Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Ticket buying a hardship for some

As the completion of Spokane’s new arena draws near, I look forward with great anticipation to the variety of cultural events which we should have access to. I also can’t help but feel that with the present system for purchasing tickets to these events, the people of this area who have physical disabilities, which includes myself, will be excluded from attending these events.

Many times I have tried to use the phone to purchase tickets to a popular concert, dialing as many as 500 times, without ever being able to reach a salesperson because the present phone system used is not capable of handling the influx of calls and the circuits become jammed. I am not physically able to stand in long lines to purchase tickets. As a result, I miss attending many concerts that I would like to see.

I hope that with the opening of the new performance arena, G&B Select-a-Seat will feel compelled, in the interests of all they hope to serve, to update their system to accommodate not only the able-bodied customer but also those with physical disabilities. Diane Bisson Spokane

Gentry decision grounds for firing

When are people going to take responsibility for their actions?

It seems (ex-police sergeant) William Gentry is being rewarded for committing an immoral act. He’s now to receive a disability pension for “stress and depression” over work and family problems. Will his victim receive compensation for the stress and depression he caused her?

It’s time those making the decision to reward him are replaced with responsible people. Arleen Fiedler Newport, Wash.

Cooney actually doing us a favor

After reading of Spokane County Assessor Charlene Cooney’s predicament, I think that she is doing a fine job of preparing the city and county for less money, because the people of Washington state will pass Proposition 650, which is similar to Proposition 13 passed in California.

It is about time that the city and state governments manage with the money that is allocated to them, rather than arbitrarily jacking up your property taxes every single year because they cannot manage money. We certainly know that inflation doesn’t go up 30 percent a year like some of these poor folks’ property taxes have gone up.

I think Charlene is doing a fine job. She should continue to do that and get these people who run the counties, cities and state conditioned toward using less money.

Remember, folks in Washington state, be sure to pass Proposition 650. Bill Hughes Nine Mile Falls

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Thoughtful moderation sorely needed

Thomas L. Washington’s statement concerning George Bush’s withdrawal from the National Rifle Association reeks of irony.

Bush took a principled stand based on his years of government service and his feeling toward the law enforcement personnel with whom he had served. Obviously, he doesn’t perceive these men and women to be “jack-booted government thugs.”

It is not George Bush’s withdrawal from the NRA that contributes to the ongoing polarization in society. Rather, it is the ceaseless rhetoric that condemns government officials. This vitriol comes from the far right. Twenty years ago, government bashers were those from the far left. We live in interesting times.

It appears that the far right’s condemnation of federal law enforcement personnel is in fact an extension of the hatred toward President Clinton and his policies.

It is high time for all of us, no matter where we fall on the political spectrum, to stop the immature name calling, sit down with each other and start solving our numerous problems. This nation is not conservative, nor is it liberal. Rather, it is a moderate one.

Let’s start acting that way. William C. Stinson Coeur d’Alene

Bush stand welcome development

Hooray for President George Bush. He has proven once again that a thoughtful, national figure can speak out on controversial subjects with great and lasting impact.

The National Rifle Association is flat-out wrong, both in its comments regarding federal officials and in its continuing defense of assault weapons. Let’s hope these people get the message.

President Bush is but one of many who disagree with the reckless stand that organization continues to pursue. Maury Hickey Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Court failed victims, their kin What has become of our country? Why is it that a murderer can serve only one year - in a county jail, not even a prison - then can choose where she wants to spend it? Janice Hess killed three innocent people while driving in a drunken stupor, and Kootenai County Judge James R. Michaud sentenced her to one year in jail plus 10 years probation. Is that justice? I think not!

Howard Monhatwa, 25, Justina Nomee, 5, and Amadee Nomee, 18 months, didn’t ask to be killed, yet the killer can spend her measly year in jail where she wishes and have the luxury of cable TV, a telephone, a library and even an outdoor exercise yard. She can be released each day to go to work. It’s said this move was made to be more convenient for her family.

The man she killed doesn’t get to go to work each day and the children she killed cannot watch cable TV or play outside. Why should she?

What happens when her year in jail is completed? Probation cannot stop her from drinking and driving, only penalize her afterward.

I feel killers should never be free again.

How unfortunate it is that killers roam free while the families of their victims are constantly reminded of how unfair our judicial system is. The family of Janice Hess should be thankful that she is alive. Because of her, other people have experienced such a tremendous loss. The three young people she killed had no choice. Doreen Ducommun Deary, Idaho

States requested militia clause

In his May 13 letter, Louis Wright is quite correct about the history of the militias. However, he is misinformed as to the history of the Second Amendment.

