Letters To The Editor

IN THE AIR

SCAPCA testing wasn’t fair

The Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority monitoring during the month of August for the compost site hasn’t been a fair test. SCAPCA began their daily monitoring after the July 29 SCAPCA board meeting. The compost site received two violations for Aug. 4 and 6, then was closed by city council on Aug. 7 for the entire rest of the month. It reopened for regular business on Aug. 29.

This means that from one SCAPCA board meeting to another (approximately 30 days) the site only operated normally for seven, eight days? During that period they received two violations, while the operator offers us another excuse for why they’ve made the air surrounding their site intolerable. They always have an excuse.

To base the discontinuance of the daily monitoring on observations made while the compost site was closed most of the time isn’t fair to our community. It’s like buying a new car that rattles terribly at speeds above 40 mph and, when you complain, the dealer drives it around the block at 25 mph and pronounces that the problem has disappeared and the vehicle operates within specs.

The city needs to implement the best available odorprocess control technology at its compost facility. Unfortunately for the community, that technology costs millions and currently the compost facility only saves each household about 4 cents per week. Elizabeth Kelley Colbert

He should try living there first

Ken Brown’s comments in “Right to retain compost plant” (Sept. 5) have absolutely no validity, unless he’s willing to trade homes with someone in the Colbert area.

I noticed his address was Valleyford, Wash. His accusation of selfishness of those living in Colbert is outrageous. Judy McEwen Spokane

Fuel won’t solve pollution problem

Oxygenated fuel is back. Only this time it’s double the additive. We’ll pay more for our gas, get less fuel efficiency, need more maintenance and breathe the black noxious exhaust. I estimate we’ll spend over $7.5 million on gas alone, Why?

The EPA considers our air unacceptable, it’s a combination of suspended particulates (dust, pollen and ash) and carbon monoxide (automobile exhaust). Common sense dictates that suspended particulates are the result of farms, gardens, dirt roads, and fireplaces (grass isn’t burned during the critical months). Carbon monoxide levels are only unacceptable in isolated pockets where stalled rush-hour traffic combines with cold weather inversion layers.

We can’t eliminate farms and gardens, but we might spend money to pave more county roads. We can’t eliminate cold mornings, but we might spend money to alleviate traffic jams with more roads, better traffic planning, and programmed street lights. Our approach to date is not only expensive, but useless in solving the cause of our problems.

We should opt out of the EPA’s fuel program and let voters decide whether to spend $7.5 million on solutions rather than Band-Aids. Brad Benson Spokane

ON THE ROAD

Bad driving will catch up with you

Has anyone noticed how some drivers act as if they were all alone on the road or drive like they have automatic right of way, and that we should get out of their way?

There are people who drive much too fast for the weather or traffic conditions, change lanes without signaling to let others know what they’re going to do, drive with one headlight out (at night!) and even speed through school zones when children are present.

I was almost hit by someone driving like that. He came out of the blind spot on my left. If I hadn’t reacted quickly, he would have slammed into my Bronco, probably killing me. The worst part of this episode was that he didn’t even slow down but continued on as though nothing had happened.

When people drive like this, they’re engaging in a game of chance. They’re risking their own lives as well as the lives of their passengers and other drivers on the road. As with all such games, sooner or later, they will lose. Ernest J. Chamberlain Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Typo won’t crush Christianity

I’m responding to “Wrong to downgrade God” by Wendy McCliment (Sept. 6). That Ms. McCliment’s fragile existence should crumble into paganism because of a journalistic error is hilarious at best, if not questionable.

Most thinking people, spiritual, and God forbid … pagans alike, involve themselves in more productive, daily endeavors, and without the blinders that religious fearmongering provides. Ms. McCliment should applaud Spokane youth for furthering their education by writing for The Slice. Unfortunately, her own narrow slice of life forbids her from doing so.

I encourage Ms. McCliment to stick to the news section and skip features for now, if there’s the possibility of more irreparable damage to her psyche than has already occurred.

Relax, Ms. McCliment, the sky really isn’t falling and I’m sure we’ll all survive a typo to see another day. Alex Blessing Spokane

Don’t like Priggee? Don’t read him

Milt Priggee is a cartoonist. He makes a living by trying to make people laugh. If you don’t think he’s funny, don’t read him.

