Letters To The Editor

ANIMALS

Sadistic way to make a living

I have a suggestion for Dave Honaker and his partner, Gay Balfour (Sept. 16). I’m sure a hose could be found just big enough to fit them both in. They could enter the hose and be sucked up by a huge vacuum. Then, if alive, we could record their sensations (i.e., terror, suffocation, shock, unconsciousness, bruises, injuries).

Also, could they furnish data concerning the fate of, say, 1,000 prairie dogs as follows: (a) number of deaths, (b) number of relocations, (c) number of those sold as pets, and (d) number of those sold as meat. And, please, notify us of the names and addresses of those who buy them for meat.

I hope the animal rights organizations investigate these guys. They qualify as sadists of the year. What a way to earn a living. Patricia C. Henton Spokane

Teach vegetarianism at home

The intent of my appearance at the two elementary schools was to counter those people from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and make a public comment that an ordinance should be in place to prevent these kinds of activities regardless of which side you are on (letters, Wendy Cox, Sept. 18).

Stay beyond a thousand feet of schools, similar to the prohibitions on guns, drugs and tobacco. People should be proud of the principals of these schools for not allowing PETA inside the schools. Its graphic displays of slaughterhouses and its other tactics don’t need to be presented to 6- and 8-year-olds.

The subject of vegetarianism should be taught at home or at least to children more capable of making these kinds of decisions.

My question is: Where were the other parents that should have an interest in these things? Roger Dudley Spokane

Build a litter box for ‘end result’

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) obviously has not been willing to visualize its radical agenda into the future - at least not as far as the end of its noses. How does it propose to prevent animals from eating? We all know what the “end result” of this is.

One possible answer: Have the PETA people shovel and spread this enormous “end result” over the millions and millions of acres of vegetables we will consume. Either that or build one enormous litter box. Betty Hanenburg Deer Lake, Wash.

Vegetarianism a personal choice

I am responding to Jim McClain’s “observation” that the woman from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was wearing leather sandals (letters, Sept. 18).

This is a typical response from vegetarian bashers who don’t have a clue what they are talking about. People choose vegetarianism for many reasons. Some choose it for environmental reasons or a healthier lifestyle. Ethics play a part in this decision usually, but not always.

Does McClain know for a fact that the woman was wearing leather shoes? Personally, I do not care. I just want him to realize that not all vegetarians are like the PETA people who traveled to several grade schools.

As a vegetarian, I am subject to rude comments about my choice. It is a personal choice that I do not push onto anyone. I am embarrassed by the PETA representatives who decided to tour the grade schools. I am disgusted by the man who followed them around with the moose steaks. These people are adults and should have acted accordingly.

When uneducated people realize that not all vegetarians are out to recruit others, it will be a happy day. Until that day, however, the silent majority of vegetarians will be subject to cruel comments and jokes. D. Lynn Brixey Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

War is never the answer

Again, I am appalled by recent occurrences in the Persian Gulf area. The cease-fire agreement has been broken there again, involving Iraq and America.

Having been oppressed under both Hitlerism and Stalinism, confirmed in Christ by the confessing church during the Nazi reign under most difficult circumstances, I am opposed to war as it is un-Christian. I have seen enough of it.

Christ, the only Savior, made no exceptions when he emphasized: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you.” If it is the will of God to suffer even under dictators, so be it. (See 1 Peter 3:17)

The Lord told us to take up our cross and follow (obey) him; otherwise we cannot be his disciples. Where is love, mercy and grace in war, which is slaughtering and mutilating men, women and children en masse? We are commanded to obey God rather than men if obeying men violates his holy order. Is God our “mighty fortress” or are our bombers? The weapons of a Christian are spiritual, not carnal: God’s word and prayer.

While speaking of war and peace, Gen. Douglas MacArthur said, “The problem, basically, is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character.” His thoughts on war at the end of his life are truly amazing. Wolfgang K. Paul Chewelah, Wash.

Brady law figures questionable

President Clinton recently claimed that because of the Brady law, 60,000 “felons, fugitives and stalkers” have lost their handguns. Funny thing that I don’t recall a single article in The Spokesman-Review describing how a gun has been confiscated from a thug or how anyone has gone to prison because of the Brady law.

How many convictions have resulted from the Brady law? Your readers may be amused to know that the Brady law’s first 15 months led to a total of seven people being convicted. Of those seven, only three were incarcerated, according to the General Accounting Office.