The Revolutionary War began in 1775. The Second Amendment was not written until about 15 years later. By 1789, all states had their own official militias and in ratifying the new Constitution, they petitioned Congress for a guarantee that this situation would not change. The Second Amendment is that guarantee. Edward Keeley Spokane

Health and safety

Thoughtless driver should stop, think

On the evening of April 28, my life was turned upside down by a careless and selfish driver.

Around 7 p.m. a car speeding down Davidson Avenue struck our cat. The driver didn’t have the decency to stop and see what havoc was created.

Luckily for me, a neighbor witnessed the entire incident and rushed over to tell me. When I reached my cat’s side the driver of the gold BMW that hit her was still sitting at the stop sign two blocks away. Shortly thereafter, the person drove off. Unfortunately, that person doesn’t know what kind of emotional and financial distress they’ve caused my family. Maybe it would have taught the person a lesson.

Within my neighborhood there are many children, as well as animals, that enjoy playing in their yards. My question is: What if it was a child that was inadvertently hit by the BMW? Would the driver have continued on as if nothing happened?

Residential speed limits are set to ensure the safety of families. I plead you to be alert and drive with caution, especially in these areas.

To the individual driving that BMW, how do you tell a 3-year-old her kitty may not be coming home because someone was speeding carelessly down her road? Paulette Koester Coeur d’Alene

Bicyclists create road hazard

I’m writing about the people riding bicycles on highways. I really appreciate that they want to keep in health, but it’s very difficult for cars and bicycles to be on the same road; it’s very dangerous.

If people who ride bicycles want to be on the highways and roads, especially on the Mount Spokane highway and roads where they like to ride so much, then they need to have the same license that cars have and they need to obey the same rules that car drivers have to obey.

It’s very dangerous, especially when they won’t get over, when they don’t use any signals to let you know what they are doing and when they come tearing up behind you out of nowhere. They are terribly small to see.

I would appreciate cooperation of bicycles riders. I’m sorry they can’t find someplace else to ride. Merridee Joy McCarthy Mead

We need more, better gun detectors

Subway violence is a fact of life in large cities. Despite the best security precautions money can buy, some unbalanced person pulls a gun on a commuter train and blows away innocent passengers.

It seems to me that with the high technology of Desert Storm, space satellites and sensitive covert operation devices that now exist, some creative mind or high-tech firm could devise a grid that, unlike an airport detector, which reveals coins and belt buckles, could detect a gun. These could be detection devices installed in the ceiling and under a grate in the floor that would sound an alarm before a killer pulls the trigger.

Such technology would be very profitable the world over and provide many jobs.

This nation can ill afford the continued downward spiral from high tech to low-paying service jobs.

This nation must do everything possible to subsidize high-tech companies, to level the playing field and keep innovative ideas in America. Eldon D. Sherland Kennewick

No-tell HIV policy mindless

News reports tell us that an entire town in Zaire is quarantined, with military enforcement. This because of a virus, second behind HIV in deadly effect.

Here at home, medical authorities are prohibited from identifying any person tested positive with HIV.

Are we as a nation totally devoid of common sense? W.E. Van Cleve Spokane

Studies show fluoridation danger

The Safe Water Coalition of Washington State raises a health concern with regard to the Associated Press item, “‘Fluoride generation’ can expect a life without losing teeth to disease, decay,” (Spokesman-Review, May 3). The statement, “The result (of fluoridation) has been a steep reduction in the number of people who lose teeth to decay” is incorrect.

Scientific studies at the University of Arizona, reported in Chemical & Engineering News (July 27, 1992) found that “the more fluoride a child drank, the more cavities appeared in the teeth.” Science News (March 5, 1994) reported that “scientists noticed an increase in cavities and missing and filled teeth in children participating in fluoridation programs.” The American Journal of Public Health (December 1985) reported “the brittleness of moderately and severely mottled teeth may be associated with elevated caries levels.”

Is drinking fluoridated water harmful? Yes! The U.S. Public Health Service study of February 1991 linked drinking fluoridated water to an increase of bone cancer in young men in Seattle and Iowa. A study by the New Jersey Department of Health (Nov. 8, 1992) correlated drinking fluoridated water to an increased incidence of bone cancer in young men. Scientific studies linking fluoridated water to hip fractures in the elderly have been reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

So why do the American Dental Association and dental colleges endorse fluoridation? Because it gives dentists more work filling cavities and capping mottled teeth?

