Letters To The Editor

Sat., Sept. 21, 1996

SPOKANE MATTERS

Bank, paper doing right thing

As a member of the Christian community and the pastor of a United Methodist Church, it is distressing to me when persons, in the name of God, commit terroristic violence and armed robbery. Then, to add insult to injury, they say to those who offer reward for their capture that further violence will be committed against them if they do not withdraw that reward.

There may not be unity on all things in the Christian community of Spokane, but I doubt that there are many who would not stand with me in saying to U.S. Bank and The Spokesman-Review, thank you for your firm stand. And further, say to terrorists who bomb and rob, that they are committing what we consider blasphemy against God, whose will is for wholeness and acceptance of all persons without regard to race, gender, social standing, orientation, nationality or any other dividing thing devised by the unthinking and arrogant.

U.S. Bank and The Spokesman-Review, I thank God for your courage. Homer C. Todd, pastor St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Spokane

Police fuzzy about speed zone law

What does “School zone 20 mph when children present” mean? If you ask five different Spokane police officers, you’ll get five different answers.

Does it mean 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? Does it mean one child or more than one child? How old is a child? The Spokane police department doesn’t seem to know what to tell you. When called, they give you conflicting answers. I just want to know what this sign means. Arnold K. Kelm Spokane

The arts are here - support them

Arts in Spokane have suffered much ridicule. Big-city folk move here and lament being stuck in a cultural black hole where monster truck shows, truck-and-tractor pulls and championship wrestling are the biggest draws.

Even one of our county commissioners said publicly how every so often he needs to get away to a city with decent arts.

Well, last Sunday two of the world’s premier wildlife artists made a joint appearance in Spokane - a wonderful show. Starting Sept. 29, Cheney Cowles Museum is hosting “Treasures of Antiquity: Greek and Roman art from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.” This is definitely world-class stuff. And something homegrown: Murray’s Bookstore downtown is launching a local author’s newest book on the Internet, published in-progress, in an interactive venue. Readers all over the world will be able to influence this local work of art with their e-mail. As far as I know, this is an Internet first, all coming together right here in Spokane.

If we all support local arts, things will just get better. Mary Toulouse Spokane

Strikes me as a leak in logic

The Sept. 16 Periscope column included an item titled “Ducky.” This was regarding the duck pond at Lincoln Heights Garden and Terrace Apartments. The water from a spring deep in the earth had gushed forth, creating a creek ending in the duck pond.

I’ve lived here many years and the management in the 1970s told me about the water. It was clear and drinkable from the opening, and I used to pick watercress that grew along the sides at one time. The water department may be trying to cover some error made earlier. I don’t for a minute believe this huge gushing of water came from a leaky pipe all these years. Helen McKenzie Spokane

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Teacher study used wrong yardstick

The recent article, “Report: one in four teachers is unqualified” piqued my curiosity. It went on to say, “The report by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future says a quarter of the country’s classroom instructors either have not been trained as teachers or do not fully meet state licensing standards.”

One infers from the commission’s statement that teachers lacking in how-to-teach courses are unqualified.

I remind the commission that most college professors obtain Ph.D.s without ever taking a how-to-teach course and go on to become outstanding teachers. My most memorable teachers fit that category.

The essential requirements for teaching excellence are:

1. A teacher who genuinely likes working with kids and young people.

2. A teacher who possesses depth of knowledge of subject matter.

3. A teacher who is demanding, will not accept mediocrity and demonstrates a willingness to work at least as hard as he or she expects students to work.

It goes without saying that the ability to maintain a classroom atmosphere conducive to learning (discipline) supersedes all other requirements.

None of the mentioned requirements closely correlates to how to teach. A teaching certificate does not guarantee that the possessor is qualified to teach, any more than a high school diploma guarantees that the possessor can effectively read, write or calculate. Gene Sivertson Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Republican griping, sniping ironic

Republicans seem to think that we the people cannot figure things out for ourselves.

I am so mad about “old Bobbie’s” answer when asked what he thought about President Clinton sending troops to Iraq. His answer was, “Well, if we didn’t have such a leader as President Clinton being so weak, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Well, Bob Dole, your age must be affecting your memory. As I remember it, George Bush and Ronald Reagan had a chance to destroy Saddam Hussein in their time, so we wouldn’t have to spend our tax dollars going through this again. It should not be President Clinton’s problem to take care of. So don’t put the blame on the Democrats.

How about the Iran-Contra affair and the drug situation during the Republican years? Same thing; now the president is getting the blame. Shame on you.

What I would like to hear Dole answer is how he is going to pay for his tax cut. Look out, people. He doesn’t want to answer now because he knows no one will vote for him.

I would vote for 10 President Clinton’s before any Republican. Jean Layton Spokane

Democrats in catbird seat

It must be great to be a Democrat. In addition to the $62 million taxpayers fork over to President Clinton to spend on his campaign, Democrats have a windfall of $35 million put up by the AFL-CIO, to target “weak” Republicans up for re-election.

Think of it, folks: union members get to have their dues spent trying to unseat mean-spirited, starve-the-children, trash-the-environment types such as Rep. Helen Chenoweth. We read daily of more allegations of sinister, possibly illegal activities of Rep. Chenoweth - all dug up and paid for with union dues, without the consent of the payers.

