Letters To The Editor

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

GSL makes room for mediocrity

The recent Greater Spokane League of schools’ policy for debate competition disgusts me.

When results of last weekend’s regional debate competition were posted, my daughter, a Mead High School debater, had placed high enough to continue on to state finals. However, due to a policy implemented this year by a select group of educators, three Mead students, including my daughter, won’t be allowed to go. They’ll be replaced by Gonzaga Prep students with significantly poorer scores.

That policy of making way for less-qualified students was instituted because too many Mead High School students qualify to represent the Greater Spokane League at state finals.

Are state debate finals truly a competition for excellence?

Now I know what William Bennett means when he talks about the dumbing-down of American education. We won’t ask students to excel. Instead, we’ll impose special rules to enable those less qualified to receive the same rewards the achievers are entitled to.

This has two very negative effects on society. First, students who have worked hard for achievement are punished, not rewarded. Second, the less-qualified students going to state finals know they are there only because of a bias against performance, not because they’ve demonstrated excellence. Their victories are hollow.

The real world has winners and losers. To limit the number of achievers is wrong.

Parents, speak out about such travesties before America’s school system becomes the laughingstock of the world. William A. Gast Jr. Mead

Learning begins before age 5

In “Education, economy top priorities” (News, Feb. 18), your report indicated that the issue of providing quality education “at both the K-12 and college levels” was the first priority. However, some of us spoke to the issue that education begins well before children enter kindergarten.

In light of recent biological research on the development of neurons in a child’s brain, it is imperative to affirm and assist parents as the first and most important educators of their children.

We also need to continue to enhance home and center child care providers, preschools and parent education programs. We must give our attention and support to the qualify of life during the critical early childhood years from birth to age 5. Kris Miller Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Bureaucrats have set us up

I just received a postcard from the Interior Columbia River Basin Project planing office in Boise, postmarked Feb. 12, notifying me that there will be a public information meeting in Boise about the Upper Columbia River Basin Environmental Impact Statement on Feb. 29, and another meeting in Walla Walla about the Eastside Ecosystem Management Project EIS on Feb. 22. No preparatory information accompanied the notice.

Purportedly, these meetings will satisfy National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act requirements for public involvement for these two processes. Together, these two planning processes, if allowed to be completed and implemented, will establish management direction for all Bureau of Land Management and national forest land within a 75 million-acre area.

To attend the Boise meeting, Lincoln County, Mont., people would have to drive 525 to 600 miles and spend at least two nights on the road. That’s a very expensive and time-consuming proposition. To attend the meeting in Walla Walla requires a 350- to 425-mile trip and another two nights on the road.

Obviously, the Forest Service doesn’t want the public to know about or participate in these deliberations, which will change the purposes of our national forests and BLM lands, and potentially severely impact management of, and production from, federal, state and even private property within the area.

These planning processes should be stopped. The manner in which they have been conducted is immoral and illegal. Jim Rathbun Libby, Mont.

Just global warming, eh?

I watched open-mouthed as the president of the United States blamed near-record and record snowfall amounts and the disastrous flooding in the West on “global warming.” He claimed that altered weather patterns changed by greenhouse gases were the culprit and insinuated that Reagan policies during the 1980s created these problems.

Not all the records fell, however.

My question is, who does the president blame for causing the records that were set 50 and 75 years ago? Chris Warren Spokane

GRASS FIELD BURNING

Numbers game aside, smoke harms

Karl Felgenhauer’s letter (“800-ton figure erroneous,” Feb. 10) attempts again to minimize the impact grass smoke has on this region.

Felgenhauer is unhappy because the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority calculated last year’s grass smoke contribution to our air pollution problems at 800 tons. He states the figure is wrong because it is based on the assumption that there are four tons per acre of grass residue. According to Felgenhauer, it’s only 1.5 tons.

When 1.5 tons are plugged into the equation, the results show that only 300 tons of pollution are produced.

