Letters To The Editor
WASHINGTON STATE
Party animals control the zoo
On March 22, Ruth Herman expressed her indignation over the unprofessional conduct of some legislators in the House of Representatives (“Lawmakers’ behavior unacceptable,” Letters). I agree that “no alcohol should be allowed in any lawmaker’s office.” I was there that last night of session and witnessed the shameful conduct.
Herman rightly stated, “The drunks caused blame to be put on those not guilty and gave the legislative session a bad reputation.”
My legislator was visibly embarrassed when I asked her why liquor was being served in the office of Rep. Barbara Lisk, R-Zillah, Majority Caucus chairwoman.
She said that several Christian legislators had objected to last year’s end-of-session drinking party, and Speaker Clyde Ballard promised it would not happen again. He must have changed his mind because the hallway near the gallery reeked of liquor and the party was loud. What other manager allows workers to drink on the job? Where is the dignity and professionalism one would expect from elected officials? Maybe I’m naive, but I expected more.
“Those who pay no regard to religion and sobriety in the persons whom they send to the Legislature … are guilty of the greatest absurdity and will soon pay dear for their folly.” - John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Sharon Mathieson Snohomish, Wash.
PRIMARY CONCERN
Balloting lacked advance publicity
I think voters may have not shown up for the presidential primary because there was not enough coverage in the newspaper concerning the fact that it was going to be happening.
I actually found out by mistake. I didn’t receive any paraphernalia from any political party, local or state government to let me know that this was happening. Some people do not watch television and if it were publicized a little bit more, then we would have known that it was time to vote. Nancy Neal Spokane
No polling place at which to vote
Let me tell you why I didn’t vote in the presidential primary. I went to my usual polling place, for Whitman County’s 133 precinct, and there was not a polling site set up. The same was true for a neighboring precinct. I do not know why this was the case, and would like an explanation. So, I didn’t vote because I couldn’t. Hank D. Wirtz Pullman
Stealth treatment at fault
Spokane voters were never properly informed about the primary election date until the day before the election. There were no citywide billboard notices, small or large, to indicate that we needed to vote in the primary on March 26.
The public was not apathetic. The election committee failed the public. Angela Eudaley Spokane
Now you see it; Now you don’t
Where were all the voters on March 26? Vote? What for? When? I did not know about it. There was nothing in the papers. What was the reason?
Oh well! It’s all decided anyway.
We live in the United States of America and we do have the privilege of voting. If we don’t use it, we will lose it. Naoma Nelson Spokane
BELIEFS
It’s what anthem stands for
I am responding to Tom Lande’s March 25 letter about standing during the National Anthem.
I am proud to stand at attention when “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played. Even though it was written during the War of 1812, it still stands in my heart for the American war of independence. It stands for the way the founders of this country and every other member of American civilization fought for the rights of freedom for everyone else.
Sure, the lyrics are of “war-like clap-trap,” but that’s how our country won its independence. Lande, do you set off fireworks on the Fourth of July? They represent the bombs bursting in air and the rockets’ red glare. They are war-like symbols.
When I listen to the words and see the flag flowing in the air, shivers are sent up my spine for two things that could be today. One, that I wouldn’t have the freedom that I have. And two, for the thousands of people who have died to give that freedom to you, me, and everyone else in America.
I don’t agree with America’s involvement in the Vietnam War but I still love and support my country. I think the government and the presidents involved are sorry for getting the U.S. involved in Vietnam.
I don’t like wars, either, but they still occur. If they didn’t, who knows whose hands we would be in and what rights you might have. H. Bryan Fitzgerald Pullman
FIREARMS
Repeal vote welcome
Thank you to Rep. George Nethercutt for sticking to his word and voting to repeal the “assault weapons” ban.
The simple fact is, there were only two results of that ban. First, it denied law-abiding citizens the ability to own a rifle of a certain appearance. Second, it forced the manufacturers to make certain cosmetic - and only cosmetic - changes to those rifles.
