Letters To The Editor

Tue., June 11, 1996

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Initiative really a Trojan horse

Washington voters should be warned that the Washington Term Limit Initiative 670 currently being circulated is dangerous and misleading.

The title fails to explain that a yes vote would authorize the first and only federal constitutional convention since 1787. In that setting our U.S. Constitution would be subject to changes far beyond the scope of Initiative 670.

A constitutional convention can be called only by our state legislators, and enough signatures on the initiative would force our legislators to do so. Then, if our legislators see the dangers of a new constitutional convention and refuse to call one, their names will be shown on the next ballot as being against term limits when in fact they were really against calling a federal constitutional convention. Such a procedure is deceitful, unconstitutional and amounts to political blackmail.

Moreover, your signature on Initiative 670 will not guarantee a term limit amendment. It will guarantee an opportunity for unlimited tampering with our U.S. Constitution.

Please do not sign Initiative 670. If you already have, write to our secretary of state in Olympia and demand that your signature be removed. Laurel Durkee Spokane

AFL-CIO campaign a good idea

The Republican Party is running ads encouraging union members to file complaints against their unions about the AFL-C10’s issue-based educational campaign. The Republican Party ought to quit interfering with internal union business.

The ads that have the Republicans so upset are not partisan, they just talk about basic workplace issues like the minimum wage and expose the votes of our Congress members on the issues.

Both Democrats and Republicans who opposed increasing the minimum wage were included in the AFL-C10 campaign. The simple fact is that a lot more Republicans than Democrats oppose increasing the minimum wage.

I think it is my union’s duty to fight to improve the wages, working conditions and standards. This is one union member who applauds educating people about the real workings in Washington, D.C. The middle class as well as all voters needs to know the facts. Cathy Gunderson Spokane

‘Executive privilege’ unfounded

In a recent Washington Post article it is said the White House delivered 1,000 pages of documents it had withheld on the 1993 travel office firings, but declined to turn over twice as many more. Of the pages withheld, the White House provided an 11-page list of documents for which it is exercising a constitutional claim of executive privilege.

Meanwhile, it is said, Congress is threatening to issue contempt of Congress charges to aides over the issue.

Under the powers of the president, Section 2, Article II, the Constitution says, “he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” In constitutional law, the word “shall” is imperative or mandatory. Black’s Law Dictionary defines contempt of Congress as “deliberate interference with duties and powers of Congress.”

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution comes to the “privilege” rescue for those serving in national government. Specifically, this section discusses senators and representatives. It states, “They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same, and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.”

So, where in the Constitution is “privilege” granted to ignore Constitutional powers exercised by Congress?

Truth is mandatory and healthy. Hiding public papers does not enhance truth but it can be destructive. David Lyons Libby, Mont.

Mistake to block anti-missile defense

One of your lead stories of June 5 shows the Senate Democrats’ filibuster killed a proposed program on defense research against nuclear ballistic missiles, labeling it Star Wars and decrying the cost of the program (“Senate rebuffs latest sequel to star wars”).

While I hope those senators never see the day when disaster strikes because of their decision, I am puzzled at their logic.

Some 30 years ago we started a space program aimed at beating the Russians by getting a man on the moon first. All America cheered when that first man set foot on the moon. Over the years we have continued our research, pouring billions of dollars into it.

We now hear plans to build a space station that will cost additional billions. Is that more important than research to protect us from some pirate nation’s missiles coming down on one of our major cities? I think not. Robert J. Lamphere Hayden, Idaho

Corrections

Deborah Lawrence Hale’s June 9 letter contained a typographical error. A sentence should have read: “I know the militia movement has usurped the word ‘patriot,’ but does the press have to use the word too?”’

Richard T. Brown’s letter contained a sentence in which his meaning was unclear. It should have read: “For instance, why not add all government workers to the workforce covered by Social Security?”

