Letters To The Editor

HUMANE SOCIETY

Is the board thinking of the animals

The Humane Society board lacked total compassion in their actions when firing Sue Canterbury, so it’s obvious there’s no compassion left for the animals, as the result of this has caused employee resignations.

I was thrilled to read the many letters in the paper expanding on the unfair decisions, without even an explanation, by the members of this heartless board.

Now who will do the dirty work of euthanasia? I suggest board members take turns while the others are forced to watch. Maybe it wouldn’t bother any of them to kill a struggling, terrified animal. They are protected in their immunities of compassion.

My prayers are with the animals, especially those who are suffering, hunted, lost and abandoned. They need our prayers, mercy and pity. Those who tend the suffering animals need a gentle hand, kind words, mercy, pity and a heart of compassion.

Employees need the foregoing as the board of directors are totally unqualified. Mary E. Cosentini Spokane

Humane Society needs your support

As you celebrate this holiday season, give a thought to the pet that you dumped at the Humane Society because it became an inconvenience. Also remember that, without your support, the Humane Society won’t be there for the next pet you want to dump. Louise Long Spokane

EDUCATION

It’s time to shift our focus

Sen. Jim West deserves our applause for starting the dialogue that may eventually lead to an educational capability that will likely play a huge part in the brain-driven growth industry of the 21st century.

Spokane, with its low-average wage, has long suffered from the lack of technological-based education facilities with research capabilities. We are being left behind! Sen.

West’s proposal is a good first step in closing the gap to a just wage.

West realizes that without these facilities, Spokane goes unarmed into the new millennium.

As taxpayers, we invest millions of dollars in education and we are not getting what our community needs. SIRTI is struggling and will not flower without Washington State University’s full weight behind it.

It’s time to have Spokane’s leaders break the fixation on bridges, movie screens and retail development with our HUD money and start a high-tech, job-based, education-based redevelopment plan for the downtown corridor. High-paying jobs are where it’s at.

Good job, Sen. West. Thanks for providing the leadership we need. John M. Stone Spokane

How about a EWU-UW merger?

Since we seem to be considering Spokane higher education solutions before clearly identifying the problems, let me offer a different observation.

If, in fact, the students (all ages) in the Spokane area need the benefits of a research university to offer the diverse curriculum to supplement Eastern Washington University’s existing programs, wouldn’t it make sense to figure out a way to link up with the University of Washington?

UW is the No. 1 research university in Washington. If Washington State University in Pullman can operate a branch campus in far away Vancouver, certainly UW should be able to be effectively involved in a branch campus system in Cheney and Spokane. UW currently operates branch campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Why should we limit our thinking to an EWU-WSU merger as the only solution?

Maybe there is a role for the University of Washington to play that would better suit the needs of EWU and Spokane-based students. It certainly should be thoroughly investigated, as we examine the problems of higher education in the Spokane area. David A. Clack Spokane

EWU must deal with change

I graduated from Eastern Washington University and still live in the community. As far as I know, I got a good education and I hope the school survives on it’s own. Sometimes I wonder, however, if it wants to.

EWU has had five presidents in the past dozen years. It can’t decide whether it wants to be in Cheney or Spokane. At one point, it even moved its presidential palace to Spokane. The only consistency in its management or philosophy seems to be the belief that football is more important than academics.

Now Sen. James West has suggested a merger with Washington State University, and the EWU Board of Trustees’ response is to throw a self-righteous hissy fit, including at least one academically correct obscenity.

It’s been said that in times of change, experience can be our worst enemy. I don’t know what the future of higher education will be. Maybe we should combine all of the state universities into one system. Perhaps the traditional college campus is outdated and should be decentralized or abolished. Perhaps we should farm more of our education out to private industry. I don’t know. All I know is that the traditions and experiences of the past are rapidly becoming irrelevant to the future that works.

If EWU is to survive as a relevant institution, it has to change. It cannot do so when the board listens to the winds of change with its hands over its ears. L. Jim Shamp Cheney

OTHER TOPICS

Diversity missing at concert

My wife and I attended the annual Christmas concert of the Spokane Symphony and Chorale. As longtime supporters of the symphony, we were treated to what we thought was the best program ever. The theme was well done, the singing and orchestral numbers were outstanding and the various movements of the groups were unobtrusive. It flowed!

As I sat there enthralled, something began to bother me. I was at a loss to identify it until I realized that the only persons of color present on the stage with this multitude were the conductor of the symphony and a young singer of Oriental extraction in the Children’s Chorus.

I find it hard to believe that in a city of this size there are not more African American, Hispanic or Oriental adults or children who can qualify to sing in these choral groups. William P. Marineau Spokane

Put the surplus money to work

Taxes, taxes, taxes. It seems like every time the government wants something and doesn’t have the funds, it raises a tax.

Gov. Gary Locke wants an 11-cent gas tax hike for additional funds for road work. The unbelievable part is the state has an $865 million budget surplus, and our great governor still wants to raise taxes. Why don’t they use some of the surplus money on road projects? I wouldn’t mind. Glenn A. Herman Moses Lake

Murray helps modernize FDA

It is fashionable today for political pundits to put down virtually everything Congress does. While certain criticism has been deserved, people back home need to know about the good things that individual members of Congress accomplish for their constituents.

Recently, Sen. Patty Murray worked very effectively and voted for the FDA Modernization Act of 1997, legislation which modernizes the drug approval process at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and reauthorizes a very unique public and private cooperation between the biotechnology industry and the government which benefits medical research and patients, and saves taxpayers money.

The next generation of new medicines for cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and many other deadly and debilitating conditions are being developed for patients by biotechnology companies in Washington and elsewhere around the United States. But the cutting-edge technology that biotech researchers use changes continuously. Long outdated FDA regulations needed to be streamlined so that cures and therapies could come to the market as soon and as safely as possible. As noted above, FDA legislation also allows biotechnology research companies to contribute millions of dollars directly to the government through “user fees” (instead of your tax dollars) to help pay for accelerated and improved review of new drugs.

People suffering from a wide array and variety of diseases and conditions are the big winners here. Perhaps you know of someone personally who will benefit.

Sen. Murray is a leader in seeing this legislation through passage and final enactment. She deserves credit and congratulations for this accomplishment. Carl B. Feldbaum, president Biotechnology Industry Organization, Washington, D.C.

Luxury at whose expense?

Please tell me it was a misprint! The Spokesman-Review reported last Sunday that Coach Mike Price, while in Southern California getting ready for the glory of Rose Bowl, is staying in a hotel suite costing $2,500 per night. That’s $2,500 a night from Dec. 20 through Jan. 1 - 12 nights, $30,000.

Granted, the room has its own kitchen and a baby grand piano, but for $2,500 I hope it also has a butler, chef and concert pianist - maybe even a private recital from the Three Tenors.

I don’t understand college football finance. Maybe someone could enlighten me about who pays for this sort of extravagance. Whoever it is should consider that $2,500 would a go a long way on campus. I know departments where the faculty must provide their own staplers and tape dispensers. I know a department that rations whiteboard markers and has run out of photocopying funds so that instructors spend their own money to provide class handouts. I know students working full-time while carrying full-time class loads who would appreciate a small scholarship. One night’s lodging in that hotel suite would pay tuition and books for a student for one semester.

I don’t begrudge Coach Price his day in the limelight, but $2,500 for a room to sleep and shower in? Say it isn’t so! Kay A. McAuley Pullman