Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Street repair costs overestimated
Ray O’Keefe’s letter (“Street fix up will cost us plenty,” July 16) is a masterpiece in condemnation by innuendo and misinformation.
Like all debts, such as a home mortgage or municipal bond, we pay for the use of the money. We will not, however, pay upwards of the $53 million suggested by O’Keefe. That would require an interest rate of around 10 percent to secure the bonds. The city would expect a rate in the 5 percent to 6 percent range.
The last bond will be paid off in 1997. However, the debt service payments on a new bond issue can be structured so there’s no overlap in the two.
Of the $15 million in the last bond issue, $10 million was committed to residential streets. The city obtained very good bids from local contractors, who resurfaced over 110 miles of residential streets. The new proposal will take care of arterials that carry the bulk of city traffic and are in the worst condition.
Arterial resurfacing costs will vary, depending on condition. But they won’t approach the $1 million per mile O’Keefe suggests. The new proposal also includes funds for resurfacing residential areas missed previously.
Street improvements will benefit everyone in the city. Everyone - renters, businesses, homeowners and drivers - depends on the street system.
A new city manager or department director won’t be able to work magic. It’s up to the citizens of this fine city to support those programs that ensure continuation of our quality of life. Let’s accept our responsibility. John Leinen, secretary-treasurer Spokane Labor Council AFL-CIO
LAW AND JUSTICE
Fools obey laws they don’t like
In response to staff writer D.F. Oliveria’s (July 20) editorial about the Avon lady in Coeur d’Alene:
I don’t know if Oliveria has seen the crime house that he wrote about, but if he had taken the time to drive by this infamous house of crime, as I did, he would see a well-maintained residence that fronts a residential street on one side and an extremely busy arterial on the other.
The home gives no indication of an elaborate, very busy industry inside. It is an extremely attractive home.
I believe that anyone who says because it is the law you must obey it is a fool. I don’t see any reason to obey such a law - especially in a situation like the Avon lady’s, where she is attempting to earn a living to supplement a very meager income. George McGrath Spokane
TERRORISM
Fight back for freedom, choice
The bombing of Planned Parenthood’s Valley clinic, like all such violent acts, is frightening. It is, of course, designed to frighten us.
Regardless of whether it is a diversionary tactic or a strategic decision by a right-wing, anti-choice or terrorist group, such actions also have another, more-positive and perhaps unexpected result: They will only strengthen the commitment of those of us who support reproductive choice and who believe that family planning education and medical care must continue and be expanded.
I am prepared to put my own moral commitment into action today, and in the future.
America stands for choice, as my favorite button declares. But choice only matters when we exercise this civil and economic privilege of voting with our voices and with our money.
I have urged friends to write letters of support for reproductive freedom. More significantly, I have just sent Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman Counties a check to support their activities in the wake of this bombing.
I urge you to make your own support of reproductive choice more explicit. Deborah J. Haynes Pullman
Playing possum not viable strategy
When San Diego police advise women’s health clinics to “suspend operations for a while to prevent any problems” during the Republican convention (front page, July 16) it’s time for a reality check.
Police are supposed to serve and protect the public, not bow to threats from extremists. Banks and convenience stores are robbed every day. Have they ever been advised to close to avoid “problems”?
We should be supporting health facilities instead of blowing them up or closing their doors. I did not hear Spokane authorities suggest that our local health clinics be closed to avoid problems after the recent bombings. Thank goodness!
Planned Parenthood offices were not chosen at random as a target for bombs. Maybe the terrorists are afraid of women’s health clinics, but the rest of us can support the vital work Planned Parenthood does.
Access to health care and the freedom to express opinions are not incompatible, but bombs and threats of bombs cannot be tolerated. Pat Bryant Valleyford, Wash.
Plane surely downed by terrorists
The tragic explosion of TWA flight 800 appears to be another cowardly terrorist act. I don’t care if President Clinton has asked us not to be too hasty in our assumptions or if the black box is never recovered. “Airplanes don’t blow up just like that,” says Michael L. Barr, director of aviation safety programs at the University of Southern California.
My opinion arises out of two other factors. One, my next-door neighbors in Los Angeles County were retired TWA employees. They often spoke of how detailed and concerned TWA was with passenger safety. Secondly, TWA has had its share of terrorist activity. Therefore, one would surmise that TWA would be extra cautious about airport safety checks.
