Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Help make downtown better

Heidi Eaton (“Downtown unsafe after dark,” Letters, Sept. 30) states that downtown is not clean, not safe and that life after dark is dangerous. I find her statements troubling because they reflect a stereotypical and uninformed view of downtown. I used to believe the same things.

Granting the point that downtown is not as clean and safe as we all want it to be, once a person takes the time to get to know the people who live there, they realize much of their fear is unjustified.

Problems of graffiti, cleanliness and safety are not now and will not stay just downtown. We have all seen graffiti and have heard about someone being assaulted in places other than downtown.

We need to, as a community, take positive action now to deal with this situation. The only way we can hope to have a lasting solution is to build relationships based on trust and understanding. This way we would eliminate the stereotypes.

Many downtown churches have come to this realization and are working together to bring about positive change. City Gate, Central United Methodist’s Shalom Zone and the Downtown Coalition have been working toward this goal, but everyone ought to be involved. Only if we work together are we going to have the positive impact that can help transform our community into what we all want it to be - a safe and clean place to live. G. Dexter Phillips Spokane

Work release makes community safer

Second Chance, a private, nonprofit company, has operated Cornelius House Work Release in Spokane for eight years, without significant negative public impact. Now, it proposes moving to the corner of Third and Browne. Why should the city allow this?

First, the perceived danger to the neighborhood can be controlled. Offenders are already here, with nearly half working a full-time job in the downtown area, including several in the immediate neighborhood. Their movements are controlled, and drug or alcohol use are effectively monitored.

Secondly, the program will actually have a positive impact on the neighborhood. A vacant eyesore of a building, for 15 years presenting an opportunity for vandalism and fire, will become an attractively restored brick building. More importantly, a 24-hour correctional presence will be added to a neighborhood plagued by criminal activity.

Finally, Second Chance works with its neighbors to address their concerns. One community meeting has already been held and two more will occur this week. One will address business owners’ concerns. The other will address concerns of Dynamic Christian Academy parents.

Both groups will be told how trained correctional staff will, in effect, provide a neighborhood block watch. They will control residents’ activities and will report suspicious activity in the area.

The relocated program will not have an adverse impact on the neighborhood. Rather, it will continue to make Spokane a safer place to live and the neighborhood a safer place to do business. Bruce Kuennen, director Cornelius House Work Release

Elect Hormann county commissioner

I have known commissioner candidate Ron Hormann for many years. He has always been considerate in his commitment to his family, his children and their mother, and now his grandson. Hormann has always worked hard and cared a great deal about this community that he and his family live in.

Hormann’s agenda has always been what is best for the community, its residents and those who work for the community. He is open. He does not have a hidden agenda or ego needs to satisfy.

I am voting Hormann for county commissioner because I know that as a professional person, with the credentials for the job and a commitment to the community, he is the best person for the position. Michael E. Brock Chattaroy

ANIMALS

Keep animals safe from anti-freeze

Last week, the Spokane Humane Society handled our first anti-freeze poisoning case of the season. Unfortunately, it will not be the last.

The victim was a young, beautiful, otherwise healthy shepherd cross. A small amount of ingested anti-freeze left this beloved pet paralyzed and near death.

Brought to us for humane euthanasia, it was heartbreaking for the owners and for my staff.

Please, be absolutely sure you wipe up even the smallest bit of anti-freeze, whether it be from a spill or an overheated engine. A spoonful can be deadly. Also, consider buying the environmentally friendly antifreeze.

Your pet’s life may depend on it. Dona Van Gelder, interim director The Spokane Humane Society

LAW AND JUSTICE

Oreskovich’s purpose not flawed

I was appalled but not really surprised by the allegations leveled against attorney Nancy Oreskovich (“Downwinder attorney suspended,” Region, Sept. 26).

