Letters To The Editor

RED LIGHT RUNNERS

Flashing lights could tame drivers

Just a short suggestion on red light running. How about having the green or yellow light start flashing a few times before turning to yellow or red. This would give everyone more warning to prepare to stop. They do this in Canada and it seems to work great. Is this something that would be viable and easy to incorporate into the system? Kristina Starling Spokane

Remember, red means stop

June 27 will be a day that will be imprinted on myself and my daycare children for all time. We spent the morning enjoying a movie at the Garland and were heading home for lunch when we were broadsided at the corner of Ash and Northwest Boulevard by someone running the red light. The resulting accident left my van crippled beyond use, one of my daycare children on her way to the hospital and the rest of us bruised and beaten both physically and emotionally.

I do want to thank the police officers, firefighters and the many people who stopped and helped in so many ways. I know that I would not have been able to cope with this accident without your help and support. Your kindness did not go unnoticed by myself and my children.

I ask all of you who have the habit of edging through the lights to remember that the cars, trucks and vans that you run the risk of hitting are full of mothers, fathers and children who have not asked you to disrupt their lives with an accident. We were very lucky, we are all going to recover from this accident. But who knows about next time someone decides to run the red light? Wendy Cox Spokane

ENVIRONMENT

Information on cleanup hard to get

I read with interest the two letters June 21 concerning lead pollution and its cleanup. One concerned, in part, Senate Bill 1614 introduced by Sen. Larry Craig and the other was written by a geologist urging people who, in his mind, seem to be exhibiting anti-mining sentiments rather than a sincere desire for unbiased analysis and decisionmaking.

I like to make up my own mind so I called Craig’s office to get his side. I got what I felt was a less-than-friendly response. I was given what sounded like a prepared answer, which was fine, but I wanted literature I could read at my leisure with data and statistics. When I asked for literature, I was told by a staff member that she had “reams” of literature but that it was hers and I should find my own information.

In my mind, it was reasonable and normal to ask for information from someone who is presenting a bill that if it passes, I’m told, will stick me with paying for cleaning up someone else’s mess. She finally told me she would send me something, but to date, no literature has arrived.

I, too, applaud the Inland Empire Public Lands Council for its work with the Department of Ecology and the Idaho Conservation League. They brought this issue to our attention and are going their best to inform those of us who make up our own minds. Janelle Travis Coeur d’Alene

IN THE PAPER

Sorry, Garry, it’s not funny

Gee, the current series of Doonesbury cartoons featuring ex-Viet Cong are cute. I’m sure that the relatives of soldiers killed or missing in Vietnam get a real chuckle out of Garry Trudeau’s humor.

Thanks to Trudeau and to your newspaper for a reminder of transitory, even oxymoronic nature of “journalistic integrity.” Ray Fadeley Spokane

Rail article revived memories

Your Sunday front-page photo and story on 132 miles of the former Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway being turned into a trail brought back pleasant memories of the many days and nights I spent in the mid-1980s photographing trains during their final months of operation on that route.

I had the privilege of riding along with the crew on a freight train from Spokane to Pasco, but am even more excited about the idea of being able to pedal my mountain bike over the bridges and through the tunnels at a more leisurely pace that will allow me to stop and enjoy the quiet and beauty of Eastern Washington’s desert.

Your description of “another 10.5 miles of the line, from Latah Creek … to Fish Lake” suggests that this is also part of the SP&S route. It isn’t. The abandoned railroad grade between Latah Creek and Fish Lake is a route that was used jointly by the Union Pacific and the Milwaukee railroads. Nearly all of the former SP&S route between Latah Creek and Fish Lake is still in use by Burlington Northern.

Incidentally, I was the author of that 1987 Trains magazine article your writer so graciously mentioned. Bruce Kelly Coeur d’Alene

POLITICS

Character is important

A U.S. News & World Report survey has found that two-thirds of the people think character is less important than a person’s positions on issues (“Character at issue,” June 23). The person without character doesn’t have a position - at least one that you can trust! D.M. James Sagle, Idaho

OTHER TOPICS

Don’t allow yourself to be a victim

In a letter on June 26, C.A. Vazquez stated that “Jim Shamp the MUTT had no concept of what’s it’s like to have dark skin in the country.” Well, C.A. you must have meant dark, thin skin.

I’m half-Mexican and have fairly brown skin as do two of my five children. By continuing to label yourself as a minority and feeling like a victim, you’ll never feel the pride of being who you truly are.

There’s no denying the prejudices and biases that are out there. I have seen it and felt it at times, and I’ve seen it against my children. I have seen the hurt they have experienced. However, I don’t choose to be a victim, and we choose not to label ourselves as minorities. There’s just too many good things and too many good people out there to. Janice Duvanich Spokane

Creation deserves to be heard

An NBC news poll found that 86 percent of Americans favor creationism being equally taught along with evolution. So why was Aaron Mason censured (“Cheney teacher disciplined for creationism lecture,” June 19)? Because the school considered creationism controversial?

On those grounds, evolution, an unproven, unscientific, and highly inflammatory theory, also should be excluded.

Evolution is controversial because it ignores the scientific rules of observation and test. It relies upon conjecture, an insupportable fossil record, and deliberate fraud.