For instance, Colt and other manufacturers that make AR-15/M-16/AR-180-style semiautomatic rifles removed the flash suppressor and bayonet lug so those rifles would comply with the law and so could again be sold.
Come to think of it, the law must work. Since the manufacturers removed the bayonet lug, there have been fewer drive-by bayonettings. John S. Ranck Loon Lake
Liberty or gunlessness
Both the letters, “Best representative money can buy” and “Republicans show lack of character” (March 31), browbeat personal gun ownership with the usual twists of the National Rifle Association paying off people like Rep. George Nethercutt.
Arguments against personal gun ownership in America are simply without merit. Our laws clearly allow responsible persons to do so, clearly define those of us deemed unworthy of ownership and adequately secure the basis for prosecution of law violators.
Where is it that we disagree? The argument must be, do we suffer the continual chipping away at our constitutional right to keep and bear firearms or not? Proponents of gun control apparently do not see this as valid. Advocates of the right to own firearms do.
Either we continue to allow further erosion of personal firearms ownership, or we stop that erosion simply be protecting and defending the right inherent to us as prescribed by law, which includes negating gun control advocates and their continual efforts to disarm America at the expense of our liberty. Robert Spaulding Post Falls
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Request took on life of its own
When I turned in a form to Stevens Elementary School requesting that it remove “Goosebumps,” I did not realize that it was a district form. After a week went by I received a letter from the district stating my request was being considered.
In the meantime, the district was giving out my form with my name and phone number on it to The Spokesman-Review and local TV stations without letting me know!
The main reason I filled out a request to remove “Goosebumps” from Stevens Elementary is because they were read by the librarian to the children. Last year there was also a report of a second-grade teacher reading it to the class.
The librarian was approached by two students when she was reading “Goosebumps” with their discomfort and yet she continued to read it - lasting almost a whole quarter of class time. There is also an obvious overabundance of “Goosebumps” books at Stevens. The school’s library alone almost matches the quantity stocked in Spokane’s city libraries, and the library numbers don’t include the classrooms’ books.
Also, I have no desire to prevent students from reading “Goosebumps,” just from school staff reading them to the students.
This process has turned my request into something that it was never meant to be. I have withdrawn my request from the district. Anita J. O’Brien Spokane
Author achieved important goal
Recent letters advocating that Lois Lowry’s award-winning book, “The Giver,” be taken off shelves because it raises issues like survival of the fittest, euthanasia, censorship and denial of freedom confirm the role this book can have in helping parents and teachers raise thinking, caring people.
Thinking, wondering, questioning, not going along with the crowd - these are some of the things we hope our children will learn to do as they encounter the ever-changing world in which they live. Children at younger and younger ages are confronting difficult issues that are being raised in our society.
Poverty, AIDS, war, drugs and mindless violence are part of what they see in the newspapers, on TV and in their own observations of life around them. We want them to make choices, not just allow themselves to be caught up in what society tosses their way.
“The Giver” presents a view of a possible future society that hopefully will cause our young people to pause, question and react.
The citizens who populate the civilization depicted in this book follow the dictates of a highly organized community, not realizing what was sacrificed to obtain this seemingly perfect world. In this social commentary individuals are taught to accept, not to question; to follow orders, not to think, and certainly not to feel. But we, as readers, do know, do react and the result is just what Lowry wants: discussion, concern, even protest.
“The Giver” is a thoughtful, thought-provoking book - perfect to be read and discussed in the family and the classroom. Judy Hamel, co-owner The Children’s Corner Bookshop, Spokane
Suit reading to your child
My two children, ages 10 and 9, read “Goosebumps” books, and just love them. In fact, there is a television show on Fridays at 4:30 p.m. on channel 28 which the kids and I try to be home for. It is great.
You parents who say that “Goosebumps” books scare your children should not let them read them until they can handle the scariness.
