Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Bonner school district earns an F

More woes or embarrassment, if you like Bonner County schools.

One of my daughters, who is a junior this year, informed me after the first day of school her honors algebra II class didn’t have any desks for the students to sit at. Is this another mere oversight or an example of poor planning and management of our children’s education?

It is now the second week of school and there are still no desks.

As a parent and a taxpayer, I find myself frustrated at the constant bumbling and internal problems that directly influence the education of our children. I’m embarrassed and find it difficult to explain to my two high school students why there are so many widespread problems and that the officials who run our education system and are paid public employees can’t seem to provide the basic necessities of education.

My hat’s off to the many dedicated educators here in Sandpoint who endure these conditions and have to work with such inadequacies.

The Bonner County School District, in my opinion, has lost so much credibility. That trust, coupled with support, will be hard to come by until the district proves to the public it can run the business of education. Craig Ringland Sandpoint

Reporters, do your homework

I was born in the Silver Valley and have lived here all my life. It saddens me greatly how the news media - newspapers and television - don’t bother to get details correct when writing a story about this area.

The picture of George “The Barber” Bangart (Barbers need heirs, Sept. 5) listed his “same location” as Coeur d’Alene instead of Wallace, and the story was only about a barber in Rathdrum.

The recent explosives stolen were from the Lucky Friday mine near Mullan, not Wallace.

Our Valley is still proud and even though most of the mines are closed, it should be remembered that a great part of Spokane was built from the silver of our mines.

Please consider the pride we have in our towns and learn everything a good reporter should before doing a story about the Silver Valley. Alice Wolfinger Osburn

BPA fix will ‘doom Idaho salmon’

Congress has cut a back room deal sure to doom Idaho salmon.

Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore., says his proposed appropriations rider will solve the Bonneville Power Administration’s financial woes. It would impose a cap of $450 million on BPA’s fish and wildlife budget, suspend existing laws and exclude drawdowns as a means of improving fish out-migration - all without public review.

In Fiscal Year 1994, BPA’s fish and wildlife expense was $86.9 million, or 3.9 percent of its total budget, compared with $737 million alloted nuclear programs and $351 million for inoperative nuclear plants. BPA’s estimated $350 million annual fish and wildlife costs consists largely of revenues it would lose from power generation.

BPA does not account for revenues lost from water diverted for irrigation or navigation, estimated at $150 million to $300 million annually. That’s very fishy accounting.

Scapegoating Northwest salmon for BPA’s financial crisis is a lie. Don’t let this happen. Cathy Baer Stanley

SCIENCE CENTER

Great place for family learning

As we planned our Labor Day weekend trip to Seattle, my husband and I asked our 10-year-old son what he would like to do while we were there. “Visit the science center” was his immediate response.

During our visit there, we engaged in some favorite activities such as those found in the area about the human body and learned more in new displays about robotics and virtual reality. We enjoyed actively learning about water in the fountains outside.

Educating our children to become scientifically literate adults isn’t just an activity for science classes. Students need many opportunities inside and outside of school to explore the natural world. The Pacific Science Center remains one of our family’s favorite places to explore science and engage in the joy of learning as a family.

As a parent and teacher, I know the hands-on, minds-on learning activities provided at the science center serve to spark children’s natural sense of curiosity. Providing children with opportunities to actively investigate questions about the world around them will assist them in becoming life-long learners.

Spokane needs to support its children. Vote yes for the science center. Lorna L. Spear Cheney

Funding, siting assumptions wrong

So, Spokane doesn’t intend to increase property taxes to cover its share of bringing the Pacific Science Center to Spokane. Even so, it means for the next five years the city will have $320,000 less each year with which to balance its budget, maintain streets, water mains, sewer lines, provide police protection, etc.

The argument that somehow the city is actually saving $400,000 follows the same logic one sees in new car advertisements, which try to make you believe you’re saving “up to $1,500” when you spend $21,000 instead of $16,500 on a purchase.

Assume Spokane’s science center is everything promised and more. That doesn’t mean Riverfront Park is the best location.

The argument that we somehow have an obligation to turn park land into money-making facilities is erroneous. Parks are set aside to refresh and regenerate users. Citizens understand the cost of maintaining parks is necessary if we’re to have a healthy urban environment in which to live. Spokane is fortunate in having city founders who understood and provided for this.

Let’s quit looking at Riverfront Park as wasted space that doesn’t pay its way and seek an alternative site for the Pacific Science Center. John C. Vlahovich Spokane

For our best hope, vote yes

On Sept. 19, voters will be asked to approve a proposal to transform the Riverfront Park pavilion to an educational and entertainment facility to serve as Spokane’s science center. The cost of this proposal, including construction and renovation, exhibits and start-up costs, will be about $10 million. All costs will be paid by federal and state grants and private donations.

For too long, Spokane has been seen by many, both inside and outside the community, as unwilling to take the first step toward becoming a truly modern city. The time has come for Spokane to take that first step.

John Kennedy once stated that “children are our most important resource, and our best hope for building a brighter future.” By supporting the science center, we are saying yes, not only to the future of our children, but for ourselves as well. Gary Remington Spokane

Reject purveyor of slime pool theory

Your editorial endorsement of the science center, calling it a good deal for all, could not be farther from the truth. Not only will it be a bad deal financially, it will be a terrible deal morally and spiritually for our community. Our children will leave the center full of ideas that the theory of evolution is fact and that they did indeed evolve from a slime pool millions of years ago. They will learn there is no God who created them, and our moral code that is based on the Ten Commandments is no longer relevant to them.

Children need to learn that they are a special creation of a loving God, not a product of random chance. Please vote no on the science center. Steve and Debbie Dunham Spokane

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Pullman school bond passage vital

On Sept. 19, Pullman School District patrons will be asked to approve a $10 million bond to build a new Franklin Elementary School and remodel Jefferson Elementary School.

The Klemgard site has been purchased to accommodate a larger Franklin School, as population needs will demand in the future. The existing Franklin is on too small a site, especially when growth in Pullman will require each elementary school to have three classes of each grade. Currently, Dexter Street is too narrow to accommodate existing bus and car traffic before and after school.

The cost to acquire more property on Dexter Street would be higher than $800,000.

The health and safety of our children should be a high priority. Our children deserve adequate air quality, safe fire exits and a safe way to get to school. The remodeled Sunnyside School shows the standard of excellence Pullman School District would like and should have for all its elementary students.

Pullman prides itself on quality education, but if this bond doesn’t pass, Franklin will probably not be replaced and two large elementary schools may be the option selected to provide educationally adequate facilities.

Cost of the $10 million bond is $1 per thousand of assessed valuation.

I believe the children of Pullman are worth the investment. Let’s keep our elementary schools small and nurturing environments where our children can learn with current technology the skills needed to survive in the world they’ll inherit. Nancy Larson-Powers Pullman

Why pay for ineffective DARE?

In response to to the Sept. 13 article, “Pot use nearly doubles among young people,” it really makes me wonder how our government can justify spending $750 million of our tax money per year on DARE programs when the government’s own report shows that these programs are failing miserably in their primary goal: to keep our children off drugs.

In a time when people must make public pleas to save even our libraries, it doesn’t seem hard to figure out our money is being misspent. We know our public libraries benefit our children.

Shouldn’t we fund what works? Tom Hawkins Coulee Dam