Letters To The Editor

BUSINESS AND LABOR

WWP should discount before donating

As I whip into the last of my golden years, there are a lot of items I can’t justify or understand. One of these is the “gift” from our local public utility, Washington Water Power Co., of $1 million to Washington State University.

How noble. These dollars are the profit collected from the area citizens. I haven’t been apprised of any rate reduction, which would have been good news.

Each month I get my billing from the utility and each one includes the saying, in effect “Your donation will be appreciated to help some of the unfortunate ones with their power bill.” That is all fine and I don’t resent it. But then, the company gets off the track and gives away much more than is needed by unfortunates. I realized a small part of that $1 million charitable gift is in my bill.

WWP’s president receives around a $1 million salary, plus bonuses from stockholders. I think that he and his advisors are going way overboard to shell out, with such freedom, what we have paid for service.

A real cut in the cost of electric service would help a bit in lowering the general public’s cost of living. Carlton Gladder Spokane

ENERGY POLICY

Power plan threatens vital salmon

The Columbia River once supported plentiful runs of salmon that were the backbone for the Northwest’s original Native American cultures. Corporate interests have thwarted efforts to restore our dwindling salmon runs, and this important cultural and commercial resource faces an uncertain future.

Unfortunately, a new proposal for operating the Northwest’s power system poses a new threat to the Columbia’s salmon.

If adopted, the proposal could excuse a big part of the system from paying its fair share toward salmon recovery. Salmon restoration money could be sacrificed in order to keep the Bonneville Power Administration current on Whoops (Washington Public Power Supply System) nuclear power debt - a ball and chain that costs the Northwest a half billion dollars a year for non-operating nukes. Also, the proposal has incredibly weak language on outdated water and electricity giveaways that harm salmon by encouraging wasteful use of water and power.

Salmon mean business for the Northwest through fishing, manufacturing and tourism jobs. They are an important part of our natural Northwest heritage. There is no excuse for letting our wild salmon disappear and stealing this resource from generations to come.

It’s time to get on with the job of fixing our hydroelectric system so we can have salmon - and affordable power - for years to come. Samantha Mace Spokane

Beware of electric utility plan

A draft electric utility plan is being put forth by a committee (essentially, a utility industry entity) of the Northwest Power Planning Council. The committee’s plan would negatively affect residential rate payers and our natural resources.

The plan cuts all energy conservation programs that would save us money while protecting our environment. Programs like home insulation and renewable energy development, such as wind and solar, are on the chopping block. What this plan does call for is more power plants that pollute our air, and continues to give special rates to big industry while we pay more.

As our Pacific Northwest electric utility system deregulates, we need to be smart and plan for projects which will guarantee clean, affordable energy for everyone.

Please write to your governor and urge him to do this now, before we all end up paying for it later. Laura Ackerman Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Parents, teachers should handle issues

I am an 86-year-old man. I’ve been following the account of the 6-year-old boy accused of sexual harassment for kissing a young girl classmate.

This brings to mind an incident that occurred when I was in the sixth grade in public school back in Iowa. My aunt was the teacher. Our class had gone on a picnic at which a couple of boys made suggestive remarks to some of the girls. My aunt learned of it and called the boys up before the class and lectured them, and then administered punishment. She had the boys extend their hand, palms up. She proceeded to give each of them several whacks on their outstretched palms with a 12-inch ruler.

That’s as far as it went. Teachers at that time were expected to maintain discipline and corporal punishment was sanctioned. It was also practiced at home. Parents and teachers were considered capable of handling things of this nature without calling in the heavy artillery.

The term “sexual harassment” was not in use at that time. Harold L. Kelly Spokane

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Ecology phobe’s argument lacking

Re: “Sometimes Mother Earth is a bigger threat than humans” (Region, Nov. 1).

Although Seattle Times reporter Michelle Malkin states that feces contamination of fruit is the cause of E-coli transmission through Odwalla juices to the public, she then attempts to tie this unfortunate tragedy to environmentalists. Why? Because the chemical Alar would have made a difference? Quite a stretch.

