Letters To The Editor

Fri., Dec. 27, 1996

FROM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Monday, December 30, 1996): Correction A few words were inadvertently left out of the last sentence of Chris Mangini’s letter (Dec. 27). The sentence should have read: I suggest the McGees spend more time teaching their children about helping people in need and less time dwelling on themselves.

‘TIS THE SEASON

Santa House special indeed

Thank you for the well-written story about the Hopkinses and their Santa House in Deer Park (IN Life, Dec. 15). Their efforts and those of the house have truly provided joy for our area.

We first visited Santa there when our oldest son, now 18, was 2 years old. He had been ill all week, so I hadn’t taken him despite his pleas. Finally, I had to work on Christmas Eve and leave him at grandpa and grandma’s. When my husband picked him up that night, he kept asking to go the the Santa House. They arrived at closing time. Santa had already taken his beard off, but dad and son were welcomed and given a traditional candy cane and my son got to pick his present.

He chose a rubber band gun, the first of many to come.

Since then, all three of our sons have continued to arrive at the Santa House late on Christmas Eve. It’s our tradition to be the last family to see Santa before he makes his big trip. Rubber band guns and string climbing Santa and bears have continued to be the boys’ favorites.

I encourage all parents to bring their kids by and let their children have the tradition of a visit to Santa House. If you have a special needs child, remember that Santa loves all the children, so they’ll be welcome.

Merry Christmas to all. Linda Krohn Deer Park

URM good company, good people

Hurray for the URM Stores, Inc., employees and company.

I read “Co-workers let friend take holiday” on Dec. 21 and was very touched by the generosity of the employees and company.

I’m so proud to live in a community where there is a company that would help out a fellow worker and family during hard times. Pete Sims Spokane

Third choice for Christmas trees

In the argument over live versus artificial trees at Christmas, there is another alternative. Why not use a live tree outside your home?

In the first place, the Bible (Jeremiah 10:3) says that cutting a tree down to decorate is a heathen practice, and who wants to profane God’s law when we are supposed to be honoring his son’s birth? Secondly, its cost-effective to use your own tree, since you don’t have to buy either a cut tree or a fascimile of one.

If you don’t have a tree outside, be sure to plant one next year. They provide shade when it’s hot, take in carbon dioxide and change it to oxygen (double boon for the environment), and finally, in times of dire necessity or during ice storms, they provide firewood, in the latter instance often sparing the homeowner the bother of cutting it down.

It’s a win-win proposition all the way. Dale Roloff Spokane

THE UNCOMMON MAN

Sagan legacy betterment of mankind

I’m certain the death of Carl Sagan on Dec. 19 caused thousands of educators and scientists, along with countless others, to experience a pang of grief, perhaps mixed with a quiet, misty-eyed salute to a man who has done so much to help his fellow citizens of Earth overcome the most insidious of the ancient enemies of humankind: ignorance, and its ugly offspring - fear, superstition, cultism and intolerance.

Sagan’s latest book, “The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark,” was clearly his valedictory, his gift to us. And a beautiful gift it is, helping us recognize that science is simply an endless search for understanding our universe, from the expanse of the entire cosmos to the smallest subnuclear particle, from the cold depths of space to the warm oneness of life.

In helping lead us toward that understanding, Sagan helps us avoid the many demons that have haunted humankind throughout history. He helps us recognize and reject the pseudoscience, anti-science, quackery and mental enslavement that have fed on ignorance, and bred superstition and fear.

Sagan said that he was in love with science, and that when one is in love he or she wants to share that love with everyone. Hence, his life as a teacher. His teaching came through his books, lectures and videos, available to all, even if he is no longer physically present.

Sagan’s and others’ efforts to help us all understand enable people everywhere to stand strong and unafraid, confident that the truth will indeed make us free. Mike McCormack, executive director The Institute for Science and Society, Ellensburg

LAW AND JUSTICE

Wrong people pay, get penalized

People who advocate guns proliferation as a way of protection against crime seem to reason as a car owner who, after discovering that the repair he paid for has not been done on his car, tries to fix the problem himself instead of requesting that the shop finish the job it was paid to do.

We should not relay on guns to protect us against criminals. We pay taxes to our government to do the job.

If every unprovoked sexual assault was punished by physical castration would we need more protection? If every murderer was publicly executed within months after the trial would we need more protection? If every thief was maimed as it’s done in Saudi Arabia would we need more protection?

We see instead quite a different picture. Murderers are entitled to expensive legal procedures that take years or decades and a lot of our tax money before they finally get executed. But even the execution is not certain. If, for instance, a murderer grows too fat he can’t be hung.

Prosecutors have to fight for every budget increase. Some law-abiding citizens have no health insurance while their taxes pay for convicts’ full medical benefits. The same law-abiding citizens have to pay for education while free education in prisons is touted as crime prevention.

This is all wrong. Our legal and penal system should deter criminals and we should not be obliged to protect ourselves. After all, we pay for that protection. Peter C. Dolina Veradale

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