Letters To The Editor

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Jettison this Reich-wing zealot

I think I may have discovered what the problem is with Spokane County Coroner Dr. Dexter Amend’s way of thinking. He was obviously born some 60 years too late.

The way I see it, he would have been a great asset in Adolf Hitler’s ministry of propaganda. Under Hitler, Amend could continue his bigotry and prejudice toward gay people, with no regard for the truth. In fact, based on his own statements, Amend would have already received a medal for most outrageous misrepresentation of facts - a medal I have a feeling Dr. Amend would be wearing with pride today.

Unlike Amend, I had the opportunity to meet Curtis Babcock while we both lived in Montana. He was a fine individual. He was a son who would have made any parent proud. To allow Amend to continue to harass the families of these deceased people is unthinkable

We need to celebrate our diversity and stop the hatred that’s spread by people like Amend. I, for one, will be signing the recall petition as soon as it’s available. Spokane is a wonderful place to live. Lets keep it that way. V.J. Zimmerman Spokane

Hero for the ‘90s?

No way Enough is enough! What is this obsession with Capt. Scott O’Grady? Are Americans so starved for heroes that they have to lower what I consider to be hero standards?

To me a hero is someone who contributes tirelessly and selflessly to the improvement of mankind or one who, not thinking of the consequences, risks his or her life in order to save someone else’s.

What did O’Grady do to earn this badge of honor? He, at taxpayers’ expense, skillfully or unskillfully lost a multimillion-dollar plane, stayed alive for a few days by evading the enemy and was rescued by the Marines. If anybody should be considered a hero in this scenario it should be the Marines who rescued poor O’Grady, and that’s stretching it.

Now he’s getting rich off the experience, in more ways than one. The truth is, he screwed up and got himself shot down. He needs to return to flight training school and relearn evasive tactics. The book royalties should go to the treasury to repay taxpayers for the plane he lost.

America needs heroes, but not this way. Enough is enough. Michael Millhollin, Vietnam veteran Spokane

LAW ENFORCEMENT

First, put your brain in gear

Reading the Nov. 21 letter by Kenneth D. Swanner (“Cops off course for some time now”), I’ve just one thing to say. This uninformed individual is easily distracted from reality. He should spend a Friday night on First and Jefferson or sit in the hospital with the family of a kid who just got shot by a criminal that Swanner states the police are “hassling.”

Step back into reality, and think. Guy Cappicieo Spokane

Maligning of police uncalled for

Regarding Kenneth Swanner’s letter, “Cops off course for some time now,” on Nov. 21: Oh my, ignorance must be bliss, unless you’ve lived here six years with your head in the sand.

Target practice on dogs with kids around? You’re uninformed on this issue, as your probably are on the rest of your Spokane police stories.

The dog in question had attacked a child and the ambulance attendant trying to help the child. The police had to shoot the dog so help could come near the child, which, by the way, was the only child near the dog at the time. The officer had to shoot the dog because the Spokane Humane Society people didn’t have any tranquilizers with them.

The officer involved is one of Spokane’s finest of the fine. Denise Kestell Spokane

DRUG ABUSE EDUCATION

DARE saves more than it costs

My class is receiving DARE, and I’m learning skills that I can use in the future, since I plan on growing up drugfree. When I heard that the City Council was going to cut the DARE program, I was outraged.

The children in this city are the future. If they take away the DARE program, they take away this city’s future.

If they cut the program, the city is going to be overrun by drugs. DARE teaches kids how to say no and how to stay out of situations where you would be pressured into buying drugs.

People have said that kids are smart enough to learn for themselves that drugs are bad. That’s the same as saying that kids are smart enough to teach themselves how to read.

People also say that having DARE officers back on the street will bring down the percentage of kids doing drugs. The fact is, having the officers in classrooms will prevent kids from getting into drugs, and the officers won’t be needed to patrol the streets. It will also prevent kids from having to go to juvenile hall, so it will save the taxpayers money.

I’m sure parents approve of DARE because it teaches children how to stay drug-free and might save their lives. Kristi Thorne Spokane

This habit should be hard to break

Reading the Nov. 19 paper I found myself deeply disappointed when I came across the article “DARE program hard habit to kick.”

It was correctly stated that the DARE program wasn’t designed to solve the community’s drug problem. DARE’s initial concern is to warn children what harm drugs can do. The program also shows people how to say no to peer pressure and feel good about themselves.

Taking the DARE program out of the City of Spokane’s education to put more police on the streets will only increase the crime and drug rates.

I can only pray that our City Council and mayor aren’t stupid enough to let the DARE program slip away. I would truly hate to see my 11-year-old brother starting drugs. Leanne Marquard Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Selfishness and greed degrade society

With the headline “Gingrich says liberal policies led to murders” (News, Nov. 22), I expected the usual political baloney. But maybe House Speaker Newt Gingrich has something this time.

Maybe politics does have a lot to do with our loss of civility and the attack on society. As I understand it, society cares for the sick and the elderly, cares for the poor, educates its children, and protects common resources such as air and water. Society costs money.

Gingrich and his band of rubber-stamp revolutionaries (including Rep. George Nethercutt) have decided to divert our tax dollars from funding society. Tax breaks for the wealthy, increases in corporate welfare and increases in military spending take money from society and show what we really value. Is it any wonder we have people in our society who have “no sense of civilization and no sense of rules of life in which human beings respect each other?”

Gingrich has shown these people how much our ruling class values civilization and society. John Griffith Spokane

Congress can engineer better pay

With regard to low wages in Spokane, why doesn’t Congress give tax breaks to businesses that provide wages above the community average? This way, companies would be rewarded for making life more livable for those they employ and the businesses would still be economically competitive.

People would have more to spend on goods and services, improving the tax base. This is better than cutting welfare or giving carte blanche tax cuts to the rich in the hope that they will invest their windfall.

Reward business for being profitable, generous and providing dignified wages. Doing otherwise merely promotes a feudal system that will eventually lead to revolution. Kevin R. Moore Ephrata, Wash.