Letters To The Editor

Tue., Oct. 17, 1995

WASHINGTON STATE

Urge keeping Mariners in state

Taxpayers should consider supporting a new stadium for the Mariners. Why? The current owners have lost $67 million in the last three and a half years, and will sell the team without one.

Mariners baseball is all about America - compete, work hard, refuse to lose, sportsmanship. Mariners baseball is all about our Washington - toil in national obscurity, scramble from behind as the underdog, never quit.

In short, Mariners baseball is all about a hope for the future. I would miss listening to Dave Niehaus’ exciting radio broadcast on the long drive back to Spokane. Call your state legislators soon if you, too, want to save baseball in Washington.

Dennis Horlacher Spokane

Yo, Mariners: Bye

What a dirty shame that our governor and his cohorts have fallen victim to the mass hysteria of sports mania in general.

The owners and players in Seattle are laughing up their sleeves, and the general fund will suffer because money spent on the sports lottery will not be spent on the regular lottery. Therefore, schools and other programs will suffer.

How can an adult not see through the threat, “If you don’t build us a new stadium we’re going to move”?

If I had my choice, I would be first in line to help them pack. That’s what I used to tell my kids when they’d threaten me with all kinds of dire situations.

I would add one more thing: Shut the door on your way out. James A. Nelson Spokane

A few would profit from bad law

Property rights fanatics in Washington state have brought you Referendum 48.

Unless the majority of us vote no on Nov. 7, the taxpayer will be slapped with a raft of legal fees. Those fees will be needed to defend against the demands of Realtors and industrialists to trash the air we breathe, water we drink and land we walk.

If passed, R-48 will enrich developers and their lawyers while plundering public coffers. Only people with large real estate holdings stand to gain from this bad bill. The rest of us will subsidize them.

This is the most radical private-profit bill in the nation. When real estate values rose several years ago, would-be developers were blinded by dollar signs. They greased the political skids and hired lawyers to craft nasty Initiative 164. The public never got to vote. Only after 200,000 of us signed petitions have we gained the right to go to the polls.

Consider Eastern Europe since the fall of communism. There, big business and factories rule the roost. The pecking order there advances private profits over the public good. Europe’s drive to privatize business and industry has resulted in a host of social ills. The former communist leaders, as a result, are being considered again for public office.

Despite its supporters’ rhetoric, R-48 isn’t about private property. It’s about the limited public spaces we share as the state comes under mounting population pressures. “We are on each other’s hands who cares,” a poet wrote. Private profit should never outweigh public good. Paul Lindholdt Spokane

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Make it three Rs and a hug

In response to “Kids need attention as well as three Rs” (Oct. 14): As someone who has seen a child in need of a hug and has reached out and given him one, I support the slogan, “Have you hugged your student today?” LaDawn Heywood Deer Park

NC students’ smoking wrong

We would like to bring attention to a concern we have regarding the smoking policy at North Central High School and other area schools.

Our children are students in the preschool program at North Central. Occasionally, they have to cross through the crowd of students who are smoking to get to their preschool classroom. We feel this is unacceptable.

In the first place, most high school students are not legally old enough to smoke. On top of that, it is illegal to smoke on school property.

Not only are teachers and administrators breaking the law by letting them smoke on school grounds, they are contributing to their delinquency by actually giving them permission to be there smoking.

Is this the picture they really want to present to our community and to the small children who go to the preschool program?

The sight of all those students standing around, smoking cigarettes during break time looks terrible to people driving by. After the smokers leave, it looks even worse, with trash, cigarette butts and leftover food everywhere.

These teenagers should face reality. There are many places throughout the city where smoking is not allowed. “No smoking” means exactly that. Why should the school be different? Michelle Coburn and Lisa Marcoux Spokane

Teens should think again

After reading the article on the conclusions that our teens arrived at in the recent Chase Youth Commission forum, I must comment.

Do they feel school is a waste of time because of the curriculum or are they just not motivated? As far as giving students knowledge that they can apply to work or to college, did they ever consider the value of learning how to think and how to learn? The acquisition of knowledge is a lifelong process and it is never just “given.”

As far as wanting more education on safe sex, abstinence and wanting birth control available in the schools - excuse me, did I hear right?

It sounds like the part about earning more mutual respect between adults and teens is where the big need really is. It’s called giving time, attention and love. Dick McInerney Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Baffle ‘em with racism it works

I know, like, and respect Dorothy Webster, but she misses the point in her Oct. 6 guest column. Racism comes in many colors.

It’s OK for blacks to be upset with the first Rodney King trial verdict but not okay for whites to be upset with the O.J. Simpson trial verdict. As one of the jurors stated, she felt Simpson did it, but there wasn’t enough evidence to convict.

