Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Waldo stresses better educating

Staff Writer Jim Camden reported on an event that featured Republicans running for governor (Five GOP hopefuls in sync,” Region, May 29), stating there were hardly any differences among the candidates. However, there is a great difference on the issues, especially on education, between Jim Waldo and the rest of the candidates.

The Washington Education Association recently endorsed Waldo for governor, based on his viewpoint of education. Waldo states that education for our youths will be his first priority, as education is not only the key to near-term prosperity but will determine the quality of life in this state for the next century.

Although there are several issues Waldo and the WEA do not agree on, Waldo believes control of the schools belongs at the local level. He believes we must re-prioritize our state budget to pay for schools first.

His plan for educational excellence includes five key elements: high expectations and standards for students; safe schools and disciplined classrooms; competent principals who are school leaders working cooperatively with teachers and parents; competent, motivated teachers who lead student learning; and parents and communities actively involved in and sharing responsibility for students’ learning.

Children of this community and state will be our future leaders. They deserve the best education this state can offer. Make your voice heard for education and vote for Jim Waldo for governor on Sept. 17. Diana Wilhite Spokane

Brazier best GOP candidate

Wake up, Republicans. You have a star in your party: Nona Brazier.

This lady is working to become your candidate for governor. If she wins the nomination she will win the election by a large majority with votes from conservative Democrats, Republicans and independents. All Brazier needs is exposure. You give this lady a listen and you’ll join her team.

Brazier has the tools and skills to do the very heavy-lifting administrating and negotiating with the entrenched bureaucracy and the special interests - a tough job for anyone sincere about good government.

The possibility of Brazier being elected to a high office is cause for celebration for the vast majority of us who are frustrated and disappointed in politics and government.

Brazier is truly a special person who has the potential to be an outstanding governor. For people interested in improving the environment in our government, send Brazier to the governor’s mansion. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity. Dave Hamer Spokane

Sign petition to lower tax

It seems there are people everywhere with petitions for us Washington voters to sign, but we hope Initiative 657 for property tax reform has caught your attention and that all homeowners will make an effort to locate and sign it.

It is so important for us to get our property taxes lowered to realistic figures, especially those of us who are longtime homeowners who have seen our taxes double in the last three or four years.

Initiative 657 would roll the assessed values back to what they were in 1992 and cap all increases to 2 percent per year. Initiative 657 deserves a place on the November ballot for either approval or rejection by all Washington state voters. Mr. and Mrs. Orville Rhodes Spokane

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Drug war subverts American ideals

As an American it is with a mixture of despair and morbid fascination that I find myself watching the United States slowly tearing itself apart.

The latest step in this direction is the use of infrared military imaging to spy inside private homes for the sake of the great Drug War - that intellectually bankrupt and self-defeating policy perpetuated through ignorance and political expediency.

Is any more evidence needed that the great American ideals of tolerance and a rights-based, free society have become thoroughly perverted? It is grotesque that the military hardware industry is permitted to peddle its wares to domestic law enforcement agencies.

In a way, the situation resembles an intelligence test for the American public. Are you willing to allow police officers to spy on you, in your homes, for the sake of the drug war?

From an international perspective, the potential addition of a new and powerful lobby to the established political forces fighting drug policy reform is bad news.

The only tools available to drug reform advocates are evidence and reason - not much of a match these days for the power of money and the propaganda it buys.

Having won the Cold War, it would be ironic indeed if by waging a misguided and counterproductive drug war, we were to destroy the very reason our democratic and free way of life was worth fighting for, relative to totalitarian regimes.

Wake up, America! Tom Hawkins Coulee Dam

IN THE PAPER

Book review itself disastrous

As any serious student of the War of the Rebellion (American Civil War) knows, neither Gens. Stonewall Jackson nor Jeb Stuart were at Gettysburg - Jackson being killed almost two months earlier and Stuart was on a foraging raid in another region. Had they both been present the Confederacy would have won the battle and America would know a different history.

To make them the central focus of Dan Webster’s review of the “Gods of Gettysburg” (Entertainment, June 16) is quite misleading to the average reader.

In any book review the critic is supposed to focus on the written work, not spend three-fourths of the article on the writer. As for Webster’s comment that Gettysburg was a “disastrous defeat for Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia,” I would remind him that, depending on whose official records you believe, the Union casualties numbered around 19,000 while the Confederate States of America’s losses were over 22,500. The real tragedy is that both statistics represented America’s best young men. And, the war would not end until almost two years later at Appomatox.

Perhaps truth should be revealed as such, especially when it pertains to vital elements in American history and not be left to fiction writers (leave that for Hollywood) nor movie critics who moonlight as literary reviewers. C.M. Archer Spokane

Things for teens to do - not

Where is the editor’s disclaimer regarding the 77 things to do that the Our Generation Teen Advisory Council came up with (June 19)? Not every youngster is taught that some of the tongue-in- cheek suggestions can be hazardous to one’s health.

A water drinking contest can be deadly. Inserting foreign objects into one’s nose or ears is not a fun sport. Hug a stranger in public? Stage an argument in public? Not me. Haven’t you heard of violent intervention from bystanders?

Don’t even think about the foolishness of dodging traffic on North Division.

Encourage everyone to have a safe and fun summer. B.H. Karnitz Spokane

RELIGION

To believe is to know for sure

Jack DeBaun, in your letters on this subject (“Evolution theory broadly based,” June 8) you always seem to list a bunch of science fields and state they all support evolution but you never include any of the findings to support your case. Then you present some negative thoughts toward folks who don’t believe the evolution myth.

There can be little doubt to observant people that evolution, as a process, exists. Most farmers see adaptation to changing environment occurring routinely in nature.

However, the origin of species through natural selection hasn’t been proved and most likely never will be. That a majority of scientists accepts this theory as most likely correct doesn’t make it so. Witness the flat-Earth theory.

Having criticized you for not presenting facts, I want to offer the solution to this dilemma of your frequently trying, without success, to convince us that this myth is absolutely true. I invite you to accept the gospel as presented in the Bible that Jesus of Nazareth did die on the cross, was buried in the tomb, rose again the third day and is now seated at the right hand of the father.

Believing in him, you then invite him into your heart and your confusion will begin to diminish as you confess publicly that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and your lord and savior.

You will find creation, as presented in the Bible, not only easy to believe but suddenly to be the only thing that makes sense in light of the facts as we now know them. Jack Hall Post Falls