Letters

I believe in Second Amendment rights and guns for hunting. Also I love to fish. If we would make dynamite legal, I could really net more fish. And if America would donate to "NDA" (National Dynamite Association), we could raise billions to buy politicians and votes.

I applaud the pious efforts of the Rev. Gen Heywood of the Veradale United Church of Christ in the Sept. 21 letter "Blood on altar again." The Rev. Heywood courageously spelled out how "the moral fiber of our country is rotting from the acid of greed, fear and insecure egos. We fear our neighbor, strong women, transgender people, gay people, foreign people and simply, most people. We place our faith in guns, not God."

I know no, how most of your audience feels about the horrible controversy which now prevails in the NFL and America. After 70 years of my loving professional football, I am divorcing the NFL. It is with sadness and disappointment that some of the most overpaid athletes among professional sports have found a venue to disrupt and spoil this American icon.

To the staff at The Spokesman-Review: you proved your point of Sheriff Knezovich with the Sept. 14 article on the front page of the Northwest section entitled, "A look at past school shootings in Washington."

I moved to Seattle in 1979, after accepting a position with General Telephone. I worked 31 years for them. We raised a daughter and observed the city as it turned from a semi- isolated, medium populated, family friendly city, into the nightmare it has become.

The Menlo Park-based Katerra Company from California is planning to open a new manufacturing facility in Spokane Valley making available 150 new jobs in the streamlining construction industry. Interesting enough, WSU helped develop the method being used. Cross-laminated timber has proven beneficial for cutting costs, construction time and overall beautification.

Regarding the Oct. 1 Debra J. Saunders column "Trump becoming own worst enemy": I would like to add my opinion.

The Bloomberg View editorial, (Sept. 28) on self-driving trucks, failed to tell the whole story. Robotic trucks will probably be on our roadways in three to five years. There are 13 million truck drivers in the United States. Potentially five to eight million medium- and long-haul truck drivers could lose their jobs and $750 billion of gross taxable income could be subtracted from our national economy.

Here we go again. People demanding a right they don't have. They're the DACA people. They have no more "right" to be American citizens than foster children have a "right" to be adopted by the foster family they may have lived with for years. It's even more "not right" to belligerently harass the foster family and insist they adopt them or be sued. They should cut out the histrionics and hyperbole, but most of all, stop making demands and using the "racist" slur.

Last month, The Review printed my letter about the lack of preventive maintenance for Spokane's streets. It's now October, the streets on the northeast side of town have not been cleaned and cracks are no longer sealed. Gravel from last winter sits on the streets, especially the hills. Dirt, debris, weeds and decaying plant material choke the gutters and storm drains.

When it comes time for the Spokane Valley citizens to vote, I hope they remember Rod Higgins and Ed Pace were part of the Spokane Valley Council members who fired then-city manager Mike Jackson behind closed doors and cost the taxpayers of the Valley about a half-million dollars.

In the last few months, the nation has had major forest fires, massive hurricanes and horrendous flooding costing billions. Weeks are required to just clean up much less repair or replace homes, businesses and infrastructure. The entire island of Puerto Rico may not get electricity or running water for months. All this destruction will have a total price tag that is not yet known.

Our poor Coach Leach is baffled about why thousands of athletes are expressing themselves, e.g., by taking the knee during the national anthem. Leach said in a televised interview, "I haven't gotten a real clear articulation of what's being protested or what's being objected to."

I stand corrected. I'll admit that from day one of President Trump's presidency, I did not believe he would fulfill his promise to unify this country. However, I must now place credit where credit is due.

I find it interesting that as many of us are watching Ken Burns' "The Vietnam War" film, we are once again conflicted over what it means to be patriotic. During our involvement in the Vietnam conflict, there were people opposed to our being there and especially the cost in human lives. The protests took many forms, some included the flag, and were often denounced as being unpatriotic – "love it leave it!"

Homelessness in Spokane limits economic growth and constrains use of downtown businesses and recreation, especially in visitor districts. As longtime locals, even we feel concern biking through our parks and encountering large homeless groups. Local leadership needs to ensure the safe use of our downtown for all, through enforcement, engagement and protection.

I attended Tom Ashbrook's "On Point" on Sept 22. The topics were wild fire and climate change. Given the topics, I was dismayed by the extent to which panelist Sue Lani Madsen disagreed with the basic premise that climate change is profoundly affected by human activity. She stated that the science does not support this claim and used such examples as a glass being filled with ice and water. She stated that when the ice melts, the water does not spill out of the glass. This argument, while amusing the crowd, was not a reasonable response to all the real science on this subject.

The narrative about Charlottesville violence has comfortably settled on the "both sides" explanation. Marilyn Gleeson makes the point in her Sept. 25 letter that the purpose of the Unite the Right rally was to protest the removal of statues.

The justifications for the Monroe street project are seriously flawed. Spokane has only four major north-south arterials, Nevada, Division, Maple and Monroe. To do anything to limit the capacity of any of these streets is irresponsible. Not only will it add tens of thousands of hours to the commute times of the drivers who use Monroe, but the increased congestion will contribute to air pollution throughout the corridor.