Letters To The Editor
KAISER STRIKE
Before knocking labor, read history
Please read, Lori Michels (Letters, Feb. 27, “Strikers should set good example”). Our libraries are rich in the history of the uncommon men and women of our country who have labored to raise themselves and others from the beast-of-burden, dawn-to-dark conditions of the past.
Your standard of living, i.e. the 40-hour work week, was paid for with the blood of workers shot and bludgeoned, with the bent backs and blinded eyes of children working in mines and mills. It was earned by soldiers turned out penniless when they were not needed to fight a war. The pit ponies of the British Isles were better treated and longer-lived than their human counterparts. The ponies went blind from years in the dark, but they were fed and tended and might live for 48 or 50 years. Not so the tiny children used to crawl into spaces too small for adults.
Many great American families of wealth derived that wealth from child labor in the mills of the New England states and the cotton gins of southern states. Immigrants were starved and abused in sweatshops and in building railroads and mines. The European feudal system tied people to the land they were born on, their lives forfeited to the whims of gentry. In no part of the world within the past known history could people begin to emulate our standard of living.
If the right to bargain for honest pay for honest work is lost, so is lost our way of life.
Sharon Agte Airway Heights Strikers don’t deserve public aid I must respond to the Feb. 23 article, “Volunteer help sent to Kaiser.” The statement in the second-to-last paragraph, “Union officials have been arranging what assistance they can find for workers who may need food stamps and financial or medical aid” really galls me.
I believe that these people should be thankful to have jobs. I do not work 12 months out of the year and pay taxes so that these nice folks can go on strike and collect food stamps and financial aid. If they want to strike, that is fine by me. But please, don’t use the taxpayers’ money to support strikers for a choice they make. Lanna L. Hammond Troy, Idaho
SPOKANE MATTERS
Youth violence out of hand
When will the violence end?
On Feb. 16, my friend’s son was beaten by a group of kids who were having a bad day. Why? What made these kids think the best and only way to handle the pain and grief of their friend’s death was to beat senseless another student? How could this happen in the middle of the day at school?
School should be a safe, nurturing place for youths. They shouldn’t fear going to school.
My friend’s son is broken. He can’t go to school because it may happen again. He can’t hang out with his friends because he could endanger their lives, too. He can’t study, act like a kid, or just be himself.
Not only is he a victim, but so is his family. His father can’t leave him at home alone, his mother can’t take care of her responsibilities, and even his sister is affected; she doesn’t want her brother to leave the house as something might happen to him. She can’t study. She’s worried for the whole family.
I feel for the kids who lost their friend, their teammate. But does that give them the right to beat, hurt and possibly kill? No. No one has the right to hurt another. No one has the right to destroy another’s spirit.
Work your anger, hurt and confusion out in constructive ways. Talk to your parents, family, pastor, teachers, counselors - just talk. Violence will not ease the hurt, it will only create more. Diann Dennis Spokane
Rally turned into sorry spectacle
I am appalled by the (Feb. 24) article describing the rally held to express support for the counselor at Chase Middle School. It appears that a meeting to discuss purported racism in the school turned into a feeding frenzy of slanderous accusations against school officials.
As a parent of a student at Chase, I have always been impressed with the caliber of both the teaching and the administrative staff. If parents have concerns about how their children are treated at the school, they have a responsibility to address that issue in a timely manner with the school directly. Hurling these types of accusations in a public forum at which school officials cannot defend their actions is inappropriate and does not teach children how to solve problems in the real world.
In addition, I had the experience a couple of months ago of attending a reception for honor roll students at Chase Middle School. Dr. Harding-Thomas emceed the program. He was ill prepared and could barely pronounce the names of many of the children on the honor roll list. This made a program intended to honor these hardworking students a very painful and embarrassing experience for their parents.
Perhaps this counselor’s problems at the school stem less from institutional racism, as he puts it, than from his own lack of professionalism. Jan Frazier Spokane
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Canadians don’t need Clinton advice
President Clinton’s liturgy on national unity, presented to the Canadian Parliament, was nothing more than an attempt to influence the vote on a referendum scheduled to be placed on the ballot in the Province of Quebec, where he has no residency or citizenship and holds no elected office. While the question of sovereignty for Quebec is indeed a general concern for the Canadian people and a specific concern for the people of Quebec, it is not within the purview of the president of the United States.
