IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Storms response praiseworthy

December’s storms caused major damage in our area, especially on the 11th and 12th. The four highway districts in Kootenai County worked all night with other agencies to repair the damage.

We want to thank these organizations for their help. The sheriff’s deputies and the fire department cut trees and closed roads until help arrived and the roads were open again.

The Idaho Department of Transportation was out clearing trees and patrolling roads. The cities’ street departments did all they could to clear streets of debris and put signs back in place.

Agencies handled downed power lines safely and stayed in problem areas until Washington Water Power Co. and Kootenai Electric could get to each place and repair lines.

No one was injured during this emergency situation. Again, we thank everyone involved. Herb L. Heisel, president Associated Highway Districts of Kootenai County

SPOKANE MATTERS

Fire free spenders and start over

When are the good citizens of this city going to wake up and realize that what we have running this city are nothing but a liberal bunch of money hungry wage increasers, while they are cutting back the wages and cutting jobs of the ones who protect us?

You woke up to the fact that the liberal Democrats ran this country into the ground, so you spoke up and voted the Republicans in to straighten the mess out. Now that they are trying, you are bellyaching at how they are going about it.

It is time for you to wake up and decide, do you want a debt-free country or one in a depression? That’s where we are heading, government-wise and city-wise.

I say get rid of the city manager, the City Council and find one honest person for mayor who will work for the good of the citizens and the city. Put the money saved into police and firefighters. Harry M. Davidson Spokane

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Smokers deny harsh reality

Regarding a smoking ban in restaurants, I can see from the letters by people still choosing to smoke how hard it is to look at what cigarettes really are. They are an addictive drug. So smokers need to face the fact that they are drug addicts, and that’s hard to look at since it’s legal.

So I can see why, if I were a smoker, I would need to justify and defend my choice, because to face the truth would be very painful. Dick Silk Spokane

Commissioners rightly put health first

Public health is a primary concern for the Spokane County Medical Society. As medical professionals, we are vitally concerned with the effects of grass field burning on the pulmonary health of our patients. We applaud the courage of county commissioners Steve Hasson and John Roskelley in placing the health interests of the citizens above the economic interests of the grass growers. John G. Gollhofer, M.D., president Spokane County Medical Society

Influenza Type-A is treatable

I would like to take this chance to point out an error in your Dec. 22 story, “Flu cases hitting the hardest in Northwest.”

The story was right, we were seeing a large number of Influenza Type-A cases in November. But it was wrong in saying, “… because there’s nothing you can do to treat it. …” Because this is Influenza Type-A there’s a specific, very effective treatment. This treatment only works on Influenza-A. The two drugs used are Amantadine, and the newest, Flumadine (rimantadine). Both drugs are effective. Flumadine has the fewest side effects.

For background, most people who get “the flu” are quite ill for about a week. Symptoms include muscle aches, fever (102 degrees or greater), headache, sore throat and a deep, productive cough. Though most people will survive, this is quit an unpleasant experience, frequently resulting in lost time at work.

This illness becomes very severe when it attacks the elderly, the chronically ill, the very young or those whose immune system is compromised. The latter category includes cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and people who have AIDS. Among people in the aforementioned groups, there’s a high mortality rate during flu season. The sooner treatment is begun, the fewer complications there will be.

I reiterate, this treatment works only for Influenza-A. It won’t help the common cold, which is also going around.

Working in an emergency department, we saw the peak incidence in November, but I expect a resurgence after the Christmas break, when school is back in session. John Hunter, PA-C Spokane

RELIGION

Church is not about democracy

It wounds and hurts me to read words such as those expressed by Maurice B. Couchon (“Catholic Church unfair to women,” Letter, Dec. 6) regarding the Vatican and women priests.

The trouble with so many of us is that we think entirely too much about me. We think that God thinks like us little human beings. We expect God to do things our way.

The Catholic church was never intended to be run as a democracy. That would put us in charge, with our foggy thinking. Why can’t we accept and obey God’s teaching? Why do we keep talking about equal rights? Equal rights isn’t the question. Men and women were created different, with different strengths and different work to do. Why is it so hard to see and accept that?

Mother Teresa is happy and content in doing what she does - God’s direction for her. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was content with her job, being the mother of God. Is there any woman’s job anywhere that could hold a candle to that? How could a priest, who stands as another Christ, be anything other than a man, Christ being the son of God, not a daughter?

Let’s face it, folks, our egos and our pride is at the root of all this dissension. Wasn’t it pride and ego that messed everything up in the first place, in the Garden of Eden? Rose M. Zieja Osburn

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

‘Polak’ OK with us

As a lifelong Polak, I appreciate William E. Sweikert’s spirited defense of our people. Our family has always made reference to ourselves as Polish, or Polaks (pronounced Pole-locks), never as Poles, until these politically correct times re-educated us as to who we really are.

As to his Theosophical Society history, Madam H.P. Blavatsky founded the society in 1875. Besant and Wilmhurst were indeed active members. However, Franklin died in 1770, Voltaire in 1778, Fredrick the Great in 1786 and Jefferson in 1826.

The first Grand Lodge of Freemasonry was founded in London in 1717, upon older traditions. Jacques DeMolay, the 22nd and final grand master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake in Paris on March 18, 1314. There is no evidence that he considered himself a member of any society or order but the Catholic Church and Templars. Ronald A. Paczosa Grand Coulee