Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Keep ‘Great Divide’ insights coming
Your series, “The Great Divide,” has been most informative, a true service to the community and worth my annual subscription to The Spokesman-Review. I’m sorry that it can be only four parts.
Perhaps in other ways, please continue to help us understand better what we need to do to make the city and area even better. We must push ahead and try not to be discouraged by obstructionists, naysayers and the nearsighted. R. Bruce Bray Spokane
Get past obsession with Seattle
The “Great divide” series of articles has two problems.
The first is its slapstick approach. Why, I wonder, would you ever have put an overly lengthy, Slice-type column combined with silly cartoons in the Sunday newspaper? The very issue most people read was the least informative and the most ridiculous.
It would’ve been far better to change the Sunday to Monday and vice versa. Or better yet, leave Sunday’s installment out completely, since it served absolutely no good purpose except as an embarrassment to Spokane.
The second problem is the assertion that Spokane can’t compete with Seattle. What difference does it make? Why should it? They are two different places. Does Ritzville compete with Spokane? Does Yakima? Does Kansas City?
Spokane needs to be Spokane, notwithstanding the negative element who would still have the elevated railroad tracks and no Riverfront Park.
I applaud the progressive efforts of Downtown Spokane Partnership and the Economic Development Council. I want to see Spokane attract larger businesses, build a north-south freeway and develop the downtown and grow. But for God’s sake, stop worrying about Seattle. Allison H. Douthitt Spokane
It’s better here than many realize
I am a college student. Since no schools in Washington state offered my major, I went out of state for my education.
The East Coast is now my home for much of the year. It is a completely different atmosphere and the dynamics of a large city are unlike that of any city here in Washington.
As much as Seattle would like to be bumped up to major metropolitan city status, it’s just too nice for that to happen any time soon. For one thing, people are way too friendly. Here in Washington, people will still let a car into their lane without getting too hostile - something that is unheard of on the roadways back East.
Seattle has art, a claim to fame; and Pike Place Market, all of which attract tourists who come to see and experience the art, taste the coffee and witness what goes on at the Market.
Philadelphia has South Street, which is its desperate attempt at a mock Pike Place Market. Seattle doesn’t have a subway system. Good! Public transportation, as my only means of getting around, used to be fun. But the smell of urine in the stairwells leading down to the subway got old very quickly.
Bus fare is insanely cheap in Spokane and not much worse in Seattle, compared to what Philadelphians pay for two tokens to ride the subway and buses.
It would be nice if people would take pride in where they live, whether it be in Spokane, Seattle or any other city in Washington. A positive attitude can only help Spokane’s image, which is something people on the West Side are not seeing. K.R. Krebs Spokane
Group seeks clean, open, healthy lake
The Liberty Lake Property Owner’s Association (LLPOA) has come under attack in The SpokesmanReview (Rich Landers’ column, July 24). Plans to redevelop the public access facility was the catalyst for this attack.
According to Landers, some lakefront property owners want to “close the only public boat ramp on Liberty Lake.” He then refers to past actions of the LLPOA, implying that we support such a position.
We do not support closing public access to Liberty Lake. We support improving access.
The LLPOA focuses on issues related to lake water quality. The LLPOA was instrumental in forming the Liberty Lake Sewer District and the restoration of Liberty Lake in the 1970’s. Likewise, we have opposed actions, such as use of the chemical rotenone, which threaten our water quality.
Rotenone kills fish as it “rehabilitates” lakes for singlespecies fishing. The dead fish represent a large nutrient load on the lake, which propagates algae blooms. Landers says that it is used “with no serious water quality consequences elsewhere.” The problem is that Liberty Lake is shallow and very fragile.
According to Dr.William Funk of Washington State University, who has studied the lake for over 30 years, using rotenone there in the lake’s current state (similar to how it was in 1984) would be disastrous. Let’s not forget the ‘70s, when no one swam in Liberty Lake because of the two inches of surface scum.
We think we are acting in the interest of all people who enjoy the lake. Lance C. Whitney, M.D., president Liberty Lake Property Owners Association
BUSINESS AND LABOR
Everyone deserves a fairer deal
It was unbearable to read your July 12 article about more than 80 Darigold employees, most of them Teamsters, who’ve lost their jobs in the merger with Broadview Dairy. These people should be guaranteed jobs, not required to reapply.