Like it or not, President Clinton and the American people would all be better served if he would concentrate his efforts on meeting the needs of the citizens of this country, and leave the internal political affairs of Canada in the capable hands of Canada’s own citizens. Scott Leyland Spokane
Clinton crowd has way with money
The unifying trait of various folks in the Clinton administration is a knack for making money in unexpected places.
First, take Hillary’s $100,000 killing in commodities, in which she had only a grand of her own money at risk. One mathematician calculated her odds of doing that as less than one in a billion.
Then, take Webster Hubbell’s admitted rip-off of his law partners, resulting in his resignation from the No. 2 job at Justice. Recently, Mike Espy resigned as secretary of agriculture amidst allegations of accepting illegal gratuities.
Now comes the news that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown raked in $400,000 from his ownership of a company in which he made no substantial investment and which never made any money.
Of all the shysters and con men in this administration, my favorite is the president himself. Who but Clinton would think of deducting two bucks a pop for underwear donated to charity?
It is alleged that various Little Rock big shots, including Clinton, plundered the Madison Guarantee Savings and Loan, resulting in a bankruptcy bailed out by U.S. taxpayers to the tune of more than $50 million. That’s normal graft.
Deducting underwear donated to charity is far more ingenious. Even in Little Rock, one suspects, it would stand out. It marks intellect and avarice of exceptional caliber. Clinton, it appears, is world class after all. G.L. Nelson Colbert
Not just any budget cuts will do
On Feb. 25, John V. Gregory (Letters, “Downsize House, CIA, State”) came up with some interesting ideas for cutting the budget.
Specifically, he suggested cuts in the State Department, the CIA and the House of Representatives, calling each body unproductive and bloated.
The State Department is America’s link to the rest of the world. To say that it is unimportant is to ignore the fact that America is only one nation in the global community. The State Department is responsible for carrying out foreign policy. Cut that and America’s global effectiveness suffers.
Why do we need the CIA? Why do we need eyes and ears? The CIA is America’s information gatherer. It never rests in its task of keeping the United States in touch with the world. In the past, it wasn’t tightly controlled. Now that its responsibilities have been defined and its power restricted, it does its job better. The CIA is unpopular because when it works perfectly, nobody can find out. But where would we be if the CIA hadn’t found the Cuban missiles?
Cutting the number of representatives down to 100 is not an option. Each member of the House already represents 600,000 people. A cut would mean that each would speak for 2.6 million. There are other ways to trim the legislative branch without losing touch with the people.
We need to cut the budget, but we need to do it wisely. Paul Stimers Spokane
Liberal view kaleidoscopic
The liberal Democrats are truly amazing.
How’s that?
Well, first they support Dr. Henry Foster and Bill Clinton, both men who seem to be strangers to the truth. Yet they oppose Oliver North, a man who lied to Congress.
They say a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution would be wrong because the Constitution is too precious a document to change or amend. Yet they tread on the constitutional right to keep and bear arms with the new crime bill and the Brady law.
They promote evolution, a doctrine whose prime theme is the survival of the fittest, but they cry alligator tears at the thought of losing a species.
I’m not trying to take sides here but, come on guys, make up your minds. Craig Jensen Sandpoint
Government purpose misunderstood
Dan Davidson (Letters, Feb. 25) says we elect politicians to help us find ways out of poverty, not into it.
Wrong, Mr. Davidson. We elected Rep. George Nethercutt to keep the federal government from taxing us into poverty, which is what has been happening for so many years.
It’s up to you to find your way out of poverty, not the government.
Sheikh Dawud Ahmad Springdale, Wash.
Public broadcasting plays vital role I am dismayed over recent proposals to eliminate federal support of public broadcasting.
The artistic health of a nation is said to reflect that nation’s psychological and spiritual health. Public radio and television are a vital part of our artistic health. If the arts were left to fend for themselves in a market economy, what is popular might be the sole criterion for quality in the arts.
In addition to celebrating the arts, public broadcasting encourages the free exchange of ideas and seeks to broaden the viewpoints of its viewers and listeners. It promotes inquiry by questioning received ideas and offers an alternative to media that are subject to commercial and corporate interests.
Let us hope we are not entering an era in which qualities such as those of public broadcasting are considered subversive. Kendall Feeney Spokane
Urge funding for public broadcasting
Well, (House Speaker Newt) Gingrich has finally spoken his mind about public broadcasting. He apparently has said that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not public broadcasting, (that) Rush Limbaugh is public broadcasting.
He has also stated that public broadcasting funding is dead; the game is over.