At a time when money for health care is under surveillance, terminating fluoridation would be an enormous savings in dollars and human suffering. Betty Fowler, spokeswoman Safe Water Coalition of Washington State, Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Today’s prom not worth high cost

A funny thing happened to my boy on the way to his senior prom last weekend. He opted not to go. As the costs of attending this affair began to mount, he wisely decided to avoid the thing. Instead of blowing over $300 for a night of formal entertainment, including $50 just to get into the prom at Templin’s, he took his date out for a great steak dinner at a renowned Coeur d’Alenearea restaurant. The $250 he saved can now join his college fund to be used for something more practical.

His mother and I are proud of him for bucking the trend and making his own statement about the status of current high school graduation rituals. She remembers, as I do, that the senior prom used to be an occasion where everyone could attend, without regard for one’s ability to pay. The whole class got together to decorate the school gymnasium, while fund raisers paid for the band and any other requirements. I borrowed by dad’s best suit for the occasion and my date wore a special dress hand sewn by her mother.

I hope more graduates take a stand against the escalating cost of leaving high school. Besides, I’m sure Templin’s of Post Falls can survive without the $12,000 paid to them by the kids from Coeur d’Alene. John Austin Coeur d’Alene

Christian values our only hope

From the earliest recorded history of civilization we find an almost predictable recurring procedure of a people becoming great and then, after reaching a peak, they start to decay and then come crumbling down.

Never will all their might, accumulated intelligence or technology stop this catastrophical plunge.

The never failing formula that halts the rise and ensures the fall is the green that causes those in government to change their true objectives from skillful administration to accumulating great personal wealth and power. Paralleling their leaders, citizens fall away from decency, honesty, morality and the golden rule. Sanity is exchanged for madness and greed.

The country saturated with evil falls like a rotten apple from its former perch of greatness. There is no escape from that door in any record, journal, book or publication, except in the Christian Bible.

We have to have a “revival” of all the decent values that once we practiced. To do that we must pray for God’s help and forgiveness.

If you know another or better way, please let us know so we can get started. If you don’t know and won’t pray, let me know. I must go explain the bad news to my grandson because you cannot legislate morality. Robert Root Spirit Lake

Consider Jesus’ words in context

I find it interesting that Steve Busch (Letters, May 11) chose to use Jesus’ tongue-lashing quote (“hypocrites … fools … snakes … vipers”) as a comparison and/or justification of modern “hate speech” on radio programs.

Who was Christ directing this tirade against? Not the government; he accepted Roman rule. Not the thieves, idolaters, the sexual sinners or other wayward souls. He ate and spoke with those sinners, treating them with patience, love and gentle concern.

His rare diatribe was addressed to those who claimed to be righteous, obedient believers and followers of God who claimed to speak God’s word but who were actually self-righteous hypocrites. This might also go along with his admonition for professed believers to take care of the beam in one’s own eye before pointing out the mote in another’s.

Any self-professed Christian might benefit from considering the message in their lord’s use of anger and those he chose to direct it toward. M.J. Wilde Spokane

THE MEDIA

Real term for Liddy: Ex-con

I was somewhat disappointed at the headline given the article on G. Gordon Liddy on the front page of Sunday’s paper, “Liddy gets hero’s welcome at Spokane Opera House.” I think it would have been more appropriate to say, “Ex-felon Liddy gets enthusiastic welcome at Spokane Opera House.”

To me, a hero is one who takes more than 2,500 people’s standing ovation, out of the population of Spokane County, to define him as a hero.

Liddy is not a hero. Nor do I think he should be a hero to our school children. He is an ex-felon and should be described as that whenever he is headlined. Bob Swehla Spokane

Media babble misinformation

Thirty years later, millions of us who remember the Kennedy assassination know that Lee Harvey Oswald was named as the assassin on Dallas police radio minutes after the shots. That Oswald was positively located by a Dallas police sergeant at a pop machine on the second floor just 90 seconds after the shots - too soon to have come from the sixth floor. And that the official story was later shown to be a lie by the investigating committee.

How fitting, then, that the Sunday paper would report Oswald’s “motivation” for being the patsy he said he was, demonstrating again how far from reality the major media remain. How about a piece on the motives of the Muslims for the Oklahoma City bombing, as authoritatively presumed until the inconvenient truth became undeniable?

Are you people going to wake up or just go into oblivion, babbling? Sheikh Dawud Ahmad Springdale