Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

If the festival goes pop it goes bust

The Festival at Sandpoint is in deep trouble because it has departed from its original mission of bringing quality classical music to this community.

It was hoped Sandpoint would become a Tanglewood of the West. The three or four symphony concerts that constituted the festival in the early 1980s were unique to this area and enthusiastically attended.

The classical mission of the festival has been diluted by trying to compete with the purveyors of pop music at Silver Mountain, The Gorge, Spokane Arena, etc. The comment of Jack Alotta that the festival in 1997 “will be scaled back to two weekends and definitely will include more country-western, which are a big draw” is not encouraging, especially since he made no mention of the Spokane Symphony.

The chamber music program at Schweitzer, which takes place in conjunction with the festival, gets precious little publicity despite the excellence of the performances and the high quality of the faculty and performers. I hope this last vestige of quality music does not get the ax in the effort to balance the books.

The Festival at Sandpoint should return to its original mission and fill the unique niche of producing quality music in the summer. People will come not only from Sandpoint but from Spokane and other parts of the Inland Empire. Ed Bittner Sagle

THE ENVIRONMENT

DOE fumbles with nuclear tar baby

Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary was interviewed on PBS-TV recently regarding a “new” plan to dispose of 52 metric tons of plutonium accumulated since 1943 in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Disposal would be by vitrification (putting plutonium in glass logs for subsequent burial, if or when a suitable site is located) or burning in nuclear reactors.

None of the interview pertained to how the plutonium was to be burned, nor the fact that radioactive byproducts/waste would be created. Would they be disposed of by vitrification or by further burning?

A permissible amount of radioactive material is released from reactors into the atmosphere. In the Neolithic age of nuclear production, bigger amounts were released on an unsuspecting downwind population, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose. Living downwinders still suffer the effects.

Neither the interviewer nor O’Leary mentioned the possibility of downwind contamination or its potential effects on people, livestock, crops, land and water. Is this merely collateral damage?

O’Leary related what her department hopes to do based on research still pending. By proposing two diverse methods, DOE admits to not knowing which method is best. Nevada was mentioned as a likely site for disposal of the glass logs.

There will always be people like me who will criticize any proposal. What the heck - plutonium is dangerous for only 250,000 years, give or take a few seconds. What’s to worry about? Al Mangan Spokane

Anti-logging types not reasonable

The Dec. 18 article about cutting old growth is very indicative of the way the people in the preservation groups feel about any resource activity. The whole idea is to just leave it alone and Mother Nature will take care of it; all man does is ruin things. You know, all of the warm and fuzzy things.

The problem with that thinking is that it is not realistic and it does not address the problems those of us in the real world have to face on a daily basis.

Prior to the Option 9 agreement President Clinton signed on to, timber harvesting in the Northwest amounted to 5.1 billion board feet per year. As a result of the agreement, harvesting was reduced to a maximum of 1.2 billion board feet per year. Now, any reasonable person would say that was a significant reduction.

Let’s remember, though, we’re not hearing from reasonable people when we hear from folks who work for the preservation groups. We are hearing from radical fringe elements that see us all going back in time 150 years to a mythical Utopia, where some 15 million to 20 million people just sort of ran around through the woods and ate berries. Gary M. Garrison Kettle Falls, Wash.

Consider who would make policy

Two points in staff writer D.F. Oliveria’s Dec. 18 editorial about Sen. Larry Craig’s forest bill need elaboration.

First, people should have a voice in managing our public forests, but through their elected officials, not by appeals. Like medicine, silviculture is a science. Allowing unqualified people to interfere in forest management, at the lowest level, is like allowing believers in faith healing to interfere with the treatment of individual patients by doctors.

Second, public forests belong to us all, but few Americans spend more than a few days of their entire lives in them, if that. Every day, however, all Americans feel the economic impact of how the forests are managed.

Before the environmental industry all but stopped multiple use in the public forests, we imported 17 percent of our forest products. We now import 37 percent of such products from Canada alone, while many times as much timber as we harvest now dies, rots and burns in our public forests. We feel that in our pocketbook when we buy anything, from a newspaper to a house. Our national balance of payments suffers, and so does forest health.

As we learned this year at the Seventh American Forest Congress, some extremists will never compromise for the common good, but reasonable people of good will can still reach a consensus and go forward without them.

Sen. Craig’s bill embodies the consensus of that gathering of people interested in forests from all across the United States and of every possible persuasion. It deserves our support. Edwin G. Davis Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Don’t be hasty removing trees

My business is pruning trees. In the wake of Ice Storm ‘96 I have had the opportunity to speak with many people concerning their trees. It has come to my attention that a number of people who are taking advantage of the opportunity for income in cleaning up the mess are convincing people to remove trees unnecessarily.

One of the things I like about Spokane is its many beautiful trees. It is sad that the ice storm did so much damage, but it is even sadder that some unscrupulous people are removing trees that could be saved, just to make an extra buck.

If someone wants to remove your trees be sure to ask them questions about their reasoning and possible alternatives. If you have any concerns about the removal or pruning of your trees it is your right to get a second opinion. Don’t let anyone pressure you into taking your trees out unnecessarily. Let’s work together to keep the destruction of our landscape to a minimum. Brad Brougher Spokane

Youth Sports Association grateful

This is the time of year when our thoughts turn to children. Scenes of children playing and joyous laughter bring gladness to our hearts. It’s also a time when we give thanks for all that is special in our lives.

We at Spokane Youth Sports Association would like to express our gratitude to the many wonderful organizations and individuals in our community who bring joy to children year ‘round. This year, thousands of children’s lives were touched by a coach, a teacher, a youth group leader, a neighbor or a friend.

We thank the parents, siblings and friends who supported children’s activities this year. Thanks for handling the phone tree, bringing snacks and car pooling to practices and games. Thank you for juggling dinner time to accommodate schedules. Thank you for your kind words to the coaches and officials.

And thanks for all the time, energy and love you give to children all year. We want you to know how special you are in their lives. The gift of your time will be special to them forever. Dwight Merkel and the staff Spokane Youth Sports Association

Correction

A few words were inadvertently left out of Jonathan Swanstrom’s letter of Dec. 22. The affected sentence, in reference to the City Council, should have read: Are they playing Santa or the opposite of Robin Hood?