Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Then there are the wage stranglers

In response to Frank Bartel’s July 26 column, “Paltry wages, higher living costs drive up poverty”: A new company came to town in November 1994. Volt came to Spokane to represent Hewlett-Packard with its temporary work force. What happened?

No new jobs were created. Existing jobs have had wages trimmed by as much as 30 percent. The job I had at Hewlett-Packard paid $9.26 an hour. The same job now pays $7.15 an hour.

The community should thank Volt and wish Hewlett-Packard continued financial success.

Andrew Rankis Spokane

Our money filled in big hole

The big question is: Who wanted the Spokane Transit Authority center built?

The voters? No. The business community? It was divided. Riders were never even surveyed to determine their needs or opinions. Yet, an $11 million project became a $21 million memorial to a select few.

In the early 1980s, some community visionaries passed a transit tax for STA efficiency. Today we see the excesses of this fund have filled a great hole with what one seasoned rider commented after going inside, “It’s a whole lot of nothing.”

Maybe it’s time the public be allowed to revisit continued funding of this transit tax, or at least demand some accountability.

But the absolute best response to the new STA block can be summed up by a comment from a middle-aged businesswoman on the bus: “It’s an awfully expensive building to stand outside of to catch a bus.” Carl Archer Spokane

Speed sign lack not the worst of it

In answer to “Traffic sign policy lacking” (Letters, July 26):

If you people would only open your eyes and look around when stopped at a light you would notice more than the big D Zone sign at Division and Ruby downtown. As you drive north on Ruby there are signs on the corners telling what shops are available by turning left.

I figure by your letter you’re a lifetime resident, so you should know what the speed limits are on all major streets. Why are you whining about the lack of speed limit signs? I look for them everywhere I drive, and obey them. I believe the continued use of the 30 mph speed limit is to protect you and fellow drivers from nasty collisions and to protect pedestrians who must take their chances when crossing in marked zones.

In all the cities and towns I have driven through, Spokane drivers have the least consideration for the pedestrian. Attempting to cross to the other side while watching a driver bearing down on them is a scary experience. I learned to drive in a state where we were taught to look for pedestrians and bicycles and to give them the right of way in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. I do stop for people and they look at me like I am from Mars and wave me to continue driving.

I also see plenty of people driving, 35, 40, even 45 on many streets designated as 30 mph or slower. Susan Neese Spokane

THE MEDIA

Baker should get a modern life

Columnist Russell Baker, with his holier-than-thou slander in “Internet users need accountability,” has managed to link using the Net to auto accidents and all other modern technology. His stereotypical approach to overdramatizing the Internet as some type of demoralizing hell points up just how uninformed he is.

Yes, there is pornography on the net. And yes, flames(put-downs) and nasty posts abound. This letter, in fact, is really a flame sent by way of snail mail instead of e-mail. People will be kind or insulting to each other, regardless of medium.

Internet users need accountability? Give me a break. If that’s the case, then we’re all nothing more than evil technologists and should immediately abandon all modern appliances, returning to the more “civilized” horse and buggy. Ian M. Sudick Priest River, Idaho

IN THE PAPER

Showing keg seat poor idea

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the picture that accompanied the “Moving out” article in the July 26 Our Generation section, but I was.

Now, I’m not that old. But I am of legal age to drink, which, from the tone of that article, none of those pictured are. It seems incredibly irresponsible to me for the paper to print a picture that has an apparently underage teen using a beer keg as a chair. What type of message does this send? Move out so you can party it up? Or how to take advantage of new and interesting types of furniture?

I realize that underage drinking occurs, and I was as guilty as many others at that age. But that doesn’t mean it should be advertised on the front page of the teen section - unless I’m older than I thought and that’s a new way to store soda pop. Larraine K. Etter Spokane

Authorities not the bad guys here

I am the person who was struck by a car while jaywalking downtown last week. This was already an unfortunate and irresponsible incident made even worse by your paper falsely portraying me as an oppressed victim of the local authorities (Spokesman-Review, July 19 and 23).