Greek officials say that earlier that day the aircraft passed multiple security checks at the Athens airport. What kind of security checks were they? Did they search every compartment in the baggage hold thoroughly? Is there a list of everyone who was authorized to be in and around that aircraft? Were sufficient background checks completed on those individuals? Are airline employees sufficiently briefed for what to be looking for? Did any U.S. officials participate in any of these security checks?
Greece and the surrounding Mediterranean area are known terrorist havens. Internationally known terrorist Carlos spent most of his time there. It’s also true that many Islamic fundamentalist terrorists nurtured in the Middle East seem to operate from this area. Particularly from such countries as Iraq, Iran and Libya. Leon Heinen Spokane
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Quite the explosive week
Your ongoing coverage of all the recent bomb scares had as many various pitches as the big leagues.
First, your quotation of Sandra Meicher for Planned Parenthood indicates her determination that the bank robbery was solely a diversionary tactic so they could bomb her facility. Her aberation of a “hate crime” leads one to wonder what her attitude is when her organization refers a pregnant woman on to facilities for killing unborn babies. This direction is a genuine hate crime against an innocent person. She should remember the adage, “violence begets violence.”
Second, the bomb dropped by the Washington State University sodomites and their parade employing the WSU mascot should wake up the taxpayers. We are obliged to financially support a sexual perversion that the vast majority abhor. Would the authorities in charge of WSU support an anti-sodomite student group? No, that would be discrimination, a mental quality that we are all born with to protect ourselves from this type of moral pollution. Taxpayers can’t pay for anything of that nature, right?
Third, our esteemed governor dropped his usual bomb of the week and endorsed the idiotic idea of same-sex marriages, when he is supposed to be representing the opinion of the majority. Joe Bell Spokane
Many humans outclassed by animals
It seems as though we humans can take a cue from the less intelligent, unreasoning animals. In Grants Pass, Ore., a grizzly bear shared its meal of chicken with a stray cat. In Sandy, Utah, a chihuahua is nursing some kittens. As everybody knows, dogs and cats are supposed to be mortal enemies. But nobody told them.
Yet we humans, the Earth’s supposedly only reasoning species, kill our own kind out of hatred, for sport, greed or sometimes just for fun. What’s wrong with this picture?
Humans seem to need a lesson in cooperation. If people could just get along, there’s no telling what we could accomplish. Wallace R. Baucom Colville, Wash.
Here’s a deal for unhappy gays
Homosexual Blaine Stiles is wrong to complain that the House vote to ban gay “marriages” means “they do not listen to my opinions.” Since gays have been screaming at the top of their lungs for years, it has been impossible not to listen.
It’s just that on the subject of marriage their opinions make no sense. Gays can no more marry, in an authentic way, than a man who has a sex-change operation can hope to be anything other than a surgically mutilated caricature of a woman.
But since Stiles and his “life partner” don’t want to pay taxes, here’s an offer most heterosexuals will be glad to make: Stop any further use of our tax dollars for AIDS research and treatment, and the homosexuals’ taxes needn’t go to pay for anything else. Robin J. Corkery Spokane
‘Life is precious - everyone’s’
If I could pay for every AIDS patient to receive the new “cure,” I’d do it. I can’t think of anything better to put my money into than giving a chance at life. Life is precious - everyone’s. LaDawn Heywood Deer Park
Nazi leanings not priestly virtues
Phil McCabe is either ignorant of history, has a warped sense of “traditional” or is out of touch with reality (‘Tidings’ story just ‘disgusting’, Letters, July 12).
Rev. Charles Coughlin was known to be a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. If this was part of the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church there definitely would be reason to bring the issue to readers’ attention.
Yes, anti-Semitism was part of the ideology of the Roman Catholic Church. It was part of the majority of Protestant and schismatic churches also. Anti-Semitism was also the basis for Hitler’s “war” with the Jews. It was his justification for promoting the killing of millions of people.
Anti-Semitism was the basis for at least a minority of “pacifists” not wishing to involve this country in a war with Nazi Germany. It was also the basis for Nazi sympathizers in this country.
