Letters To The Editor

Mon., Aug. 18, 1997

WASHINGTON STATE

Don’t believe caricature of I-676

Curtis E. Stone (Letters, Aug. 13) offers his customary bogeymam to frighten us about Initiative 676. He quotes a group called Citizens Against Regulatory Excess, a group offering claims (one of which begins with the word “possibly,” indicating their clear ignorance of I-676) to voters too lazy or disinterested to read I-676 for themselves. Notice that Stone apparently has never read it either?

What is the obvious outrage, however, is Stone’s attempt to dehumanize the child victims of gun accidents. Let him tell the parents of one of these victims that their child’s death doesn’t matter because other children die from drowning. He has the right to feel that way about his own children but not about anybody else’s.

The Spokesman-Review has made the text of I-676 available on the Internet. Any voter can read it for himself at any public library. Edward B. Keeley Spokane

Rescheduling elections a good idea

Thank you, Opinion editor John Webster, for your very logical suggestion to move elections in the state of Washington to the spring, when people have more time to research candidates and issues, and to make considered judgments on who should lead us in government. Wells J. Longshore Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Fire emergency handled well

The police and firefighters of Spokane are to be congratulated for their efforts to contain the wildfire on Aug 14. They responded quickly and effectively.

I would especially like to note the efforts the police made with traffic control. The last time there was a major fire in Riverside Park, the whole neighborhood around Northwest Terrace and Westgate Village was a mass of gridlock caused by seemingly thousands of sightseers. It was impossible for those who had homes and families in the area to get home, and to evacuate when needed.

This time, strategic roadblocks were set up and only those who lived in the area were let in.

When I made it home about 5 p.m., traffic in the area was minimal and emergency vehicles were having no trouble getting in and out. There was obviously some very good planning to handle this situation and the plan worked.

Thank you, Spokane police and firefighters. Bernie J. Armstrong Spokane

Airgun clearance still our goal

Spokane County commissioners narrowly rejected a proposal to eliminate the current prohibition of airgun discharge within the no-shoot zones by adults or youths under direct adult supervision. The rejection came in spite of a unanimous recommendation for approval by the Shooting Zone Committee, made up of citizens, county staff and sheriff’s office representatives.

It is unfortunate that only Commissioner Phil Harris understood the distinction between the safe shooting of airguns, which should be legal, and “shooting the neighbor’s cat,” which has always and will always be illegal.

We are grateful to Harris for his support of the county ordinance revision, and to the Spokane city attorney’s office for its clarification of the legality of safe airgun discharge within its jurisdiction. The shooting committee will continue to seek a revision to the county ordinance that will recognize the difference between safe airgun shooting and the exceedingly rare criminal use of airguns. John J. Powell Spokane

GRASS FIELD BURNING

Give hard-working farmers their due

Re: the Aug. 14 letter on grass field burning by Francis L. Mutton, “Beware of growers bearing gifts.”

Applaud the grass farmers. Without the bluegrass, where would you be? No golf course, no lawns, no parks for your children to play in. Would you rather have five hours of smoke, or 500 hours of dust?

Look at the water quality; it’s pure and clean, naturally purified by the bluegrass. Without the bluegrass, you would have muddy streams, muddy ponds and muddy lakes to swim in with your kids. With the bluegrass you have clean water, clean air and less erosion.

Give the farmers a break. They are trying to make an honest living. If they can’t make an honest living, why farm? Let them grow their bluegrass. They are trying their darnedest to find an alternative to burning. Give them time. With time there will come an alternative and everybody will be happy in the long run. John C. Moore Spokane

Burning preceded story about start-up

Re: “County farmers not ready to torch fields,” Aug. 13. Before those kinds of articles are published, somebody needs to be sure of their facts.

If county farmers are not ready to torch their fields yet, maybe somebody can explain to me why there is an approximately 100-acre field on the north side of Elder Road, definitely in southeastern Spokane County, that has been burned. It was burned prior to Tuesday because there was no fresh ash blowing around when I rode by it Tuesday afternoon on my motorcycle. It definitely was not a fresh burn.

Spokane County farmers have been burning already this year, regardless of what information was provided to the newspaper. Donald D. Jones Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Comment on Columbia Basin plan

As taxpaying owners of the public lands in America, people should know they have a chance, right now, to comment on a very bad federal plan that will affect more than 75 million acres of public lands in the Columbia Basin.

The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project was supposed to recommend ways to better manage our public land, control noxious weeds, protect salmon streams, save ancient forests and backcountry wildlands. Ancient forests are vital wildlife habitat, but the plan calls for less protection than we have now. In fact, it proposes to double current logging levels.

Roadless areas are critical for native fish and our water resources. But the plan does not protect the last remaining roadless areas from new road construction or commercial logging. This pitiful plan even allows commercial logging next to salmon streams and on steep slopes where washouts will occur next snow melt, bringing floods and sediment to those streams.

The Forest Service says grazing has left our public rangelands in “abysmal” shape, with 80 percent of it in the Northwest rated as “low ecological integrity,” yet the Columbia Basin Plan offers no relief at all for even the most badly damaged lands.