Felgenhauer’s letter prompted me to go to the source - researchers who have done their work on dryland bluegrass. According to the grass growers’ own researchers, the amount of residue ranges from 2.7 to 6 tons/acre, depending on the variety of bluegrass grown. This makes 4 tons/acre a very conservative number.

The most important point, however, is not whether grass growers emit 300 tons or 800 tons (either amount is appalling). The point is that a month ago the grass growers were telling us that their share of the pollution pie was less than 1 percent. Now they are saying 300 tons - a figure considerably greater than 1 percent.

Since they intentionally misled the public about the 1 percent, why should we believe their “facts” now? And for those of us who face possible hospitalization every year because of their smoke, arguing over numbers is an offense. Laura Ackerman Spokane

Doing growers in won’t solve problem

Your newspaper has misrepresented the grass seed industry.

During 1994-95, federal clean air standards in Spokane County (urban, not rural) were exceeded four times. All four incidents occurred in December and January, when there was no grass field burning.

Those who argue that other crops can be grown in this region lack knowledge of agriculture. Kentucky bluegrass is an important rotational crop in this area. It builds soil while reducing or eliminating soil loss through wind and water erosion.

Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority’s 1995 annual report shows that grass fields were only burned during 32.5 hours designated by SCAPCA. The remaining 8,727.5 hours in 1995, Kentucky bluegrass filtered and purified water entering the region’s aquifer, prevented soil from washing into lakes and streams, and eliminated windblown dust that would otherwise be carried to the urban area.

Spokane’s air quality problems are the result of automobiles, unpaved roads and wood-burning stoves. Eliminating field burning will not solve those problems.

Politicians, activists and “journalists” have made agriculture the whipping boy for Spokane’s air quality problems. Politicians can gain favor with the electorate. Activists can gain the attention they crave and journalists can sell newspapers. None of them will have done anything to solve the problem.

Before the public is fooled by this misguided effort, it should remember that agriculture is the only essential industry. A loaf of bread and a gallon of milk don’t originate at the grocery store. Ted Rasmussen Latah, Wash.

No burning means more dust

We have dust and smoke filling our skies now, and it’s winter. This is also causing the alarms to go off on air quality.

Where are all the concerned citizens on clean air now? Our skies have a brown-gray haze appearance. The bluegrass fields are a beautiful green, with plenty of wildlife feeding on them now. The bluegrass fields are also controlling soil erosion and water quality.

If we eliminate the field grass burning procedures, won’t we be seeing that brown haze continue throughout the whole year from the dust that will be coming off these fields, once sod-bound? Think about it: a short period of smoke, and all the good that comes from these fields year ‘round vs. tons of dust that can’t be doused. Cindy Kaelin Spokane

Vehicle emissions the greater problem

Re: Dr. Alan Whitehouse’s comments in “Waiting to inhale” (News, Feb. 20):

Nineteen years ago my wife and I (now 78 and 79, respectively) decided to change our lifestyles and begin running.

About two weeks ago we started preparing for our first long run of the year, the Vancouver, B.C., half-marathon. Last week we had to abort our program completely because of the inversion which was mostly automobile emissions and is with us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

If the good doctor and his friend and politician, County Commissioner John Roskelley, want to become heroes, why don’t they organize a movement to eliminate the big killer, auto emissions?

The answer: the grass growers are a small industry without resources to buy political clout; the automobile industry and the oil companies have billions with which to buy political favors. It’s the same old game - lousy politics at work. D.J. “Buzz” Irvin Spokane

SCAPCA gets it right at last

Grass field burning is clearly an issue of public health.

The Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority board is to be commended for finally accepting its responsibility to curtail this harmful practice.

For too many years the board has chosen not to act despite the growing number of complaints. Nothing can justify continuation of a practice that is damaging to the health of thousands of people. Rod Stackelberg and Sally Winkle Spokane

Turn away from bluegrass

I left the Feb. 21 Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority hearing angry with the grass growers. While the growers contend we should be grateful to them for growing bluegrass because it’s better for water quality and the local economy than some crops, I see greed as their only motive.

