Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Project Share help misunderstood

The recent story about the imminent shut-off of electrical service to a disabled woman provides a chance to dispel pervasive misconceptions about Project Share.

Project Share is not a Washington Water Power Co. program. Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs (SNAP) operate and distribute it. WWP gives a generous annual contribution and collects customer donations. The money is transferred to SNAP for distribution throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

In addition to WWP, Inland Power & Light Co. and Modern Electric collect donations. SNAP also receives direct gifts from many caring members of our community. Many local companies such as the Spokane Indians, Spokane Chiefs, Sterling Savings Bank and others host Project Share fund-raisers.

Project Share is “fuel blind.” It can be used to buy wood, oil, electricity, natural gas or propane. Anyone experiencing a financial hardship can receive Project Share help on a one-time-a-year basis. Project Share is not an ongoing supplement for those who find themselves unable to pay their heating costs in full.

Project Share donations do not begin to meet the number of requests for assistance. High housing costs, stagnant wages and federal cuts have increased demand for Project Share and many other SNAP-operated programs.

We at SNAP continue to be grateful to our community for the time, money and support we receive. Julie Pickerel Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs

IN THE REGION

Support Whitman reform effort

A small, bipartisan group has been meeting monthly since last fall to discuss the need to review Whitman County government structure and operating procedures. This led to initiating the home rule petition drive currently under way.

I strongly support this petition. I hope all Whitman County voters will take the opportunity to sign it. It marks the first step in setting up a commission to listen, study and, as necessary, propose improvements.

With sufficient signatures, voters will be asked on the November ballot if they wish to proceed with charter reform. If they do, a 15-member unpaid board (freeholders) will be elected from among candidates whose names appear on the same ballot. This body will be charged with drafting a charter for submission to the voters.

State law imposes relatively uniform basic political structures on Washington non-charter counties. For more than a century, Whitman County has operated under this general state law. No one starting from scratch would organize any business, public or private, as the state of Washington structures its general-law counties.

The home rule process establishes a charter commission capable of assessing how well Whitman County’s historical political structure is meeting end-of-the-century demands and how well it fits our specific local needs on the Palouse. Thor Swanson Pullman

Springdale good, getting better

We agree with Lonnie Anderson (“Springdale takes another bashing,” July 8). It’s time the media see all the good things in Springdale.

On July 20, Springdale Frontier Days will celebrate 22 years of parades and rodeos, and we’re going strong. Two books have been written about Springdale. “Al Goad, Springdale Marshal, Frontier Dreamer,” by Joyce A. Goad, tells the story of the man who, in making his dreams come true, made Frontier Days a reality. “The Wets and Drys of Springdale,” by Rose M. Brown, tells the story of Springdale from 1889 to 1986.

Through donations and the work of volunteers, a gazebo in the park was built in memory of Al and Nick Goad. Volunteer workers are adding a basketball court to the park.

What about the citizens who clean the cemetery each year? Or the new elementary school and baseball field? The community church recently added a wing to accommodate the increase in the congregation. A monthly chamber newsletter, done by volunteers, has been supported by advertising from the beginning. We not only mail the newsletters statewide, but also to Albania, Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana.

There’s a new sewer system, new laundry center and a restaurant that serves a senior citizen luncheon program three days a week. Our medical clinic recently was enlarged.

Maybe, had the media taken time to speak with people who believe in the positive aspects of Springdale, they would realize it isn’t the drunken little town they often make it out to be. Rick and Linda Ritts Springdale, Wash.

LAW AND JUSTICE

Affirmative action not a solution

Let’s just have two boxes to check when completing the affirmative action portion of documents. Current groups, such as the NAACP and Urban League, should go along with the choice “the majority of people who are white and therefore get all the breaks” and “disadvantaged due to looking like a minority.” This way there will be no chance that they will pass up some of that free money.

To me, racism is treating someone different because of their race, color, etc. I consider myself a non-racist, but these groups are making it very hard with their demands of money, jobs and educational opportunities based solely on these factors.

