Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Problems understood, under control

In November 1994, the Spokane County Assessor’s office was completing the annual revaluations of both residential and commercial property.

Instead of 25 percent of the property per year, for the first time it was 100 percent per year.

I had 30 years in the department before I was sworn in as assessor. We then had a strike and a new computer system that’s still being coordinated with the duties of the employees. We had unusual growth and escalating prices. We managed the challenge.

This same time, I headed a catch-up program for new construction that wasn’t on the tax rolls. We placed over $1 billion in new evaluation of property on the tax rolls, bringing in tens of thousands of dollars.

Recently, an overvaluation of properties took place that may have been prompted by the new system, by using the same size crew that was used when we only did 25 percent a year, by the lack of cooperation by some business owners in sending in data, by erroneous judgment; maybe a combination. I will share or assume the responsibility.

What have we done about it?

We now have in place review teams for certain highprofile properties to prevent an overestimation. Through the monumental tasks we have maintained contact with our monitor by law, the state Department of Revenue. It will, as in other counties, give us an overview of our system. It was routinely with us throughout commercial revaluation last year and expressed no dissatisfaction.

This office will keep you advised. Sadie Charlene Cooney Spokane County Assessor

Back assessor’s efforts with funding

County Assessor Charlene Cooney took over several years ago and started badgering the county commissioners for adequate money to operate the assessor’s office.

Finally, the commissioners provided enough money to allow her to catch up with the new construction. That added $1 billion in property evaluation, which created about $15 million in income.

The commissioners should wake up and fund the assessor’s office, instead of finding fault for something that she couldn’t prevent. Eileen K. Thomas Spokane

Fiscal situation far from disaster

I have the budgets for the county, the city and School District 81. I wanted to know the reserves that are unallocated.

School District 81 has an expected reserve of $4,820,799 at the end of this school year. The so-called shortfall caused by the assessor’s rollback is almost 10 percent of that reserve. I therefore don’t think there are grounds for a drastic reduction in services. Reserves are for unexpected costs or shortage of income.

The city will lose 20.4 percent of its unallocated reserve, and the county will lose 21.8 percent. Granted, these reduced amounts are not easy to live with, but we are not in dire straits either.

Wouldn’t it be better if all interested parties would be honest and try to work out things for the best interest of all the people, not the selfish interests of a few? Richard B. Hopp Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

I-164: Follow the money trail

Lee Campbell’s May 27 letter supporting Initiative 164 is clearly self-serving as the builders he represents stand to gain more than any other special interest group should it pass.

Builders and Realtors paid over $147,000 to a California firm to get over 200,000 signatures last fall to put I-164 on the November 1995 ballot. They stand to make millions if 164 is law.

The Washington State Bar Association’s environmental and land use law section has, for the first time ever, taken a position on proposed legislation. In its Feb. 8 letter, the association oppose I-164 “… because of our extraordinary concern over the effect of Initiative 164. Our concern on behalf of our section of the bar is not with the politics of the initiative but with its quality as legislation: It is too poorly written and too poorly integrated with existing law to be enacted. Its enactment would make the regulatory situation worse for everyone: regulated landowners, regulators and citizens alike.”

Campbell can’t say that I-164 wouldn’t be retroactive. A city or county couldn’t take enforcement action against violators of current building, zoning and environmental regulations without completing the costly red tape analysis required by 164.

Other attorneys have opined that the bill is so broadly and ambiguously written that most of the provisions would have to be adjudicated by the courts, with taxpayers paying for the endless litigation.

Signatures are being collected to put I-164 on the November ballot. If over 90,000 signatures aren’t obtained, I-164 will be law at the end of July. Julian Powers Spokane

Tell welfare official’s story

The picture of B.O. Nelson, the top public assistance official in Eastern Washington, on the front page of the May 29 Spokesman-Review tells it all: A little man behind a big desk after four decades of “being in charge.”