I’m not talking about Spokane County. This is three people from sea to shining sea.

What’s more, more than one-third of gun denials under the Brady law were paperwork snafus. Taking Clinton’s claim of 60,000 denials, it is easy to imagine that more than 20,000 law-abiding citizens were thus inconvenienced.

Only 44.7 percent of all denials were due to prior felony convictions. And of those, the overwhelming majority was for non-violent felonies and minor drug crimes.

Let’s put it in plain terms. The president, an admitted former marijuana smoker, might have been caught and convicted. That is largely a matter of luck. But in some jurisdictions, a marijuana conviction, even for a single joint, is grounds for denial under the Brady law.

It appears to me that Clinton’s 60,000 “felons, fugitives and stalkers” actually describes a great number of people like himself - that is, people whose indiscretion was no greater than the president’s admitted dalliance with marijuana. G.L. Nelson Colbert

Clinton an anti-Western president

The Democrats have created the term “mean-spirited” to describe Republican congressional efforts to reduce the load of taxation on all American taxpayers. After Clinton’s land grab of Sept. 18, Westerners need to redefine “mean-spirited” as a combination of the village mentality of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and the political agenda of an anti-Western president.

The prospect of family-supporting wages earned in the excavation of low-sulfur coal for electric power generation and the taxpaying of such production will be replaced by minimum wage/part-time tourist support jobs. Of course, the bureaucracy needed to administer the new national monument will require employment, but the source of the payroll will be tax dollars, not tax-producing revenues. Ranches that previously leased rangeland for beef/sheep producers now will be unavailable in the national monument and will eliminate that source of a local economy.

Once again, Clinton has sacrificed the jobs of hard-working miners, forest and agriculture workers for the votes of the elite users of the tax dollars and their special interests. David Otto Post Falls

Big business the real monkey

President Clinton seems to have hit upon a winning strategy in adopting the Republican view that the era of big government is over - winning for him but not for the American people. We Democrats who supported him eagerly in 1992 can only hope that the Republicans are right - that the president will say one thing to get elected but will act otherwise in his second term.

What our country needs are leaders who will identify the real monkey on the backs of American workers: not big government, but big business. It is big business that has caused the wholesale export of American jobs and the insidious transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class into the hands of the wealthy.

The Republicans may be the party of big business, but many Democrats have been as eager to kiss up to big businesses as any Republicans. The transfer of business financial support to the Republicans after the 1992 election should teach the Democrats a crucial lesson. Business is wise enough to recognize that both parties are willing to kiss up to it. Obviously, the Democrats only do it for the money.

If, in this campaign, the president stands up to all vested businesses as he has to the tobacco lobby, he will deserve our support. We then must demand that he and a Democratic Congress immediately will do two things: (1) spend the money to truly reform and protect all our nation’s children from poverty and despair and (2) enact campaign reform that at last ends the control of Congress by the bribes of big business. Robert M. Stevenson, Ph.D. Spokane

MEDIA

Ireland story just an irritant

Staff writer Tom Sowa’s recent article (“L.C.’s Ireland takes his cause to court,” sports, Sept. 13) about the fate of Joe Ireland, a student athlete at Lewis and Clark High, has created enormous heat but precious little light.

The role of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association as overseer of interscholastic athletics in this state has been debated for years and will continue to be so. The issue of eligibility is predictably volatile, particularly when it involves one’s own school or alma mater.

Pat Ireland’s suggestion that local politics played a part in this decision, Barry Ryan’s suggestion that Al Falkner’s presence violates WIAA regulations and Sowa’s comment about Falkner’s refusal to respond to phone calls from the newspaper are simply wrong.

Falkner is chairman of the Greater Spokane League eligibility committee, chosen by his fellow principals for reasons that have to do with his innate fairness. WIAA regulations clearly state only that committee members not vote on appeals concerning their own students. Neither Falkner nor any other committee member does so.

Sowa’s only message was called in late Thursday, when Falkner was not in his office. Sowa stated he “had a question for Falkner,” never mentioning Ireland or the article he was planning for the next day. What better way to avoid the truth than to seek out the facts after the 11th hour and claim the source did not respond?

In the midst of debate about the need to attend to the renewal of education, the community is not served by such nonsense. John Traynor, president Gonzaga Prep

Editor’s note: In his story, Tom Sowa wrote that Al Falkner did not respond to calls, not that Falkner refused to respond. Sowa first heard about the case at midmorning and called Faulkner at 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. that day. Sowa also left a recorded message.