Nobody cares that I’m a multiracial European when I apply for a job, house or college. Nobody should care if you are Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African or Hispanic, either. Maybe some day, as it should be, the choices will be “human” or “other.” Lesley Hutson Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Being less militant can pay off

When I was younger, my brothers used to tease and pick on me constantly. They insulted me, called me names and wrote nasty things on my bedroom door. I resented this victimization and sought corrective action from the “authorities.”

My parents sympathized with me and lectured my brothers but nothing really changed. Finally, I demanded a family meeting to formulate a concrete plan to end this abuse. No more well-meaning words. It was time for a mandatory training program to ensure the proper attitude and conduct on the part of my brothers and their friends.

My father took me aside and kindly suggested an alternative solution. He told me that if I would stop making a federal case out of every wrong and slight, my brothers would probably lose interest and leave me alone. Bob Mielbrecht Spokane

Slap at New Age uncalled for

Bill Bender (“Uncle Sam riding down escalator,” Letters, July 16) has put down New Age philosophy by implying it’s related to the illegal drug market. He says he can’t abide stupidity and arrogance but obviously cannot see his own.

I am an holistic counselor. I follow a New Age philosophy based on Native American and Nature religion teachings. I counsel against the use of drugs, alcohol or sex as a way of escaping problems, as do most New Agers.

I am the head of a new charitable trust that will work to teach our children and residents how to preserve life through the building of gardens on school properties and in neighborhoods, in vacant lots. I hope to build a retreat within two years where victims of violence in the home and on our streets can find sanctuary and learn to live with this Earth through educational programs. These will be not just in agriculture but in reading, writing, math, history and all those things we need to learn, including tolerance, compassion, harmony within, and how to respect others.

I know of many New Age practitioners who work for the saving of our natural environment so the plants can continue to produce medicines, water will be safe to drink, animals will be killed only for food and our children can grow up in a safe environment.

Can you say the same, Bender? Devon Alcott Spokane

We ignore God at great cost

My sensible response to Joan Harmon’s “Defense of evolution” (Letters, July 12) is that our national character has deteriorated precisely because we choose to ignore the biblical basis of our foundation in all areas of existence.

This calamity includes rampant crime, disease, waste and increasing intonations to kill off our elderly, infirm and pre-born persons. We increasingly disregard God and the Bible and invent what and how we live as we go along.

The results have been phenomenally catastrophic. Racism, alienation, poverty, hopelessness and our poor standard of living can all be attributed to our failing to take God at his word. Humanistic arrogance, as expressed in yet to be proven evolutionary theory, is at the core of all of our miseries, and we must remain hopeless and helpless as a consequence. Robert Spaulding Post Falls

THE ENVIRONMENT

Pantheist or not, writer’s wrong

Environmentalist John Griffith may not be a pantheist, but his column (“Real idolatry is profit worship at a dollar-green altar,” Street level, July 14) reveals that he is an authoritarian who distrusts freedom and despises our democratic-republic form of government.

Griffith’s great Satan, a free market, is the essence of democracy. Citizens vote with their money every time they make a purchase or decline to. People like Griffith can’t stand that.

They aspire to being a clerisy, and ruling by virtue of their superior probity and knowledge (self-proclaimed). Their ideal is the old socialist dream, ascetic lives closely monitored by busybody visionaries who decide what’s good for the masses.

Even environmentalists who accept political democracy reject individual rights in favor of the commune. Hence Griffith’s joy at the property rights law - requiring government to pay owners for taking private property for the public’s benefit, as the Constitution requires - having been defeated by a campaign of lies.

Unlike environmentalism, democratic capitalism and individual rights do not have to be accepted on faith. They have produced the most affluent and freest people who ever were free, and the cleanest environment. The opposite, government control - be it theocracy, socialism, communism or fascism - has produced only tyranny, poverty and environmental disasters around the world.

Yet the solution that environmentalists offer to any problem they discover or invent is always more regulations, fines, jail - more government control.