Meanwhile, our dysfunctional president and first lady have the luxury of spending their entire bankroll on themselves, without worrying about siphoning-off dough to help beat “weak” Republican Congress members.

Great, ain’t it? The only problem is the Golden Rule: He who has the gold rules.

If the Democrats win back Congress and if Clinton is re-elected, it will be payback time. Could we dare to think that our new Democrat-controlled Congress and president just might possibly, at least in part, have been bought? Will a re-elected Clinton and a Democrat-controlled Congress be truly “of the people, for the people and by the people?” Pete Brittain Sandpoint

Don’t be fooled by Clinton twice

I wish to tell you how much I enjoy reading your newspaper, especially this year during our elections. Your unbiased reporting of both political spectrums is something we do not enjoy in our Tri-City Herald.

Recently, and not for the first time, I have read that the Democrats intend to tap everyone’s retirement funds some 10 percent to 15 percent. Now, if this is really legal, what is to stop them from tapping into our equity in our homes, businesses or savings accounts to finance their own social programs?

If Bill Clinton fools you (us) for the second time, we must consider ourselves stupid. Mrs. L.C. Koke Pasco

Do read and learn about Clinton

In response to A.M. Gardener’s suggestion to a Clinton critic that she “read and learn,” (Letters, Sept. 10) I’d like to ask, have you? Have you read any of the well-documented accounts of Bill Clinton’s rise to power, such as James Stewart’s “Blood Sport” or Roger Morris “Partners in Power”? I challenge anyone planning to vote for Clinton to read these books first. It is not just an issue of marital infidelity, although the trail of disrupted lives and pain he has left in the wake of his numerous affairs does say something about how he regards women, including his own wife and daughter. But it is much, much more than a sexual character flaw.

From lying about his arrangements concerning his draft status to a land deal where some people lost their life’s savings, to monumental invasion of privacy by illegally obtaining confidential FBI files, the critical issue is can we believe and trust this man? After really studying the issue, the answer to me is clearly no.

So, A.M. Gardener, take some of your own advice. Read and learn. Denise Graves Hayden Lake, Idaho

No solution without term limits

We are getting closer to election day. I feel the “Contract with America” was mostly rhetoric.

Possibly, we’re on the road to some budget improvement, but as far as downsizing our federal bureaucracy to the extent that a permanent solution is in sight, the answer is: It ain’t going to happen.

When you create these huge bureaucratic agencies, they only way to control the spending is to eliminate the agency. Most politicians don’t want to vote for these bureau cuts, as it will affect their own futures. This Catch-22 can only be solved with term limits.

With term limits in effect, the legislators’ decision will not be based on their own political future, but for the enhancement of the future of our nation and our grandchildren, as it should be. James A. Nelson Spokane

ILLICIT DRUGS

Locked into a senseless, no-win war

Many responsible physicians believe, on sound medical evidence, that cannabis is useful in the prevention of blindness from glaucoma and to suppress the nausea incident to chemotherapy. But if they say so, they’ll be sending a dangerous message to kids - or so say our politicians.

This politically and journalistically generated hysteria obscures the few solid facts we have about drugs and addiction.

The paramount fact is that, socially, the costliest problem drugs are nicotine and alcohol. Yet our politicians are soft on tobacco and alcohol while spending billions of dollars of our tax money yearly arresting American citizens for using marijuana. Most of them seem to doubt that nicotine and alcohol are addictive, and welcome huge campaign contributions from these industries.

The only proven counter strategy, as in the surgeon generals’ long and persistent campaigns against cigarettes, is truthful, patient education and medical treatment. Law enforcement tactics as a solution for social problems have proven time and again to be a failure.

The 18th Amendment era can hardly be ignored as an example of the social cost of Prohibition, which gave America bootlegging, mobsterism and mass civil disobedience, in addition to the eternal problem of alcohol abuse.

Our politicians merely refuse, as do many, to see the clear parallel between that “experiment, noble in purpose” and the war on drugs that we are losing.

Like Prohibition it also is a war against human folly and, as such, is lost from the start. Tom Hawkins Coulee Dam

Our attitudes, policies equally dumb

In your Sept. 10 report on the expectations of parents regarding their kids’ drug use, although the survey concerned marijuana, the accompanying graph used syringes. Let’s not confuse the issue.

Given the fact that most kids will experiment with drugs, it is positively ironic that the parents who did so themselves are acknowledging this reality while the parents who haven’t show that they can’t handle reality.

From the propaganda about drugs, you’d expect the reverse.

And that’s what’s wrong with DARE: it’s propaganda. The war on drugs fails to differentiate, as did the article, between kinds of drugs or use vs. abuse, and fails to acknowledge that the problem of a drug abuser isn’t the drug. That is why it is so totally ineffective.

After showing the abject failure of DARE in the increasing drug abuse statistics, the article makes the stunning suggestion that parents who used marijuana should make a moral choice to lie about it to their kids. Since when is lying moral? Parents who would do that only teach their kids that all adults are hypocrites - besides being both blind and stupid for hanging on to DARE despite the overwhelming evidence it’s not working.

No wonder they won’t take our advice. Jitske Hart Spokane