Letters To The Editor

Wed., March 26, 1997

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

It’s time to treat for lead exposure

Thanks for the informative stories concerning the lead health problems of our area. Staff writers Craig Welch and Susan Drumheller are to be commended for their efforts to protect the dignity of those whose health has been adversely affected and for adding to the ongoing educational process. Lead poisoning is a serious and subtle health problem.

We hope there will be follow-up articles that will reveal the community’s desire to get help beyond studies for these health problems that now are being extended into the fifth generation of people living within the Superfund site.

Peoples Action Coalition, with the help of a national lead pediatrician and other physicians throughout the region, has worked hard to establish a lead health intervention center. Millions of dollars have been spent by public health agencies to study the lead levels of area children, workers and residents. People want the studies to stop and money now being spent on wasted studies to go toward diagnosis and treatment.

For those who want more information about low-level lead exposure health impacts, attend the upcoming lecture by Dr. John Rosen, lead pediatrician from the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y.. It will be at noon April 10 in the Providence Auditorium of Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

A second lecture will be held at 2 p.m. April 11 in Kootenai Medical Center’s Health Resource Center. For more information please contact the Peoples Action Coalition office, 784-8891. Charles Tirpick, president Peoples Action Coalition

If Craig succeeds, the people lose

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is proposing major legislation which will, if enacted, cause destruction of much of the area the public uses for recreation.

Nicknamed the “Loopholes for Logging Bill,” it would leave virtually no area unlogged on our national forests, limit public participation in decision-making, severely weaken environmental safeguards and undermine the current system of checks and balances that holds government agencies and the timber industry accountable. In a nutshell, it would turn over management of our national forest lands to the states.

As the states already have a dismal record of managing their own state timber lands, it essentially means the timber industry will have carte blanche to have its way with our forests. When industry is through clearcutting and destroying the watersheds, it will relinquish “management” back to the government so it can pick up the pieces.

As Craig is bought and paid for by big timber and mining interests, this is his thank-you for their keeping him in office. This is democracy at work, folks. Bob Riddle Hayden Lake, Idaho

Opinions not appreciated

My husband, Troy, was killed in an avalanche at Priest Lake two weeks ago. I can’t believe that every day I open the newspaper and it is filled with comments from people who don’t have anything better to do than attack me and my family, like a pack of incompassionate wolves.

You don’t know me. You didn’t know my husband and you have no idea what I have been thinking during this time. Unless you would like to contact me and learn how I feel, keep your negative, so-called professional opinions to yourselves. Fonda Douglas Priest River, Idaho

WASHINGTON STATE

Anti-stadium arguments groundless

In response to Robert Taigen’s March 21 letter, “Stadium plan is unconstitutional,” I am amazed at the number of people opposed to Paul Allen’s stadium plan for the Seahawks - and not aware of the facts.

First, Allen won’t own the stadium. It will be a publicly owned facility, which means the plan would not be unconstitutional.

Secondly, if you are not a sports fan who buys sports merchandise or one who buys scratch lottery tickets, rents cars in Seattle, etc., you will not pay any taxes toward the stadium. Also, it will not take away funds from schools or roads.

As for the 10 percent tax on sports memorabilia, have you seen the prices of these items? An autographed picture costs $30; sweatshirts, $50; jackets, $100. Cards range from a few cents to hundreds of dollars. I see more adults in these stores than children. If children can afford a $50 sweatshirt or a $100 jacket, they can afford an extra $5-$10.

I would rather pay a little extra at a sports shop than lose the region’s only professional football team. Benjamin J. Johnson Spokane

LANGUAGE POLICY

Twain’s wisdom adaptable locally

In reading your March 23 editorial about the English-only statement of the Kootenai County commissioners, I am reminded that Mark Twain began a piece with, “Dear Reader, assume you are an idiot. Also assume that you are a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”

I believe that if the phrase “member of Congress” were replaced with “Kootenai County commissioner,” there would be no loss in the impact of the statement.

Finally, lest others protest that I, as a resident of Bonner County, have no standing to comment on Kootenai County officials, I readily admit that “Bonner” frequently can substitute for “Kootenai.” Max Bromberg Hope, Idaho

Human rights types the real villains

I applaud the Kootenai County commissioners’ recent decision to adopt English as the official county language. I am appalled, however, at the actions of human rights activists who tried to turn this simple resolution into a media event.

