Letters To The Editor

Correction: 12-2-96 A15 The last paragraph of Wayne S. Rawley’s Nov. 27 letter should have read: I would rather lost money at blackjack that win on a slot machine, but I feel it’s my duty as a citizen to not patronize untaxed gambling.

WASHINGTON STATE

Indians should make concessions

I am looking at an original tax token from the state of Washington. Not one made of aluminum, as most people remember, but one printed on paper not unlike a theater ticket. The state was in such a hurry to start collecting this tax it could not wait for the metal tokens.

Let’s move ahead 60 years, to the present. The sales tax has risen from 1 percent to 8 percent.

At a time when the state is looking for more ways to raise money to help people, we are faced with casino gambling that is not regulated, inspected or taxed by the state.

Within a society, there are two basic reasons for gambling. One is the thrill of winning. The other is the taxes levied on the gambling. Indian tribes across the nation are claiming sovereignty and building casinos that are neither taxed nor regulated.

Citizens of this state can do one of two things. They can enact a ban on all types of gambling. Or, they can open the state to wide-open, Nevada-style gambling and be able to tax and regulate the casinos that would sprout everywhere. Doing that would negate the impact the Indians have on gambling.

I would prefer that the Indians give in on this one aspect of their situation and agree to regulation and taxation of their casinos. If they don’t, they leave the rest of us little choice.

I would rather lose money at blackjack than win on a slot machine, but I feel it’s my duty as a citizen to patronize untaxed gambling. Wayne S. Rawley Coulee Dam

Blow-up-dams talk pure nonsense

Re: “Power council hearing sparks heated debate on proposal” (Nov. 14). Specifically, Derrick Jensen’s testimony.

I was there and want to relate what Jensen really said.

He began by saying, “I am a writer. When I wake up in the morning, I am not sure whether I should write or blow up a dam.” He continued by comparing the diminishing salmon runs to genocide. He claimed the government and big business intend to wipe out salmon and the Native American population - a presumption, at best.

I listened to a lot of the hearing testimony. Those who disagreed with the plan did so in a well-received manner. But Jensen insulted the audience by comparing one of history’s most horrific crimes to the salmon situation. Last I checked, Adolf Hitler had no hand in writing the Northwest Power Planning Act.

I don’t oppose restoring the Snake and Columbia salmon runs. However, these radical tactics do nothing to further intelligent discussion or mediation. We can’t just “blow up the dams” to solve the problem.

I suppose Jensen writes by candlelight. Surely, he doesn’t use dam-generated electricity, doesn’t consume apples, peaches, hops, asparagus, grapes, cherries or wheat products from dam reservoir-irrigated fields, doesn’t benefit from flood control, etc.

After the most recent ice storm and power outages, I doubt anyone in the Northwest wants to go back to the days of no electricity. Robin Wood Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

We’re too hooked on neoconservatism

Earl G. Fox (“We’re too dependent on government,” Letters, Nov. 10) should consider these factors:

One, it was the news media that leveled charges against Bill Clinton. How interesting it is that the media, which are so distrusted and considered unbelievable, suddenly can be believed to tell the truth, when it looks bad for President Bill Clinton.

Two, even Bob Dole promised us more government. Government would improve our education by giving tax vouchers to the lucky few to attend private and parochial schools. Government would improve our morality and reduce our crime rate.

Three, the Republicans engaged in conspiracy theory. Remember the Vince Foster case? As Republicans would have people believe, the man could not have just committed suicide. He had to have been murdered, with the details spelled out in as many creative ways as pro-Republican talk radio hosts could come up with. Joan E. Harman Coeur d’Alene

Needed: far-righteous leaders

Political pundits, vainly trying to understand the electorate’s collective mind, will spend the coming weeks studying the Nov. 5th exit polling. In desperation, many will stick a wet finger in the air, trying to learn which way the political winds are blowing.

May I encourage you who base your core beliefs on something deeper and more eternal than the polls, political expediency and outright lies? You’re not the problem. The problem lies with those who put their faith in horses, chariots and opinion polls rather than submitting to and relying on a higher authority whose ways are infinite, inflexible, unchanging and just.

Voters who believe there is a biblical world view that carries the faith from their hearts into the marketplace did have a choice. Howard Phillips, who’s with the U.S. Taxpayers Party, is not reworking the party platform today to lure more voters next time. Truths he stood for on Nov. 6 are in accordance with God’s word and with the Constitution, as they will continue to be.

Our country teeters on the brink of disaster. Alexis de Tocqueville said, “America is great because America is good, and if America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

The purpose of government as ordained by almighty God is to be a terror to evildoers and protector of the innocent. It’s impossible to legislate morality. It is possible to have moral legislation that conforms to God’s unchangeable laws and to the Constitution. Perhaps it’s not too late to turn the tide. William C. Schumacher Deer Park

CIA wrongdoing was news in ‘88

Regarding the present furor over the CIA’s running drugs and using the profits to finance covert operations - in this case, specifically, in Nicaragua - is it possible that I can be the only person in the whole U.S. who remembers a 1988 Frontline program narrated by no less a light than Bill Moyers? The program was titled “Guns, Drugs and the CIA.”

That program turned me from a Reader’s Digest Republican who believed totally in the righteousness of our government into a full-time skeptic and supporter of stronger local government.

In that show, a parade of credible witnesses absolutely nailed the CIA and the executive branch (specifically, President Reagan). The evidence was so strong, I expected there would be national riots in the streets the next day. But alas, everybody apparently watched sitcoms instead.

When I asked friends, some said, “Oh, yeah, I saw part of that. So what?”

The question is not whether the CIA was involved, but rather, does anybody really care? And what’s going to be done about it? Ernest Buckler Veradale

Clinton critic made sense

I think it’s time for an atta-girl response to Angelique Utley’s letter of Nov. 11 (“Choice, as it is, has been made”). With her letter, this 16-year-old demonstrates more insight, logic and common sense than the don’t-pick-on-Clinton thinkers who can’t see the forest through the trees. Lois Wells Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

‘Aberdeen Medal’ all too necessary

In his Nov. 16 letter (“Priggee, raise your right hand”), Jay Worrell said that the fictitious Aberdeen Medal does not deserve to be in the same paper with the other medals. This is because all the other medals are for extreme valor, risk of life or being wounded in action. Perhaps if Worrell or a member of his family had ever been sexually assaulted, threatened or harassed, he would realize that Aberdeen Medal does represent extreme valor, risk of life and being wounded in action, while being in or working for the military. Dee Dee Updike Spokane

Picture shocking, in poor taste

I am shocked and outraged at the poor taste used in printing the Nov. 16 picture of a woman lying dead next to her hurt infant. How disgusting to capture that on film and force it upon the readers without warning. The story was horrible enough without having to endure looking at this. What was the point? How would you feel if that was your mother or sister? D.M. Stack Spokane