What has he done to improve the situation? What has he been paid to do? Tom Berg Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Welfare recipients lacking

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

Picture was most revealing

“Nice shot” goes to Kristy MacDonald for the May 28 front page photo of Sandy Moram and Al Sandham, two people who depend on public assistance - my money - to care for their seven children. She seemed to capture the squalor these poor people live in, as well as their personal computer with what looks like CD ROM and a laser printer. I’ve always wanted to buy one of those.

Do they have cable TV, too?

Marlene Stewart, I’m glad you’re going to school, but don’t think that you can get a $13-an-hour job to make ends meet and refuse everything that’s under that. You can make it on less than that. Thousands of people do. Jane Larison Spokane

Mighty big table there

That was a nice couple of articles on the welfare system, but it looks like half the problem was in the picture on the front page (May 29). What was the price tag on that huge, huge table? Sheikh Dawud Ahmad Springdale

Critic should rethink anger

This is to Nancy Parker, regarding her comments about Sen. Bob Packwood (“How about a TV slap-a-thon?” Letters, May 28).

Please take a deep breath and let’s clarify some points.

A. The behavior of a “groper, masher, lecher” is tied like Siamese twins at the heart to misogyny, or hatred of women.

B. These behaviors are a direct result of repressed anger toward women.

C. Men who don’t have unresolved female/mother problems don’t grope, mash or lech.

If any questions remain on this subject, just keep referring to the above points.

I’m not sure to which chronological historical period Parker is referring by saying “before they were considered the most heinous crimes.” When did normal people ever consider this appropriate behavior? Millions of boys and men raised in those “dark ages” never acted this way because they have no repressed anger to act out.

Our concern lies not with petty revenge, like “a hearty slap in the face,” but in the fact that Sen. Packwood is in a policy making position. As women, we don’t support lawmakers who have unresolved anger toward us, do we? How could they possibly represent our best interests? This is why we are also concerned about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Gov. Mike Lowry, etc.

Above all, we care very deeply about the virtual persecution of their victims, who decided at great personal sacrifice to come forward in the name of truth and tell us their stories. Lucy Forman Gurnea Loon Lake

Operation Rescue welcome

In reference to the letter “Christian duty drops in,” Operation Rescue pickets and goes to jail for one reason only. It has to do with the group’s choice to see the unborn live.

These people risk their freedom and all their worldly possessions because they love children - all kinds of children and all ages of children.

Before a picket everyone participating must promise to be totally nonviolent. I’ve seen the pro-abortionists mingle with peaceful protesters and begin pushing, shoving and name calling. Many times I’ve wondered how they hold their peace, but they do.

To even bring up their name in connection with terrorists is blatant hostility at its worst. The people who commit violent acts are neither sanctioned nor is what they advocate accepted. Every movement is plagued with those who do crazy things, but to blame the pro-life movement or Operation Rescue is trying to attach murder and killing as part of their agenda. Their agenda is life, not death.

I say welcome to Operation Rescue. Come to Spokane any time. The killers of children are at work here as well as everywhere else.

The threat of coathangers is nil in comparison to the over 30 million dead babies. Abuse of born children is off the board in comparison to what it was before Roe v. Wade. Violence breeds violence. The pro-life people are desperately trying to turn the tide. God bless each and every one. Carol Ann Lewis Liberty Lake

ABORTION

Harassment not the goal

Typical of the Planned Parenthood crowd, Carlos Landa (“Christian duty drops in,” Letters, May 24) doesn’t have his facts straight.

Flip Benham did not hold an anti-choice protest. Flip was an invited guest at an anti-abortion rally sponsored by Spokane pro-life groups. Abortion, not choice, was and is the issue.

Those who want to kill babies for convenience and profit, unopposed, feel they are harassed. But the local pro-life groups do not harass anyone. They protest the institutionalized taking of innocent life and they offer information to would-be-assassin parents - information Planned Parenthood won’t provide about the baby’s development, ability to survive outside the womb after 21 weeks, potential dangers and inevitable consequences of abortion. They stand to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

As for Landa’s idiocy regarding wasting tax dollars, pro-lifers pay taxes too. Police at rallies are there to protect those on both sides of the barricades - not a waste of taxpayer money.

