Letters To The Editor

Idaho viewpoints

Hunting regulation fine as is

Anti-hunters, in addressing the bear initiative, have their facts twisted. Petitioners are asking for your signatures to stop bear baiting and hunting with hounds.

This method is a selective way of harvesting bears. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game uses this means as a tool to manage wildlife correctly. Hunting in this manner allows the hunter to distinguish between sows and mature boars. Close observation also helps the hunter determine the black bear from the endangered grizzly.

Hunting a bear in a berry patch, a bird dog that just flushed a pheasant, putting that worm on your hook, enticing a bull elk with a cow call - these to the anti-hunter would be unsportsmanlike! The bear baiting issue is a foot in the door to stop hunting as we know it.

Hunting is a heritage that many hold sacred here in Idaho. Hunters and fishermen have been donating time and money for many years for the protection and conservation of wildlife.

Fish and Game writes the regulations in Idaho and does an excellent job. People with little or no knowledge of Idaho wildlife now want to set the regulations. Let us leave the management where it belongs. Pete and Jeannie Weatherford Clark Fork, Idaho

Forest bill holds benefits for Idaho

I support Senate Bill 1354, which basically authorizes the state of Idaho to help manage its national forests.

Many foresters and forest scientists believe forest health is in a crisis. Fire suppression efforts, insects and disease have increased the amount of dead and dying trees. The 1994 fire season showed us that too much fuel will really make our forests burn.

Thinning and salvage logging would help restore a natural balance to our forests. It would restore multiple uses of the affected areas, which have seen a more than 50 percent decrease in sales in the last five years. State regulations, which are stricter than federal laws, would be followed.

Finally, 25 percent of the gross federal timber land sales would go to Idaho, for roads and schools. Steven A. Lentini Clarkston, Wash.

Clegg deserves re-election

Having lived in Kootenai County my whole life, I have seen many changes occur in North Idaho. One change that has definitely been for the better is electing Pierce Clegg for Kootenai County sheriff.

I have known Clegg for a long time. He is a fine sheriff, but even more importantly, he is a fine human being. He possesses all the qualities one should seek in a leader as well as a doer.

North Idaho has benefited from his service. I hope people will vote for him in the upcoming election. Shirley Miller Coeur d’Alene

Good to have opposing views

Again this morning your paper presented the other and less acceptable view. I’m referring to Dr. John McMath’s guest column on the Feb. 14 Idaho Roundtable page.

I appreciate the fact that The Spokesman-Review has the courage to print both sides of current issues. Thank you, and keep up the good work. Ruth Stoeckert Coeur d’Alene

SPOKANE MATTERS

Group home foe goes too far

Mick Heacox, the nastiness of your Feb. 16 letter against the proposed Manito Place group home for the elderly is appalling. Your response lacks simple compassion.

I guess it is representative of the attitude that would have a problem with a few harmless older people moving into a family neighborhood. What will you be going after next, foster homes? Maybe you would find Grandma coming to live with the kids objectionable, too.

Where would you have these people live? Is it too much to ask that they continue to live in the neighborhood they helped make so pleasant?

You cannot discard people when they need assistance.

The bottom line is, what will it hurt?

Second, it never ceases to amaze me how certain folks can make a political issue out of anything. Your portrayal of this as a Democrat vs. Republican battle is way out of line. Your implication that opponents of this home are the only decent families in the debate is ludicrous.

The preschool cooperative I attend with my children makes regular trips to visit an assisted care center for elderly residents. I believe it’s beneficial for the residents and children alike. I would be honored to have such a home in my neighborhood. I guess that’s because I think of older people as a benefit to a community, not a hindrance.

Heacox, I hope for your sake that you and your loved ones are treated with more respect as you get older. Jackie Gelhar Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Big government can be a big help

Remember the Republican slogan, that Democrats want to tax and spend? The flood shows how tax money can be spent and how the benefits justify a considerable expenditure.

Who in Colfax is opposed to the $7 million cost, now? It had many objectors in 1964 when it was started.

Do we need big government? Yes! Neither state nor local government could control the rivers, and now who is expected to pay disaster relief? Big government, with our money! I say big government is not all bad. Bert Scholz Colfax, Wash.

Forbes’ GOP critics hypocritical

I really get a charge out of the Republican presidential candidates whining about Steve Forbes having so much money.

I recently heard Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Lamar Alexander on a TV program. When asked why they thought Forbes was doing so well in the polls, both said it’s because of all the money he has and is spending on those negative ads.

It’s laughable, as not one of the seven candidates is worth less than $2 million, and some of them have more.

That same week the Republican Party raised $16.3 million at a fund raiser in one night. Do you suppose they will whine when their candidate is chosen and spends “all that money” on negative ads against Clinton?

