Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Thanks to many who cared, helped

It is with gratitude that I write this letter for the American Red Cross, in recognition of the many hundreds of people who quickly responded to the tragedy in Oklahoma City.

While Red Cross volunteers in Oklahoma City were assisting at the scene, people here at home - individuals, businesses, classrooms and the like - stepped forward with offers to help, financial contributions and countless blue ribbons.

Since the April 19 explosion, the Red Cross has provided more than 140,000 meals in the two shelters and at the scene, and more than 12,500 mental health contacts with victims, their families and emergency workers who have displayed signs of extreme stress or emotional trauma. These numbers continue to rise daily.

The nature of this tragedy has created a number of extraordinary challenges for the victims and their families. In response to those needs, the Red Cross has implemented a variety of special assistance measures. The Red Cross will continue to meet new needs as they emerge on a daily basis.

As in all disasters, it is important for donors to be assured that designated donations will be used only as specified. Thanks to your support, the Red Cross is able to respond to the uniqueness of this tragic situation.

Disasters need not destroy a community. Rather, they can bring people together in the spirit of hope and compassion. It is this spirit that enables recovery.

Thank you to everyone for stepping forward when help was needed. Connie M. Mayfield, chairwoman Board of directors, Inland Northwest Chapter

Pave not, want not

In regard to all the letters favoring building a condominium downtown along the banks of the Spokane River:

If you fill in every available square inch of land with concrete, the next time it rains, there will be nothing left to soak up the water. Look at Malibu, Calif. Carol May Spokane

Consolidated government costs more

The Spokesman-Review has been pushing hard for city-county consolidation. The nearly-full page of April 9 opened all the stops.

Several things were conveniently ignored:

1. The freeholders chairperson has publicly stated that consolidation will not save any money.

2. Consolidation will cost $20 million more per year than the city of Spokane and the county pay separately. Most of this increase will come from those who live or do business in the Valley - according to one of their own consultants.

3. Economists see no evidence that consolidation will provide better service. Al Dietzman Spokane

Rotary event terrific

Bloomsday week was started off with a bang by the Aurora Northwest Rotary Club. The club and all of its members deserve a big thanks for the outstanding second annual Surprise Century Family Bike Ride.

Three separate events: 100 miles for the long-distance rider; 50 miles for the less serious rider; and 25 miles for a family fun ride. The ride routes included the Centennial Trail from Fort Wright to Nine Mile, the near West Plains and the 100-mile Long Lake-Reardan route. Over 400 riders enjoyed the event.

Thanks, Aurora Rotary. You’re a class act. John Talbott Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Story provided welcome balance

What a refreshing story on the front page of the April 26 Spokesman-Review! I am referring to the article featuring the group of Lewis & Clark girls who formed a club in 1933. Their friendships have lasted 62 years and are still going strong.

(Staff writer) William Miller did a superb job of reporting and the piece he wrote was such a relief from the tragic headlines which have recently dominated the news. His sensitive writing style prompted a lot of us to be more appreciative of our long-time friendships and the value of keeping in touch. In fact, it inspired me to sit down and write a few overdue letters. Nancy S. Nethercutt Spokane

Let’s see more positive stories

It was so exciting to read about the four students from Sacajawea winning the national science competition. I think it should have been front page news with a large color photo, instead of the small article that was printed on page 3 of the Region section.

Spokane needs more positive articles about teens and less O.J. Simpson stories making front page news. Aaron Ring, third-grade student Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Proposed adoption law awful

I disagree with John Webster’s view in “Adoption laws must be changed” (Opinion, May 2) for the following reasons.

The proposed Uniform Adoption Act (UAA) is detrimental to the well-being of children, undermines the integrity of families, promotes the myth that adoption can forever break the connection between children and their birth parents and expands the opportunities for financial gain from the placement of children.

UAA makes the adoption of healthy infants easier for adults who have money, power and connections. Babies will be sold for profit.

UAA will permanently sever all connections to the child’s biological family. As an adult adoptee who has been reunited, I find that especially disheartening. The records will be sealed for 99 years, and although nonidentifying information can be given, it is within narrow limits. Once an adoption is consummated and the records sealed, the sharing of information with spouses, nonadopted siblings or grandparents becomes a criminal offense.

