Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

If the label doesn’t fit, boycott

“Loser King? That is what we talked and trained for?” asked my son, Cameron, and his fellow teammates. That is quite a trophy to take pride in. It’s like being branded incompetent.

Maybe Rick Steltenpohl and his committee would like to wear those shirts and test their sense of humor as they walk on the streets of Spokane and listen to the fine citizens tease and ridicule them. It’s not much fun to try and soothe children and explain to them that some people aren’t too sensitive of other people’s feelings.

Some of those children couldn’t wait until summer Hoopfest, and then they get a slap in the face. What a fine example we set as adults. I’m glad Bloomsday isn’t run in this manner, otherwise, participation would drop.

All consolation winners should stick together, return their shirts in protest and ask for Hoopfest participation shirts. Remember, fellow hoopers, there were no losers; they are just-for-fun teams. It’s like the price of gas. If we walk and ride buses and bikes, the oil companies will have to start counting their losses and prices will have to go down. We are Hoopfest. John Lewis Spokane

Council in a class by itself

The June 24 Spokane City Council meeting was an example of the Peter Principle in practice: Mike Brewer as mayor pro tem.

Councilman Chris Anderson’s decision to work at a temporary job to help his family is to be commended. It speaks poorly of the business community that a person possessing talents such as Anderson has cannot find a job with commensurate wages.

Anderson’s‘ attendance record at council and committee meetings matches or surpasses that of other council members. Note that Brewer had no comment regarding Anderson’s attendance - for good reason.

Former councilman Joel Crosby was notorious for missing meetings or showing up late and leaving early.

It appears that Roberta Greene has appointed herself the conscience and mouth of the council. She uses her position to pontificate and/or has extended comments on almost every agenda item. It is interesting to note that within 90 days of taking office, Greene is on record stating the council positions should be full time. It’s interesting because she spent more money than any other candidate campaigning for this part-time job. Donald H. Skaufel Spokane

Spokane lucky to have Anderson

I’m the supervisor of the electric rigging crew of “Dante’s Peak.” Chris Anderson is our driver.

Anderson’s kindness and sense of humor have been evident since day one. Our crew has watched in amazement as the media began a sleazy campaign to paint him as somehow misleading his public while working with us on the motion picture.

Working daily with Anderson, I’ve never seen him lose contact with Spokane. I’ve often observed him during his free time reading the Spokane paper, speaking on the phone and reading significant amounts of mail. I’ve watched him share his lunchtimes with his visiting family. I’m of the opinion that he is an honest man with high morals and a concern for his family.

I personally find the media attack unwarranted, unethical and little more than cheap tabloid news at the expense of a conscientious, hard-working individual.

We should all realize that if a city council member works alongside us average Joes there is a good likelihood that he’s more able to understand our needs and speak for us as he deals with the issues.

As a homeowner and taxpayer in Oregon, I’d be thrilled to know that a council member was a dedicated family person and unafraid of getting his hands dirty to earn an honest living. Such a person should be seen as invaluable to your community.

I’m thankful to have Anderson working with my crew. The people of Spokane should be thankful to have such an individual representing them. Matthew May, best boy “Dante’s Peak” electric rigging crew

LAW AND JUSTICE

Drug war, its cheerleaders, are wrong

Considering the past of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, I was surprised to read in the Health Watch article “Grass isn’t always greener, say adults who’ve been there” that Partnership is calling for honesty. The article was honest about one thing: You can smoke marijuana and still be a responsible adult.

With such a high number of youths smoking marijuana, it is easy to see that programs such as DARE are not working and should be done away with. If Partnership really wants to become honest about youths using drugs, it will start talking about the drug most abused by teenagers: alcohol.

It is time for all of us to be honest about the war on drugs and to face the fact that after 15 years of policies supported by Partnership, the only thing America has to show for them is the largest prison population in the world.

The war on drugs is not working, and we should demand that our tax dollars be spent on programs that do work. Tom Hawkins Coulee Dam, Wash.

TERRORISM

Find terrorists before they strike

On June 25, 19 Americans were killed in a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia. Our local news media reported that. What they failed to convey in those reports is that these men were living, breathing American servicemen who had families, friends and loved ones.

The theme of the local reports seemed to be that no one from our local area had been killed and therefore the report was merely a change in the statistics of terrorist bombing victims.

To depersonalize that report was to enable future terrorist activity by soothing readers into believing that it was someone else from somewhere else so it did not matter. Let me assure you that it did matter.

The only way we will ever put a stop to terrorist activity is to become aware of it through covert activity before it happens. We were able to locate the perpetrators in Oklahoma City, in Lockerbie, Scotland and at the World Trade Center in New York City. If we can find the people who have done these hideous crimes after the fact we can find them in the planning stages. And we must. Otherwise, those men in Saudi Arabia will have died in vain. Judy H. Robertson Deer Park

PUBLIC SAFETY

Left can be a turn for the worse

The recent accident on Highway 395 involving the semi-truck and four other cars only reinforced my attitude about lefthand turns off any state or interstate highways, especially at busy hours.

I have come close to rear-ending and been rear-ended because some jackass was making an unexpected left turn on a busy highway. The ones making these left turns usually escape injury and go on as if nothing had happened.

Why is anyone surprised when this happens? I’ve been more surprised when witnessing an idiot doing this type of maneuver and everyone escaped without as much as a dent.

The only way I can see that this type of accident won’t happen is for every driver out there to do perfect, attentive driving and also total defensive driving, which wouldn’t be needed if everyone was doing attentive driving.

I’m assuming that a lot of drivers out there have temporary attention span difficulty or unexpected distractions, which is why I would never, never make a lefthand turn off a busy state highway without some, or a lot of, suicidal tendencies. Barbara J. Clark Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Story no favor to farmers

Thank you for covering the Monsanto “Fields of tomorrow” in your paper recently (“Farmers peer into future; find it costly and complex,” Region, June 21). But it seems you took off on sensationalism.

Do you really think that canola will take over the world? Do you really believe that land that has been farmed for the last 100 years, except for the past 10, when put back into production will bury Spokane? This is sensationalism, not responsible journalism. Again, you are attacking the segment of society that employs the most people: agriculture (unit trains, semi-trucks, mills, barges, etc.).

Please, remember that everything around you is grown or mined. Your food does not fall out of the sky.

Your concern may be PM 10. If you had researched the dust problem you would have found out at a PM 10 conference in your city that agriculture is 10 percent of the problem. Dust off of sanded winter streets, construction sites and internal combustion engines are your problem areas.

Agriculture is trying to solve environmental problems by looking for solutions. To me, that is more positive than criticizing the hand that feeds you. Jerry L. Snyder Ritzville, Wash.