Letters To The Editor

MEDIA

Media should be ashamed

Shame on you and all the other newspapers for printing the cartoon of O.J. Simpson driving a hearse rent-a-car. Shame on all the news media for condemning O.J. Simpson. Shame on the news media for wanting to do nothing but cash in on a tragic event.

Shame on the news media for forgetting the principles that this nation was built upon. And even more shame to the news media for staining the graves of those who have died so that we the living can enjoy our freedoms. To me you have violated those brave people beyond belief.

Whether or not O.J. Simpson is guilty is to be decided in a court of law. He is to be tried by his peers in that court; he is not to be lynched by you or any other news media. I can only hope that you as a responsible newspaper can make a front-page apology for printing that cartoon.

Robert Badinski Spokane

The alternative is much worse

Over the last couple of weeks several editorials and letters to the editor have admonished the press with respect to their actions regarding the Fairchild double tragedy and the O.J. Simpson murder arrest. Some have suggested that the press should be limited in some fashion.

I would like to defend the media as it exists.

We live in a supposedly free society and we enjoy a constitutional guarantee of free speech. Yes, there are limits to this right and there exist methods of recourse when someone goes too far. If someone interferes with an official investigation, they risk criminal charges of obstruction. If someone defames or slanders someone, the injured party can bring charges before a civil court.

Most people living in this world do not enjoy these liberties.

In most cases, the press is tightly controlled by the government, e.g. Pravda, the “newspaper” of the former Soviet Union.

A free, competitive and energetic press provides us with an abundance of information - some would say an overabundance.

I would agree that the result of this process is often tacky and sometimes disgusting, but it beats the heck out of the alternative. Besides, if I am offended by what I see on television, well, there’s always the off switch. Gordon Clausen Greenacres

Who would save this clipping?

I agree with Bud Johnson’s (July 7) letter about the article praising Senior Airman Andrew Philip Brown. I thought it was a disgrace. Airman Brown did a wonderful thing and the first thing we read is that he is a “babyfaced” bicycle cop. I am sure he and his parents would like to keep articles telling about his heroic deed, but I doubt if they’ll want to save that one.

Lois Bender Spokane

FIREARMS

Second Amendment in danger

Managing editor Chris Peck’s thoughtful, objective column. “Gun control isn’t the total answer” (July 3) was much appreciated.

Despite the shrill propaganda from several local gun haters, millions of gun owners are about as dangerous as your average golfer.

One valid point about “assault rifles” has been entirely overlooked. The Second Amendment protects us from events like the Holocaust. And modern military-style rifles, mislabeled as “assault rifles,” remain the best tools against tyranny. Is that the real reason why they’re being banned?

George Wilson (Letters, July 2) is wrong to dismiss the wisdom of this nation’s founders and assert that oppression is not possible in many places. Jefferson and Paine would have quickly refuted such dangerous logic.

But, it’s all moot. With the radical left owning and operating the White House, Congress, the media and the anti-gun lobby, the Second Amendment is about to go the way of the dinosaur. That’s too bad, because our entire Bill of Rights has been purchased at a high price.

In the wake of celebrating this Fourth of July, we need to reflect on and be thankful for all of our freedoms, including the right to keep and bear arms. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.

Gun control column honest

Chris Peck’s July 3 column is probably the most intellectually honest article about gun control I’ve ever read. Be it a surgeon’s scalpel or a knife in the hands of a murderer, a policeman’s service pistol or a shotgun used to commit a robbery or worse, life is full of apparent contradictions and gun ownership is no exception.

As Peck points out, the ideology of gun control ignores the root causes of crime, violence and insanity. Guns are not society’s most pressing problem. People who cannot or will not function cooperatively in our society are the problem. It is they on whom we should expend our considerable energies.

Peck brings up another point not often discussed. I have never heard a serious discussion of how the millions of various types of guns would be removed from our midst. The answer is distasteful. Imagine a police force with sweeping authority to go house by house, building by building, car by car. They would need no warrants since the action would be by federal mandate. While they’re at it they could look for illegal drugs, stolen property, hatepromoting literature, Bibles, anti-government propaganda or anything else they deemed as harmful to the good of the people.

And what of the black market? We can’t seem to stop the flow of cocaine into this country. I have little faith that we could stop the import of illegal arms.

I echo Peck’s closing thought: We need to deal with the people who hurt our society and themselves.

Bill Campbell Cheney

Worry about freedom to survive

Change occurs slowly in a democracy. Sometimes these changes are painfully slow for fear of losing our personal freedoms. How many lives must be lost before we accept the fact that the ability to purchase an assault weapon is not one of those freedoms?

There will always be disturbed people and disgruntled employees who are out for revenge. We cannot change human nature. Someone with a calculated plan of destruction will not be deterred by a five-day waiting period. We have to make it impossible for these people to obtain weapons that can create such mass carnage.

