Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

CPR: Do the best you can

Your Dec. 27 article on CPR caught my attention. I feel this article criticizes individuals who have performed CPR improperly while trying to save someone’s life. The article appears to encourage people to avoid performing CPR if they are not properly trained.

I am a member of the East Shoshone Quick Response Unit and I have been involved in CPR procedures in the past. It is my duty to lay this issue down on the line.

A patient is already clinically dead if CPR measures are needed. In other words, the patient has a 100 percent chance of dying. Therefore, I encourage one to attempt CPR on a patient if it is needed.

I also recommend that this procedure be executed using latex gloves and a micro-shield. I feel it is important for the average person to become certified in CPR.

Who wants to feel responsible for somebody’s death because they didn’t try CPR? Not me. Mark A. Johnson Wallace

Burchell out; Here we go again

There were many smiling faces to be found at the “emergency” Coeur d’Alene School Board meeting, and with good reason.

Those were smiles of delight and relief on the faces of the teachers present seeing Ken Burchell replaced as chairman by Vern Newby. The reason for their glee? Burchell had tried to bring a sense of accountability to the district, and the teachers with their union opposed him at every step. His watchful eye made them uncomfortable as he reviewed the district’s dismal test results.

Under Burchell’s leadership the district implemented changes to improve the educational standards.

With Newby, Tim Olson and Wanda Quinn voting to remove Burchell as chairman, the board may slip back into previous behavior of rubber-stamping the administration, bowing to the union and accepting pathetic performance from both students and their teachers. Randy Cox Coeur d’Alene

IN THE PAPER

Welcome back, Ernie

It was with great pleasure that I opened the Sunday comics and found the return of one of the all-time great comic strips.

In case you didn’t know, Bud Grace, creator of Ernie, holds a doctorate in nuclear physics, but immediately became a cartoonist.

I am sure that all of the Piranha Club members in Eastern Washington and North Idaho will join me in a groundswell of support to return Ernie to the daily Spokesman as well. Where else can you find Uncle Sid, Effie, Mr. Squid and Enos T. Pork, M.D.? John K. Fellman, North Idaho Piranhas Moscow

Much ado about little or nothing

Re: “Spokane School Board regularly breaks meetings law” (News, Jan. 7)

Regularly? The only verified instance of lawbreaking in your front page headline story is confirmation that the board discussed John Warn’s retirement at a lunch. All the rest of the article is speculation and conjecture about appearances - appearances which you encourage the reader to perceive as sinister conspiracy.

If there’s anything sinister at work here it’s your inflation of this grain of substance into headline news.

You ought to come up with better stuff before you put it in the paper, let alone on the front page. With this kind of marginal journalism, no wonder we have a tough time getting good people to run for public office. Steven J. McNutt Spokane

Some choice of front page news

It is amazing to me that of all the potential news available for print on a worldwide scale, you chose front page coverage in last Sunday’s edition of an alleged violation of open meeting laws in reference to the School District 81 board.

You make a point that one of our school board members, one with long years of service, while at lunch with his colleagues indicated his intention of announcing his resignation. That sounds like a common courtesy afforded anyone who decides to take this step.

Every school board meeting that I have attended has an open agenda. The meetings are announced in advance.

The board goes to great length in giving opportunity for members of the audience to add items to the agenda or speak to any one of the items listed.

Oh, how I long to unfold my Spokesman-Review on any given morning and read in front page headlines about just one of the many positive contributions our Spokane public schools have made to people, especially our students.

Sensationalism continues to flourish in our local newspaper. Shame on you, Spokesman-Review. Earl Buri Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Professor’s quest marred by myopia

Your Jan. 7 piece on Whitworth College professor Jim Waller’s “monthlong look at racism and prejudice across the United States” made no mention of the legal racism practiced against whites.

Governments, corporations and educational institutions routinely discriminate against whites in testing, hiring, promotions and awarding of contracts. The use of racial quotas is widespread and accepted, and is in many cases mandatory, at all levels of society in this country.

Plenty of examples can be found in Eastern Washington, though perhaps the “rich diversity of America” can be better appreciated in places like California, New Orleans and Atlanta - especially in January.

Professor Waller hilariously attributes his decision not to visit South-central Los Angeles to “erring on the side of safety.” Apparently, when the keepers of our conscience act as prudently as the unanointed would in similar circumstances, it’s not prejudice, just rational judgment. Robin Corkery Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

High living at others’ expense

Last week I stood in line behind two young men who were discussing their upcoming evening at a State Line bar. They used food stamps to buy steaks and a dozen packages of Kool-Aid. Then they tossed two packages of cigarettes on the counter and paid for these with cash.

Last summer I watched a woman buy four deli-made sandwiches, two cans of potato chips and candy bars using food stamps. She told the cashier that she and her children were going camping. The irony is that I know this cashier works Saturdays while her husband takes care of their children. She and her family definitely wouldn’t be camping that day.

I’ve seen food stamps used to buy Cornish game hens while I waited to pay for hamburger. I watched a young couple pay for one can of infant formula, two large bottles of Pepsi and several candy bars using food stamps.

Why are taxpayers expected to put up with this nonsense? Is it the sound of “starving children” the Democrats are so fond of? The government used to provide commodities to the poor and elderly. Each month they received dried beans and rice, canned meat and vegetables, cheese, cornmeal and dried milk.

My grandmother required this help while she helped raise two grandkids. She always put good, nourishing food on the table. Perhaps the government should go back to issuing commodities to those who truly need help.