The huge grants that Planned Parenthood receives to finance their butcher mills is where the tax dollars are wasted. As for who is evil, why not consult the authority: Romans, chapter 8, verse 5. Steve Daley Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Dissatisfaction comes to head

I have been a subscriber of The Spokesman-Review for many years, but today I have decided not to mail in my three-month payment due on June 1. There are many things about the newspaper that I will miss, but I am tired of The Spokesman-Review not listening to its subscribers - starting with the petty issues to the very important ones.

Why continue putting those half-sheet ads in the paper? They are a pain and I have seen letters to the Roundtable regarding this.

Your lack of coverage on the Junior Lilac Parade was unforgivable. This was the largest children’s parade in the country and we got one picture. The list of winning groups was not in the paper until Tuesday, even though the TV media had the list on Saturday night. This event was a very positive experience for our children and you missed it.

Now today, Memorial Day, you have an article about the beautiful weather we had Sunday. Couldn’t you find more positive stories than a dog being almost drowned by a swan and nudies at People’s Park? When the article continues on the following page, it almost turns into a porno ad “Holiday: Bare at People’s Park.” And the last sentence is basically an invitation to every sicko to hang out down there and view the scene.

Too bad you can’t do what readers have been asking for. Look for the more positive side of Spokane and display it proudly. Karin Mustard Spokane

Want more on Memorial Day

The Spokesman-Review’s lone editorial recognition of Memorial Day in its Monday edition was staff writer Paul Turner’s comment in the Slice: “If you have kids and they don’t understand what Memorial Day is all about, tell them.”

In that same edition on the Opinion page, John Webster wrote the editorial board’s “Our View” giving the 1995 Washington Legislature high marks. Still in that same edition, the Roundtable’s guest column was devoted to Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s admonition that media piling on and federal policing both had better stop. A couple of really timely items to publish on Memorial Day!

Perhaps there are others as well as kids who don’t understand what Memorial Day is all about. Charles G. Cromwell Spokane

Dying: More viewpoints, please

I appreciated Jeanette White’s May 24 story on the Dying Well Network and was gratified to find such a group exists in Spokane.

Physician-assisted suicide raises ethical issues. In this article, as in others, the only explicit ethical opinion quoted is that of Johnny Cox, Sacred Heart Medical Center ethicist. While the religious viewpoints of local religious leaders are given and some ethical positions implied, only the ethicist was asked to evaluate the issue. Perhaps Cox is the only resident ethicist, but his views are those of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. His views should carry no more weight than those of many thoughtful non-Catholics in our community.

We saw a broader example of the “ethicist expert” syndrome in The Spokesman-Review the next day. Ethical issues are addressed in The Spokesman-Review, apart from editorials, by only one columnist, Art Caplan. In this case, Caplan sidestepped the real issue by stating physician-assisted suicide is unnecessary. Anyone who wants to commit suicide can do it quite easily without professional help. Furthermore, the desire to involve a physician is prompted by a desire to shift responsibility and avoid guilt.

The literature on this topic is full of examples of terminally ill persons for whom ending their lives was far from easy. That’s why organizations favoring physician-assisted suicide use such terms as “dying well,” “dying with dignity” and “compassion in dying.”

Caplan’s views often are not representative of professional ethicists. The Spokesman-Review should strive for broader coverage. Donald G. Doran Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Effort to spare killer disgusts

I applaud D.F. Oliveria’s response regarding the pathetic, misbegotten efforts on behalf of murderer Donald Paradis. Local media coverage during reflective times such as Mother’s Day and the holiday season is insensitive and irresponsible at best.

The self-serving sensationalism of the Matthews is a direct slap to our nation’s legal system. Their actions are almost as repugnant as Paradis’. We are fortunate to live with the most prudent and judicious system in existence.

The real tragedy is the excruciating pain family and friends of Kimberly Palmer experience every day. Never has that murderer ever expressed remorse while he manipulates the courts.Justice will be served and then the family and friends of Ms. Palmer will finally have the peace of mind they haven’t had since 1980. Martin J. Kridler Spokane