Letters To The Editor

SPECIAL EVENTS

Don’t close parking lots to Bloomies

May 5 I completed my 16th Bloomsday run and this was probably the best organized and smoothest operated of any I have seen. Congratulations to the Lilac Bloomsday Association for a great effort and a really run run.

Unfortunately, I do have one negative comment.

Since this is a community spirit activity that benefits the entire area and one of the greatest public relations tools we have, I don’t understand how any merchant can fail to come wholeheartedly out in support. I refer to the fact that some businesses with parking lots well away from the race area blockade their lot entrances to they cannot be used by race participants and spectators. Several businesses on Third and Second streets have regularly closed their areas during Bloomsday for several years.

I sincerely believe that the merchants who boycott Bloomsday in this manner should expect to themselves be boycotted the rest of the year.

I have seven married children and many friends living in this area, and we certainly will not be patronizing shortsighted businesses unless they change this practice. Verne Patten Airway Heights

Coeur d’Alene, take notes

Accolades to Spokane, its citizens and officialdom. It is a fact that a spectacle and event called Bloomsday proves that such activities can be held with decorum and a minimum of problems.

It is quite sad to compare Spokane’s efforts with Coeur d’Alene’s lack of effort to engage in a top-notch public relations coup that could put Coeur d’Alene into the same progressive mode that Spokane is in. It could be said that “Hydro Day” here equates with Bloomsday there. Spokane has shown that all of the negatives expressed locally are nonsense.

If a much smaller crowd in Coeur d’Alene cannot be handled as efficiently as the SPD has proven is possible, we all should sign the “no hydros” petition being circulated in Coeur d’Alene.

Spokanites have proven that policing is no particular problem, volunteer citizen participation is excellent and great publicity has been achieved for the area.

Coeur d’Alene could learn something about increasing and perpetuating tourism and recreation, especially now that the lake and the city are effectively bypassed by Interstate 90. I have heard that such activity is the lifeblood and No. 1 industry in Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County. James L. “Jim” Simpson Coeur d’Alene

IN THE PAPER

Erroneous statement added to pain

Your April 11 news article (“Colfax teen dies in collision,” Region) regarding my daughter Dana Suzanne Peetz’s accident and death on Highway 195 was very distressing to myself and my family in that it incorrectly reported she wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

The accident report states she was wearing her seat belt and shoulder restraint. The firemen were forced to cut the belts to remove her from the car.

Timely news reporting is important. However, accuracy is equally if not more important. A number of people called me asking for details because of the erroneous newspaper report.

Dana was a 17-year-old girl on her way to her violin lesson. She was a member of the Honor Society, a Future Farmers of America member who had qualified for state competition, a musician, writer and artist. She was involved in community service and worked at the local Subway Shop.

Dana took an active role in social issues and problems confronting society. She had her goals and values clearly in focus and lived her life in accordance. No one rode in her car without their seat belt fastened.

While I am aware of the social value of a reminder to others to wear seat belts, I believe that The Spokesman-Review’s intention is to accurately report the news. I respectfully ask that in the future you do whatever you can to ensure that accurate reports of accidents are printed so other families do not have to carry this extra burden in addition to the loss of their loved one. Patricia Sanders Nelson Colfax, Wash.

Moving story praiseworthy

The May 5 article by Staff Writer Ward Sanderson (“Sign of love, sign of progress,” Region), about the young man with Down syndrome, brought tears to my eyes. The accompanying photograph by Dan Pelle is absolutely angelic.

Together, those two crafted a piece that presented both the facts and the emotional power of the moment. Accolades to both of them. Pauline Powers Spokane

Commentary had a familiar ring

The diatribe article submitted by one of your contributing writers, Russ Moritz, sounds like the same old bilge the liberal press of the 1960s used to shove down our throats ( “Folks, you’re missing the gorilla on your doorstep,” Street level, April 28). Richard G. Sanders Athol

Clark on a seduce-and-destroy mission?

I was depressed all day because of Doug Clark’s column, “Topless maids give customers gleaming eyes.” Of the many things our city does not need it, was the promotion of such a very degrading and dangerous business.