You say UAA was “crafted by a group of judges, lawyers and children’s advocates.” Who specifically did you mean?

The following national organizations are against the UAA: Child Welfare League of America, Holt International Children’s Services, Adoptive Families of America, Catholic Charities U.S.A., National Association of Social Workers, Association of Black Social Workers, North American Council on Adoptable Children, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Council for Equal Rights in Adoption, American Adoption Congress and Concerned United Birthparents.

Please reconsider when you say that “a solution is at hand” in the UAA. Mike Born Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

U.S. needs specific reforms

Here are some reasons why we Americans are so dissatisfied with our government and a few suggestions I feel might help fix this sorry situation.

We have spent billions and lost the war on drugs.

So, let’s take a drug-prone city and legalize those drugs - thereby removing the profit motive - and carefully monitor the results.

We have lost the war on crime.

So, let’s make the punishment fit the crime and realize some human beings are so evil-minded and wicked, society is far better off without them. They don’t deserve the rights they are being afforded.

Our judicial system does not work. We can’t even convict confessed murderers of their own parents, i.e. the Menendez brothers.

So, let’s dispense with the jury system and let the prosecution and defense attorneys work in concert with each other and the judges to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused party.

Politics are not working for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is the power of special interest groups.

So, let’s pass term limits and maybe the politicians will work for the good of the country, rather than for the special few.

Finally, the Vietnam War has broken the hearts of all thinking Americans. If we can’t learn from our past mistakes and make fundamental changes to alter the direction we have been going, things will surely get worse. Donald Helm Cheney

Block grants no improvement

We don’t need a better tax-and-spend plan until we find a way to let individual citizens keep more of their own earnings in their own pockets to do with what they see needs doing.

For once, your cartoonist got it correct. On May 3 he depicted federal and state block grants as identical.

Let me assure you that if we are dissatisfied with the way the federal government distributes money, we will certainly not like the way it is distributed by states or even municipalities. The scheme to have any unit of government redistribute wealth is wrong at its very basis.

My sad experience was in a mid-American city that got generous block grants for blighted and blighting sectors of the city. Before we accomplished much to alleviate the blight, we found the municipal authorities actually creating more blight in order to qualify for larger federal grants. The greed of those in power simply bulldozed the property owners.

You can rarely expect spending fairness by officials who use funds they never owned. The design intention may be ever so good but it simply does not work well.

Furthermore, it makes no sense for all of us to send our money to the federal government just to have a good part of it shaved away in the cost of getting it back to fit a need dreamed up in Washington, D.C. Earl D. Hunter Coeur d’Alene

Align taxation with reality

Washington residents need a break on the excessive excise tax paid on our vehicle license tabs.

We pay excise tax calculated by using a statutory, fixed depreciation rate. The formula is based on manufacturer’s suggested retail price multiplied by the rate of depreciation (100 percent for the first two years), then multiplied by a tax rate of 2.2 percent.

If you buy a new vehicle and the suggested manufacturers’ retail price is $25,000, but you pay only $21,000, your taxes are figured for the first two years on the $25,000, so we actually pay excise on $4,000 we have not spent. We also get nailed when our vehicles are traded in because a dealer is certainly not going to allow you 100 percent trade in on your vehicle after two years.

If you buy a new stove that normally sells for $1,000 but is on sale for $700, you pay tax on the $700, not the $1,000. We need to let our legislators know we are tired of paying excise tax on money we have not spent. Write your legislator. Let’s get our license fees closer to the amount our neighboring states are paying. Gary Agen Veradale

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Comrade Brady honored

So, Sarah Brady has received the Order of Lincoln medallion (“Brady wins award for gun-control work,” April 24) because of her efforts to disarm America’s lawabiding citizenry. Abraham Lincoln must be turning over in his grave!

A few years back, a college student presented Mrs. Brady with a much-deserved “Benedict Arnold Award.” Later, the student was beaten up by some of Brady’s “nonviolent” stooge supporters.

If Brady deserves an award, it should be something appropriate, like the Order of Lenin. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.

Officials’ comments uncalled for

We are outraged by comments made by Mayor Ernie Gehrke and Marshall Jerry Taylor in “Copter exercises take a lot of flak” (May 4), that to object to the noise the low-flying helicopters make you must be involved in criminal activities, such as growing marijuana.

