Welfare Recipients Should Stop Feeling Sorry For Themselves Letter Of The Week: From May 31

Mon., June 12, 1995

Re: Your Sunday articles about Spokane’s welfare system:

I reject the notion that Ms. Stewart has a right to a taxpayer-financed existence. Not only have I walked a mile in her shoes, I’ve walked hundreds of miles in those shoes.

She’s been on the public dole for the better part of a decade. That means that whatever she’s doing isn’t working. I suggest she quit volunteering and find some way to get paid for her efforts. And going deep into debt to pay for college, given her present status, doesn’t make very much sense. She should get a full-time job and wait for college until she can afford to pay for it.

At the end of the year, as she figures her federal tax liability, I’ll bet her perspective changes a lot.

The story on the Sandy Moram-Al Sandham household reveals more through the photographs than through the text. The front page photo shows a mulitmedia computer with a printer and a baby wearing disposable diapers. Page A12 shows an empty soda bottle on the counter and the children playing with an expensive squirt gun. Clearly, there is disposable income in that house. If those items were gifts, then there are resources other than the taxpayers for the Moram-Sandhams to draw upon.

Don’t care for the subtle insults? Then stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop expecting tax dollars to support you. Pay your own way and see how you like that big bite of each check that goes to the federal government.

And seven children? Good grief! Brian K. O’Kelley Spokane

MEMO: The Golden Pen is a feature of the Monday Opinion page. Each week, The Spokesman-Review editorial board nominates one piece of artwork or a published letter to the editor for its Golden Pen award. At the end of each month, the board chooses one of the nominees to receive a 10-karat gold Cross pen. At the end of the year, the monthly winners will be honored at a reception.

The Golden Pen is a feature of the Monday Opinion page. Each week, The Spokesman-Review editorial board nominates one piece of artwork or a published letter to the editor for its Golden Pen award. At the end of each month, the board chooses one of the nominees to receive a 10-karat gold Cross pen. At the end of the year, the monthly winners will be honored at a reception.