Any other grass, and many other ground cover crops, would prevent soil erosion. Bluegrass would do that job better if it were not burned. Grass growers choose bluegrass because as long as they can use our air as their garbage dump they can nearly double their profits. Some years, bluegrass yields have been worth 600 percent of the profit level of wheat.

Furthermore, bluegrass lawns are a bad choice for homeowners. They require more water, more fertilizer and more mowing than drought tolerant native fescue, which is also grown in the area. I use hard-seeded fescue, which has a thinner blade and less-brilliant color but is much easier to care for.

For the nation as a whole, more water and fertilizer is used on lawns than on food crops. Both of those inputs have high environmental costs, as well as dollar costs.

Think of the true environmental benefits local seed growers could offer if they would grow and promote the use of natural-looking fescues that don’t need burning for seed production or as much watering, fertilizing or mowing.

Please, consumers, do the right thing and boycott bluegrass. The rewards keep growing. Richard Reed Spokane

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Tobacco tax rollback senseless

I want to add missing information to “Rollback of tobacco taxes urged” (News, Jan. 31).

In the debate over cigarette taxes, the tobacco lobby consistently avoids any discussion of tobacco taxes as they relate to two important issues: health care costs and teenage consumption.

In 1993 the total medical costs related to tobacco use amounted to $50 billion nationally. Of this amount, taxpayers paid an estimated $21.6 billion for publicly funded medical care programs. This equals approximately 89 cents in medical costs per pack purchased.

The 1995 Legislature established commitments for the expansion of the Basic Health Plan, expanded health care and dental access for children, along with support for the public health improvement plan. We should not abandon those commitments by endangering the funding of these programs.

Your article barely mentioned the relationship between cigarette prices and consumption among teenagers. The price impact on youth consumption is extremely dramatic. Studies show that a 10 percent increase in cigarette prices reduces youth consumption by 7.6 to 12 percent. This relationship cannot be overlooked, considering that the average age of people who start smoking is 14, and 89 percent of all adult smokers began before age 18. Today, 3,000 young people will smoke their first cigarette, and 1,000 will die from tobacco-related illness.

The article mentioned the tobacco tax in the context of fairness. Paying for rising health care costs with tobacco taxes is fair. Preventing another generation from becoming addicted to tobacco is fair. Reducing tobacco taxes to satisfy the tobacco industry would only be a crime. John Moyer, M.D. Washington state senator

VIOLENCE

Offenders must be given treatment

In 1995 there were 5,524 reported incidences of domestic violence and nine domestic violence-related homicides in Spokane County. There were about 230 women and 285 children housed in the confidential shelter in Spokane.

The average victim of domestic violence tries to leave seven times before she leaves for good. There are places for these victims to go and there is free counseling for them. Sadly, there are not enough resources to help all victims get out.

Did you ever wonder what happens to the perpetrator in violent relationships? If he is convicted of a domestic violence-related crime , he is required to obtain counseling. This is not a six-week anger management class; it is an intensive yearlong perpetrator treatment program, with a minimum cost of $300, payable by the perpetrator.

So what happens if the perpetrator decides he can’t afford it or that he doesn’t have a problem? Well, since he is referred to counseling in lieu of sentencing, there are virtually no consequences if he doesn’t get treated.

The likelihood that an untreated perpetrator will commit a violent act again is almost 100 percent, whether it is against the same victim or not.

It sure would make sense to stop him the first time he is convicted. The law should say that he either completes the treatment or goes to jail. Period. It would save a lot of lives and heartache. Tammy Fiske Spokane

Peer mediator program helpful

I’m a fourth grader at Chattaroy Elementary. I’m a peer mediator, and I think that it’s a great idea.

We are taught how to help students solve their own problems, like fights on the playground.

I think this program should be in all elementary schools. Tracy Pederson Chattaroy, Wash.