When I was interviewed, I told your reporter that I did not receive a ticket for jaywalking, though I probably deserved one. The police officers involved apparently decided it would add insult to my injuries which I had already paid for my transgression with. I also told your reporter that I was informed by a paramedic that my parking ticket could be appealed on the grounds that I was transported to the hospital and could not plug my meter. This is in fact what happened.

I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but there is some compassion in our local system. I have to wonder though, with all the hype and misinformation over my situation, is there much integrity in our local media? What if this were actual news?

Thanks to all civil workers and bystanders who kindly helped me through my downtown dilemma. They made the real story here. John Wold Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Such brittleness is unbecoming

In response to R.L. Leppert’s letter of July 26, “‘Yarmulke’ reference a disservice,” I would like to voice my opinion.

The recent article on the Aryan Congress added levity to a situation that generally sickens me. In contrast to a group of pasty, pudgy white men, we see a humorous group poking fun at the Aryans’ ignorance.

As a Catholic, I would have welcomed this group portraying the Pope wearing a size D white bra cup, if it needed to.

Lighten up, Ms. Leppert. Maybe you’re offended because you couldn’t fill the bill? You throw your Jewishness before you like a smokescreen. What’s your real agenda?

As for the writing, I’ve noticed over the years that Mr. Morlin reports what he sees. That’s what writers do. To edit the event would be fascism, and that’s what some of us are fighting.

I would have thought you’d have taken greater offense at the comment about herding the reporters to the showers. I know I did. R.D. LaVoie Spokane

‘Sicker’ - It works for me

In response to a letter from Edward Thomas Jr. concerning Promise Keepers, I stand as tall as I can and raise my hand as high as possible to acknowledge my involvement in what Mr. Thomas calls a “sicker segment of society.”

If men who are learning through Promise Keepers the importance of leadership in the family, of reconciling relationships, of teaching our children and grandchildren integrity and honesty; if we, who are committed to our God, our families and each other are called the “sicker segment of society,” then count me in! Preston K. Ramsey Spokane

Careful, Bible is a mixed bag

Kelly Walters (guest column, July 23) praises Promise Keepers for its “call for men to return to biblical values.” But, to which biblical values are men to return?

The Bible depicts women as an afterthought of creation (Genesis 2:18-23) who must never utter a word in church and who must submit to the authority of their husbands in all religious matters (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). Women are portrayed as second-class citizens who, because of the supposed transgressions of Eve, must endure the pain of childbirth (Genesis 3:16) and forever remain in subjection to men (1 Timothy 2:11-14). Are these the values regarding women to which men should return?

Should men beat children with rods, sacrifice them as burnt offerings to God, punish them for the sins of their fathers and, if they are children of an enemy, dash them to death against stones and rip them from their mothers’ wombs, as sanctioned by the Bible? Should their values include hating (Luke 14:26) and abandoning (Matthew 19:29) their family members and selling all their possessions (Mark 10:21) for the sake of religion?

Which of the various anti-Semitic, pro-genocidal and pro-slavery “values” in the Bible should they embrace?

By careful picking and choosing, it is possible to glean some valuable moral lessons from the Bible. Unfortunately, there are also enough values of dubious merit to satisfy even the most unscrupulous pickers and choosers. Jack DeBaun Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

CPS critic not fully aware

On July 1 The Spokesman-Review published a letter from Dixie Lee Laehn attacking Child Protective Services for removing children from a parent at a day care “without moral or ethical regard for the eyes, ears and feelings of any other small children or staff.”

Ms. Leahn then asks, “Did CPS actually believe the parent of those two babies would silently and calmly step aside while they drove off with her children?”

Actually, the social worker who went to the day care center with a court order to remove the children did not expect the mother to arrive at the center for several hours. In addition, the social worker attempted to find the mother to talk to her about the placement prior to going to the day care center.

The social worker did not “drive off” with the children. The children left the center with relatives whom they and the mother knew well. The mother was able to spend the next weekend with the children in the relatives’ home.

The mother has since regained custody of the children with CPS support and is doing a much improved job of parenting.