I don’t know if Griffith is a pantheist or not, although he sure sounds like one. I do know he’s a collectivist, and wrong. Edwin G. Davis Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Flubbed name mars belated story

On July 12, a U.S. District Court jury awarded $1.8 million to our client, Richard Conterez. Apparently this was not big news to the “good paper,” as it wasn’t reported until July 17.

I read the article with great interest and found it to be very informative, but it has two glaring errors; one of commission and one of omission.

First, defendant Winfred “Butch” Flanigan Jr.’s name was spelled “Winifred.” I’m sure that went over like a lead brick.

The omission was even more devastating. You didn’t even mention the years of hard work done by Fred O. Montoya and his son, Kevan Montoya, who more than ably assisted his dad with the trial. I read the article three times looking for Fred’s or Kevan’s names, but they just weren’t there. Shame on Jones for not giving credit where credit was more than due. Katheryn M. Beaver, assistant to Fred O. Montoya Spokane

Principal in case not a racist

I’m appalled by the July 17 article by Grayden Jones about the Kaiser worker awarded $1.8 million. The idea that Winfred Flanigan, not Winnifred as the article states, would do the actions attributed to him is ludicrous.

Not only is Win a good friend of our family, but he has been our next door neighbor for almost five years. My husband, who is half Cherokee, is Win’s good friend and hunting buddy. Win’s stepson-in-law, who lived in his home for some months upon his arrival in Spokane, is African American. To say Win’s actions in any setting could be racially motivated is laughable.

Is it possible that Richard Conterez is truly a disruptive worker who just couldn’t get along with his co-workers and then successfully exploited his heritage? I sincerely hope if that is the case, the union will appeal and triumph. Dawn Smith Spokane

De facto scam highly successful

The Spokesman-Review and Marilyn Frank, an oxygen-dependent woman who needs power to keep her machine going, want everyone to believe that Washington Water Power was banging at her door, tapping on a clip board with a pair of wire cutters because she was behind on her bill.

In reality, what arrived at her home that day was a computer-generated notice of disconnect delivered by mail. Before the day’s end she had a story for the Spokesman and TV media that brought her many cash donations and a lot of food that she was picking and choosing from as if it were a salad bar.

The flip side of the coin will never be known because the state’s privacy act keeps utility companies from disclosing what actually happens to generate these letters. No matter what anyone says, WWP will be seen in people’s eyes as an uncaring company.

The only message this story sent was that if people are not willing to take responsibility for their own lives, and they scream loud enough, riches are poured out at their feet. If I were dependent on life support, I would make sure the first bill I’d pay off every month would be WWP’s.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the “Good Paper” used as a medium for people who scream injustice and gain financial support. Jane Larison Spokane

Helms behind especially dumb move

I was surprised to experience hostile feelings toward Americans on a trip to Canada. The reason for this hostility was the Helms-Burton bill spearheaded by Sen. Jesse Helms. It seeks to discourage trade with Cuba by other nations. Penalties in the bill include prohibited travel in the U.S. by corporation executives and their families.

This bill is a grandstand election year political play. We all know how bad election year rhetoric can be, but it has no place in foreign policy. Mexico was also affected as it is building low-cost housing in Cuba as a humanitarian measure.

Every newspaper was filled with editorials about Helms’ speech about this bill, accusing trading nations of being ungrateful as they’ve been saved from tyrrany by the U.S. This statement was untrue and lacked proper research. Canada was involved in both world wars before the U.S. entered them. The only tyrrany they’ve ever faced came from the U.S. in the War of 1812 and other related border conflicts in the early expansion of our nation.

Most Canadians felt the U.S. had no right to try and control the business interests of their industries abroad. Surely this is so. Helms-Burton was a mistake when it became directed at a close neighbor.

Foreign policy errors plague all Americans as they travel abroad, and much needs to be done. As President Jimmy Carter said, the whole situation is “dumb.” Maybe Sens. Helms and Burton, along with other legislators, will learn from this mistake, but it will probably be like water off a duck’s back. An apology is in order for our neighbors to the North. I hope Helms takes proper action. James A. Nelson Spokane