Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Old friend mustn’t let city down
Washington Water Power’s involvement in community affairs over the years has been commendable. However, our local utility now threatens the prosperity of that very community.
Its solution to the oil spill problem emanating from its old steam plant in downtown Spokane, involves containment and monitoring, leaving over 100,000 gallons of oil in the subsoil.
This may be a viable option in some cases but will be detrimental in our core area.
Property above the soil will be considered damaged goods by any clear-thinking investor. Lending institutions will view the property as high risk. This poses a serious threat to the future of the Davenport Hotel project and may stifle hard-won momentum for downtown revitalization.
WWP may argue the viability of business plans for the Davenport, but it is not in the business of predicting the success or failure of hotel projects. However, WWP should be in the business of rectifying the unfortunate accident it is responsible for.
I applaud the Friends of the Davenport for alerting downtown merchants to the dire circumstances that threaten our city’s core. As a downtown merchant and proponent of their cause, I encourage everyone who agrees to get involved.
Write to the mayor, WWP, the Department of Ecology or anyone who can make a difference. Let WWP know we will settle for nothing less than a thorough cleanup of its spilled oil. Ernie Ewing Spokane
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Honoring Girl Scouts leaders
In the Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council we celebrate today a very special day, Leader’s Day.
This day is set aside to honor our troop leaders and volunteers in the community. It is our way of saying thank you for all of the hard work and time spent away from their own families helping other girls.
These adults in the community share their skills and knowledge with young girls. They encourage girls to expand their world and reach for their dreams. They help girls celebrate diversity among all people. These outstanding volunteers are role models girls can admire and hold in high esteem.
For girls to benefit from Girl Scouting they need to have the guidance of concerned, caring adults. Girls are joining Girl Scouting faster than ever, and we continue to need caring adults to help girls become the best they can be. Elaine Linscott, president Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council
Hospice volunteers do vital good
April 21-27 is National Volunteer Week. On behalf of our board of trustees, staff and clients, I thank the people I believe are the most dedicated volunteers in this community, those of Hospice of Spokane.
Most people know Hospice provides a special kind of care for terminally ill persons and their families. It is less known that if it weren’t for volunteers, our hospice couldn’t function. Even the federal government recognizes the importance of volunteers in the delivery of hospice care by requiring that Medicare-approved hospices such as Hospice of Spokane use volunteers from their community.
Hospice care is provided by a team - physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain and nurse aide. We employ paid professionals but also rely on volunteers.
Nationally, over 5 million volunteer hours were donated by the approximately 95,000 hospice volunteers. Here at Hospice of Spokane, over 100 volunteers donated time, talent and dedication last year.
While the work they do is varied, often the most important thing they can do is just be there for patients and their families - reassure them they aren’t alone, hold a hand, offer a smile or just listen. It isn’t easy work, but the personal rewards are enormous.
We are grateful to our volunteers for the wealth of time and compassion they give to our community at one of the most important times in a person’s life. Our community is indeed a better place for their efforts. Catherine Ralston Hospice of Spokane
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Honest woman deserves reward
Mary Marple deserves a big thank you from society for showing that there are still good, honest people among us (“Woman finds, returns stolen pieces of jewelry,” Region, April 18).
Obviously, since she was searching for cans when she found the Kellys’ jewelry, she probably is not as well off as they are. I hope some sort of reward is in order. Cindy Mitchell Spokane
We mustn’t go along with hate
At least one person ( Roundtable, April 2) took the excerpts from a statement I gave to a reporter regarding the hate mail to African Americans at Gonzaga University and drew an opposite conclusion about what I and the entire Human Rights Commission believe and advocate.
I was asked if I agree with one student that Spokane has more racial abuse than most people think. I agreed. People of color in Spokane will tell you that not a day goes by by without racial slurs, threats or acts of contempt being perpetrated against them personally or against a friend or neighbor.
My saying that this is probably true in other towns was not to minimize our own problems. On the contrary, it was to say that we have a problem nationally as well as locally and that it is serious.
