SPOKANE COUNTY

Decent proposal being twisted

I’m continually amazed that Spokane County residents don’t bother to obtain correct facts before writing letters about the proposed rise in county golf course fees. Such is the case with Michael Wiman (Dec. 15).

Commissioner John Roskelley’s proposed fee increase of $2.50 isn’t just for county parks. Quite the contrary. He’s asking that just $1 of each play, or 5 percent of the golf courses’ entire revenue, be dedicated to county parks. Predicted on a $2 million dollar revenue, this amounts to $100,000. Gee, that only leaves $1,900,000 for golf course maintenance and improvements. Not exactly a shoestring budget.

Currently, not a penny of greens fees goes anywhere but back to the golf courses.

Roskelley’s remark that “golf is only for the wealthy” was unfortunate. In the same meeting, with the press present, he qualified what was really intended by that remark, but his explanation wasn’t printed. The plain facts are that the median income of a golf course user is considerably higher than the income of participants in public swimming, day camps, and playground programs sponsored by the county.

As long as current standards are maintained and improvements made, how can anyone be so selfish as to not help the parks? Francine M. Boxer, assistant chief administrative officer Spokane County Commissioners

Office Let each pay for own recreation

Commissioner John Roskelley’s entry into politics has apparently transformed him from one who climbs rocks to one who might be found under a rock.

Golf is for the wealthy? What a surprise. I play golf, and my son and wife play golf. Almost everyone I know plays golf. Very few of my friends or relatives are wealthy. If I were wealthy, I’d play a lot more and I might be able to play on private courses. As it is, I play county courses, which pay for themselves.

Do parks or swimming pools pay for themselves? Of course not. Taxpayers, including golfers, pay for these things.

Mountain climbing, of course, is the preferred recreation for the poor. How about using the increase in fees from county courses to sponsor midnight mountain climbing for inner city gang members?

I recently moved here after 20 years in Alaska. Army rescues of mountain climbers on Mount McKinley (Denali) were a weekly event. Helicopters and highly trained personnel were routinely used at huge taxpayer expense to save wealthy, elitist idiots from their own foolishness. Why? Because some clown wanted to climb “because it was there,” for his own feeling of macho pride, and to benefit no one else.

Wake up, Roskelley. People who pay their own way have had it with people who want them to finance everyone else. You pay for your recreation and I’ll pay for mine. Don Eagle Tekoa, Wash.

Roskelley idea modest and fair

This yule season some golfers have replaced their putters with a pen to complain about Commissioner John Roskelley’s proposed golf fee adjustment. Roskelley’s proposal would be a prudent investment in keeping high-quality public golfing.

In Roskelley’s proposal for a $2.50 increase, $1.50 was designated for operation and maintenance, and for purchasing land for future links. The remaining $1 was to be for swimming pool repair. Not for new pools, but for patching up the old, decaying pools. It seems every year there’s a question of the pools being opened because of budget constraints to repair and staff them for one more season.

It’s not the fashionably affluents who motor the fairways in their cute but very expensive golf carts you will find at public pools. What you will find is kids, lots of kids. For many of them, this is all they have to look forward to during Spokane’s very hot, very dry summers. These kids aren’t stealing or doing drugs. They’re exercising a tradition. To deny a kid the opportunity to cool off in the old swimming hole or a swimming pool is a modern parody of Scrooge and Tiny Tim.

Let the Scrooges with the putting irons reflect on this. A new golf ball costs twice as much as Roskelley wants you golfers to contribute to the kids’ swimming pools.

Let’s see the area’s golf community, both players and businesses, commit to financing pool repairs so the kids can frolic and play during summer vacation. Owen Berio Springdale, Wash.

THANKS

Kindly efforts appreciated

Thank you to the thousands of generous people who made Christmas merrier for children and their families in Spokane. Because of your kindness, little ones had a new toy and a holiday meal. This outpouring of love and concern is an inspiration to us all.

Thanks also to The Spokesman-Review for sponsoring the Christmas Fund/Christmas Bureau. We’re grateful for this 50-year commitment to Spokane’s less fortunate.

Our deepest appreciation goes to Bev Vorpahl, who painted the pictures in words, beautiful and wise words, which encouraged us all to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Ken Trent, Christmas Bureau coordinator Volunteers of America

Postal Service did terrific job

Congratulations to the U.S. Postal Service, especially those employees in the Spokane area. You’ve provided excellent holiday service, working on Sunday to move the mail and scheduling staff and hours to help prevent long lines and waiting.