ENVIRONMENT

Good reason to be scared

Shame on Opinion Editor John Webster for his lack of civility and misrepresenting of facts (“Environmentalists create lead scare,” June 3).

Webster claims the Inland Empire Public Lands Council uses “scare tactics” to imply that contamination levels in Coeur d’Alene Lake threaten human life throughout the drainage. I don’t need dead bodies along the river to feel concerned about living downstream from the country’s second-largest Superfund site. This site has, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the largest concentration of heavy metal pollution in the world.

Public health authorities say there is no safe level of lead contamination. Ask a family whose child suffers learning disabilities from lead exposure. Then consider: More lead was carried into Lake Coeur d’Alene in February than normally occurs in a whole year.

The Craig bill, called the Coeur d’Alene River Basin Environmental Restoration Act, provides for planning, but without measurable goals. Its funding source is unclear. It sets a moveable time frame and allows the governor of Idaho to excuse mining companies from cleanup responsibility.

In addition, it considers the pollution to be a problem affecting only Idaho. There is no provision for participation by the citizens or government of Washington state, who must live with the pollution as it moves downstream. Craig’s bill needs a lot of work.

Webster says the IEPLC is part of “an industry whose products are divisiveness and fright-wing rhetoric, calculated to terrify consumers into sending it more money.”

Well, thank goodness we now know where our money might do some good. Patty Houff Spokane

Writers’ sentiments overdue, laudable

Editorials by Editor Chris Peck on June 2 (“Wild and otherwise, it’s one world”) and John Webster on June 3 (“Environmentalists create lead scare”) caused me to blink my eyes in wonder. Describing the essential role the mining industry plays in our lives and blasting the propaganda efforts regarding the Coeur d’Alene drainage by the Inland Empire Public Lands Council were strong statements long overdue.

The IEPLC has demonstrated to all that it is disinterested in an honest discussion of the issues, and is in fact dedicated to feeding the public misinformation at public expense to further its goals. There is no way to excuse what the group has done.

All the mining industry has ever expected was a fair hearing on the issues. These two editorials are a good step in the direction of providing the public a balanced offering of what is involved on a factual basis.

My sincere compliments to The Spokesman-Review, to Peck and Webster for these fine editorials. Andrew W. Berg Spokane

Editorial wrong and a disservice

Opinion Editor John Webster (Opinion, June 3) takes the Inland Empire Public Lands Council to task for its video on the spread of Silver Valley mining pollution and its risks to human health. Webster claims that calm, credible scientific analysis would be more productive than “fright-wig rhetoric” but can’t seem to follow his own advice.

Webster notes there are no human bodies lining the Spokane River and Lake Coeur d’Alene. What he doesn’t mention is that for humans and wildlife, there is no safe level of exposure to lead. The tiniest doses cause adverse biochemical effects that can lead to a wide range of health problems.

Because lead crosses the placenta, the unborn are at greatest risk, followed by infants. At the contamination levels in question, the issue isn’t so much outright death as brain damage, learning disorders, anemia, soft bones and kidney and nervous system damage.

What about a solution? Webster implies conservation organizations are more interested in divisiveness and their own financial gains, chiding them for opposing legislation introduced by Idaho Sens. Craig and Kempthorne. Upon closer inspection, Webster would have realized that this legislation is fundamentally flawed.

Sens. Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne have proposed a quick, cheap fix for the sole benefit of their mining constituency. The result would be to shift long-term cleanup costs to taxpayers.

Webster would do well to direct his attention to the bogus Coeur d’Alene cleanup legislation and elected officials who persist in pandering to a narrow range of special interests at the public’s expense. Scott Brown Idaho Conservation League, Coeur d’Alene

Don’t defend lead poisoning experiment

I was dismayed to read Opinion Editor John Webster’s editorial, “Environmentalists create lead scare” (June 3). More frightening was the brush used by Webster to call the Inland Empire Public Lands Council a “special interest” group.