But, I guess that wouldn’t work. People might have to actually cook! And a three-pound block of cheese couldn’t be traded for cash or drugs. John Hall Spokane

Column overpopulated with dreck

The assertion by syndicated columnist Jennifer James in Sunday’s Spokesman-Review that having large families is irresponsible and self-serving is very offensive.

By her own admission she speaks from a viewpoint of personal ignorance. There was nothing irresponsible or self-serving about the sacrifices my parents made to support 12 children for at least 18 years of their lives.

She also claims that “so many” children are not a contribution to the family or the community. She is obviously a liberal, so I would point out that all 11 of us who are still living are paying far more in taxes alone, which go to support her pet projects, than we will ever consume in resources for which we do not in some manner pay fair value through our own labor.

It is the labor of individuals in advanced societies such as ours, leveraged through technology, that feeds the world. The proposition that having a child in America condemns 30 Third World children to death is ludicrous on the face of it. Certainly there are problems throughout the world, even some of which may be caused by local overpopulation. But none are caused by global overpopulation. Jonathan H. Lundquist Spokane

Just how personally responsible?

While I couldn’t agree more with the overall sentiment expressed by Bob Cubr (Letters, Jan. 4) on accepting personal responsibility, some of his examples left much to be desired.

Bob, if you are killed at a railroad crossing, does your wife have the resources to feed, clothe, house and educate herself and any children you may have, without outside assistance? If, on a day with optimal conditions, and no helmet, you dump your bike because you were sideswiped by an inattentive driver, or because a child ran in front of you, you may have only yourself to blame for the resulting head injury, but do you also have the financial resources to pay tens of thousands of dollar for acute and rehabilitative care? Or the close to $1 million 20-plus years in a no-frills nursing home will cost?

If you can’t answer yes to these questions, you are no more personally responsible than anyone else you mention in your letter. You may not blame others, but you are depending on me and other taxpayers to bear the financial burdens caused by your actions.

As someone with a vested interest (my tax dollars ) in the outcome of your actions, I should have the right to require you to act in a fashion, i.e. wearing a helmet, that reduces my financial risk.

If you do have the financial ability to truly be responsible for the outcomes of all your decisions, engage in all the risky behavior you want. It will be none of my business. Kathy L. Chatterton Davenport, Wash.

Sorting out the true believers

From the sense of his Jan. 7 column, Michael Gurian expresses the opinion that we are now too sophisticated to believe that any one religious philosophy has value over another. That is absolutely true if God doesn’t exist. However, if the Judeo-Christian God does exist, then the superior religious belief is that adhered to by Jews and Christians.

One way to determine whether people are being directed by God is to see how they respond to problems of others. Some will demonstrate to get government money. Others will righteously express the view that those in need are getting what they deserve. Those filled with the spirit of God, whether under the contract of law or the contract of love, will pitch in to provide relief with their own money and time. One way to separate the godly from the talkers is to ask for them to put their money where their mouth is. The silence can be deafening.

The prime directive to those under God’s leadership is to present His truths. The expression of urgency is not hate, but rather an effort to prevent pain to others. Yelling to a swimmer that a waterfall is ahead is not hate, but deep concern. In like manner, presenting to others God’s values is an act of kindness.

Unfortunately, there are some who claim to be Christians but are under Satan’s command. They do hate. To determine whom they obey, compare their actions to God’s specifications. Robert L. Dunning Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Chenoweth shows she knows not

As one of Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth’s constituents, I am aghast at how ignorant of the constitutional process she thinks I am. On Jan. 3, Rep. Chenoweth said, as quoted in your newspaper, “If the president had not vetoed those bills, there would be no (government) shutdown.”

Political and tax policy persuasions aside, Rep. Chenoweth should know better than I that there are only two ways, under the U.S. Constitution, to settle the impasse between Congress and the administration on the budget bills. It can send up bills the president is willing to sign or it can write bills Congress is willing to pass over the president’s veto by a two-thirds margin.

Why didn’t Rep. Chenoweth also say, If we had not sent the president bills we knew he would veto, there would be no shutdown?

Because she’s either ignorant or cynical. I’ll give her credit for the latter. Harry E. Missildine Moscow

Democrats abandoned their people

As a longtime member of the Democratic Party, I have always believed in the saying that the Democrats were for the working people and that the Republicans were for big business. I now believe that this is untrue.

I believe that we have been misled by political lies so that the Democrats could stay in power.

Think for a moment. If you were a business that needed a political favor, would you go to the minority party? With this in mind, who do you think started corporate welfare? Many more questions come to mind about defense contracts, the Brady law, NAFTA and the largest tax increase in recent history - all given to us by the Democrats.

Now, let’s look at the Republicans. They said they would make a contract with us. I voted for the Republicans, not because of a contract but because the Democratic Party had become what they accused the Republicans of being - and worse.

Now I am watching the budget and the direction both parties are going. It is plain to see the president is not for the working people and he is forgetting his promise to end welfare.

Republicans have not forgotten their contract, and come November, I will not forget the Republicans. Brian Willcox Bonners Ferry

Big Brother role too burdensome

President Clinton has decided to send American troops to the conflict in Bosnia. It is important that America cares enough to help people in need, but is it our responsibility to be Big Brother to the rest o the world?

Clinton stated that “America’s role will not be about fighting a war, it will be about helping the people of Bosnia to secure their own peace.” Even though America has the most developed military in the world, do we have the obligation to stop the fighting?

Americans are going to die in Bosnia. It is a guaranteed fact, even if their deaths are accidental.

If our troops do stop the fighting the hostilities behind the fighting will still be there and could erupt into fighting at any time. Can America afford to keep troops in Bosnia indefinitely? American lives are important, too. Jenna Faulkner Veradale