This was Oreskovich’s first major legal case and she may have committed some errors. I feel her biggest mistakes were her legal wrangles with the federal judge and the leaking of a report on Hanford’s radioactive legacy that had been ordered sealed. Downwinders have been well aware of Hanford’s radioactive legacy for years. But anytime federal infractions are revealed, the accuser is in eternal trouble.

That we were heavily irradiated from Hanford is no secret. “Ten times more than scientists had anticipated” was disclosed by the Centers for Disease Control. The fact that we have lost over 450 people in our area to cancer since the start of Hanford is a good indication of what happened to us, in my opinion.

I feel the citizens of this country are entitled to know what happened with Agent Orange in Vietnam, the Gulf War Syndrome and the radiation releases. But instead of being honest with us, the government’s immediate response is to downplay what has happened in hopes we will forget about it. A government that is not honest with its people creates hostility.

I feel Oreskovich’s main concern was justice for her clients. But evidently, from all past experiences, this will never happen. Don’t take my word for it. I suggest you read “Fallout,” by Philip L. Fradkin. LaVerne Kautz Ritzville

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

We’re locked into trade deficits

The Sept. 24 analysis piece comparing the condition of the United States in 1890 and 1990 covered many of our ills fairly well. It skirted one significant issue, however.

Political and business leaders of this country have voluntarily turned the country into an economic colony of the Asian nations (and possibly others).

In economic terms, a colony is a country that exports low-value raw materials such as logs, raw agricultural products and scrap metal to other nations and imports high-value manufactured goods (cars, electronics, fabricated steel products, etc.) from them. This is a major reason why the United States has such large trade deficits and has so much trouble reducing those deficits. This problem was a major factor in the 1770s, one that helped provoke the American Revolution against England. Unfortunately, it was a lot easier to organize a revolution and construct an independent economy then than now.

I suspect there is no way to solve this or our other problems in this day and age, given the depth and power of vested interests. Eric Johnson Spokane

The people let budget cutters down

As Congress ends its session leading into the election season, headlines are blaring that our “fiscally responsible” Republican Congress has turned tail and passed big spending increases in a number of government programs. The question is, why?

We know after the huge tax increases of 1990 and 1993 that the deficit remains and the only way to reduce it is with spending reductions, so why cave in on them?

The answer is that President Clinton has said they must spend the additional money or face a veto that will shut down the government, just as he did last winter when Congress refused to give in to higher government spending. The fact is, Clinton succeeded in destroying Congress’ popularity when he vetoed spending restraint last winter and Congress is afraid that his high poll ratings will allow him to blame them again if they don’t spend the money he wants now.

The blame lies with Americans like you and me. If we had not bad-mouthed the Republican Congress after the vetoes last December and if we weren’t giving Clinton good poll ratings now, maybe Congress would be spending our hard-earned tax dollars more responsibly now. It’s frightening to think of the mandate Clinton will think he has to raise taxes and spend more after re-election. We know he will, because he did before. James A. Arthur Liberty Lake

We must control deficit, debt

It seems that we Americans are so totally self-centered and egotistical that we are perfectly willing to pass on to generations to come our $5 trillion national debt. There has been some consideration to decrease the deficit’s rate of increase, but we seldom hear a serious government proposal to spend no more than the government takes in.

A serious attempt to balance the budget would require reductions in sacred-cow programs such as Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, etc., which would adversely affect many low-income folks like my wife and me. However, some sacrifice and pain would have to be expected by all Americans. We can’t all point fingers at the other guy.

All government employee salaries should be reduced, including those of congresspersons who gave themselves big raises a couple of years ago and will be retiring on multimillion-dollar pensions at taxpayers’ expense. There is absolutely no doubt we are in this financial mess because our politicians spend more money than the government can squeeze out of its people. We have to bring that trend to a screeching halt.

It is wrong to continue to spend our grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s money, especially now, when the economy and employment are reasonably good. The good old United States is worth saving - not for us old goats but for all Americans. Don Morrison Spokane

THE JUDICIARY

Moe qualifications excellent

Royce Moe is the most qualified and best choice for Superior Court judge.