Sure they will - and pigs will fly. Elephants, too. Richard M. Menke Spokane

Last hurrah under the big tent

Nostalgia is good for the soul, and I feel warm inside when I remember attending as a child the Ringling Brothers’, Barnum and Bailey Circus under the big top, with the elephants, clowns, high-wire acts and lion tamers. I guess that is why I so enjoyed the traveling circus that recently left Iowa and began performing in New Hampshire.

Yes, the elephants are predominant, there are clowns galore and some very amazing high wire acts, while the barkers scream for your attention.

However, the main difference between the circus I knew as a child and the one on TV daily is that Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey was merely trying to entertain us. Today’s circus cast is trying to sell us an impossible illusion, one that, behind all the smoke and mirrors, rewards the have-gots at the expense of the have-nots. Not even a political circus should do that.

Yes, the GOP circus detracts from my memory of what a circus is all about - entertaining, not deluding, us.

At election time they’ll discover elephants are not alone in having long memories! Kristine Louise Kelly Spokane

Ah, those were the days

Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas should be old enough to remember an America that was once free. An America where one could pretty much do as he pleased, as long as he did not steal or damage another man’s property. That was about it.

Was there injustice? Yes. Was there more injustice than today? No. But there was a lot more freedom, including the right to do stupid things to yourself.

The old saying was, “It’s a free country, ain’t it?” John Hodde Colville, Wash.

Campaign antics have downside

Brickbats are flying over the land and the throwers receive as they give. The 1996 campaign is going hot and heavy. The presidency hangs in the balance.

On the Republican side, the wannabes are frantically lobbing mudballs at each other. The rash of paid TV commercials is decried as unfair throwing of foul balls. But politics is a rough and tumble game. Always has been. You don’t come into the ring for a tea party. There is a guy in the opposite corner ready to punch your lights out.

Commentators aver that this go-round is the meanest ever. Not so.

History records that campaign fever often broke out into everything short of physical battery. Abraham Lincoln was viciously reviled when he ran for president, even cartooned as an ugly ape.

So have at it, boys. But look out - shots can backfire. And remember that the higher the monkey climbs the pole, the more he shows his rear end. Howard Cameron Spokane

Overdosed on right wing extremism

Uncle! Two Cal Thomas columns in one week is more than a humanist can bear!

First, on Feb. 15, readers were treated to an op-ed page featuring such a diverse array of pundits as Mona Charen, Cal Thomas and D.F. Oliveria.

Then, on Feb. 16, before our systems had had a chance to recover, The L.A. Times blatherer struck again with “Liberals worship plants, animals.”

Hey, editors, listen up! These writers are part of the ultra-right-wing fringe - a very vocal minority whose members recognize no other moral values than their own. This is repugnant to many people - people who truly value compassion and tolerance.

Please try for a little more balance in your editorial content. There are many readers out here who view The Spokesman-Review as anything but left wing.

Your efforts to appease the holy rollers have gone too far. There is no appeasing them - short of Armageddon. Heather Sprake Nine Mile Falls

OTHER TOPICS

Willis right about Batt’s bad deal

If speaking out against bad government is being naive, then editorial writers like D.F. Oliveria (Opinion, Feb. 20) flaunt that naivete every day.

Actor Bruce Willis commands attention. His voice can effectively alert citizens to issues important to Idaho and, indeed, the nation. That includes shining a public spotlight on the deal made by Gov. Batt with the feds concerning nuclear waste disposal in our state.

Batt clearly lacks the political savvy and realistic appraisal of federal government deal-making of ex-governor Cecil Andrus. He knew the feds were on shaky ground regarding the use of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a nuclear disposal site.

Scientific evidence is mounting against it as a safe repository. Nevada’s citizens have never liked the idea of a mountain of dangerous radiation in their state and subject to the vagaries of earthquakes, water and spontaneous ignition for the next 10,000 years.

If Yucca Mountain is ruled out, the feds have no Plan B. So, they desperately need places to dump the deadly stuff. Apparently, Gov. Batt and his Republican Legislature were naive enough to give them Idaho.

Maybe Willis isn’t an expert on nuclear waste. But he knows a bad deal when he sees one and he’s able to command the attention necessary to tell his fellow Idahoans about it. At least he isn’t naive enough to believe that any government tells the whole truth or keeps all its promises. Russ Moritz Sandpoint

Let’s all use turn signals

I work as a transportation clerk and I spend lots of time behind the wheel. I’m amazed how few people use turn signals. This is frustrating as well as a hazard for those behind or around you on the road.

Signals are meant to be used to let other drivers know your intentions. Theyre not just to look at.

Driving is a privilege that can be more enjoyable if we work together toward the same goal: safety.Please, use your signals and I will do the same. Kimberly Winchester Spokane