Rapper’s murder almost ignored

My friends and I are upset regarding the minuscule coverage by the media of rapper Tupac Shakur’s death. When someone with low self-esteem such as Kurt Cobain gets media attention, front-page exposure, etc., for months after killing himself, then it is insane when a proud man of the same, if not higher, celebrity status, such as Tupac, receives little to no coverage after being brutally murdered.

Tupac was an idol to many teens such as myself. For a man who has done so much for the music industry, communities and people in general, he sure did not receive the respect he deserved in his passing. Tupac was real; he did not talk about unrealistic situations, as many rappers do, but told the truth about ghetto life, drugs and death.

Although many people will let his death go by unnoticed, my friends and I would just like to thank Tupac for giving us something real and truthful to listen to. Tupac will never be forgotten by us. We noticed, and we won’t forget. Thanks, 2PAC! Zeke Fogal Cheney

Philosophy of news is to be nice

Editor Chris Peck wrote a column some time ago stating that The Spokesman-Review would be a kinder, gentler newspaper this election. I believe it is.

Oh sure, the political articles still present the Republican Party or its candidates as holding half-filled plastic cups and the Democrats and their politicians with overflowing cups of gold, when in reality they’re one-third full of sugared vinegar.

And yes, Ron Taber, who is running for state superintendent of schools, is an “ultraconservative landlord,” while Terry Bergeson is presented as the lovable past president of the teachers union. It doesn’t matter that the teachers union is the most ultra and totalitarian of anything now in politics. And “landlord” - doesn’t it just bring up images of Charles Dickens?

But forget that - the news is nicer. There is now a philosophy: If you can’t write anything nice, don’t write anything.

Sometimes I forget who I’m going to vote for, but I know it isn’t President Clinton. Could you print the other guy’s name so I’ll remember? My sister, who lives in Tacoma and works long hours and seldom follows the news, keeps calling him “Doil,” as in “oil.” Is that correct? Jim Allen Spokane

Dan McKelvey a true friend

Regarding Doug Clark’s column, “Fall from horse imprisons active attorney” (Sept. 15):

Clark left out the most important part of Dan McKelvey: his caring and compassion for all the people he’s helped over the years.

This is the side of Dan McKelvey that we know because of the way he has helped our son. He always had time for us and became a trustee of our son’s trust account, not for pay but because he wanted to.

When Dan first saw our son walk with a walker, he knelt down and hugged him and cried tears of joy. When our son asked him to come over to videotape his new house with a ramp in front, he spent an hour with all the patience in the world, listening to two kids sing and give him a tour of the house.

Those of us who regard him as a friend feel fortunate to have him as one. If we could help him half as much as we would like to or half as much as he’s helped us, he would be here now.

Dan McKelvey was proud of what he’d accomplished and of what he had, but that did not make up the man. We don’t care about his sports cars or his trophies because in the end, it’s him that we miss. We all pray every day that he will have the strength and determination to beat this. His many “kids” miss him as we all do.

Hurry back, Danny - we have a video to watch. Sandi Paquet Mead

OTHER TOPICS

Verbal violence intolerable

Violence marred the Women at Heart gathering at the Met on Sept. 16. Host Dr. Katherine Tuttle, medical director of the Heart Institute of Spokane, concluded the evening with an act of verbal violence.

Earlier presentations encouraged women to mentor one another and spoke of society undervaluing women as a cause of depression. Tuttle then ruined the spirit of the evening when she ignored and dismissed a woman’s question during the open-mike period. The woman, not satisfied with the answer, rephrased her question. At that point, Tuttle ignored and dismissed her with a curt statement. She declared the question period closed.

The audience audibly gasped at this display of violence. An uncomfortable silence fell upon the Met.

Women continue to abhor the violence perpetrated against women in our society by men. Yet, as long as women continue to exercise prejudice against themselves through violence in attitudes, assumptions, speech and actions, we are doomed.

What happened was not only a gender issue. It also was a violation of the inherent dignity of a human being. I encourage every woman and man witness to this act of violence to contact Katherine Tuttle and the Heart Institute to express your anger, disgust and sorrow. This cannot happen again. Jamie A. Rogers Spokane

Pervert or scientist?

It used to be that if you spied on people in washrooms, they called you a pervert (“Did you remember to wash?” Sept. 17). Now, they call you a research scientist. Kenn Freeman Spokane