Coughlin represented all this country fought against in World War II, and this makes him a great priest? McCabe’s letter shows plainly where his sympathies lie, and it isn’t with the struggles and triumphs of our World War II veterans! Joan Harman Coeur d’Alene
IN THE PAPER
Why publicize Nazi crackpots?
So, what’s with giving free publicity to those Aryan idiots from Hayden Lake? (“Aryan Nations found heil and hardy,” July 20) Who really cares about or wishes to legitimize the activities of a bunch of hatemongering jerks? The Spokeman’s ink could better be spent on stories about the mating patterns of cockroaches and dung beetles.
And how about the supposed newsworthiness of the opening of Hayden Lake’s newest literary mecca, God & Country Bookstore? Boy, I need to remember that place around Christmas time. Perhaps I can find a nice copy of “Mein Kampf” to give to that special Nazi on my list. Maybe they even have those temporary swastika tattoos for the kiddies to stick on their foreheads during yuletide. Lovely.
Satire aside (it’s just too easy with these members of the “master” race), I know the reporters who cover racist groups in our area might argue that they are simply providing information in an objective manner about topics of interest. Unfortunately, it is a disservice to the vast majority of readers who care about all people, regardless of race, to afford hateful groups any publicity that ignores or downplays the danger and inherent evil racists represent.
Staff writer Bill Morlin did mention The Order and its involvement in armed robberies and murder. But the reference was overshadowed by a writing style that made Aryan Nations members seem like well-meaning people simply doing God’s work. A more responsible approach would have included specific references to incidents that make the ugliness of such groups as Aryan Nations perfectly clear. Tim McGuire Spokane
Field a team, then write about it
If columnist Doug Clark is truly concerned for the well-being of the Mead Pride Softball Team, he would put his mitt where his mouth is (July 18, “Olympic-sized red tape hurts special athletes”).
Clark, why don’t you get a team together and challenge the Mead Pride to a game? Several of the athletes on the Mead Pride team have dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Special Olympics medals. But it is the condescending attitude you so proudly demonstrate that hinders persons with disabilities from moving beyond segregated programs and truly becoming a part of our community. Steve Busch Spokane
Not exactly picture perfect
The “Limbo party” picture in the July 19 Spokesman-Review leaves me to wonder if your editorial staff ever reviews the pictures they print. I’m certainly glad it wasn’t my son pictured. Ray Tansy Jr. Spokane
BUSINESS AND LABOR
Company cares; Ruling incorrect
We would again like to express our heartfelt sympathy to the families of Tod Folsom and Dawnya Calbreath for their loss. That on May 11, 1992, these two wonderful people were taken from their families and friends - from all of us - is a senseless tragedy at the hands of a remorseless criminal.
We have and continue to deny a claim against our company alleging unsafe business practices. However, in light of the ongoing nature of litigation, it is inappropriate for us to address our denial other than in a court of law.
The Spokesman-Review article on July 11 (“Judge clear ways for victims’ families,” Region) generally states that a preliminary ruling finds that the case may continue against us and our company. It is our belief, as well as that of the attorneys representing us in this matter, that the ruling is incorrect and was based on incorrect interpretations of the law and relevant circumstances. Accordingly, this ruling is being appealed.
We recognize that these articles cause stress and anxiety to our managers and employees. We want to assure our employees and their families, as well as our customers, that our company seeks to provide through its procedures and facilities the safest of work environments.
Above all, we value the loyalty and dedication of our employees and patronage of our customers. Ed and Mike Hatter Coeur d’Alene
Burger King owner decent, caring
I was shocked when I read the July 11 article, “Judge clears way for victims’ families.” While there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about the terrible loss of Tod Folsom and Dawnya Calbreath, something should be said about Ed Hatter and the caring, conscientious way he operates his Burger King restaurants.
I have worked for Burger King for eight years, six of those years for Ed Hatter. I was general manager at the restaurant in 1992 when these senseless murders occurred. However, I could not have worked for the Hatters then nor would I now if I didn’t feel safe.
I care about my crew, professionally and personally, and I couldn’t face them on a day-to-day basis if I didn’t know this is a safe environment.
Hatter has always been a tremendous support to all of his employees. He and his family are caring employers who take time to meet with employees personally, providing help and encouragement on a regular basis. They make us feel more like part of the Hatter family than employees of a corporation. Debbie Dettmerr, manager, Sprague Avenue Burger King Spokane