Letters To The Editor

Wed., April 3, 1996

CORRECTION: April 6, 1996; B5 Dona M. Van Gelder’s letter of April 3 contained an error. The Humane Society receives 45 cents from each $9.50 license, not 45 percent.

SPOKANE MATTERS

Layoffs to fund pay raises?

In regard to the top city officials wanting a pay raise again: I was laid off in December and haven’t been back to work yet - because there was not enough money in the city budget. I cannot see how they can give themselves a pay raise when they lay others off.

It would take me five years to make as much money as City Manager Roger Crum does in one year. Evelyn Cates Spokane

There’s nothing fair about it

As was reported in The Spokesman-Review, the Spokane City Council is contemplating pay raises for the city’s top administrators. During this period of cutbacks and shortfalls, I am disappointed that the council would even consider ratifying this plan.

Mayor Jack Geraghty, who supports the proposed increases, called the raise a “fairness issue.” If Geraghty is truly concerned about being fair, I must encourage him and the council to examine the situation presently faced by Spokane City Library employees.

Due to a lack of city funding this year, library employes must take 12 days off without pay. The city has praised the dedicated workers for coming up with this solution, which prevented anyone from losing his or her job. However, I believe that we owe these workers more than hollow praise.

If we are going to expect the library staff to take a pay cut, we absolutely shouldn’t provide pay increases for the administrative brass.

When we, the taxpayers, raise our voices to question the logic behind the pay hikes, we will be told that the city must offer top-of-the-line pay to attract top-of-the-line managers. That is a tired and ineffective argument.

Spokane has a growing economy, excellent schools and easy access to a variety of recreational activities. If the council ever removed the top managers and began searching for replacements, City Hall would be bombarded by qualified applicants.

If you really want to be fair, Mayor Geraghty, vote no on this issue. Colleen Bertsch Spokane

Make it a logic and equity issue

Councilmen Chris Anderson and Orville Barnes appear to be ready to serve the public in a federal role. They both recently made statements about proposed increases for the city’s top managers that sounded like the rhetoric we get out of Washington, D.C.

Anderson was quoted as saying, “It’s unfair to the group of non-represented employees to say, ‘You guys should bite the bullet but everybody else should be granted a raise.”’

Not giving a person who makes $93,173 a $2,500 pay raise is not “biting the bullet.”

Barnes admitted that the raises won’t sit well with the public but said that lowering managerial salaries would involve a complete overhaul of city pay scales. Since when is not approving a pay raise a “lowering of salary”?

Additionally, Mayor Jack Geraghty said that giving the top managers a pay raise is a fairness issue. His committee referred to the fact that unionized employees are getting contract-negotiated 3.25 percent increases this year and it’s only fair that top managers get equal treatment.

Are all non-represented employees in the lower pay ranges getting the same pay raise? If not, why are the top managers? And in the interest of fairness, a person making $20,000 a year would need a 12.5 percent increase to equal the $2,500 that the city manager would receive at a 2.75 percent increase. Bob Blum Spokane

End current, abusive system

It is bad enough that the federal government is fleecing away our tax dollars. Now our elected officials in Spokane want to do they same. They want higher salaries for doing nothing. I call that fleecing the citizens.

So, how about you taxpaying citizens standing up and being heard? Let them know you are tired of being ripped off.

Let’s get rid of all of them and go back to the old days when one elected person - the mayor - ran this city. They did one good job. They didn’t travel around the world or to other states to find out how to run a city, wasting our tax dollars. They learned how by listening to the citizens.

It is hard enough to earn a living without being fleeced out of our hard-earned dollars. Harry M. Davidson Spokane

Arena experience a good one

In his letter of March 13 (“Arena experience unacceptable”), Jim Harris complained about the new Spokane Arena. He stated that he was hassled when finding out about vacant seats for season tickets to Chiefs games.

I have been to many Chiefs games in the Arena and have had nothing but great experiences. I also know people who have season tickets and are very pleased with the service they receive.

The people who work at the Arena are all very friendly and helpful. The Arena is a great place because of all of the hard work that the administration, security and maintenance crews put into it. Cal Ledbetter LaCrosse, Wash.

HIGHER EDUCATION

EWU measures up to ‘the best’

“Higher education is getting bad” (Opinion, March 20) gave statistics from a National Association of Scholars study of 50 universities and colleges identified by U.S. News & World Reports as America’s best. They studied 50 years of changes in graduation requirements.

Only 36 percent of the schools had required courses in English composition in 1993, as compared with 98 percent in 1914; 12 percent had math requirements in 1993 vs. 82 percent in 1914; 64 percent had foreign language requirements in 1963 vs. 90 percent in 1914; and only 34 percent had natural science requirements in 1993 vs. 86 percent in 1914.