He has spent the last eight years as Superior Court commissioner and Superior court judge pro-tem. He had 13 years of experience as an attorney prior to assuming his present position. He has been very active in the preparation and review of legislation relating to family and juvenile law - two important areas that affect us all.

In the Spokane Bar poll, Moe achieved the highest rating of the three competing candidates. Also, he was endorsed by The Spokesman-Review in the primary election as the best-qualified candidate. He has been endorsed by seven Spokane County Superior Court judges and four Superior Court commissioners. It takes a good judge to know one.

I have known Moe and his family for over 15 years. I have found him outstanding. He is energetic, loyal, truthful, friendly and has the highest integrity. Please elect this outstanding man Superior Court judge. Hugh Mills Cheney

OTHER TOPICS

Learn more about mental illness

Oct. 6-12 is Mental Illness Awareness Week, which has been nationally observed since Congress passed a resolution authorizing it in 1987.

Local and national advocacy groups facilitated this public law that formally recognized the brutally stigmatizing nature and social and economic consequences that neurobiological disorders have on individuals, families and society.

One of the original resolutions is most revealing as we enter the era of managed care: “Treatment of mental illness has been demonstrated to be costeffective in terms of restored productivity, reduced utilization of other health services, and lessened social dependence.”

As budget cuts in all areas of research in neurobiological disorders loom, it is vital that educational efforts and increased public understanding continue so that the shortsighted budget cuts of previous administrations do not repeat at the cost of millions of Americans.

Research overwhelmingly indicates that the economic consequences of not treating neurobiological disorders are far greater to the individual, families and, ultimately, society.

The many activities being offered this week are an important step in eradicating stigma because public education and advocacy are what ultimately move our local, state and national legislatures to act. Robert W. Bjorklund, M.S.W. Spokane

‘Patriots’ not that numerous

The Associated Press article about Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke (“Freemen standoff figure not praising FBI now,” Sept. 30) has the so-called honorable senator siding with the same crowd that has been cited for passing bad checks and is now espousing the same paranoid conspiracy theories of patriot groups such as the “freemen.”

What I truly question is his ability to claim or puff up the numbers of so-called patriot groups willing to “take action to restore constitutional government” from tens of thousands into 5 million to 10 million. What kind of action is Duke referring to?

Duke advocates states’ rights as a means to remove protective environmental legislation and aligns himself with known white supremacists. The patriots want a return to the “good old days” when only the Bill of Rights was the law; when all those new amendments, such as freeing the slaves or giving women the right to vote, would be stricken from the books, along with 200 years of judicial review and legislative law. David Robinson Curlew, Wash.

Truth includes why we shun hemp

One compelling reason to grow hemp in America was well articulated in “Northwest waters become legally polluted” (Sept. 25). Pulp and paper mills are putting our region at the top of the national list for toxins and carcinogens in water.

Making paper from trees is a hazardous process. And of course, our forests are terribly overlogged.

Hemp makes much better paper than does wood. Hemp mills could give us all the paper we need without pollution - from an environmentally friendly superweed. Even if you disregard the thousands of other natural hemp products, stopping the dumping of millions of pounds of toxins and carcinogens into our water seems a compelling enough reason to grow hemp.

Rand Clifford said it so well (“Kids need to hear truth about drugs,” Letters, Sept. 25), “When all else fails, resort to the truth.” With all the slogans and propaganda and hysteria about drugs, marijuana laws keep holding back industrial hemp - even though you can’t get high on industrial hemp.

The truth about why we are not cashing in on hemp is a classic tale of how power works in this country. Plenty of truth about the incredible resource of hemp is readily available. I recommend the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s own World War II film, “Hemp for Victory.”

The truth of why we are not growing hemp is what we need to resort to. It must be widely known. Ralph Schneider Mead