I ask, will Limbaugh produce educational science shows such as “Nova” and “Newton’s Apple”? Will he produce in-depth commercial-free news shows like the “MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour,” “Wall Street Week” or the “Nightly Business Report”? Will he produce quality children’s programming designed to educate?
This is clearly not a matter of dollars; it is a matter of ideology. The public dollars spent on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting amount to one wing of a B-1 bomber!
The decision making on whether to fund public broadcasting is happening now. Write or phone your federal representatives today if you want any intelligent alternatives to commercial television and radio. Tony MacLeod Sagle, Idaho
WASHINGTON STATE
Hearing tilted one way
Voter fraud - HB 1477 - was on the pubic testimony agenda to be heard by the Government Operations Committee, so I went to Olympia to take part in “the public testimony” along with others from around the state. Also being heard was HB 1236, which would allow absentee ballots to be opened 10 days before election day.
Thirty-eight minutes were allotted to state workers, “my employees” who favored HB 1236, and eight minutes to the public, which favored HB 1477. HB 1477 would prevent absentee ballots from being opened before the polls close, while HB 1236 would allow it.
It was discovered that more attendees opposed HB 1236. They were given just three minutes to speak. Only three citizens spoke; one minute each to testify in favor of HB 1477. This gave the appearance of placing greater importance on getting the results to the news media over protecting the security of the absentee ballot. The employee (the committee) gave no consideration to the employer (the voter). I would be summarily punished were I so disrespectful to my employer.
This is just one of many reasons the “voting” public has so little regard for the government “employee.” Sufficient time should be allotted at public hearings to allow all who wish to speak a chance to do so, with equal time available to both sides.
Such tricks cause anger but fail to discourage many of us from participating in our government process. Public servants, be forewarned: you can be fired. Connie M. Smith, executive director United We Stand America - Washington, Spokane
Special education change wrong
Legislation being considered in Olympia may undercut special education programs. As the parent of a special education student in East Valley School District, I am deeply concerned.
The proposed legislation would limit the number of special-ed students districts would be funded for. State mandates would still require local districts to provide current services and identify and place any students who would benefit from them in the special-ed programs - all this required without funding. I foresee a great impact on children in current or future programs if this passes.
Those in special-ed range from a child who needs a little help reading to children with multiple serious handicaps.
If you are concerned with the future of special education, I encourage you to become more informed by contacting the director of special education in your district. Lance Morehouse Spokane
Case reveals fair-weather friends
That women’s rights activist groups are not defending their friend, Gov. Mike Lowry, is disappointing. They have no stronger champion, nor will they ever, yet they allow him to be brought down by rumor and innuendo.
If they abandon their old friend and ally, who will they have left? They might want to ponder this question because if they do not support their friends, why would anyone be motivated to be their friend?
It’s also disappointing that the press seems to be putting a spin on this lack of support to imply that these women, including those who have recently resigned from his staff, must know something the rest of us don’t and therefore, that he must be guilty. This is especially so since these news analysts (in this case David Ammons of the Associated Press) cannot imagine a possible motive for the female accusers.
We suggest there are many possible motives why a person might falsely accuse a person in high office. We further suggest all speculation be withheld until these matters can be sorted out under appropriate circumstances. Jim and Jeannie Schroeder Spokane
LAW AND JUSTICE
Too-eager enforcement spells trouble
Concerning the “botched drug bust” article (Feb. 23), this is a prime example of law enforcement in Lincoln County - or elsewhere, as far as that’s concerned - assuming so much on so little.
To top it off, the judge involved couldn’t recall why he had authorized the search. And then to think that they thought a boarded-up basement window, a viciouslooking dog and an informant, supposedly a juvenile who apparently didn’t know the facts, was probable cause for a search warrant.
It seems law enforcement people sometimes get so anxious to make a bust that they forget about people’s rights and dignity.
I realize officers have stressful, dangerous jobs. I just feel they should slow down a little and do some prudent, thorough checking before they terrorize innocent people such as Ken and Karen Olds. D.M. Olson Spokane
Wrongful busts too common
The story of what happened to Ken and Karen Olds would be laughable if not so common. Anyone can be suspected of growing marijuana. You only have to be a suspicious character.
Maybe you are of a certain race. Maybe you wear a bandanna. Maybe you own a dog. Maybe you carry cash. Maybe you look nervous. Maybe you look calm. Maybe you use a pay phone. Maybe you drive the wrong kind of car. Maybe you own a gun. Maybe you bought grow-lights at the local nursery. Or, maybe your neighbor’s kid is a graduate of the DARE program. Janice Moerschel Spokane