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Letters for June 30, 2006

The relevance of family units

Firearms are no more lethal now than they were decades ago. Semi-automatic firearms have been around for more than a century. So has the 9mm cartridge. Magazines with capacities greater than 10 rounds are nothing new either. Many youngsters own firearms and use them for recreation. None of these items are responsible for the mass shootings we’ve had in the past two decades. Passing more unconstitutional gun laws will only serve criminals while disarming and making vulnerable victims of law abiding citizens.

The problem is the breakdown of the family. The Uvalde shooter was raised without a father. A few months ago, he left his drug addict mother to live with his grandmother before the shooting.

The Parkland shooter was adopted and then lost his father when he was 6 years old. He later lost his mother and had to move in with friends. His loss of family apparently upset him.

The Sandy Hook shooter’s parents divorced when he was 16. The shooter did his damage 3 years later.

These and similar troubled people needed or need help. Guns are simply tools, sometimes misused. If guns didn’t exist, we could be looking at fertilizer bombs, pipe bombs, or some other weapon.

David Wordinger

Medical Lake

Roe v. Wade

Welcome to The Theocracy.

The Supreme Court is the Taliban.

Get busy sewing those burqas, ladies.

This is the War on Women.

Audrey Hoffmann

St. Maries

Constitutional rollback

After overturning Roe v Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas “cites rulings dealing with contraceptives, same sex relationships, and same sex marriage in need of reconsideration.” Has he also thought of reconsidering Loving v. Virginia? How about Brown v. Board of Education? Then, there’s that pesky 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Once you’ve put the car in reverse, why stop at 1973?

Steve Sauser

Spokane

Religious freedom and health care privacy

Members and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have recognized for decades that there are rare instances in which the medical procedure of dilation and curettage is not contrary to our beliefs. With Roe v. Wade overturned, many states will consider women of my faith criminals and even felons as they receive necessary medical care and adhere to their religious practice. As a husband, parent, physician assistant and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I’m grateful for a state that respects the privacy and religious freedom of women, and facilitates the safe practice of medicine.

Travis Hunt

Greenacres

Women’s rights

Fellas, we’d fight to the death defending our medical rights and privacy from government interference. And yet, men who claim to be stalwart champions of individual liberty and limited government are lining up around the nation to implement unconscionably intrusive laws controlling women’s medical rights and privacy, all under the ludicrous guise they are defending the unborn. Balderdash!

The unborn are not legally recognized citizens with rights to defend. And nature, or God if you prefer, literally and irrefutably put child bearing women in charge of the unborn. You are entitled to hold your religious beliefs, but the First Amendment explicitly prevents our secular government at any level from enforcing them upon others. To suggest otherwise is a hypocritical and un-American betrayal of the very liberty you righteously defend for yourself. You are free to loathe abortion, and to that end I highly recommend you undergo a vasectomy to take responsibility for your potential role in causing one. But make no mistake, it’s her body, it’s her right, it’s her choice. Don’t tread on her!

Thomas Samuels

Longview

On parenting

I am the stay-at-home parent for the sweetest 2½ year-old you could ever meet. It is a dream come true, one I’ve worked toward my entire life. We do everything together and I cannot imagine a life without him. He’s kind, wickedly intelligent, and loves to tickle flowers.

He’s also certifiably insane.

Every surface in our home has been decorated with marker and crayon. Every room is its own jungle gym. Sometimes he forgets the tickle part of tickling flowers and instead just wrenches the entire plant from the ground, laughing maniacally.

As much as I love being a parent, I would never wish parenthood on anyone who did not want it. Like many millennials, I’ve worked multiple jobs in multiple industries. Full-time caregiver for a toddler is harder and more stressful than any of them, by a long shot. By the time bedtime rolls around, I’m exhausted, cranky, and so incredibly sore. This kid has never seen professional wrestling, but he’d give The Rock a run for his money. From 5 a.m.-7 p.m. every day, I am my kid’s training dummy.

I am astonishingly lucky to be in my position. I have wonderful family support, the space to actually house a child, and a healthy, happy kid. In a just world, every birth would have a similar story: people with the means, desire, and ability to care for a child. That is not the case. This Supreme Court ruling is solely about control over women.

Erik Lowe

Spokane

Protect the rights of children after they’re born

May all those who have advocated for unborn babies be consistent and protect the rights of children after they’re born. A right to life also includes supporting policies and programs for those who are the most vulnerable to easily access health care, nutrition programs, child care, early childhood education, school and gun safety, affordable housing, and mental health services. Let’s also promote a livable wage and support services for mothers to economically provide for their infants as they grow up.

As a retired parent educator, I am deeply concerned about the mental well-being of children who will innately sense that they weren’t wanted but their mother was legally forced to birth them. Especially in cases of rape, incest, being a teenager, or other stressful circumstances that led to their pregnancy, I worry about the emotional capacity of a mother to adequately nurture these babies throughout their life.

A right to life is more than legally protecting the unborn, it is also supporting and funding legislative policies to protect life across the lifespan after these babies are born.

Susie Leonard Weller

Liberty Lake

Chris Jordan

As a Court Appointed Special Advocate for the past six years I have worked with Chris Jordan in his role as assistant attorney general in the Spokane Juvenile Court System. My role as a CASA is done as a volunteer and I strive to keep abused and neglected children safe, monitoring their home situation and striving to reunify the children with their families. I found Chris to share these goals for the children we represented, an exemplary advocate for children. The CASA is the “voice of the child” and speaks for what is in the best interest of the child. Chris consistently respected my role as a CASA, being a true example of a “team player” and one who comes to the table with a commitment to serve those that he represents.

I observed Chris to be intelligent, hard-working, and dedicated. He was very even-tempered even in the face of adversity, yet a determined, steadfast, and assertive proponent for the best interest of children. His compassion and empathy for children and parents showed him to be a true advocate for those in need.

In my experience, I have no doubt that if elected, Chris will bring his compassion, intelligence, work ethic, empathy, commitment, even temperament and advocacy for all to his role as County Commissioner District 1. To learn more about Chris consider this resource, www.chrisjordanforspokane.com and click on “Chris’ Story.”

Ellen Peller

Spokane

Two questions

In response to Mr. Jerry Sletvold’s letter to the editor titled “We face a bleak future” (June 24), in which he castigates the current U.S. President as being “inept” in handling inflation and the current shortages of goods, I have two questions. First, since inflation and spot shortages are global issues currently affecting nearly all nations, worldwide, can we assume as Mr. Sletvold obviously does, that the leaders of all the countries currently experiencing these problems are also “inept?” Would Mr. Sletvold agree that the more than $10 that Finnish consumers pay for a gallon of gasoline is the result of “ineptness” by the Finnish government? Second, what solutions have we heard to solving the problems cited by Mr. Sletvold from the other major political party in the U.S.? You know, the one currently without a formal policy platform.

Curious minds would like to know.

Phillip Brown

Spokane



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