Letters To The Editor

Fri., April 26, 1996

SPOKANE MATTERS

Poor dam idea now, in future

Nice editorial by Opinion Editor John Webster regarding Upriver Dam. I did notice a few things were missing.

The cost, for one. I bet it will take many years to recover the cost before any benefits come the taxpayers’ way.

Have you noticed that on the months they don’t read your meter they have a service charge, then on the months they do read the meter there again is the service charge? Talk about getting more than their fair share of the pie. Then they pick an arbitrary due date and charge a late fee if not posted by that date. Oh, for the days when you got what you paid for!

As to the project’s estimated benefits, given that the two most unreliable entities did the estimating, my guess is that the benefits will be eaten up before any of us see .001 cent. Then our learned leaders will certainly find a rat hole for the money, rather than pass it on to the public in the form of lower rates.

A few years ago there was an onslaught of water, and the keeper of the dam couldn’t find the combination to open the gates.

Who do you suppose paid for that fiasco? Your rates went up.

I noticed you pretty well covered the population of Spokane in one paragraph: The bald eagles (us older folks), the trout (future ratepayers) and the suckers (all of us who allow this stupid idea to come to fruition). Charles E. McCollim Spokane

Don’t raise spite level, either

I agree with Opinion Editor John Webster (“Keep the river just the way it is, April 21), in that approval should not be given to the city to raise the level behind Upriver Dam. However, we must keep in mind that if such permission is denied the city, it might have a small tantrum and punish us by raising the water rates. Gardner S. Bailey Spokane

Plaza apologist missed the bus

Roundtable contributor Bridget Dagg (“Why should the less affluent catch bus in a drab barn?” Street level, April 21) may be right about the “self-centeredness” of the opponents of the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza. Since she doesn’t name any names but refers only to “the critics,” “Spokanites,” etc., it’s hard to say.

What’s clear, aside from Dagg’s disdain for “most people” and her fondness for the by now hoary cliche that public transit yields “significant benefits,” is that the 100 percent cost overrun on the project cheated the low- to middle-income citizens whose champion she fondly imagines herself to be.

Nor has Dagg noticed that even in the bitterest cold, the vast majority of passengers prefer standing on the sidewalk to waiting inside the Plaza. Easier by far to impugn the “selfish blather” of taxpayers seeking accountability than to analyze why a building completed at such cost is so unappealing to those it was ostensibly designed to serve.

Maybe they, too, “do not appear to comprehend or appreciate these potential benefits.”

In her next column (suggested title: Why everyone who doesn’t agree with my opinion is an unenlightened jerk), Dagg can explain to “naysayers” how she got the idea that cities can “generously bestow funds on public transportation facilities” or anything else. Robin Corkery Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Let poor tell about poverty

On April 12 The Spokesman-Review ran a column by James K. Glassman. It was headlined, “Let’s not devastate low-end workers’ job prospects.” Glassman claims that raising the minimum wage would hurt the working poor by lowering employment.

Glassman writes regularly for The Washington Post and presumably makes significantly more than the minimum wage. Why does he presume that any of us care what a fairly well-off man declares is in the best interest of working class poor people?

A column by someone who actually works at a minimum wage job would be more interesting, informative, honest and certainly less patronizing.

If Glassman were really interested in the working poor, he would have blasted NAFTA and other free trade agreements that export hundreds of thousands of jobs. He would have railed against the trends in automation that eliminate even more.

And Glassman would have slammed the Federal Reserve for its manipulation of the money supply to maintain what it calls a “natural rate” of unemployment, keeping wages artificially low.

Instead, it seems Glassman is primarily interested in making exploitation seem beneficial to those being exploited.

It will be a good, though surprising, day when mainstream media regularly present the opinions of the poor and the middle class. Derrick Jensen Spokane

It’s not supply but suppliers

In response to Bryan Burke’s April 21 letter (“Beware; Oil supply is finite”), there is no shortage of oil upon which the current rip-off in gasoline prices can be justified.

New oil reserves are being located all over the world. Thousands of oil wells in the United States have been capped due to economic reasons and remain capped since government regulations preclude them being put back into production.

As to refinery equipment problems, are we to believe that if a few refineries have equipment problems the remaining ones lack sufficient reserve capacity to take up the slack? I don’t buy it.

Notice, too, that gasoline prices don’t vary among the oil companies.

The latest data I have on world energy use is for 1989. In that year, the United States ranked fourth in per capita energy consumption, behind such industrial giants as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Canada. Close behind us were Kuwait, East Germany, Australia, and Norway.

Our per capita use decreased by 2.5 percent from 1980 while the world per capita use increased by 2.2 percent. We produced 26 percent of the world’s production of electricity, 25 percent of the coal and 13 percent of the petroleum. Considering the contribution to the economic benefit of the other countries, I don’t think we have anything to apologize for on this issue.

On the other hand, maybe we should all use horses and buggies for transportation on our journey to hug a tree! Geddie H. Fredy Coeur d’Alene

LAW AND JUSTICE

Jefferson put liberty for all first

Bonnie Shannon (“Don’t misinterpret Jefferson” Letters, April 19) believes Thomas Jefferson never intended his “wall of separation between church and state” to apply to states, but rather only to the federal government.

Using that logic, only the federal government would be prohibited from restricting free speech; states could restrict away. Fortunately, the Fourteenth Amendment cleared up this matter by declaring that state governments were bound by the Bill of Rights.

While Thomas Jefferson personally admired the philosophy of Jesus, he rejected the divinity of Jesus. Jefferson considered the Apostle Paul to be the first to corrupt Jesus, and he declared churches “forever hostile to liberty.” In his autobiography, Jefferson wrote that the purpose of the First Amendment’s religion clause was to protect the liberty of not only Christians, but also Jews, Hindus, Muslims and “the Infidel of every denomination.” Chris Farnam Spokane

Have rapists found a haven here?

No should mean no, even in Stevens County. It is time for the good people of Stevens County to wake up and look at the message they are sending our young people.

There have been 15 rape cases filed since November 1995. There has been one rape conviction in the last 10 years.

Are we saying don’t bother to report a rape in Stevens County? Or, if you are accused of rape, don’t worry, you won’t be convicted?

No means no! Whether you are young or old, male or female, married or single, you have a right to say no to sex.

Wake up, Stevens County, because the next time it may be your sister, mother, wife or daughter. T.S. Rice Chewelah, Wash.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.