As a Teamster for over 15 years, I feel passionately that working people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not as disposables in the name of profit. People in the beautiful state of Washington, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting there, deserve justice. It is hideous to fire human beings, put them out to pasture after they have worked hard for these companies, and to brutally disregard the realities of feeding families and paying rent.
I want the people of Spokane to know what I am so grateful to have learned about the economy from Eli Siegel, the great American poet and economist who founded the discipline of aesthetic realism in 1941.
Siegel explained that economics based on private ownership of America’s wealth is contempt: “The addition to self through the lessening of something else.” And in 1970, he alone among all economists saw that profit economics has failed in America because its unethical basis no longer works. In the book, “Goodbye Profit System: Update,” Siegel explained, “There will be no economic recovery in the world until economics itself, the making of money, the having of jobs become ethical, is based on good will rather than the ill will which has been predominant for centuries.”
Every person in America deserves a decent job and economics based on good will. David M. Bernstein New York, N.Y.
Exploitation a disservice to all
Family values. I’m just a little confused as to what that really means. Given all the hubbub surrounding theUnited Parcel Service strike, maybe this would be a good time to ask.
How is a parent supposed to support a family on parttime wages? I guess they could work two, three or even four jobs to make ends meet. The cost of living prohibits any other action, apart from welfare.
On the other hand, how is that same parent supposed to spend quality time with his or her children, especially when working two, three or four jobs to provide housing and food?
A UPS representative has boasted that some of the corporation’s part-time workers make as much as $16,000 per year. Well, one can make up to $15,000 per year and still qualify for earned income credit. The IRS feels that $15,000 (not a big stretch to $16,000) should be considered as very low-end earnings. Maybe even poverty.
I’m all for welfare reform; its legacy has been one that sets people up for dependency and denies them the dignity of purpose. However, either a community will support its citizens with gainful employment or it will support them with subsidies. There simply is no other choice, except maybe to turn them out onto the streets.
Not only does welfare need to be reformed but private sector employment practices need reformation, too.
I would start with employment. There is no striving for excellence when then is no security for doing so. K.L. VanDyke Coeur d’Alene
ABORTION
Effective contraception is key
Re: Jerry Malone’s Aug. 5 letter, “Abortion the real terrorism.”
Demeaning a man’s character instead of responding to his argument (argument ad hominem) is illogical.
John W. Nugent, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman counties, knows that the organization’s mission is to promote safe, affordable and effective birth control methods, along with age-appropriate education in their use for both males and females who request them.
Family planning is crucial worldwide. Can we focus on prevention rather than abortion? We should urge governments to support global researchers in the development and distribution of fail-safe contraceptive materials. With the availability of such materials and education in their correct use, abortions could be reduced to a minimum.
Isn’t this what the world needs? Joyce M. Paris Spokane
Personhood starts with conception
John W. Nugent is correct in his opposition to “acts of violence in the name of God” (“Conviction stands for something,” July 29). He is wrong about so-called “personhood” being a religious belief.
Life begins at conception. That is a well-established medical fact. If his mother had deliberately done anything to prevent his birth after his conception, he would not be here. He would have been eliminated, disposed of, murdered. Aborted.
Abortion and prostitution are both immoral, but abortion is much more immoral than prostitution. The hypocrisy of society regarding pro-choice prostitutes is appalling. If a woman exercises pro-choice to be a prostitute, she is looked down upon. A brothel is illegal and considered abominable, disgraceful. Not to be tolerated. But the abortion clinics where infants are murdered is allowed.
Both are gravely immoral cancers on our national life. Both should be illegal. F.T. Westmeyer Coeur d’Alene
Abortion prevention not the goal
John Nugent’s letter (July 29) confuses us on two points.
If it was ever determined that the convicted bombers bombed Planned Parenthood because of their religious beliefs, we missed it. We don’t read the paper every day, so that’s possible. We do know that Planned Parenthood would leave no stone unturned to portray anyone harming it as religious fanatics.