We have had our house shake and our windows rattle because of the noise. I can only imagine what it must be like for any livestock or for the rancher who has to pay enormous vet bills because his animals were so frightened they ran through fences.

We don’t grow marijuana, but it seems to us that the outdoor crops aren’t ready until September or October, not May. It is only the beginning of the planting season and still freezing at night. Pat and Lonnie Anderson Springdale, Wash.

Mayor’s statement insulting

Regarding “Copter exercises take a lot of flak” (Spokesman-Review, May 4):

Just last week I was telling my husband how the skies over Springdale have become really noisy with helicopters and planes, disrupting the peace and quiet of a rural area. Now I am outraged and insulted by Mayor Ernie Gehrke’s statement that “the only people that might have some complaint is people growing marijuana.”

I would like to know just what gives Mayor Gehrke the right to say that if I complain about the noise, I must be growing marijuana? Doesn’t Mayor Gehrke realize that people do have the right to freedom of speech and should be allowed to exercise that freedom without being accused of doing something illegal?

Mayor Gehrke owes an apology to every person offended and insulted by his ridiculous statement. Andrea Rushing Springdale, Wash.

OTHER TOPICS

We pass test of cruel tragedy

Although deeply saddened, I feel deeply moved and proud to be an American.

The Oklahoma City bombing is a national tragedy and it affects each and every one of us, whether we realize it or not.

That some sicko could perpetrate such a tremendous transgression against our freedom and our children has angered all of us, and the fact that it took place in the center of this seemingly invincible nation of ours has shaken us all to the core.

In light of this great tragedy and the many other crimes being committed against the innocents of this country, there remains a small sliver of hope for us yet. As we have been tested yet again, it is heartwarming to watch as our nation’s many communities pull together in support of the families of Oklahoma City.

It feels so good to see such love and the people of America pulling together for a common cause that doesn’t have anything to do with sports. I applaud the many who have opened their hearts and their homes and shown that there is still hope.

God bless you all. You make me proud to call myself an American. Jewell Day Cheney

Composting is easy, beneficial

Why should we compost?

First, composting may save you money. How much money do you pay the garbage truck to come and pick up your grass clippings, fallen leaves or even wood chips? How much do you spend on garbage bags each month? Add that up and it can get costly. Why not save some money by using those waste items for compost?

Second, composting turns your yard waste into natural resources. This is a way to recycle your lawn waste.

Third, it is convenient. It would take as much time or even more to get your bag and put everything in it than it does to spread the clippings or leaves in your garden.

Fourth, it benefits your plants and soil. Compost keeps the soil loose and moist, which makes plants grow healthier and faster.

Five, it saves space in landfills for things that cannot be recycled.

You can even bury certain foods such as fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, grains and egg shells to enrich the soil for gardens. This should be done by burying these foods under at least 8 inches of soil. Do not use meat, fish or dairy products as compost because these foods are likely to attract pests.

It is to be hoped that the things I have mentioned will ensure you a better looking yard and garden. Mike Arnold Otis Orchards

Pakistani boy’s story shocking

Recently I read an article in your newspaper, “Boy killed after exposing labor horrors” (April 19). It was about a boy, Iqbal Masih, who lived in Pakistan.

Since the age of 4, he had been a slave in a rug-making factory. He travelled the world telling people about how children were treated in carpet factories. In the carpet factories, the children had to wake up at 4 a.m. and work for 12 hours, chained to the looms. They were paid 3 cents a day.

I feel horrible that people could do such mean things to kids. If something like that happened to me, I hope I could be as brave as Iqbal was. He was killed by the carpet factory owners because they did not want to stop using children as slaves.

I feel lucky that I live in the United Stated, where nothing like this could happen to kids like me. My mom says that children used to have to work like that in the United States until laws were passed that made it stop.

I hope some day that laws are passed in Pakistan so that children like Iqbal can grow up free. I also know that I will never buy a rug made in Pakistan. Christopher Danton, age 10 Spokane

Clarification

Dora-Faye Hendricks’ letter of May 6 accused The Spokesman-Review of not covering the May 1 “mayday” for children event in Riverfront Front. A report of the event was published on page B3 of the May 2 Region section.