Must State Pay To Keep Hawks?

Gov.-elect Gary Locke says Washington state taxpayers shouldn’t figure in the Seattle Seahawks’ game plan for a new stadium. Locke, who is also King County executive, thinks the Kingdome should be modernized and the city’s professional football team should keep calling it home.

The issue between Seahawks ownership and the county which owns the stadium - as well as the state which already is bound to help the American League Mariners finance a new baseball stadium - involves a recurrent question:

How much, if any, responsibility does a government have for keeping the business climate healthy enough to assure economic stability and a firm tax base?

Locke says the kinds of state contribution that would be appropriate in the Seahawks’ case, as in the Mariners’ case, are voluntary on the part of the people who would pay them - vanity license plates, a designated lottery, surcharges on tickets, leasing luxury boxes.

People can choose to pay those fees or not pay them, so they aren’t like taxes, says Locke.

Is he right? Beyond that, what’s the state’s duty to keep professional sports franchises, or other businesses, in the area?

You think you have troubles now?

The holiday season means joy for many, despair for some. Despair that is deepened by the boisterous and inescapable reminders surrounding those whose circumstances curtail their own celebration. Enter the serpent.

Along with the greeting cards that spill out of mailboxes this time of year come tempting inducements from loan companies offering ready cash. So ready in some cases that all you have to do is endorse and deposit the check and start spending.

Of course there are exorbitant interest rates and steep penalties, but that’s later. Sharing the festive spirit of Christmas giving is now. The despair relaxes - for a while.

Any advice for for people facing this temptation?

In a word, yes

In Tuesday’s “Bagpipes,” one item asked if Americans are ready for full gender integration of the military, including opening all combat roles to women. In the same column, one reader objected to using the word “marriage” in same-sex relationships and suggested “union” instead.

In his response to both items, Wells Longshore of Spokane deserves an award for succinctness: “I vote for infantryperson, yes. I vote for union, not marriage, yes.”

, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.