Malkin tries to convince the public that environmentalists have hypnotized the world into believing that everything the Earth produces is good. Don’t forget to celebrate your next tornado or 7.0 earthquake! Give me a break - this is hatemongering.

Malkin’s central thesis is that Earth can be made better by human manipulation. Thus, genetic engineering and chemical manipulations of our foods are improvements.

The problem with this thinking is that the driving force, money, is not biological and not necessarily concerned with human or ecosystem health. As long as cash provides the incentives, there are few things other than common sense that get in the way of total reconstruction of Earth’s biological systems.

Taken to the extreme, most anything can cause problems. Just look at the extinction of the passenger pigeon or the loss of Columbia River salmon. If humans want to genetically engineer square tomatoes or eat pineapple ice cream made from anti-freeze, fine. But please, leave the option for present and future generations to make those choices for themselves. Tim Coleman Republic, Wash.

THE MEDIA

Case of pointing out the obvious

Duh. Stating the obvious about the World Wide Web and the Internet seems to be Opinion editor John Webster’s forte of late (“It’s easy to get tangled in Web,” Our View, Nov. 12).

Webster tells us that (gasp) not all the vast myriad of information found on the Web, as well as on television, is true. There are people out there in TV land and cyberspace who would (another gasp) lie to us.

He might have also included in his flock of mediafeeding fibbers: newspaper and magazine editors and writers, radio talk show hosts, political speechmakers, corporate publicity spinners, junk mail con artists, infomercial producers, Hollywood filmmakers, finance company hucksters, used car salesmen, sweepstakes announcers, and even (a last gasp) elected officials.

Most seasoned Web surfers, from the 10-year-old who’s been logging on since age 6 to the 20-something Generation X-er who helped structure the Internet phenomenon, have learned this lesson. In fact, most of us who have experienced not just the Web but any of the encompassing web of modern-day electronic and print media now entangling our lives have learned this lesson.

But golly gee, thanks anyway, Webster. I’m sure some of your readers are still unaware that the media blur and shave the truth. But in this obviously dangerous and deceptive world in which fact and fiction have for too long been presented as the same, there are not many. Except, perhaps, for a few editorial writers. Russ Moritz Sandpoint

Cartoon strikes blow for bigotry

For a while The Spokesman-Review was on it’s way to convincing its readers that it had taken a responsible position in the communities, to discourage racism and hatred. You know, the racism and hatred of the institutional kind, like at Gonzaga, that Catholic institution, the Spokane Democratic Party, the Spokane city and county justice system, etc.

To my astonishment, The Spokesman-Review chose to use Howard Payne’s editorial cartoon in the Nov. 10, “Opinion” to slip a fast and dirty attack on aboriginal spirituality tied in with an “anti-environmentalist” slap. Of course, I agree it is democratic to be able to criticize an opposing point of view. It is quite another thing to go over the line in that great colonialist-missionary tradition to degrade non-Christian types of spiritual belief systems, implying that natives are ignorant because of those beliefs.

This confuses me because Rep. Helen Chenoweth, that great Christian from Idaho, says you don’t have to save salmon because you can buy it in a can off the shelf in the stores. This evidently continues to be the heritage, custom, and culture of the “angry white men” who worship greed, economics and are enslaved by corporate plantation owners (have you noticed all the new customers in white sheets at the Texaco pumps lately?).

Shame on The Spokesman-Review for perpetuating ethnic cleansing in America through enabling religious bigotry. Lou Stone Inchelium, Wash.

Facts lose out to embellishment

Staff writer Brian Coddington approached me at a gas station on Nov. 6. He asked me, “During your commute on the freeway, do you think about the shootings?” I answered yes.

He asked me, “Do you find yourself looking around?” I answered, yes. He asked me, “Do you look at other cars or the roadside?” I answered, “probably the roadside.”