I don’t agree with the philosophy of “just because one jury fails, it’s OK for all other juries to fail to preserve equity.”

There was racism in the trial - both Mark Fuhrman’s historic use of the “N-word” as well as Johnnie Cochran’s charge to the jury to use that trial to send a message. Cochran did play the race card. It just happened to be a higher card than Fuhrman’s.

The simple fact is, the verdict was the result of the tactic Johnnie Cochran has taught other defense attorneys for years: To get your client off, put the police on trial. He did, and it worked. The jury’s concern was diverted from murder trial to racism trial. The headline should have read O.J. not guilty in Mark Fuhrman trial. Jack Ranck Loon Lake, Wash.

System has spoken; Let it be

I’m sure everyone is tired of the O.J. Simpson trial by now. What disturbs me most, however, is not so much what went on inside the courtroom, but what has and continues to go on outside the courtroom.

Every person in this country is guaranteed the right to be innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his or her peers. Simpson was tried before a jury and acquitted. By law, he is innocent. Yet millions of people, from Milt Priggee to Janis Holmes (Letters, Oct. 6) actively deny him this right because they believe he denied Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman their inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These people are hypocrites and no better than they believe Simpson to be.

An acquittal does not mean innocence. It means the defense did its job and the prosecution didn’t.

As for myself, I believe he was and is capable of it. But only one person knows for sure and that person is Simpson - a legally innocent man, if the Constitution means anything to you. Ken Burtch Spokane

JUDICIARY

Dellwo should complete term

What a surprise to open the newspaper and see that Dennis Dellwo is running for Superior Court judge.

I live in the 3rd District and, as I recall, I voted for Dellwo in the last election to represent the interests in my neighborhood. The job is half finished and now Mr. Dellwo wants to be a judge. He should first finish the job to which he was elected. If he wants to be a judge, he should wait until his present terms has expired.

I will cast my vote for Neal Rielly. I want Dennis Dellwo in the state Legislature, where be belongs. Elaine Rosato Spokane

Dellwo’s done enough as it is

I read with interest Dennis Dellwo’s pronouncement that he seeks to unseat Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly. Since 1983, Dellwo has represented the 3rd District in the state Legislature.

During his 12 years in Olympia, he’s freely spent our tax dollars on his half-baked, liberal, soft-on-crime agenda. In Olympia, he was only one of many. As a Superior Court judge, his potential to create havoc is frightening. Just because Dellwo’s tired of the Legislature doesn’t mean we should continue to provide him with a job.

I don’t often agree with a Democrat, but Gov. Mike Lowry’s selection of Neal Rielly was right on target. L.V. Armstrong Spokane

Dellwo right for judgeship

Speaking of judges, some like ‘em nice and some like ‘em tough.

Dennis Dellwo will be both. We lived on the same street and I’ve walked and talked with him at length. He’s such a wonderful father, loving but firm.

He manages a successful law practice while serving our best interests in the Legislature and has done so for a long time.

This well-balanced, astute and proven public servant will make us proud when he is serving as a Superior Court judge. Betty Hennessey Spokane

Dellwo experienced, qualified

I think Dennis Dellwo would make an excellent judge.

He has practiced law for over 24 years, worked as a lawyer on Indian reservations and has represented the Spokane area in the state Legislature. He’s been very active on community boards here in Spokane.

This diversity has given him a broad perspective of the laws and problems that we face here in Spokane. He’ll bring this to the courthouse, together with his thoughtful, deliberative manner.

I encourage others to vote for Dellwo. Karin Lounsbury Mead

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Give the new guy a chance

Rep. George Nethercutt has been in the House of Representatives for only a few months and right away everyone is trying to pass judgment on him.

Nethercutt is a fresh and exciting new voice for us, and he’s undoubtedly besieged on every side by a variety of demands and agendas.

He’s already shown that he’s effective and responsible, and he represents the people of Eastern Washington. Everyone should give him some elbow room, so he can concentrate on his many tasks and develop his own positions and agendas on our behalf. Bill Osebold Spokane

Give Gingrich clone term limit

I recently moved here from Atlanta, Ga. - away from Newt Country - only to sadly find myself in a district with a representative who has molded himself in the likeness of the infamous speaker.

Rep. George Nethercutt’s decision to vote to slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget in half is yet another conservative Republican, ill- conceived notion. I moved here to enjoy the awe-inspiring beauty of the Northwest, not to see it tainted and spoiled at the hands of corporate America.

How long will this country stand by as the Republicans slash program after program? I did not vote for House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1994 and don’t plan to vote for the Gingrich cookie cut-out come 1996 in Spokane. Gretchen Noe Spokane