The scene at the day care center was unpleasant and disturbing to staff and children. When possible, CPS social workers avoid such scenes. However, CPS and police cannot always avoid public confrontations when taking children into custody. In this instance, police did an excellent job of defusing a tense situation without using physical force or arresting the mother. Dee Wilson, area manager Division of Children and Family Services

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Columnist an educated fool

If I was going to lampoon (syndicated columnist) Jenny James I could do no better than with her column of July 23.

A real cartoon. An academic who doesn’t follow in any way the scientific method. She practices stereotyping. Ignorance from the past; from roots in the socialist England from which she sprang.

I am not sure conservatives are any better than liberals, but I know that liberals follow a policy of nondemocracy: big government. They are not “democracy loving” people, but people who have their roots in the doctrines of communist philosophy.

Conservatives believe in the Bill of Rights, the freedom of the individual, something James continues to overlook. We left England to escape just what she is trying to push: totalitarianism. Then, in pure liberal Bill Clinton style, she discounts her previous statements about conservatives and liberals, and washes them away with the idea of a third party.

All things in America are in place for success and the pursuit of happiness if you work for them, as immigrants from Third World countries have shown us, recently and for over 200 years.

Lots of us fail. But all of us fail who wait for help from liberal, big-government agencies that stamp us as an inferior in need of a “toe on the scale.”

The ignorance, lies and arrogance don’t make me retch, as they do James. They just make me wonder about “educated fools.” Jack Johnson Spokane

Bigots are their own antidote

Hey, lighten up, America. Let’s give the White Supremacists the standing ovation they deserve. Go ahead, stand up right now and clap your hands together for the so-called Aryan Nation.

Never in our history has one group of people done so much to turn people away from prejudice. After all, who do you know who wants to be associated with these mostly illiterate, narrow-minded, radical, hate-promoting idiots? You have to have a pretty low opinion of yourself to get involved with such losers; be a nobody going nowhere, fast. A baby sheep with no future and no prospects, perhaps?

I’ve actually seen diehard, red-necked, obnoxious jerks turned around by these people. They no longer tell the off-color jokes they used to love to tell whenever they got an audience. No more snide remarks when they see a racially mixed couple strolling hand in hand. All because even they are smart enough to realize real people with real brains and real hearts have no tolerance for that kind of thing any more.

So lighten up, America. Let the White Supremacists be heard. Cindi Floyd Spokane

Farm subsidies abuse rest of us

I read the July 23 Spokesman-Review and I must admit being really ticked off by the subsidy article pertaining to many area farmers receiving what I term as welfare.

For 30 years I was in the agricultural chemical sales business. I dealt with farmers who grew tomatoes, beans, peppers, cauliflower, prunes, plums, apricots, walnuts and many other crops. None received any subsidies from the government. Many years, rain, hail, frost and other failures would totally wipe out their crops. They received no compensation for their crop failures.

I believe farm subsidies are a big rip-off being taken advantage of by those farmers who are receiving what I call farm welfare. And it is really a shame that many are not even on a farm and still receive this shameful waste of our taxpayers’ money.

As your paper stated, this is a shame in a free-market economy. Joe Leonti Spokane

Liberals, as ever, seek more control

Recently, Rep. Jim McDermott appeared on the “McNeil Lehrer News Hour,” giving the Democratic Party’s spin on Medicare reform. His comments illustrate a basic difference between liberal and conservative thinking.

McDermott said the Republican plan (to encourage seniors to shop for medical care by paying them 70 percent of the savings) would never work because “old people aren’t capable of making those decisions.” He added that most old people are frail, confused and unable to make important choices. He in essence feels all older citizens are incompetent and need bureaucrats as guardians. His callous opinion of his constituents is shocking.

Liberals believe bureaucrats should dictate what’s best for everyone. They share a Utopian view of a centrally planned state. When their plans fail, they invariably seek more money and more government control. Conservatives believe we make better decisions about our lives than can bureaucrats. Seniors are, if anything, more capable of making decisions about all aspects of their lives.

Spiraling spending will soon bankrupt Medicare. The liberal answer, as usual, is to meet increased costs with additional taxes. Attempts to address cost are attacked in Chicken Little fashion.

Market forces work everywhere, including private sector health insurance. Republicans have every reason to expect more for less by treating seniors as consumers rather than wards. Brad Benson Spokane