Every time we see a person of color walking down the street and we grab our pocketbook tighter, we are practicing internalized racism. Every time we hear the word “gang” and form a mental picture of a young black male we are practicing internalized racism.
Every time we hear a joke about dumb blonde, a onearmed man, a drunk Indian or a homosexual couple and don’t intervene or say “I choose not to laugh at the expense of others,” we are allowing others to inflict their prejudices on us; therefore, the cycle of discrimination continues.
We can make changes in our own behavior that will make changes in our community. We cannot afford to turn our backs on hate. Janet G. Stevenson, chairwoman Spokane Human Rights Commission
Montanans sized up all wrong
Regarding the April 7 article (“Jean pool: A way to sport outsiders,”) on Lincoln, Mont., I wonder if Staff Writers Jim Camden and Christopher Anderson have ever been out of The Spokesman-Review Building.
Having traveled extensively, I’ve noted at least half the people dress in shredded jeans, dirty tennis shoes, floppy sandals, with hair uncombed. Many are in need of a bath. I venture to say that most aren’t from Montana!
I’m a Montana native. Believe it or not, we actually have some excellent colleges and an outstanding university system. We have opera houses, wonderful museums and even big shopping malls.
We even know what class and manners are. We don’t form distinctions between a few unkempt people, the FBI or the news media. We accept people for what they are, not the phonies who think they’re better than anyone else.
Your newsmongers seem to have the propensity to group individuals into one basket. Shame on you!
Because Spokane recently had two bombings, does that mean that all the citizens in your fair city dress like slobs with muddy shoes and cow manure hanging off their clothes? That they don’t get grease on their clothes or drink beer? That they don’t get mud on their vehicles? Are there no beards grown in Spokane? Get real.
We believe in God, country, the right to assemble and the U.S. Constitution. We have the guts to speak up and be counted. Montana isn’t the only state in the union sporting a few militants and wackos. Ironically, most of the ones we have are from out of state. Roberta R. May Osburn, Idaho
Don’t worry, you’ll grow out of it
Re: Steve Stoddard’s April letter on older drivers: I would like to quote an ancient philosopher, who stated, “Youth is a disease from which we all recover.” Gene Grindal Spokane
HUNTING
The only goal is fair hunting
I have been accused of being an animal rights activist and would like to set the record straight.
My husband and I became involved in the Idaho Black Bear Initiative only after a personal experience with hound hunters. They trespassed on our posted private property and illegally treed and killed a mountain lion.
We learned about the bear initiative from a neighbor (a hunter) and have volunteered to obtain signatures to stop this ruthless type of hunting of bears with dogs and baiting stations, and the spring hunt which leaves orphaned cubs left to starve to death.
During my signature-gathering experiences I have put up with profanity, rudeness and character assassination. Until now, the opposition has tried to prevent us from obtaining signatures by intimidating volunteers, stealing and defacing petitions, making bogus complaints to managers of stores where we are collecting, and passing out false literature stating that we want to end all hunting and fishing in Idaho.
Our initiative has nothing at all do do with fishing or other types of hunting. In fact, this initiative will not end bear hunting. It will merely make bear hunting a fair and square fall hunt similar to deer and elk hunting season. The misinformation being propagated is an attempt to sway the ethical hunters not to sign the initiative.
Hunting is an Idaho tradition and I urge hunters and non-hunters alike to sign this initiative. It supports good hunting practices that all Idaho hunters should be proud to endorse. Kathy Richmond Clayton
Hounds here for a purpose
I have had tracking hounds since 1947. I have taken bear, lion, bobcat and coon with hounds.
The statistics show houndsmen are more successful percentage-wise. They don’t show the percentage of game taken, compared to the game treed.
The best hounds can’t even tree all the tracks they start. Many hounds are killed by bear and lion, hit on roads, some are even shot - for doing what they’re trained to do.
Seventy-five percent of female game animals are let go. I have walked away from more males in the past five years than most people see of both sexes in a lifetime.
To a houndsman, the thrill is not in the kill. The thrill comes when all the training put into a hound culminates, when the hound starts a track, trails, fights and puts a tree or a bay-up at the end. If a non-hound hunter spots a bear or a lion, can he tell what sex it is at 100 to 300 yards? I can’t.