A special interest group is one that makes money from policy or legislation. IELPC doesn’t stand to make money from lead being cleaned from the Coeur D’Alene system but the public will benefit. It’s wrong to lump IEPLC, which is defending the public interest, in with mining companies that are looking to make as much money as possible.

I watched the video. Not propaganda, it was researched fact. Lead is moving down the Spokane River. This is simple physics, and Webster, like politicians Larry Craig and Helen Chenoweth, desperately want to outlaw these basic laws of nature.

Sixty-eight tons of lead moving into the lake in one event is cause for major concern.

Washingtonians should realize that the Idaho congressional delegation is bought by the mining and timber industries. Washingtonians should demand clean water at the state line.

DOE is looking out for those interests, as it should, and funding given to IEPLC, a local group, was extremely appropriate.

Speaking as a professor in mechanical engineering, the people of Idaho and Washington must realize that we are conducting a huge lead poisoning experiment on our children. This newspaper should work to stop this experiment and demand accountability from Idaho’s tainted leadership. Attacking public interest groups is not a step in that direction. Charles Pezeshki Troy, Idaho

Cavalier treatment for serious threat

In “Environmentalists create lead scare” (Opinion, June 3) Opinion Editor John Webster condemned the use of public funds to promote “special interest propaganda.” He was referring to a Washington Department of Ecology grant to the Inland Empire Public Lands Council to produce a public educational video on heavy metal pollution in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene river system.

Webster didn’t mention that it’s a legal, common practice for public agencies to offer grants to nonprofit public interest groups. Nor did he calculate how much this agency saved by a grant to a group that relies heavily on volunteers to distribute educational material.

As proof that the video was propaganda he pointed out that no human bodies line the Spokane River or the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Could Webster really be unaware that human health can be threatened by cumulative toxins that produce their effect years after the initial exposure? Doesn’t he know that development of intelligence in lead-exposed children is measurably decreased, and at blood lead levels previously thought to be safe? Maybe he also doesn’t know that the aquifer from which we get our drinking water exchanges water with the Spokane River, or that our state DOE has found that during high water season dissolved lead in the Spokane River exceeds standards considered safe for aquatic life?

Webster probably considers those signs posted along the Coeur d’Alene River warning people to avoid breathing dust or touching the soil or mud to be just more hysteria from “special interest” groups like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Panhandle Health District. Richard J. Rivers, M.D. Nine Mile Falls

Rain forests too precious to waste

About 50 million acres of rain forest are destroyed every year. Over half of all plant and animals species live in this biome, so when it is destroyed many homes are destroyed with it.

Many foods, medicines and other products also come from the rain forests. We need to do something as a society to protect this environment.

Rain forests are being subjected to development for the benefit of growing populations. They’re being used for agriculture, logging and cattle ranching. After they are used for these things they cannot go back to being the same forests they once were.

Cutting down rain forests threatens the tribes of native Indians, destruction of the global climate and extinction of thousands of plant and animal species found nowhere else.

Many organizations devote funds, expertise, research and legal advice to the battle of halting the destruction of rain forests. We need these organizations, and we need to support protests to stop the rain forests from being totally destroyed.

It is very sad that we think we have to destroy the home of millions of plants and animals to try to help ourselves. We should have respect for all living things, not just the ones that offer immediate benefits to humans. Rachel Meyer Spokane

Make loss up to the salmon

Of the 600 miles of the Columbia River between the dams nearest the ocean and the Canadian border, only 47 miles have not been transformed by dams. This means our natural resources are being diminished because of our greed for power.

Because of the eight hydroelectric dams on the Columbia our salmon population is rapidly decreasing. Fish ladders seem to be the best way to help the salmon make their journey upstream, but without the help of taxpayers there won’t be enough fish ladders to help.

It is time that we as a society stop being selfish and help substitute the salmons’ natural path that we took away from them in the first place. Olivia K. Saarheim Spokane

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