I’ve always been impressed by the ability we have to place a letter in a box and, for a very nominal fee, magically have it arrive a short while later at its destination.

This holiday season the Postal Service has gone above and beyond the ordinary. Thank you for truly providing superior work and customer service. Nancy Goodspeed Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Don’t get mad - get involved

After reading “Government got you down? Join the crowd” (Dec. 19), I was frustrated.

I frequently hear or read that people don’t trust the government or don’t feel their opinion counts. My frustration comes from the fact that most people don’t make it to the polls. Over 50 percent of the registered voters in this country didn’t vote in 1994.

It takes some work to be informed and involved in social and political issues, but it’s worth it. If we were to all spend 10 minutes a week writing a letter or making one phone call to our representatives, we would make a huge difference in how policies are shaped. Our involvement would encourage discussion and debate with our leaders.

We will never all come to the same conclusion on an issue, but at least we would learn something new and feel like we made a difference.

If we don’t like the decisions our officials are making, we should speak up. If we don’t take the time to be informed, offer our opinion and vote, we have no right to feel alienated from our government. We haven’t made the effort.

Please, take the time. It’s worth it. Shannon Selland Spokane

May ‘96 be time of less selfishness

As the gap ever widens between middle and upper class, I wonder who can keep their elderly loved ones in nursing home care, unassisted?

I also grieve for the mothers who send their children to school hungry, because of lunch program cuts. I mourn the demise of the DARE program as we knew it, just as we start to see the benefits as a society.

This holiday season I’m overcome with sadness for the most as risk among us, the children and elderly. I urge everyone to reassess their priorities. Even if these issues don’t directly affect you today, only by the grace of God go you. Think, vote and act.

“Family first” has a hollow ring to it in 1995. Let’s do better for ourselves and our country in 1996. Donna Dubois Spokane

Quit complaining and get a job

Lori Belnap thinks she’s being shorted? (Letters, Dec. 22) Well, let’s take a look.

Just $810 a month tax-free money for doing nothing. Shouldn’t food stamps and medical coverage be factored in somewhere? Regardless, I think Belnap should stop complaining.

As an active duty member of the Air Force, I pull-in about $1,000 a month. Since, technically, I’m also on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, I guess I make $1.37 an hour, as compared to her $1.12 an hour. Not much difference, right? Wrong!

The difference is that I actually have a job. I chose my job, and I’m not writing letters to the editor to complain about how little someone else says I make. Incidentally, you don’t make money without a job - that’s called charity.

So quit worrying about what others say and get out there and work for your money. Patrick J. Avella Fairchild Air Force Base

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Story missed point of my position

Contrary to what readers may have seen in The Spokesman-Review, the U.S. Senate hasn’t voted on whether to extend patents on pharmaceutical drugs such as Zantac. I’d like to set the record straight.

During debate on an unrelated bill, an amendment was introduced dealing with pharmaceutical patents under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

On one side it was argued that a simple oversight extended certain drug patents, thus prohibiting the manufacture of lower-cost generics for several more months. On the other side was Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said no loophole existed. Who was right?

A hearing was proposed to help answer that question. That seemed reasonable to me. The proposal, however, didn’t specify a timeline for having the hearing. Sending a measure back to committee without a timeline for a hearing is the easiest way to kill a measure. I couldn’t support that. It was only after Chairman Hatch assured me he would hold hearings and bring this matter back quickly that I voted for the hearings.

The Spokesman-Review reported this was a vote “to protect an important stomach drug from competition from generic manufacturers.” That’s flat-out wrong. The vote was on holding the hearings.

Again, the Senate never voted on whether to extend any drug patents. Had we been able to vote on that issue, my inclination was to support generic drugs and not extend the patents, but you’d never know that by reading the Spokesman. Sen. Dirk Kempthorne Boise

Sour note from conservative voice

There was a question posed by one of the commentators currently braying on talk show radio, asking for a definition of a right-wing conservative. Until the “Our View” column (Dec. 25), I’ve been searching for an answer.

Reading D.F. Oliveria’s views made me realize that while seven members of your board took the time to express “family values,” the one who drones on about them most of the year used the space for a cheap dig. The others touched on uplifting, unselfish ideas, while Oliveria clung to his political agenda. The rest wrote of peace, building and sharing. Oliveria wrote only of tearing down.