The second point we are confused about is Nugent’s statement that “no organization works harder to prevent abortions than Planned Parenthood.” In 1994, Planned Parenthood performed 133,280 abortions in its own clinics and referred out 98,325 to other abortionists.
Planned Parenthood, since the beginning of the proabortion effort, has been at the forefront of those challenging in the courts every major piece of pro-life legislation. It was the primary litigant in the 1973 cases that established abortion on demand.
Since then it has challenged laws that would give women’s husbands or parents of minors the right to be notified or give consent before an abortion is performed.
It has challenged laws that would prohibit public money from being used to pay for abortions; laws to regulate where second-trimester abortions can be performed. It has challenged laws that would make specific information available as a part of a woman’s right to give informed consent to an abortion.
Does this sound like Planned Parenthood is working hard to prevent abortion? Walt and Velda Weid Spokane
OTHER TOPICS
Brennan saw Americans in broad scope
In response to Opinion writer D.F. Oliveria’s editorial of Aug. 1, “Activist architect of so much wrong”:
I wonder how these social ills have ruined your life? Do they impede your ability to live life freely as an American citizen? Or, do they merely reduce the amount of control you have over society? Write about your personal experience of social ills. Write about your experience as an American citizen denied access to any public institution because of your skin color and/or your gender. Write about the experience of being a woman who, regardless of circumstances, is denied control of her own body and life. Write about being a non-Christian American citizen forced to worship a god and study a religion that isn’t yours. Write about your experience as an American citizen denied the right to speak freely against your government.
The world is larger than your office and Spokane. The year is 1997 and our Founding Fathers are dead. The women from that era are dead, too. These people forged America. If you wish to keep the interpretation of this document and all others historic, then you must concede, for instance, that most of Washington is a land whose privileges reside with the American Indians who inhabited this area millennia longer than you and the dead Founding Fathers. The world, time and humans are dynamic; change is inevitable.
Justice William Brennan’s ability to recognize this inherent dynamism was his genius. So was his recognition of America as a nation composed of people similar and dissimilar to himself in cultural heritage, language, behavior and morality, and to interpret historical documents of awesome magnitude with relevance to a modern America. L.M. Roby Spokane
Apple computers get no respect
Again, you’ve demonstrated a complete lack of impartiality when it comes to computers. Either that, or complete ignorance of the personal computer market.
First you print a silly article about a joke poll that a Macintosh magazine held as to who should be the new Apple CEO, then you publish a serious article about how a few Pentium computers are now being sold for “under $1,000” (i.e.: $999, before additions such a monitor).
It may come as a surprise to you to learn that for the past seven months, several Mac clones were selling for under $1,000, and recently under $880, with keyboards, 1 gigabyte hard drives, 16 megabytes of ram and full video sound multimedia capabilities. They’re ready for full Internet use right out of the box. These Macs are faster, more reliable, more flexible and cheaper than the Pentium PCs.
To read The Spokesman-Review, Macs only exist for cute little humor stories. Why not just admit you’re incapable of objective computer reporting? Paul A. Lenoue Spokane
Don’t settle for just a relationship
The word “love” has gone out of style. It has been replaced with the word “relationship.” The phrases “I’m in a relationship” or “I’m having a relationship” are the ones used these days. I’m not surprised that divorce, separation and couples living together without benefit of marriage has been the norm.
Why isn’t the word “love” used more often? Love means commitment. When you say I love you to someone, it means you will be there for better or worse. It means you will daily give of yourself. It means you are not afraid of the commitment of marriage. Love is what holds marriages, not relationships, together.
A relationship is that laid back, uncommitted feeling that, “Oh well, if this one doesn’t work out there will always be another, and another, etc.” The bonding of a couple never is complete if the word “relationship” is used instead of “love.”
Love personifies family, companionship and a commitment that will last a lifetime.
Next time you find yourself involved with the opposite sex, try using the word “love” in place of “relationship.” You may find yourself building a stronger foundation as a couple than any of your past experiences. The results will be more gratifying to you and your partner. The word “relationship” will never hold the true promise of love. James A. Nelson Spokane
Letter was by another Ripple
It appears your policy of adequately identifying the writer of letters to the editor can still be misleading.
I did not write the article on suicide by E.L. Ripple (Letters, July 30). Edmund J. Ripple Spokane