You know as well as everyone else that your newspaper is a teaching tool giving ideas to our youths. If you did not feel this way you would not have used restraint in reporting bomb scares in high schools. When they first started and you reported them, there immediately were more scares. Since you have used restraint in such reporting, the domino effect stopped.

Now this column is literally telling our young girls that they have them so they might as well make money from them. What a wonderful promotion for pimps.

It certainly seems that our leading newspaper should use better judgment than giving such a stupid idea front page promotion.

While many are working so very hard to prevent the ballooning of pornography and sexually immoral behavior that is driving some people to irresponsible actions, it would seem that this column is completely irresponsible. If your promotion succeeds it certainly will place our young women in much danger while driving some men to irresponsible passion. Laurence R. Morgan Spokane

Results delay no big deal

Enough already!

Due to computer problems the list of Bloomsday finishers was not in the newsstands the day after the race. Stop browbeating yourselves. The entire Bloomsday happening is an event of organizational genuis.

This was my 18th consecutive running. Each year I marvel at the community response and involvement that make the first Sunday in May the awesome experience that it is. The achievements of the Bloomsday staff and officials far outshine any computer glitch.

So, I say to all those who have a hand in this tremendous race: No browbeating. Pat yourselves on the back for a superbly done job. Barbara J. Floyd Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

What we have is failure of laissez-faire

Russ Moritz (“Folks, you’re missing the gorilla on your doorstep,” Street Level, April 28) vilifies corporations for crimes beyond belief while not mentioning the fact that some of history’s worst atrocities occurred in countries such as the Soviet Union that had no corporations.

His denunciation of corporate lobbyists ignores the numerous other special interest lobbies and their enormous power. For example, several weeks ago in Oregon environmental special interests outbid corporate special interests and won a U.S. Senate seat as the prize.

We do have a problem. We have adopted the entitlement mentality as our national creed. In so doing, we didn’t realize that all of us - government or private, rich or poor, liberal or conservative - are human. It’s human nature to operate in our own self-interest. This does not make us evil or unethical. It does mean, however, that we will use the system to advance our own interests and beliefs when we can.

The right of entitlement means the right to take. The welfare mother with her public subsidy and the corporation that destroys the public’s forests are both practicing the right of entitlement.

Stated starkly and realistically, those who control the government take from those who don’t.

This is an awful concept. It is turning us into predators. This trend can be reversed only by abandoning the idea that we are entitled to anything but the right to be left alone, and the free market value of our own productive efforts. Jim Shamp Cheney

LAW ENFORCEMENT

FBI can quit playing patty-cake

My heart bleeds for those welfare-sucking, deadbeat freemen every time I turn on the news.

How dare the FBI try to defend the taxpayers from these fraudulent check-kiting scammers? My sympathy soars every time this situation is compared to the so-called tragedy at Waco, Texas. How dare Big Brother go after that innocent, gun-toting, incestuous pedophile and his brainwashed, Bible-thumping goons?

My point? Quit wasting my time and money on these criminals. If they want confrontation, give it to them. John C. Mundy Spokane

GASOLINE TALLY

Heads up, pols, the problem’s over here

I just read the article, “Gas prices add fuel to a heated campaign.” I don’t know why they spend weeks having these hearings when Congress should know by now nobody likes these prices and the oil companies are profiting from the situation.

I can’t figure out how the Republicans’ idea that the 4.3 cents per gallon federal gas tax approval by Democrats three years ago caused gas prices to go up 20-plus cents this spring. Now they want to put on a big show and repeal the tax.

Then we have the president putting in his two bits by releasing 12 million barrels of government-stored oil to stop rising prices, which wasn’t his decision to begin with but the federal budget bill that ordered it. The 12 million barrels is what, maybe a day’s consumption for the United States?

All of these “big ideas” by both parties are not worth diddly squat.