Come on, people, what’s next? Are we suppose to take Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys off the shelf just because they might have scared one child? I don’t think so.
Just say no to scary books. Teresa Stolp Veradale
Teachers should explain choices
My daughter attended a District 81 school in first grade. Each day after lunch, teachers gathered all the first- and second-graders and read them “Goosebumps” stories.
The first was a story about a family that lived in a town of dead people. The inhabitants had all been killed in an explosion at the local factory. Every night they came alive and terrorized the family. The family had to “kill” the dead people by shooting them in the head.
The next story was about a man who grew man-eating plants in his basement. Kids snuck into the basement and one was eaten by a plant. A few days later the child reappeared as a half-human, half-plant and tried to eat the others.
I personally prefer to give teachers the benefit of the doubt in their choice of materials. Assuming these books aren’t as inappropriate as they seem, teachers should explain why this material is superior to literally millions of other books.
Teachers blame lack of student accomplishment on their lack of teaching time, yet they spend hours reading nightmare-inducing books to captive 6-year-olds.
If District 81 chooses this material for 6-year-olds, what does it choose for 8, 10 or 12-year-olds? Brad Benson Spokane
OTHER TOPICS
‘Misguided’? Make that lethal
In regard to Carol Bordeaux’s March 28 letter, Ruth Coe was not just misguided. If she had hired a hit man instead of a police officer, she might now be a double murderer. Is that simply being misguided? I think not.
She committed a coldblooded attempt on the lives of two people, and society was cheated by the sentence handed down to her. It was a newsworthy report. I hope other mothers would not lie and contract murder for hire to defend their sons. I would not.
As for her dignity, she killed that herself, with her own actions. Sharon White Spokane
Detain, don’t kill, sea lions
This concerns the California sea lions that are apparently eating the steelhead salmon, and the death sentence for the sea lions.
I believe that killing these animals for their natural instincts is wrong. As a solution, I suggest capturing the sea lions, harming them as little as possible, and holding them in captivity until the fish complete their swim up the Puget Sound to the lakes. Then, when they can no longer do a lot of harm to the steelhead population in this area, they should be released.
The expense of holding these animals in captivity by no means could ever be greater than that of the loss of life on both the sea lions’ and the steelheads’ part.
I believe that this should make people on both sides of the issue content. Becky Davis Cheney
Church arsons must be stopped
I am concerned about the rash of church fires in the United States in the last three years.
I wonder, is this a scheme by anti-Christian groups to prohibit the Constitutionally protected free exercise of Christianity, not only in public places but even in churches as well?
Whatever their motive, the church arsonists must be brought to justice. Paul H. Adriance Moses Lake
Beware of slippery slope ahead
In 1936 a physician, Helmut Unger, wrote a bestselling novel, “Mission and Conscience.” It was about a young lady who suffered from multiple sclerosis. Because of this, she begged her husband, a doctor, to euthanize her.
Since the husband was no longer able to watch her suffer, he granted her wish by giving her a lethal dose of morphine. He ended up being acquitted of murder because his was an act of mercy.
This and other ideas such as the removal of the “useless eater” and the elimination of “lives not worth living” or “nature’s mistakes” were favorite themes in Nazi propaganda. You can draw your own conclusions as to what may be around the corner. Ben Morgan Spokane
Privatize schools
Why do you receive so many letters complaining about our government schools? Because government compels people to support the schools, no matter how dissatisfied they may be with them.
Government schools are a monopoly. We need a choice, without paying twice. We choose the supermarket we like, the shoe store that serves our needs, the dentist we prefer. It is time to let parents use their own money for education.
It is called privatization - entrepreneurs offering a variety of innovative schools to make learning the best it can be for each individual child. Competition is the name of the game.
As I pick up my groceries, the clerk says, “Thank you.” I reply, “Thank you” - two satisfied citizens. How peaceful! Paying for what we desire and use - that’s responsibility. That’s freedom! Eileen Wilson Spokane