Idaho has become known as a racist state more through the actions of human rights activists than anything the Aryans have done. It is difficult to tell if human rights activists are for or against human rights. They give lip service to human rights but their actions only serve to bolster bigotry. When will they learn that bad press for the Aryans is good press for the Aryans. What bad press they have received from the human rights activists they never could have achieved on their own.

I was born in Dalton Gardens and have lived here all my life. I’ve never lost a minute of sleep in fear of the Aryans. I am, however, afraid to tell people where I am from as I travel the country. The media hysteria created by pseudo-human rights activists has damaged me far more than bigotry ever has. I don’t lock my door because of Aryans; I lock it because of burglars.

I suggest human rights activists spend their time and energy saving lives by getting drunken drivers off the road, but then again, please don’t.

I’d rather Idaho not be known as a state full of drunks. Marvin Erickson Hayden, Idaho

Resolution applies only to documents

One factor to consider in the recent English-only resolution in Kootenai County is the extent of foreign words we utilize in our every day vocabulary, e.g. “chauffeur,” “menagerie,” “hors d’oeuvre,” “ad infinitum,” “adios,” “padre,” “pasta,” “macho,” “aloha,” etc. Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Arabic words and sayings are common in our supposedly English vocabulary and culture.

The statement “esto perpetua” stands out proudly on our great Seal of the State of Idaho. On every $1 bill we see “annuit coeptis” and “novos ordo seclorum” printed. The inscription “e plurus unum” on every 25-cent coin. My guess is that at least 95 percent of the U.S. citizenry could not decipher these words, although the words are so commonly represented.

The English-only resolution seeks only to eliminate the countless printings of government forms, documents, ballots, applications, etc., in languages other than English. All of us are perfectly free to converse with others in any language we so choose, whether in public or in our own homes. There is no attempt in the resolution to curb speech.

During my school days, it was customary to take a foreign language to qualify for college entrance. The ability to speak a foreign language, in addition to standard English, has always been viewed as an asset by most people and considered another sign of an educated person. Dick Wandrocke Coeur d’Alene

Tilting at windmills is wasteful

It was my impression that, when running for office, Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin ran on a less-government, lower-taxes platform. It is with great disdain I find this alleged fiscal conservative wasting the time and precious money of Kootenai County taxpayers.

He’s done this by pursuing yet another pointless promotion of the 1 Percent Initiative that voters statewide have repeatedly rejected. He has thus focused his energy and attention statewide, rather than at home.

He’s also done it by proposing the pointless establishment of English as the official language of Kootenai County.

I say pointless because English is the de facto official language of Kootenai County; it is the language used to maintain all county records and I have heard of no proposals to the contrary.

Rankin raises the specter of the Francophone separatism of Quebec, neglecting to tell us that the Canadian Constitution guarantees language rights for the Quebecois - that’s part of their law, not ours.

Custom, tradition, history - all have combined to give us a great nation that uses English for official business. Why waste our time and money on Rankin’s personal issues?

Rankin, quit wasting my tax dollars. Do what you were voted into office to do - trim waste, not create it. Sid Rogel Coeur d’Alene

Also adopt the true native language

In light of the wisdom shown by our Kootenai County commissioners, rendering English our official language of government, I propose the following resolution:

Whereas, since Coeur d’Alene’s language, better known as Snchitsu’umshtsn, is indigenous to this region, having been spoken here since time immemorial by the First Peoples, and we wish to celebrate this heritage,

Whereas, since Snchitsu’umshtsn is the language of, and gives aesthetic meaning to, the region’s unique forms of song, dance and costume and we wish to celebrate our region’s rich artistic diversity,

Whereas, since Snchitsu’umshtsn embodies such moral and cultural values as empathy, generosity and kinship toward other human beings and the environment, and we seek to be a moral people,

Whereas, since a portion of Kootenai County lies within the boundaries of the Coeur d’Alene Nation,

And whereas, since the Coeur d’Alene People had to endure a history of forced assimilation in which Englishonly was an official policy, and they were punished for speaking Snchitsu’umshtsn,

Therefore, be it resolved that the official historical, aesthetic and moral language of Kootenai County is Snchitsu’umshtsn.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear our elected leaders conversing in both English and Snchitsu’umshtsn, as they conduct government affairs in English and consider moral issues in Snchitsu’umshtsn? This could give new meaning to that old expression, “White man speak with forked tongue.”

Or would it? Rodney Frey Coeur d’Alene

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