Letters To The Editor

Wed., Sept. 27, 1995

YOUNG PEOPLE

They have a right to use their minds

This is in response to the letter “Reject purveyor of slime pool theory.” (Roundtable, Sept. 15):

The writers of this letter seem to think that ideas in young people’s minds are bad. Since when?

I’m a 17-year old high school senior who has ideas, believes in evolution, but at the same time I believe strongly in a just, moral God, follow the Ten Commandments and attend Gonzaga Prepatory School. Ideas are the foundation of our society. None of my teachers as I was growing up ever told me, “Don’t think. You get ideas when you think and that’s bad.”

We need to help the young people of our community to learn about nature and why things happen the way they do. Can we really put a price tag on knowledge? To not even care about the way things happen and not want any children to do so is promoting ignorance. No one wants a society of ignoramuses, do they?

There is an old saying which says, “Ideas have consequences.” What a terrible consequence learning is. When the day comes when learning becomes a bad thing in a community, I don’t think I will want to be part of that community anymore. Libby Emery Spokane

The other side of the overdose story

I’m writing in regard to the story about the kids who overdosed on muscle relaxants (Sept. 8). After reading the article in your paper, I think the other side should be told.

I know the parents at the house in question (the ones you claimed might have criminal liability) very well. They’re Christian folks, persons with honor, involved in the community and their children, more so than most parents. They live in an immaculate Shilo Hills home with their children.

There’s no alcohol allowed, no drugs allowed, and all kids (unless one spends the night) are to leave at 10 p.m.

The picture you painted is thoughtless, not researched, and was printed in bias for the sole purpose of selling newspapers. Ken Drake Spokane

Some adults send wrong message

I’m from Spokane and a young driver of two years. Before I got my license, drivers education class made sure I knew it was a safe, smart idea to stay a little farther behind school buses than usual while they are making their stops.

Yesterday, I put this into practice in my very long Lincoln, and by doing so, I must have blocked a woman’s entrance into the drive-through of McDonalds. She shouted profanity and insults at me out her car window, even though I had the right of way. It hurt my feelings and has been on my mind ever since.

I would like to know how our community can still wonder why the rate of teenage suicide and violence is so high today, especially with adults unleashing their pent-up anger and stress on young people.

Believe it or not, many of us are actually trying to do the right thing. I’m very disappointed. Crystal Driesbach Spokane

SCIENCE CENTER AND PAVILION

Pavilion information came too late

Another case of poor reporting …

It seems that The Spokesman-Review ran the needed news coverage on what would actually happen to the Pavilion rides about two days too late. Why not run something as important as that on the front page with big headlines when it could have impacted the way people vote?

Too bad for Spokane. Now, not only have we lost the science center but it looks like we’ll also lose the rides and Pavilion.

This is a sad day for Spokane families and schools. Mary Martin Spokane

Vote puts us further behind

I think Milt Priggee hit the nail on the head in his cartoon commentary on Sept. 21 depicting the lack of votes for the science center. At the time the absentee votes hadn’t been counted. However, the outcome didn’t look optimistic.

I’m a native of this fine city and find it disturbing when an important project, such as the science center, which would benefit the masses, is voted down. Undoubtedly, it would have attracted people of all ages, not to mention the benefit to the city in terms of increased revenue.

If one compares other cities of relative size to Spokane, it’s easy to recognize the lack of diversity and progress that has put us behind the times over the years. Part of the responsibility goes to the voters and part to our past elected officials.

Unfortunately, in this case, the people don’t get a second chance to decide. Too bad. Mac McInnis Spokane

Put center someplace else

My wife and I don’t know Milt Priggee. Never met him. His cartoon of Sept. 21 assumes that because we voted against the science center, we’re both bloated, beer-guzzling, ill-educated, redneck bozos who don’t care about our children and grandchildren.

Milt’s wrong on all counts. We voted against this proposal because we love Riverfront Park just the way it is. We also don’t particularly want to pay $400,000 per year to subsidize a private business. We want to assure old Milt that we would gladly support a science center someplace other that our beautiful park. We would even pay admission for our grandchildren to allow it to be self-supporting.

Incidentally, most of the time, we enjoy Milt’s work. Hooray for individual opinions, his and ours. Walt and Joyce Lane Spokane

Small city full of small minds

So, Spokane won’t have a science center. Once again we show ourselves to be a small-minded city full of small-minded people. To all you folks who couldn’t be bothered to vote either way, thanks for nothing. Mitch Finley Spokane

GRASS SEED

Jacklin deserves thanks for seed

Have you driven north on Fourth Street around Coeur d’Alene High School lately?

If not, please do so. You will be surprised to see green grass growing in the new South Sports Complex in what used to be an ugly patch of weeds.

This sports complex, which includes a soccer field, a baseball field, a softball field, and soon-to-be tennis courts, has been on the back burner for 20 years, since CHS was originally built.

Through a partnership comprised of the Coeur d’Alene-Lake City High School Booster Club, School District No. 271 and several community-minded businesses, this long-awaited project has almost come to fruition. One community-minded business, in particular, that deserves special mention is Jacklin Seed Co.

This company donated all of the grass seed for this project, a value in excess of $5,500. This type of support is not new for Jacklin Seed. They also donated all of the grass seed for the Canfield baseball and soccer fields in 1989. At a time of the year when the grass seed industry gets a black eye from the burning of harvested grass fields, we need to keep in mind that the industry does do a lot for our community. David L. Schreiber, president Coeur d’Alene-Lake City High School Booster Club

Better grass fields than development

I have changed my position on grass burning because of an editorial in the paper about three weeks ago.

Being a city dweller, I really try to understand the problems of farmers, timber workers and other people who make their living from natural resources. However, I have smugly condemned the grass growers, believing that they should stop burning the grass in August and September and find other ways to increase their seed yields.

The editorial raised a point I hadn’t considered. It is better to have the grass burning season than to have these growers sell their land, which in turn would be subdivided and turned into housing developments or shopping centers.

I believe the grass growers have worked on this problem with those who oppose their methods and have compromised by shortening their burning season. I am sympathetic to those with respiratory diseases, and I realize that even one or two days of grass burning is difficult for them. However, I would rather have a relatively short grass-burning season than more urban sprawl and all the various forms of pollution that that entails. Wendy Wright Spokane