Please write to the Forest Service at ICBEMP EIS Team, P.O. Box 2076, Walla Walla, Wash., 99362, and tell them you want better management of your public lands. Jane E. Cunningham Spokane

See to needs of the environment

Congratulations to those who worked to protect steelhead trout. We must now reduce the hardships of families connected economically to this issue.

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt’s opinion that listing the fish as endangered was unnecessary is wrong. Let’s not forget that the federal government did not make this move alone, but at the request of millions of Americans who decided to take part in this country’s public process. These people believe that endangered species deserve emergency measures.

Sportsmen seem to feel it’s time the federal government regulated operation of dams. The first dams in this country were built despite protests by citizens and scientists. Time has proven the protesters correct. Dams destroy fish and the natural processes of rivers. We need to alter their use, save rivers and fish now, and in the future wean ourselves of them and their incredible hidden costs. Adopting wiser, more natural construction practices and alternative energy systems such as wind and solar will easily allow us all the benefits of hydropower and more.

Listing the fish, showing the compassion to save it, is one of the many decisions facing humans now and in the future, as we try to decide what it is we want and need, and what effect we’ll have across the Earth.

We are here as fellow citizens with strong powers. What type of citizens shall we be? Patrick M. Murphy Elk

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Valedictorians, be justly proud

As a Washington taxpayer I must respond to Bruce Fatz’s Your Turn column of July 30 concerning the inflated number of valedictorians at Ferris High School. I commend this young man for choosing academics over athletics. He will never regret that decision.

Taxpayers are not providing the largest share of taxes to promote elitism. We hope that all will excel as well as you have. That is a credit to your parents, your gift of intelligence and your commitment to learning. You will never regret that achievement.

You probably rarely mention your award as you grow older, except on job applications. The employer will be impressed and highly interested in an individual with your resolve. Every day of your life, you will receive dividends on your investment.

There would be far fewer problems in this world if all students would take advantage of their opportunity for education as well as you 16 valedictorians have. Consider yourselves the all-star team of Ferris High. You will probably all be winners throughout your lives. Allen LeTourneau Spokane

Schools subvert Christian religion

Truths expressed by Jeanette Faulkner (Aug. 10 guest column) were stated well, but another issue regarding government education needs to be addressed.

The idea of religious neutrality in education is a myth. All education is inherently religious. It’s not a matter of whether a religious world view is going to be taught in a classroom, it’s simply a matter of which view will be taught.

As a teacher instructs in history, social sciences, etc., the teacher’s own world view will interpret the data. Students, in turn, take on that world view. It is unavoidable.

The religious world view held at the altars of government education is secular humanism. Secular humanism presupposes, contrary to Christianity, that God is merely a convention of men and is therefore irrelevant. Holding to this view necessitates that all other views are invalid. True, you won’t find a class titled secular humanism in any grade school, but it is found in the presuppositional underpinnings in how data are interpreted in every discipline.

If we are to demand that the government has no place in the religious instruction of our children, as we should, then we need to demand that government has no place in the education of our children. If we are to demand the separation of church and state, as we should, then we need to demand that the government’s religious education of our children cease immediately. Dale R. LaVoie Spokane

What about students of Asian descent?

After reading the article concerning minority kids still being behind in school, I’m confused. When referring to ethnic minority people in the United States, this would include all except for the majority Caucasians. Yet, contradictory to the headline, it was stated Asian students scored not equal to, but higher than, Caucasians.

Perhaps the racially motivated headline wasn’t correct.

This strikes me as a deliberate attempt to further divide people along racial lines. It suggests the vast cultural and lifestyle differences among the races is the major cause of academic inequities. Blanketing every ethnic student with the minority label is not only wrong concerning Asians in our community, it insinuates divisiveness and negativity when appraising and accepting, as we all must, the different cultural and lifestyle choices ethnic groups choose to live by. Michael B. Harmon Spokane

Dynamic teacher deserves only praise

Re: Lynn Stuter Aug. 19 letter, “We need teachers, not social engineers.”

Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. How many of those result in single parents trying to support their child or children on one income?

Stuter implies the writer of a previous letter, Katy McBride, is a social engineer of sorts. Well, Stuter, many educators have had to become social engineers to help many of the students learn to survive their home environment.

Teaching the whole child is a wonderful alternative to education. Rote memorization is on its way out. We do need children who know how to think critically. If we continue with many of these old school curriculums, we’re not going to get them.

McBride is a very articulate, self-assured person who has kept herself abreast of what is happening in our educational future by furthering her own education. You can have a teacher who teaches to the standardized test, to make themselves look good, or you can have a teacher who chooses to really teach their students. I prefer the latter.

Not every parent can afford to stay home and home school, so I am very pleased to have an educator who realizes this and takes it on herself to help fill in the gaps for parents.

Keep up the wonderful work, McBride. You have become a most excellent person, one with the gift of wanting to share your education with others. Kathleen B. Hill Spokane

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