It’s the oil companies who are big winners, with their 19 percent to 42 percent earnings increase. Congress and the president should be working together, investigating the oil companies and getting this price back down instead of bashing each other. Glenn Herman Moses Lake

This is a reminder we should conserve

All of a sudden there is an emergency dominating Washington, D.C.: the price of gasoline - still the lowest in the world. We should be surprised the price of gas stayed so low for so long.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Bob Dole wants to repeal the gas tax in order to bring the price of gasoline down. He sees the recent and temporary gas price increase as a national emergency.

President Clinton unfortunately has responded to pressure to release part of the national oil reserves, meant for emergency.

What about the crisis of the national deficit? How absurd to cut any tax, especially on gasoline, while we are drowning in debt.

How much more absurd to make an emergency out of this market fluctuation while ignoring the situation that is truly threatening: the fact that we are still completely dependent upon a nonrenewable energy source, which is filthy at every stage, is getting spilled in the wrong places almost daily and is making us and other living things sick.

Meanwhile, Americans are driving more miles in less-efficient vehicles, burning up as much gas as possible and complaining about the price at the pump. Are we to be rewarded for this behavior?

We should respond to this price change as an opportunity to remind ourselves of the real cost of gasoline use. Our leaders should be talking about the need to increase the corporate average fuel efficiency of American cars, about driving less, and about facing the real nature of our energy crisis. Rebecca L. Smith Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Cougars our neighbors, not our friends

I have mixed feelings regarding private ownership of cougars. We really can’t say what should and should not be domesticated, since our dogs, horses, cows, etc. were all feral at one time and would revert back without humans.

A couple of years ago I was chased by a cougar, on our property, during the middle of a hot September day. If I hadn’t kept my wits and feared for the safety of my dogs, it probably would have taken me down. I did not run or turn my back. I made a lot of noise and kept moving away backwards.

It either decided I was too big or it just wasn’t that hungry, but I know one thing: it never was afraid of me.

A mare was nearly mauled to death by a cougar last year. She lost her ear and suffered many cuts and gashes all over her body, but miraculously she gave birth to a beautiful filly this spring. If a cougar will attack a 1,000-pound animal, what’s a human? Jeannie Maki Colville, Wash.

We mustn’t weaken species law

Today, over 50 percent of our most important medicines are derived from living plants and animals.

It has been a slow, natural, evolutionary process, taking hundreds of thousands of years, that allowed plants and animals to develop effective chemical compounds and mechanisms against disease and predation. It is these same chemical compounds and mechanisms that we use today to protect our own species.

All classes of medicine, painkillers, antibiotics, chemotherapy agents and vaccines to hormones for birth control and diabetes, come from living plants and animals. Much of our understanding of human physiology comes from studying strange, exotic and sometimes rare animals and insects. The wonders of the natural world are just now being discovered. We’re not even sure if there are 3 million or 30 million different species on Earth. Each is unique and may add to our understanding, knowledge and somehow improve our lives.

Yet thousands of species disappear from the Earth every year, mainly due to the thoughtless actions and greed of the dominant species: us.

The Endangered Species Act will soon be before Congress for renewal. Many shortsighted, self-serving politicians, leaders of industry and special interest groups will try to weaken the act because they claim it interferes with business and the rights of private property owners.

Don’t we all have a responsibility, a duty, to prevent further loss of other species and habitat, if for no other than the selfish reason of preserving our own species? John L. Noyes, M.D. Kalispell, Mont.

Hunting: Let it be

In her April 26 letter (“Why must humans kill animals?”), Deborah Silver wrote, “I can only hope that eventually hunting will be completely illegal. It is truly something I cannot understand.”

Well, Silver, I love animals. I could never shoot one because I could not live with myself afterward. But I have eaten quite a bit of wild meat, and many of my friends are hunters.

I still hold to the belief that people, creatures who have the capability to reason, are more valuable and important than any animal. If they choose to find sport and nourishment from hunting, good for them.

Just because you don’t understand something does not mean there should be a law against it. Fortunately, there is not yet a law for everything in this country that someone, somewhere does not think is fair or just. But America, the land of the free and the brave, is well on the way down this path.

Our entire society is strangled by the mountains of needless legislation in this country. Please don’t add to this problem by lobbying for something you feel about. Logical thinking is the proper way to approach lawmaking. Kelly Charbonneau Pullman