Letters To The Editor

VIOLENCE

Fatherlessness breeds troubles

The recent bludgeoning deaths of two area women underscore an increasing and relentless social phenomenon: fatherlessness. Raising young men without their fathers in the home is the root cause of most of today’s violent crime.

Typically, today’s young, violent felon is a product of a home with no father. Even when apprehended and convicted, he is incapable of assuming responsibility for his actions. His mother, interviewed by the media, says everyone is picking on her son. His father is nowhere to be found.

Poverty does not cause crime, as liberals would have you believe. History abounds with examples of impoverished people who did not resort to crime because their family structure remained intact.

Today, poverty and crime are bedfellows, products of the same evil - fatherlessness. Fatherlessness is the strongest predictor of poverty you can name, stronger than race and stronger than education or lack thereof. It is, in the opinion of many, likewise the strongest predictor of a life of crime.

This is not to say mothers are unimportant. Mothers set the standards of behavior. Fathers enforce them. Norman Nelson Colbert

Keep tragedies off front page

I am very saddened by escalating violence in Spokane, especially the assault on Alicia Shaver, Jade Moore and Venus Shaver.

I also am continually disgusted by The Spokesman-Review’s decision to place details of these violent assaults on the front page of the newspaper. It feels like an assault on the community and the families of victims to continually highlight this type of violence and the alleged perpetrators.

It is very important that we be made aware of violence that occurs, and we should continue to take action to prevent it. But it also is important that we keep it in perspective, in relationship to the many other things, positive and negative, occurring in our community. Linda Harris Hathaway Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Wrong to let prosecutor, family down

With absolute outrage, I read about Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor David Hearrean and the terror his family went through during the Hells Angels murder trial. No wonder gangs love to come to Spokane; we will not go the the extra mile for those who put their lives on the line.

Hearrean continued on in spite of intimidation tactics and loss of income. How can the two companies involved in his wife’s employment justify asking her not to come back to work? Maybe to save the lives of others involved? Well, that’s big of them. I bet she would like to tell them, “Thank you for supporting my family and this community in our effort to clean up this town.”

The Hearreans have lost their day-care provider and her employment. Please don’t tell me I would do the same thing in their situation. I am an employer and have children, but I believe freedom comes with a price. Shame on them. Elaine Barr Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Picture reveals racist, sexist bent

On the front page of your May 10 Region section, I saw a large photograph of children: four girls and one boy. The boy, it appeared, was being terrorized by these girls who had chased him up a tree.

Was this news? Did it belong on the first page? The answer is yes.

What I am sure many people saw was a cute photograph of some Sadie Hawkins event in a young boy’s life.

What I saw was a panicked person being trapped in a tree by a mob. Had this boy been black and had the girls been white boys, the picture would have had a completely different tone. Had the picture been of a terrified girl trapped in a tree by four laughing boys, again, the picture would have had a different tone.

Below the picture were words that concisely stated the boy was having an “appropriate reaction” to the events at hand.

Are these the same words that would be used if either of the aforementioned events had occurred? If a mob had treed a black boy, would you print that his face exhibited an “appropriate reaction”?

If not, I would say The Spokesman-Review is showing its sexism and its racist perspective. Simply put, your “good paper” is bad news. G.B. Michels Spokane

Cheap shots at fine man

Staff writer Dan Webster and Laura Bloxham’s unwarranted attacks on Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) have gotten out of hand (“The stench of success,” IN Life, May 5). I see no humor in this assault upon the talented scholar’s abilities. I’m very proud to be his relative - and with good reason.

A biography of Alcott in Webster’s Guide to American History reveals he was known primarily as an educator, philosopher and reformer, not as a writer. He was a brilliant conversationalist and was warmly welcomed into the “transcendentalist circle” of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller and others, where he was loved, greatly admired and even given financial help.

He favored women’s rights and abolition of slavery. In 1839, acceptance of a black student was a primary cause of the closing of his Temple School in Boston. Far ahead of his time in advocating equality, he paid dearly for his convictions. The family lived in poverty for many years.

Later, while superintendent of Concord., Mass., schools, he successfully introduced many educational reforms and ideas.

The Harper Book of American Quotations by Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich (1988, Harper and Row) is quite liberally sprinkled with interesting quotations from this noted American scholar. I did not find any by either Dan Webster or Laura Bloxham.

Speaking ill of the dead sells papers, Webster’s undoubted motive, but Bloxham might consider Alcott’s gentle philosophy and find ways to make her point without ridiculing others. For shame, professor. Richard F. Bronson Spokane

Show coverage means a lot

I thank The Spokesman-Review for its coverage of the Junior Livestock Show. So many times, hard-working, ordinary kids go unnoticed by the press.

As a 4-H leader from many years ago, I know they appreciate this recognition. Lauralee Sicilia Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Tailor speed limits to conditions

D.F. Oliveria’s request for a consistent speed limit on Interstate 90 (“Our view,” May 7) makes as much sense as a proposal for everyone to wear size 10 shoes to avoid confusion about people’s foot size. Road conditions and surroundings change across both state and states.

Judging by the speed pattern after the recent speed limit increase, people seem to take the numbers on these rectangular signs as the minimum speed they are allowed to drive, independent of traffic conditions.

I’m not an advocate of going back to 55 mph. Growing up in Germany, I have firsthand experience of the autobahn. “Fun starts at 100 (mph)” nicely summarizes my feelings about speed limits. However, on more than 50 percent of that limitless stretch of asphalt and concrete, there are severe speed restrictions. Speed limits even change according to time of day or amount of traffic. These measures are necessary since most drivers seem unable to responsibly judge the limitations of their vehicles and their driving abilities.

Every driver has the duty to pay close attention to surrounding traffic and traffic signs and adjust speed accordingly. My daily experience indicates a severe lack of these skills on most Washington and Idaho roads. A constant speed limit across all of I-90 would only give another reason not to pay attention. Detlev Otto Liberty Lake

Socialist is as socialist does

Gene K. Ealy (“Socialist views worthless,” letters, May 3) certainly can defend his illusions about capitalism all he wants to, but when people criticize its excess, that doesn’t make them socialists.

Where do the major welfare bucks go? To corporations in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, federal or state grants - which is socialism. How free is the free market with tariffs, subsidies and trade protection, all of which exist on behalf of agriculture, import-export, industrial and other U.S. businesses?

Note, too, that taxpayers/consumers pay twice for goods sold in this nation because of the above. When do they get to see the benefits of capitalism? Joan E. Harman Coeur d’Alene