Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE

Let’s brighten up the city

In regards to the lack of lighting in Spokane: Why? I’ve never lived in a town that had such dim street lights. People say that they are depressed in the winter here. Well, no wonder.

I was in a fender bender on Washington and Riverside. We went to exchange information and there wasn’t enough street light to see the paper to write on. It’s just too dark.

The only people who are happy with our dark streets are robbers and other types who shun the light.

There may be a good reason that we keep our streets darker than other cities. Does anyone out there know of a good reason? The light from our street lights seems to peter out before it reaches the sidewalk! Tom Downard Spokane

Retain consultants closer to home

It seems strange to me that the City Council is spending so much of our money on consultants located in other cities and states, i.e. San Francisco. Isn’t there anyone in this city, which has many great minds, who would be able to do the studies? That would keep those thousands of dollars in the community where it is sorely needed. Maybe someone would be willing to volunteer time to the city for a tax deduction.

We need to retain a financial expert within the City Council. This would erase the need for outside consultation at taxpayers’ expense and help them make more sound financial decisions. Also, from someone who doesn’t make that much money - even in five years - maybe someone else could do it for less money as that amount seems to me, and to most regular working class people, to be very extravagant for one study. Debbi Sullivan Spokane

PRESIDENT CLINTON

Choice of president questioned

Where is the outrage? The question remains. We have just reelected a president that we know is crooked; we are pretty sure he took illegal campaign contributions, as well as cheating on business taxes and abusing presidential powers to hide the evidence.

People say, but the economy is good or people are living better now than they did four years ago. What does it matter? We have still elected a crooked president, and have set ourselves up for a political rerun. Both Nixon and Clinton won by landslides - although the fact that this election was much closer than Nixon’s says something for the people. Both then and now, “Where is the outrage?” Jeremy West Spokane

Reelection a sorry state of affairs

It’s a sorry state of affairs when an unethical, immoral, draft-dodger can be elected president of the United States. May God help us. Helen Lofgren Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Stop drugs at the border

Citizens should be outraged that over 100 tons of drugs cross our southern border every year. The related crime costs the taxpayers an enormous amount of money. Something like 95 percent of the drugs gets through and most goes right through U.S. customs undetected.

Why is the United States so inept at stopping drugs? It should be a national scandal. Apparently U.S. Customs is seriously underfunded and understaffed.

Although most drugs cross the border in semi-trucks, often only empty trucks are searched due to manpower limitations, according to a Readers Digest article. Truck traffic is way up, due to NAFTA, which has made it politically difficult for Congress to require searches, which slow down the flow of commerce.

In fact, Congress resisted efforts by President Clinton to impose a border crossing fee in order to pay for additional U.S. Customs staff.

Meanwhile, local taxpayers must pay for extra law enforcement and suffer the crime associated with the drug trade. In effect, Congress shifts costs onto local government and subsidizes corporations operating under NAFTA.

Congress spends $270 billion per year on defense, and it is reasonable to expect secure borders for that amount of money. People should demand results. One hundred tons of drugs per year is not acceptable. S.S. Howze Sagle, Idaho

Protect small business from feds

Witches, goblins, the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge - a polymix of funkillers. Odious federal regulations are in the same category, and if we could put a face on them we could hate them better.

Small business owners already gag and choke on the onerous doses of heavy-handed mandates cooked up on the Potomac. But even more, and worse, are expected soon to be foist by federal regulators under the blanket aegis of ergonomics.

What it is: “The science that seeks to adapt work or working conditions to suit the worker.” Sounds harmless enough. But the ever-protective fed boys and girls billow their interpretation: no pain, no strain for American workers.

On the job, no “heavy” lifting; 25 pounds is the limit. A small business must reorganize its system to comply. Big business has already gone to robotics. But that’s only one physical strain.

A computer operator must no longer be worked for long hours on the keyboard; beside the carpal strain there is the stress of monotonous, repetitive action. The “thinkers,” in their caretaking role, are now into emotional or psychological safeguarding.

Small business people, ergonomics can kill you! The feds in their ivory towers glory in schemes to “help” you. Seems their greatest pleasure is to interfere with all facets of our lives. If we don’t put a stop to their funnery, they will fun small business to death. Howard Cameron Spokane

HUNTING

Hunting an earned privilege

In reference to the recent letter, “Hunting just doesn’t make sense”:

We are a hunting family; my mother and friends hunt also. There is sense to hunting for those of us who hunt.

Hunters have more respect for animals than those who don’t hunt. We are supportive of keeping the population where it should be, which is regulated by the game department through lengths of hunting seasons.

Hunting season is a time we look forward to. The country and wildlife you get to see are beautiful and we do not view any of it as gruesome. It’s great exercise and very rewarding for most people. The other plus side for women who don’t hunt is that they get a break from their husbands every hunting season.

We enjoy game meat and it is far better for you than any store-bought meat you could eat. We look forward to having meat in the freezer all winter long. We all share recipes on how to cook game meat and look forward to fooling those who don’t know what they are eating and like it.

Hunting is a privilege earned for being a good citizen. Any felony record and you don’t get a hunting license. We pay for the right to hunt and enjoy the benefits from it. Try it sometime. It’s a very healthy way to live and you learn a lot from it. Cheryl Gilmore Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Say ‘no’ to fur coats

Re: Mary Cosentini’s letter on fur coats - I second her motion. If God wanted women to wear fur coats he would have grown them on their backs. Dorothy E. Carter Spokane

We’re all one family

At the closing of another election season we need to take some time for quiet reflection.

Regardless of outward differences of culture, religion, color and political persuasion, there is one divine principle of love that is within all that unites our hearts. We are one worldwide human family bonded in the truth of our common identity.

To focus on our oneness instead of outward appearances of difference is the secret of happiness and human progress. Regardless of the choices that others make I can individually choose truth and life and thus be a leavening influence for good in the world. Tom Durst Spokane

Land-use planning needed

Homes in Spokane will soon be priced beyond the reach of most families, and many who own a home will have to sell it to pay the taxes on it. One reason is the cost of lumber. That just hit $468 per thousand board feet, up from $252 a year ago. The increase adds about $4,000 to the cost of the average home.

Despite the higher prices, mills are still closing for lack of timber, throwing people out of work, while billions of board feet of timber rots and burns in our national forests due to the environmental industry’s rabid opposition to even salvage logging.

Another factor is the state’s Growth Management Act. That requires a “growth boundary” around urban areas, and no development will be allowed outside it. In Portland, the price of land inside such a boundary quadrupled in three years. To buy a lot in Spokane, you’ll soon have to win the lottery. The value of existing homes and the taxes on them will also rise, and taxes on urban homes will increase faster than the value. Land outside the growth boundary is expected to drop in value by 50 percent, and somebody will have to make up the lost tax revenue.

We should manage growth, but local land-use planning is better than a state plan, and allowing the environmental industry to block forest management hurts forest health as well as the economy. Contact your state legislator and U.S. congressman and let them know what you think. Edwin G. Davis Spokane