I am more worried about my personal freedom to survive in this country without being the victim of a stray bullet. Perhaps we should not be talking about universal health care, but the universal issuance of bullet-proof vests. Kenneth M. Mondal Spokane

Target the criminals, not guns

Many of the letters to the editor on gun control have failed to grasp the true problem behind gun crime. It is not large-capacity magazines or scary plastic stocks, it is not a bayonet lug or flash suppressor that kills people. It is a lunatic or a professional criminal who uses the gun to harm society.

Let’s put the criminal to death or in jail. Seventy-five percent of all crime is committed by repeat offenders. By making the sentence for a gun crime at least 25 years for criminals 16 years of age or older, they could be removed from society long enough to allow them to rethink their chosen way of life and to protect those of us who obey the law.

As for lunatics like Dean Mellberg, if members of the psychiatric community would do their part and have them declared mentally incompetent in a court of law, all of the wasted laws would finally have some value to society.

The U.S. Constitution states that the people have a right to bear arms, just as they have a right to free speech, a fair trial and an elected government. It does not give you a right to car. Just as people desire state-of-the-art TVs, stereos and home appliances, or dangerously fast motorcycles, cars or boats, they also desire the finest in firearms. If used in a proper manner by responsible people, a gun is just as safe and enjoyable as any other tool.

Eric Schaffer Spokane

AROUND SPOKANE

Bridge work going slow

I would like to know why it is taking so long to finish the bridge on Ft. Wright Drive. They finished the floating bridge over Lake Washington in half the time. Considering the size and complexity difference, there has to be something wrong somewhere.

Carl Sperr Spokane

Cousins at fourth-grade level

Curses! Disappointed again! As a schoolteacher, I sometimes get to the point where I think I have heard it all with respect to odd, unconventional or downright irrational excuses for someone’s behavior or lack of it. You know, like “The dog ate my homework.” Or, “My math book must have had different numbers for that problem than the rest of the class.” Or, “I hit him (or her) because he (or she) won’t let me have the purple Frisbee.”

Now along comes Jay Cousins and pops the balloon of this smug idea of mine. I’m going to have to add his They didn’t plant the trees where I wanted, so they should sell their golf courses to my list.

It should fit right about in the middle at the fourthgrade level. It’s pretty creative and shows some imagination, even though it doesn’t make any sense.

Lynn R. Jones Spokane

Hotel buyers were had

I’d like to offer my deepest sympathy to the buyers of the Davenport Hotel. It’s probably too late to let them know they’ve been had. It might not be too much solace to them to know the taxpaying citizens feel the same way.

It would be nice to think the businesses and city officials concerned would retrieve their integrity enough to honor their commitments.

Maybe in China it isn’t, but here in Spokane it’s the year of the dog. Margaret Schuster Spokane

POLITICS

Who’s the real conservative?

The congressional race for Washington’s 5th District promises to be the “one to watch” with at least two candidates contending for the Republican nomination.

One of those candidates, George Nethercutt, claims to represent the more conservative majority of the party. Really?

It is no secret that Nethercutt has long represented the more liberal faction, often suppressing the very same interests that he now wants to represent. Another amazing political transformation.

The Spokesman-Review recently commented that Nethercutt and Foley have “similar opinions” on several issues, so why vote for Nethercutt when one could vote for the Speaker of the House? Another liberal’s liberal.

We need a leader with an established conservative record. One who contrasts from the current liberal thinking. One who represents all the interests of this community and the Republican Party.

Duane Alton is that candidate with the proven, successful conservative record. Alton has the vision to carry Washington’s interests through this necessary transition without jeopardizing our political clout.

There is much excitement and energy generating for the elections this fall, but let’s make sure we choose the candidate with the proven experience - not the first one to announce.

J. Scott Maclay Spokane

Limit campaigns, not terms

You had two excellent editorials on July 1 concerning term limits. I identify mostly with the comments by Doug Floyd regarding the gimmick of tying our hands so we don’t do wrong. We already have the means to do right, so an artificial restriction is a cop-out way to get the job done.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t address the fact that besides civic duty, initiative and activism, running for office also takes money. The incumbent has the advantage in this regard by cultivating the special-interest groups that will keep him/her in office.

Instead of term limits, my simple solution is to let the incumbents run as often as they want to, but prohibit them from campaigning for the seat they hold. Give them the first position spot on the ballot and a small percentage advantage in plurality. Let the challengers spend money, if they want to do so. The franking privilege is enough advantage for the incumbents.

I agree that the entrenched bureaucrats are the real source of “government as usual,” even though new faces appear in the leadership roles. It might be a very fair question to ask current challengers, “If elected, will you dismiss the current office staff for your office and start with all new people?

Richard T. Brown Spokane

We need a science center

Science is one of the major attributes of a leading society. Especially in our fast-evolving society of today, in which technology may be obsolete in months or just a few years.

Trips to Seattle with my children have always included the wonderful displays and hands-on science at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center. They provide excellent presentations to make science “fun.” If we need scientists and a strongly science- oriented population to be a leading society, then we must tap children’s natural curiosity at a young age and make science interesting and fun.

Let’s make the Pacific Science Center in the Pavilion a reality.

James Albi Spokane