Letters To The Editor
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
Medium unwanted; message suspect
Eastern Washington school officials were surprised by the controversy over the Curriculum Day visit of self-esteem guru Jack Canfield. Again, educrats are out of touch with what most Americans expect from school reform.
When radio host Richard Clear discussed “guided imagery,” a “powerful psychological tool” Canfield advocates for the classroom, phone lines lit up for two hours with complaints about psychotherapy and hypnosis in local schools.
Two very different philosophies of school reform are emerging. The view of the National Education Association, the teachers union, includes liberal doses of pop psychology and encourages experimenting, often without validated research to ensure efficacy and safety. What administrators call a “new way of thinking” looks suspiciously like the old way of feeling, daydreaming or sleeping in class. This they call “academic freedom” for teachers.
The opposing view, a back-to-basics approach that emphasizes academics, logic and reason over “feelings” or “affective” methods, is increasingly popular with parents and teachers.
How can parents know which approach their child will get before that first guided fantasy trip? Could lack of academic focus be one reason why home schooling is more popular than ever, why private schools have long waiting lists and why more than one in five NEA teachers now sends his or her own child to a private school?
One thing is clear: Grass-roots demand is growing for legislation that will restore to Washington parents the right to control what happens to their children in public classrooms. Deborah Icenogle, M.D. Spokane
Glad we’re combating truancy
I think the new truancy center is a great idea. We must keep these young people in school in spite of great cost and effort.
When I was bowling on a weekly basis, I noticed many young people at the alley during school time.
As to the concern of the home schoolers - if they are home being “schooled,” why would they be on the streets or at the places frequented by truants? Helen Reed Spokane
CHILDREN
Columnist wrong about Simpson kids
I am appalled at columnist Dr. John Rosemond’s statement (IN Life, Oct. 23) that O.J. Simpson’s being a wife beater doesn’t prevent him from being a good parent. A good parent doesn’t beat a child’s mother. Rosemond has not experienced the lifelong trauma resulting from extreme fear of seeing your mother beaten.
I would like to see Rosemond’s parenting column eliminated.
Children learn best from example. To return the children to their father actually could be a statement that it was OK that their father beat their mother in front of them. I would hate for Nicole Simpson’s daughter to grow up believing that because she is a woman, she also must submit to being abused. I don’t want her son to grow up to be a wife beater because society turned its back on his mother, giving the impression such behavior is acceptable.
I agree with psychologist Lenora Poe’s endorsement of psychological help for O.J. Simpson and his children, even though I’d like to see O.J. get his behind bars. His children certainly will need professional help to deal with this most horrendous experience. Sandra Novak Post Falls
Better novels than Nintendos
No wonder Johnny can’t read. After reading an Oct. 23 article on new video games, I am appalled that parents don’t recognize how detrimental they are to children.
A child mesmerized by video games quickly becomes addicted to the fast-paced, mindless sensory bombardment. The effort and imagination required to read a book become too difficult, with vocabulary development and general literacy quickly plummeting.
If given a choice, most any child would rather play violent, fast-paced video games than read a good book. Children should not be given the choice.
It is a lot more difficult to read to children, helping their minds to expand and teaching them a love of literature, than it is to buy a $350 video game outfit. But reading is the job of a responsible parent.
Parents, get out of the toy store and get into the library with your children. Quit blaming the schools when your children cannot read. Save that money for something worthwhile, such as good classic books. Your children will be greatly enriched. Susan Fern Spokane
WASHINGTON STATE
Initiative 651 gives away the store
The Indians say we should pass the gambling measure, Initiative 651, to enhance their well-being.
From what I understand, they then would have the right to go off reservations and (as an example) purchase some hotel. The property then would become tribal land and, therefore, would be exempt from state and federal taxation.
They need the jobs and educational funding, but I wonder what happens with the $15 million and annual payments to the tribe for supposed loss of river frontage due to dams, etc. Does this change the gill netting by other tribes that take a lot of salmon that the taxpayer pays for in the form of hatcheries, etc.?