I did offer that “I noticed a patrol car by the Mission Park that morning when driving to work” and that “it appears other drivers may be finding alternative routes, as traffic is lighter and not backing up like it normally does.”

From this conversation, I was reported in The Spokesman-Review as “still braving the freeway, but she finds herself scanning the roadside, looking for a sniper lurking in the brush and ‘wondering if I’m going to get shot.”’ (“Sniper at large,” News, Nov. 7)

It’s unfortunate that facts can’t be reported as such and must be twisted and exaggerated to make a story. I’ve learned my lesson for the future - no comment. Sue K. Barden Spokane

Editor’s note: Coddington stands by his story and contends the quote is accurate.

HUNTING

A special, shared experience

In her Nov. 7 letter, Deborah Peterson said she doesn’t understand why people hunt. I can explain it as a combination of enjoyable feelings one associates with anything exciting.

I was introduced to hunting by my father. He was one who really didn’t care if he bagged anything, but just enjoyed the aesthetic setting it took place in. We would spend days just viewing and enjoying nature and all the creatures it produces. A bond develops between the two of you which will last a lifetime.

As for excitement, have you ever sat on a ridge at daylight, listening to the busy chatter of the squirrels, when all of a sudden a massive white tail buck comes into view? Your heart will pound and sometimes, as a novice, your hands will even tremble. It’s difficult to explain, but you are one on one with an elusive will- o’-the-wisp. You hope to meet the challenge of the hunt as well as enjoy some excellent table fare.

It’s a heritage you hope to pass on to your children and grandchildren, as I have, both boys and girls. The hours I have spent with my children in the field can never be taken from me, and the kill is only secondary. James A. Nelson Spokane

Don’t rush to condemn others’ ways

In response to Deborah Peterson’s “Hunting just doesn’t make sense” (Letters, Nov. 7): If you’ve lived in the city all of your life, a person might understand why you don’t like or know about hunting. But don’t condemn those of us who do hunt.

To most of us, it’s more of a tradition handed down from our grandfathers, fathers and uncles. It’s something we looked forward to while growing up. Sure, we have bows or rifles and the animals can only run. But they’re good at that, believe me. After all, when you’re out there in the woods, you’re in their domain and they know it a lot better than you do. They can also see and hear better than people do.

As for us saying how beautiful they are and mounting the head and horns, when we hunt, track and try to outsmart that big buck, you bet we’ll mount it. Call it a cause for envy or conversation piece if you will, it’s something we can look back on or show our friends and our grandsons. We don’t think of it as gruesome. We eat the meat, which, by the way, is very good.

So, don’t look down your nose at us just because you don’t understand us. Cliff Robinson Kettle Falls, Wash.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Facts lacking for harsh judgments

Re: “Choice, as it is, has been made,” Letters, Nov. 11.

The writer, Angelique Utley, says she is 16, so chances are she’s taking geometry, where you learn that every statement has to be proved. Without proof, you should refrain from making statements.

I’m not trying to defend Clinton, but will speak up for common sense that we all should use.

Utley says Clinton is a criminal. How could she prove that? He has no criminal record. She states he has lied. Trying to please his audiences, he makes statements that aren’t quite clear and then must correct himself. That’s one of his weaknesses, but I wouldn’t call it lying.

He smoked pot? I believe he is ashamed of that. It was many years ago, and I think he can still be a good president. He has committed adultery? How does she know that? This one is really hard to prove. Let’s assume he did. Did it break his marriage? Did he leave his wife and child? Did his marriage cease to work? If his wife forgave him, why shouldn’t anybody else?

From what I can see, he is faithful to his wife, stands by her, supports her, is involved in the upbringing of their child.

It’s nice that Utley is taking an interest in what’s going on in the country and taking a stand. She must be a pretty serious young lady. I was like that, but later realized that if I don’t want to be used and manipulated, I must honor the wisdom of geometry. Peter C. Dolina Veradale