In contrast to these statistics of lowered requirements in the nation’s so-called best schools, our own Eastern Washington University ranked far higher.

So often EWU is criticized as being just a small school with average academic standards. EWU has bachelor’s degree graduation requirements in English composition, math, natural sciences and foreign language.

Although I’m a newcomer to Washington, I did earn two master’s degrees at EWU. I was fortunate to be a teacher’s aide in EWU’s Department of English and was skillfully trained to be a writing composition and English as a second language teacher.

Eastern’s English department has excellent professors, small classes and a broad offering of classes. The professors treat students as professionals and give them an excellent background in all areas of the language and literature.

We should be proud that our “regional” school’s academic standards are better than “the best.” Dian Zahner Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Many support Ferris students

Students are No. 1 when it comes to community members volunteering their time and efforts for a variety of activities at Ferris High School.

Some examples are Ham on Regal and various community leaders coming to speak about and share their life experiences. The business community also should be commended for its support of students in recognition of achieving excellence at Ferris.

On a recent weekend a number of parents, former students, staff members and current students came together at Ferris to volunteer their time at the second annual Big Red invitational track meet. Without all of their tireless efforts and commitment to the students, we couldn’t have had the great success we had.

The schools that attended from all over the Inland Empire also contributed to the success of this meet. All the schools participating should be commended on their good sportsmanship.

A special thank you to the East Valley track teams as they stayed after the meet and picked up the garbage from the bleacher area - a great example of schools helping schools. Jim Missel Spokane

Hate is an equal opportunity poison

White is beautiful, unless it is filled with hate. Black is beautiful, unless it is filled with hate. Reds and yellows are beautiful, unless they are filled with hate.

I know all of you brainwashed, paranoid, hateful people will block this out, but if it’s filled with hate, even your hate, it is so God forsaken ugly.

I believe, and I believe that you know, too, that it is the hatred that consumes itself. Eileen Frances Spokane

WAR ON DRUGS

Another bust, another fiasco

Several days ago the local media were all abuzz over the big drug bust in downtown Spokane. What better way to be noticed than to have one of our alphabet soup government agencies capture a couple of bazillion dollars worth of heroin right in our own back yard?

Now, I may be an old pessimist, but doesn’t anyone else see something wrong with this picture? Government employees go all the way to Asia, contract for a large load of heroin, transport it into the United States, and for what? A couple of big headlines and a possible conviction that might net the smuggler 10 years? Give me a break.

Doesn’t it give your confidence a big boost to know that the agents consider Spokane an “easy” market for delivery? I’ll bet all the importers were happy to hear that bit of news. Now they won’t have to bother with Los Angeles or any of those other tough areas.

These are your tax dollars at work, folks. I hope you are proud of the results.

I am just a little disgusted that a majority of the crime in this country is bought, paid for and carried out by law enforcement agencies chartered to protect the citizenry. Does anyone still wonder why the so-called war against drugs was lost before the first shot was fired?

Don’t be surprised if the heroin from this little episode starts showing up on the streets of Spokane and in your homes. When it does, just remember who made it all possible. Douglas P. Gallaher Sandpoint

Don’t take rights violations lightly

Craig Ziegler’s March 27 letter, “School drug sweep a good idea,” should have the framers of our great constitution rolling in their graves.

To imply that a person might be hiding something if they choose to exercise their constitutional rights on issues of search and seizure is the fuel of fascism. I also resent the idea that kids who allowed their cars to be searched were being cooperative because it implies that those who would have requested a search warrant were somehow being uncooperative.

The ends in this case do not justify the means. I suggest Ziegler study the history that prompted these constitutional rights before being so quick to give them away. Randy Geib Coeur d’Alene

No wonder kids have such trouble

We hear the call from many quarters, “We must teach values in our schools.”

Our kids have been getting some important value messages lately that must make them wonder about their school, community and society in general.

The drug search at the Coeur d’Alene high schools told them that, as kids, they aren’t protected by the Bill of Rights. There are a number of cases wherein court action was required to secure students’ (and teachers’) constitutional rights. Of course, many rights violations go unchallenged because it takes a great deal of courage and resources to do so.

What kind of value message did we give students when the Idaho Legislature passed a law to require fingerprinting and background checks on public school teachers? Administrators and the public are telling kids, “We don’t trust you or the teachers.”

Are we giving students a strong value when we administer a drug, Ritalin, that affects the central nervous system, and then condemn kids’ use of other drugs?

Is it a positive value model to deny fundamental rights to search for drugs when we, as a society, use and tolerate marketing strategies to induce our kids to use an addictive and very dangerous drug-laden product, tobacco?

The message we’re giving kids is that we’re confused, inconsistent and in many cases dishonest. Buell Hollister Post Falls