Personally, I don’t care if there is gambling on reservations, but I can’t see having the Indians come off their lands to acquire new tribal land that becomes tax-exempt. I’m voting “no.” Nathan Narrance Spokane
It’s about right to spoil and profit
I have followed the property rights battle ever since the special interest groups and their friends in Olympia attempted to steal the average taxpayer’s right to determine the future of his neighborhood, his town and his state through Initiative 164. Thanks to tens of thousands of angry citizens, the issue will be on the November ballot as Referendum 48 - an issue for voters to decide.
In letters to the editor, supporters have made all sorts of conflicting claims as to what Referendum 48 will or will not do. Please, find a copy of the text and read it. It is quite clear. It opens the door to strip mining, clearcutting, water pollution and unrestrained urban sprawl.
Walk around your neighborhood and imagine it without height restrictions, setbacks, green spaces, parks and residential and commercial zones. If this travesty becomes law, developers will build what they want where they want while we pay the price in new water and sewer systems, more school classrooms, more roads, more police, more congestion, more pollution and an overall loss in our quality of life.
Call Referendum 48 extortion, call it blackmail, but please, don’t claim it’s about rights. It’s about bigger profits. Vote “no” on Nov. 7. Eugene Artz Medical Lake
Check backing of anti-R-48 types
In “Cities call property law real budget buster,” Oct. 15, staff writer Lynda V. Mapes daintily referred to some of those opposing Referendum 48 as “philanthropists.” One such is the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation headed by environmentalist Dennis Hayes.
The Bullitt Foundation has several hundred million dollars invested in stocks and bonds, much of it from tax-deductible contributions made long ago. Profits from these investments are tax-exempt if spent on philanthropy. Because of a loophole, the Internal Revenue Service considers campaigns and lobbying for environmental extremist causes as philanthropy.
Nearly all the foundation’s grants support environmentalism. Typical is a $100,000 grant to the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Over the years, the foundation also has supported such local environmental groups as the Inland Empire Public Lands Council and Forest Watch.
One recent grant was to the Institute for Public Policy and Management, University of Washington and Evergreen College for a much-publicized study of the Private Property Regulatory Fairness Act, Initiative 164, which will be on the Nov. 7 ballot as Referendum 48. The report wasn’t completely favorable. The foundation usually gets what it pays for.
On Nov. 7, we’ll find out if its generous support of the anti-Referendum 48 campaign has bought our constitutionally guaranteed private property rights. Vote for Referendum 48 and your property rights. George Wells Spokane
R-48 corrects abuse, overregulation
Referendum 48 is named the Private Property Rights Referendum because it’s intended to protect basic federal and state constitutional rights from encroachment through governmental regulation.
Despite the doomsday exaggerations of Referendum 48’s opponents, the law wouldn’t destroy a community’s protection from unscrupulous or polluting developments. Referendum 48 was written to uphold the government’s current powers to regulate private property for health, safety, welfare or public nuisances. It doesn’t change zoning codes, apply retroactively or repeal the state’s Growth Management Act.
It does ensure fairness by mandating a simple process involving governmental cost analysis of new land use regulations and their possible alternatives, and it includes the responsibility to choose the most cost-effective alternative. If the land then is designated for “public good” or loses value, the owner would receive fair compensation for the loss incurred.
Countless Washington citizens already have lost property value and the ability to use their own land because of excessive government regulation. Senior citizens have lost the value of their nest eggs, and firsttime home buyers are losing access to affordable housing - a victim of land use regulations’ impact on affordability.
If you want to preserve Washington’s quality of life, uphold property rights and the Founding Fathers’ Fifth Amendment intentions, vote to approve Referendum 48. Frayne McAtee Spokane
R-48 moves in right direction
Want to know why you should vote “yes” for Referendum 48? Read “Mugged by the Law” in the November issue of Reader’s Digest.
Do you want to leave a lost child in the wilderness because it’s against the law to land a helicopter to pick him up? Do you want your government to produce demonstrators at your place of business to enforce ridiculous regulations written by bureaucrats? Do you want to lose part of your farm to regulators who declare it a wetlands area, even if it was farmed in the past?
Can’t happen to you? Think again! Referendum 48 isn’t a perfect answer, but it is a start in the right direction for Washington state. Fred Ebel Colbert