To me, he’s a perfect example of a right-wing conservative: a selfish, small-minded, hypocritical demagogue who will join the Joe McCarthys of history as footnotes to baseness.

I’m proud to live in a country where he has the right to his views, but I’m saddened he has neither the decency nor intelligence to recognize the proper time to express them. Neil Margoles Newport, Wash.

Craig serves contributing interests

There are no depths to which Sen. Larry Craig will not sink in his political opportunism.

Craig recently changed his vote at the last minute to vote in favor of the tobacco lobby, which has given him thousands of dollars in PAC contributions. This is particularly egregious because the targets of this advertising are kids and families at rodeos.

Craig voted to keep already astronomical drug prices high and rising to benefit a major drug company, as a favor to Sen. Jesse Helms. I’m sure we’ll see that company on his political reports very soon as repayment for the vote.

Craig did nothing to stop nuclear waste from being shoved down Idaho’s throat and putting Gov. Batt in a terrible position to have to sign an agreement with the feds that will be totally unenforceable and a terrible deal for Idaho. Craig has more seniority than all the rest of the entire delegation combined, and yet he did nothing until he saw polls saying Idahoans didn’t want this.

Sen. Larry Craig needs to go. He’s lost all touch with Idaho values. James C. Ellenwood Post Falls

Praying for casualty-free effort

The dreams and prayers for freedom and democracy from the communist dictatorship of the Serbian-dominated government in the former Yugoslavia,have finally been answered for the people of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia.

They are celebrating the birth of their young independent republics, by openly celebrating Christmas for the first time since communistic rule.

We’re praying for the innocent Serbian civilians who are still controlled by their self-centered political madmen.

We also pray that this isn’t at the cost of American lives, and the ensuing grief for their families. Vesna Shabinaw Moscow, Idaho

THE ENVIRONMENT

We’re paying price of exploitation

Supervisor James Caswell is tasked with stewardship of the Clearwater National Forest and ordered by Chief Jack Ward Thomas to tell the truth. Caswell fails on both counts by stating, “No one really knows yet what exactly caused each slide…” (Letters, Dec. 19).

If roads weren’t there, they wouldn’t slide. It’s refreshing to read accurate statements by Clearwater Ranger Art Bourassa acknowledging clearcuts and roads can worsen flooding and damage.

For nearly 30 years agency hydrologists sounded warnings: Too many clearcuts and roads worsen flooding. In December, overcut forests released floods causing property damage and devastating fisheries.

The Forest Service bulldozed over 18,000 miles of roads into the three national forests in North Idaho. Roads cut water tables, bleeding groundwater onto surfaces. Compacted road surfaces impede absorption, diverting water into streams.

In forested watersheds, 1.61 road miles per square mile nearly doubles released-water volumes compared with unroaded drainages (USFS studies). Northwest forests average 3.5 road miles per square mile (USFS figures, 1994). In some North Idaho drainages, road densities skyrocket to 20 road miles per square mile.

During rain-on-snow storms, clearcuts can triple water volumes released compared with intact forest canopies (USFS studies).

The corporate-government complex is planning and executing many more injurious timber sales despite unheeded warnings and recent floods. Corporations - using Congress - suspended environmental laws to cut trees. We are struggling to stop further devastation of public forests and fisheries. Get involved. Barry Rosenberg, Forest Watch director Inland Empire Public Lands Council, Spokane

Alarm sounds for us all

I live in the suburbs, across the road from a corn field. Last summer I converted my electric furnace and water heater to high-efficiency natural gas. At the same time I installed a carbon monoxide warning device.

At the beginning of the heating season the carbon monoxide alarm would go off about once a week. I called in the professionals and they sniffed with fancy instruments and could find no toxic gas at all coming from my vents or near the appliances. My exhaust vents had no leakage.

The alarm continued on a regular basis, often when the furnace had not been running for several hours.

Yesterday I noticed a haze outdoors and was inspired. I took my alarm and set it outside on my patio table, which is on the opposite side of the house from my exhaust. In 10 minutes it was blaring a warning. Our “fresh” air has a dangerous level of carbon monoxide.

I finally began to understand the warnings we’ve been getting from the ecologists: We’re choking in our own filth. Edward F. Sawatzki Veradale