According to Carl Sagan, the data from the simplest cell is so complex, it would fill 100 million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Isn’t it a stretch to believe, that by some mutation of time and chance, this cell self-generated from primeval soup?

Creationism has yet to be proven inaccurate on a single point. Discoveries in DNA reinforce the creationist teaching of kind producing kind.

Concerning the November 1994 photos from the Hubble telescope, Franceso Paresce of the European Space Agency said, “We expected the image to be covered wall-to-wall by faint red stars. There were just a handful there. This was a disaster for the whole way that astronomers are developing the idea of an old universe.”

Do our children know this? Do they have the opportunity? Isn’t it time creation science also had a voice in our children’s education? Annie Long Sandpoint

Turnabout is fair play

In defense of insurance companies giving no explanation about refusing to renew churches’ insurance. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

If the churches refuse to tell excommunicated members why they reject them, why should the insurance companies tell the churches why they refuse to re-insure them. Harold Ruther Spokane

Society expects illegal immigration

There is nothing philanthropic about illegal immigration. It is a fact of life. Illegal immigration is tolerated because it has a nitch in society in this country, good or bad. Our worst is often better than the best situations elsewhere.

As for a comparison to the Pilgrims that I made, weren’t they uninvited guests on this soil, no matter what their justification for coming. Illegal immigration flourishes. It is in the interest of many businesses to keep it that way.

My point is, how are they siphoning off your money, Mr. Crosby. You should direct your vitriol about illegal immigration toward the businesses who encourage it. Also, your economic disaster scenario is pointed at the wrong end of the spectrum. The dollars are heading toward the upper class, and the poor are just getting poorer. Tracy Palm Spokane

Put the blame where it belongs

Again, I see a tragedy turned into a matter of greed and blame before the person is even buried.

Instead of calling a lawyer and blaming KZZU Radio and the boat operators for their son jumping off a boat into less-than-60-degree water, why not blame the deceased and ask why he didn’t know any better?

The only ones who will gain from this are the greedy lawyers.

It seems every time a kid gets into trouble the parents look for fault in everything but themselves and their method of molding their offspring.

I feel for the man’s parents and the pain they are feeling, but hope they will turn this tragedy into a positive outcome for other parents and kids to learn from. We don’t want to show our kids that monetary gain is the socalled positive outcome of this young person’s mistake, whether it was brought on by drinking or just a bad decision. Rick Nelson Mead

Needed: discount postage

Why couldn’t the elderly, infirm, etc. get a rate discount on the cost of mailing a letter? Many who want to keep in touch with loved ones across the country can’t afford 32 cents each for a letter. As homeowners we all get the presorted nonprofit mailings practically daily.

Don’t the people who grew up and worked for years, when postage was 3 cents and now must pay gold-mining prices, deserve some sort of break. Gene Mattoon Spokane

Watercraft analogy idiotic

I read with amazement John Russell’s viewpoint (June 2) that personal watercraft (PWC) shouldn’t be barred from the Spokane River. His comparing noxious, noisy and fast-moving PWCs with kayaks, rafts, fishermen and swimmers shows his totally self-centered ideology.

He has obviously forgotten to consider the many people who live next to the river or use trails that border the river. These people would never even know that kayakers, rafters, fishermen or swimmers are enjoying the river unless they looked out and observed the peaceful solitude that both groups seek. The quiet, pristine environment is ruined by the extreme minority who insist that they too have a “right” to use this resource, no matter that they violate the treasured experience of the vast majority who respect and value their right to a peaceful river experience.

Regarding his idiotic analogy of asking alpine skiers to leave Mount Spokane and change over to Nordic skiing at Priest Lake: Alpine and nordic skiing are nonmotorized sports that cause a minimal amount of environmental impact when compared to snowmobiles. There is a separate area at Mount Spokane for snowmobiles because snowmobiles create the same problems for skiers as PWCs do for non-motorized river enthusiasts. There is no reason for the majority who don’t cause noise and safety infringements to be asked to relocate. As for safety, watch the behaviors of most PWC operators, and then generalize the dangers seen on a wide-open lake to a relatively narrow strip of water with the addition of unpredictable currents.

Who really is “selfish and unfair”? Bert Johnson Spokane

We can’t ignore AIDS epidemic

I am a young airman in the U.S. Air Force who has been made aware of a threatening trend. I am continually meeting young people from all parts of the country who know nothing about the subject of AIDS. I am confused and truly sickened by their ignorance and misinformation.

It has been proven that AIDS hangs most threateningly over youths as they become sexually mature and yet I find no evidence of education in school. I do not understand the lack of federal response.

Obviously the education should come from the home, but it is apparent to me that parents are not doing that job. Denial has caused a spiritual infection which makes the task of education more difficult.

I am aware this is not a docile subject, but it is the individual duty of us all to educate each other to slow the course and ease the suffering. AIDS attacks the immune system of our society. The lack of reliable education causes fierce discrimination that is truly dehumanizing.

As I listen to young people blame and then indulge at their own risk, I can now see why AIDS is an epidemic. Society can no longer believe this is an unstoppable disease. AIDS cannot be cured, but it can be prevented. None of us can afford to look the other way. Cassandra L. Frohnhoefer Fairchild Air Force Base