Our world is so full of hatred as it is. Lighten up, people! Focus on the good and be thankful for Garfield (if that’s your preference). Elise Krueger Spokane

FORESTS

There’s no reason to close roads

Don Samuelson’s guest editorial (Sept. 10) was right on. The Forest Service has no legitimate reason for closing Forest Service roads. These roads were constructed at taxpayer expense to allow access to wood resources within our national forests. What right does the Forest Service have to say the logging activities are an acceptable impact on grizzly bear habitat, but recreational use is unacceptable?

As a volunteer with Spokane Parks and Recreation, I often take people with disabilities into Boundary County forests for fishing and camping. By closing roads, the Forest Service has eliminated access to mountain areas for anyone who can’t hike many miles and may be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Glacier and Yellowstone national parks receive millions of recreational visitors each year, yet grizzly bears are doing fine in both areas. By comparison, the recreational use of the Boundary County forests is negligible. I have come face to face with a grizzly sow while hiking the backcountry of the Selkirks. She ambled off to a berry patch, and I continued on to fish a high mountain lake.

Never mind the roar of chainsaws, the thundering of logging trucks, or the intrusion of some logging company’s helicopter; my car parked at the trailhead seems to be the target of another federal agency gone berserk. Steve Busch Spokane

Don’t lump all loggers with worst

W.L. Reynolds (“Sherman was easier on Georgia,” Roundtable, Sept. 7) obviously has a low opinion of loggers, and maybe he has had a bad experience. Yes, there are some disreputable loggers and they give a bad name to the rest of us. But there are also dishonest lawyers, car salesmen, doctors - you name it.

The truth is, the logger works for the landowner. The landowner makes the calls, and if he is unsure or unknowledgeable, then it is the landowner’s responsibility and in his best interest to do his homework. He should ask the logger for some references and/or go look at some past logging jobs that the logger has done and talk to some satisfied landowners.

A little bit of extra effort can save you a lot of grief and pay off in the long run.

Mr. Reynolds, if you would like to talk to some satisfied landowners, please contact me. Otherwise, quit griping and giving us honest loggers a bad name. Dan Phelps Spokane

POLITICS

GOP making poor poorer

Keep your eye on the Detroit newspaper strike to see what the powers which control the Republican party have in store for us. Slowly, after 15 years of Republican ideas dominating the economic scene, starting with Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich, supply side economics, the flat tax, and Clinton’s sellout, the wealth of our nation is being redistributed out of the lower classes (the working poor, the elderly, women and children) and trickling up to the wealthy classes.

In Detroit, we read our future - middle class workers maiming one another over a shrinking slice of the American economic pie, fighting over the few remaining good jobs, scabs crossing picket lines because their jobs have already disappeared, eliminated by corporate bosses who earn huge bonuses from their capitalist masters for increasing profits for ever richer stock holders.

Soon, millions more of us will be dumped from welfare roles and added to the struggle. Their numbers will inevitably further reduce all wages as desperate workers struggle over their continually shrinking share of America’s wealth.

Capitalism, the ugly side of it. This, folks, is the hidden agenda of the Republican party and the wealthy few who control it. History repeating itself. Were you one of the many who hated history in high school because it was about dead people and boring? Prepare, then, to relive the past. Blindly vote Republican and watch the wealth fly upward while American workers kill each other over scraps. Our enemy isn’t our fellow worker, fellow worker. George T. Thomas Spokane

Coverage of Gingrich biased

Your news coverage on the most outstanding politician of the day, Newt Gingrich, shows a liberal bias. Concerning his book, 22 current congressmen have written books including Vice President Al Gore. On a free market, supply and demand, Mr. Gingrich’s book brought the largest sums of money for the author.

In his book, he offers ideas for ending the drug trade. On the death penalty, he suggested for anyone importing commercial quantities of drugs, “We should regard this as an act of war against our people.” He added, “Domestic drug dealers should face stiff prison sentences and confiscation of property as steep as the Constitution allows.”

Your front page article and your editorial page both provided a very misleading coverage of his idea. Both would lead one to believe Gingrich favored the death penalty for domestic drug dealers.

C-Span has enabled Mr. Gingrich to present his views many times. He is a very articulate, progressive, conservative-thinking man. Don Reed Spokane

Non-conservatives, brace yourselves

The guy who wrote “Gingrich et al - bad to verse” (Roundtable, Sept. 13) might as well take a little advice: Get over it.

Your guys had 40 years. They had an opportunity in 1992 to start a 1,000-year reich, per se, that would have trashed this country for sure. And it all went down the toilet thanks to Bill Clinton.

If the elections of 1994 shocked you, stock up on Prozac before 1996 rolls around. Dave Detrolio Moses Lake