Letters To The Editor
IDAHO VIEWPOINTS
Why pave way to barren future?
In the July 21 Spokesman-Review, “Loonless on North Idaho Lakes” stated an Audubon Society loon inventory on the previous Saturday had failed to tally a single loon in North Idaho waters. “In the maze of canals through the Cougar Bay wetland, Jan and Herb Severtson probed every watery reach Saturday in search of the elusive loon….Loons are sensitive birds and are believed to be on the decline because of lost shoreline nesting habitat.”
Lost shoreline nesting habitat! And yet the Bureau of Land Management is proposing these things for its Cougar Bay property: drive-through, drive-in, parking spaces, more parking, vehicle access!
It seems obvious that another strip of asphalt along the shore is blunt stupidity.
Do we have to have everything brought to us on asphalt and pavement, while we sit on our fat butts in our smoking, belching, stinking, wildlife-disturbing automobiles, observing?
I think there is going to be an exodus of our already scarce wildlife if we must build yet another road through the creatures’ shrinking territory. Maybe the loons have already left forever.
Let’s leave our cars at home for once, especially if we’re looking for wildlife. Ride a bike, row a boat or walk. And please, write and tell the BLM, “No more development of Cougar Bay.” Christi Hunt Coeur d’Alene
What is AFL-CIO after?
Change the name in the prevaricating Nethercutt television commercial to Helen Chenoweth and it is plain to see where big, Eastern liberal money is being spent. It makes one wonder what the AFL-CIO will get for its money from the Clinton administration.
Thirty-five million dollars in mandatory union dues buys a lot of favors! Myra Franks Coeur d’Alene
SPOKANE MATTERS
If you want to cocoon, stay home
We are lucky to be able to attend free symphony concerts in the park. They are gifts to the people, given through the generosity and kindness of our own Spokane Symphony Orchestra.
Performers play wonderful music for every person who attends. Many would never be able to attend a symphony orchestra performance were it not for these free concerts.
Children whose parents who take them to these concerts are lucky indeed. They get to hear and see a wonderful concert at an early age. My letter is a reality check for the Warrens (“Leave the little tykes home,” Letters, July 28). Did they expect that a free concert in a family park would draw only adults? Hello! Is anyone home?
The Warrens certainly cannot believe culture can be experienced through a music CD. Attending a performance such as this, one must expect outside noise, including laughter and the energy of children. Perhaps the Warrens should take their own advice - purchase a CD, sit in their own little world and see how much culture they can glean from the experience. They will then realize that the real culture of the event wasn’t only the beautiful music. It was also hearing children laughing, sitting on the damp grass, watching the people and breathing the summer’s evening air. Renee A. Smith Spokane
PUBLIC SAFETY
High-body trucks a menace
My 14-year-old son was killed by a collision with a jacked-up truck on March 1, 1996. I believe he would not have died if the truck had been regulation height. This belief was shared by the officer at the accident scene. The danger of these vehicles is confirmed by Dwight Bower of the Idaho Department of Transportation.
My pain was intensified when I drove by the Kootenai County sheriff’s parking lot and saw its DARE truck. The truck sat up high on oversized tires and appeared to be raised higher than a normal truck. I was appalled that the sheriff’s department would glamorize a standard so dangerous. I assume this truck is used when visiting elementary schools in our area.
Children who participate in the DARE program often idolize the officer who teaches them about the dangers of drug use. What other message is being sent by the use of this vehicle? Is it OK to drive a dangerous truck as long as it is used for a good purpose?
I urge the sheriff’s department to evaluate its DARE vehicle and ask that it educate children about the dangers of jacked-up trucks.
I implore the rest of the community to campaign to remove these jacked-up vehicles from our roadways. Jennifer J. Giesbrecht Harrison, Idaho
Traffic light cameras make sense
Re: George Maness’ letter of July 26 on red-light photos.
How can Maness say the cure is worse than the problem? Obviously, he has not been in an accident caused by someone running a red light.
Maness, it is against the law to run a red light, so what’s the problem? It might be possible this red-light photo may help the speeding problem, if people know they will have to stop for the red light.
I don’t consider this Big Brother watching. I call it using the technology we have to keep the citizens of our community safe. Pam Stanley Spokane
BELIEFS
Church policy offends conscience
In “Challenging the church” (IN Life, July 21), about women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church, you address a major pastoral problem of my church.
My love for my church is a grieving love because of my church’s present policy as regards ministry and sexuality, and our theology of God. A married man can be ordained a deacon but his wife cannot. If she dies, he may not again marry. A married man cannot be a channel of God’s truth and power in baptism, confirmation, Holy Eucharist, forgiveness of sins or comforting of the sick and dying, precisely because he has received the sacrament of matrimony.
When a male priest or deacon baptizes a woman, he doesn’t say, I pour this slightly diluted water on this slightly diluted human being who will give us back a slightly diluted Christianity or ministry.
When a boy and girl are called to be confirmed, they say to the boy, “You are now strengthened to do battle for Christ the Lord.” Do they say to the girl, You are almost allowed to do battle for Christ the Lord?
There is something wrong with our theology of ministry, of the sacraments or our theology of Holy Spirit. If women qualify for baptism, confirmation, Holy Eucharist, salvation, redemption, how can they be disqualified for the sacrament of ministry, or be an impediment to a man exercising his gift and power of ministry?
My hope is strong that our guide, Holy Spirit, will lead us to extirpate from my church the sin of sexism. James J. Flynn Spokane
Women can help without ordination
A July 21 article (“Challenging the Church,” IN Life) alludes to the possibility that there’s a crisis in the Roman Catholic Church that would be better served if the pope would only allow women to become ordained priests. That simply isn’t true.
If all these women who are educated in pastoral ministry could have their way, they would become ordainees of an avocation, not a vocation. The priesthood requires more than an education in pastoral ministries. It requires life commitment to the ministering of souls. It’s not a sideline. It is, in and of itself, a life of giving.
The mistake the church has made is in allowing women who chose ministering to become infatuated with the idea that being a priest would solve all the church’s woes. Women of noble intention have always been of service to the church. But what an ignorant, self-serving attitude to claim that the church would be better served if they would ordain women.
Many parishes in the diocese are served by an ordained priest. They utilize the time and talents of many who have been educated in the ministries. They, no doubt, recognize the necessity of using time and talents of their people, but I hope those who have a talent they want to share willingly do so, without the string attached that they will be a candidate for ordination.
Serving God in any capacity is at issue here. I take offense at the implication they must be ordained in order to end the vocation crisis. Mrs. Charles Rochon Spokane
We can make enlightenment optional
Ignore the fact that evolution theory has been endorsed and creationism has been denounced by every reputable scientific organization. Although many excellent books discuss the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, count on most people not reading any of them.
When it comes to origins, most people find it easier to believe the simplistic tales of ancient religious storytellers than the intellectually challenging theories of modern scientists. Pretend creationism doesn’t contradict major scientific discoveries, that evolution theory isn’t the foundation of modern biological science.
Concede that science teachers must teach everyone’s favorite ideology, regardless of its scientific merit, sacrificing valuable class time on creationism, astrology, alchemy, witchcraft and every other quasi-religious/ metaphysical concept proposed by any group that demands recognition.
With this bewildering array of irrelevant subjects, the collapse of our scientific establishment and reversion to a Dark Ages mentality will ensue. After we have lost our technological and economic competitiveness and become a Third World basket case, maybe even religious fundamentalists will understand why anti-science like creationism must not be taught in science class. Jack DeBaun Sandpoint