If they stop the use of hounds on bear and lion, how long before they stop the coon hound, beagle hound, fox hounds, pointers and retrievers? Who knows, maybe they will want to make it illegal to have a lap dog.
God created the tracking and tree hound for a reason. Who are we to say that God is wrong? Anti-hunters, read Acts 10:12-13. John L. Cripe Sagle, Idaho
Poachers deserve little mercy
Regarding the article, “Chop shops targeting U.S. bears” (News, April 15):
I’m way past being heartbroken over the greed killings of animal species on this planet. We ought to resort to what they do in some parts of Africa to stop poachers: Shoot them and leave their bodies for the remaining animals to feed on.
If it takes this type of crisis to stop this unbelievable, greedy, cold-hearted and evil slaughter of animals to the point of extinction, then that’s what should be done. Suzanne Mathews Spokane
I-655 is more incrementalism
A recent letter spoke about Initiative 655, a measure against bait and dog hunting of bears and cats. The writer feared it will be a step toward banning all hunting.
If we remember the recent past, the anti-gun lobby promised that if we passed the ban on assault weapons and had background checks, they would be happy. The ink on the legislation was barely dry before calls for banning semiautomatic handguns began.
In California, laws passed banning cougar hunting were reaffirmed recently. Since enactment, two and one-half times more cougars are shot or trapped by government hunters and trappers than were harvested by hunters. Since attacks still occur on humans and domestic animals, efforts to stop deer hunting are being proposed in California to ensure a ready food supply for cougars.
This week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) members say they are going to disrupt fishing tournaments to get us to stop eating fish. Are you starting to get the picture? It’s plain old incrementalism ardently practiced by liberals for the past 40 years. A little bit at a time and they’ll never notice.
If you value your hunting and fishing rights, whether you hunt with hounds, bait or nothing, this is the time to take a stand. The next time you look, it will be bird dogs and decoys they will want to ban. Roger A. Dudley Spokane
OTHER TOPICS
Consequences severe for casual sex
Thank you, Spokesman-Review, for printing the articles “Society must condemn teen sex,” and “Fathers must take parenthood seriously” (April 11).
Parents, and adults in general, ought to take another look at where children are headed in taking sex so lightly as to consider it an expected bonus or reward for a great date, on prom night or any night.
Kids should be taught that they lose so much, psychically, spiritually and emotionally, not to mention physically, with exposure to disease, when they engage in such casual premarital sex.
We adults should speak out, not tolerate the losses we are handing our youth, and help guide, protect, and support them with responsible choices, which entail no unfortunate moral or physical consequences.
Abstinence is 100 percent foolproof. Sr. Mary Eucharista Spokane
Don’t feed kids literary junk food
My children’s bodies require daily nourishment. Do I offer them salty chips, gooey brownies and soda pop? Of course not. Junk food produces obese, lethargic youngsters.
My children’s minds require daily enrichment. Do I offer them “Goosebumps” and “The Giver”?
The discernment of parents and educators is questionable when the best response mustered is a plaintive, “Well, at least they’re reading!” I don’t mound ice-cream into bowls for my children at breakfast, lunch and dinner, gratefully exclaiming, “Well, at least they’re eating!” Kudos to parents like Anita O’Brien and Muriel Tingley who have backbone enough to question the quality of literature presented to children.
Good judgment and parental control are the issues, not censorship. Few people agree on what constitutes “good” judgment anymore because society’s shift toward relativism has produced a pervasive mediocrity that stubbornly insists “anything goes.”
Sadly, if simple literacy is the goal, children can be spoon-fed anything. Oxford scholar Dorothy Sayers recognized the danger in 1947 when she wrote, “By teaching them all to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word … they are prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects.”
A worthy goal is literacy for lifetime learning. I don’t want this goal thwarted by literary fast food that jades, confuses and desensitizes. A steady diet of established works and the classics, combined later with definitive teaching on major world views and formal logic will produce young adults who read for understanding. Now that’s something to chew on. Rebecca J. Stewart Spokane