and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman have the sense of loyalty and political courage to consistently support Dombeck.
If only we could be sure of that. Buell Hollister Post Falls
BELIEFS
Assessment of Bible correct
I just wanted to comment on last week’s letter from George Thomas, “Bible is vastly overrated.” I couldn’t agree with him more, and I respect him for writing such a blunt, intelligent letter. It’s too bad there aren’t more of us out there. Deborah Peterson Moses Lake
Many good people care about Bible
In the Feb. 13 “Roundtable,” George Thomas wrote, “Who cares what the Bible says?” In answer to that, I say this:
John Wycliffe cared. And even though he knew that it would lead to prison and death, he translated the Bible so that all Englishmen could read it.
Because Wycliffe cared, William Wilberforce cared. With the Bible translated into English, what Wilberforce read from it made him stand against slavery in England and bring about its end. Wilberforce’s victory against slavery spurred on the movement here in the States until it was abolished here also.
Who cares? Dr. Martin Luther King cared. What he read in the Bible led him to write in a Birmingham (Ala.) jail cell a letter to call his fellow clergymen to the civil rights movement, and ultimately, to civil rights for everyone.
Who cares? Charles Colson cares. What he read in the Bible made him give up a life of politics and start a prison ministry dedicated to changing prisoners into responsible citizens.
Who cares? Everyone who reads it and puts its principles to use. Peter D. Nelson Spokane
Bible defender mistaken
“Bible-bashing reflects on basher” reads the headline on the Feb. 17 letter from Hal Robinson. Even though he’s responding to an extremely poor letter, he’s wrong.
He says: “Atheists are outcasts in the eyes of the Lord”; “Christ is not or would not be appalled at homophobic reactions”; and “The Bible is the source of all goodness.”
The problem I have with those statements stems from my understanding of religiosity. A really religious person is focused on and driven by a transcendental entity - something or somebody greater than me. The less important I am, the more likely I am to accept somebody who is different.
Robinson, how can you deal with atheists if you don’t respect them? Or are you dealing only with “godly people” like a famous politician? What do you call “homophobic reactions”? Are you really sure Christ would approve of all of them - e.g. beatings of gays just because they are gays? Do you think Hindus or the followers of Confucianism have no source of goodness because they don’t have the Bible?
We Christians can teach this world full of turbulence and hatred a lesson. It’s not a lesson of exclusions based on sets of rules. Yes, we are called to be the elite, the salt of the Earth. But that means we have to be able to step aside and be fascinated by the world around us. To serve as a bridge, not a judge, so people will see through us the one who we worship and who taught us a lesson of unlimited love and tolerance: Jesus Christ. Peter C. Dolina Veradale
Doubter, see how it’s for real
George Thomas (letters, Feb. 13), beyond a reasonable doubt, the case for Christian faith has been proved. Put aside what you feel about the Bible and look at the facts.
Nonbelievers have been forced to admit two facts: Christ’s tomb was empty and Christ’s body has never been produced.
In 33 A.D., all the Jews and Romans had to do was put Christ’s body in the town square for all to see and Christianity would have ended. Who would be hanged on a cross or be beheaded for a fake?
The 66 books of the Bible were written by more than 40 people over a period of 4,000 years. The Bible tells us where we came from, why we’re here and where we’re going. The Bible tells us about the origin of the universe, and scientists - although some may not believe in the Bible - say it could have happened just as the Bible says.
We all obey a god. To some, it’s money. To others, it’s personal pleasure. To others, it’s a living and true God who was the creator of all the others. When man tries to do it on his own, we become futile in our thinking. The more we strive to get ahead, the further we get behind.
Show me another perfect book that will stand the test of time of all the years the Bible has of faithful people dying because of its teachings and I will convert. Until then, open the Bible along with your heart and see what all the fuss is truly about. Kevin B. Dahl Coeur d’Alene