Letters To The Editor

VARIOUS TOPICS

Peace lost in arms market

For nearly 20 years, our county has been prohibited from selling advanced weapons to Latin America. With little publicity, President Clinton has recently reversed the ban imposed by President Carter in 1978.

As reported in the New York Times, we have for the first time in several years increased the sale of international arms. We now have the dubious distinction of being the world’s biggest weapon merchant, as the American share in the world market increased 23 percent last year to $11.3 billion in orders. By comparison, England ranked second with sales of $4.8 billion and Russia was third with $4.6 billion.

Sadly, the holiday season reminds us that our dreams of “peace on Earth” is just that - a dream!

Happy New Year. Pat D. Kilpatrick Post Falls

Don’t overdo aromas

Now that Christmas has come and the presents have been passed out, I hope those who received cologne, perfume, deodorant, after-shave, etc., will be considerate of those who have allergies and not put it on as heavy as usual.

If you saw someone with broken legs, would you kick him in the shin? If you saw someone on crutches, would you kick them out from under them? No, I’m sure you wouldn’t.

Well, when you overload on cologne, after-shave, perfume and deodorant, it brings on asthma attacks, sinus irritation and infections and allergic reactions that are serious. If you will be compassionate and take this into consideration, many of us will thank you.

I would like to thank WWP and KREM-2 for bringing our service men and women into our homes via the television to wish their families and us a happy holiday. Leta Donahoo Spokane

Double focus for education

In the January Atlantic Monthly, capitalist George Soros says that “markets reduce everything to commodities” and that “we can have a market economy but we cannot have a market society.”

Elsewhere people seem to agree: Stanford’s Business School and Harvard’s School of Government offer programs in social entrepreneurship and not-for-profit management. Yet our own local capitalists, while encouraging Spokane to embrace requisite social change and taxes for new infrastructure and increased population density, shouldn’t forget that the new “higher paying jobs” and new doctoral programs in “high tech” could leave Spokane’s current population comparatively worse off and less happy than it is now. The electorate knows this instinctively.

With the New Century Plan ranking education as its highest priority, and now with the potential for serious graduate programs, Spokane should not only court corporations developing tomorrow’s technological advances, but also focus on creating entrepreneurial ways of addressing current real problems. Progress is wonderful. But we shouldn’t let “the market” define it. Don Hornbeck Spokane

More investigation needed

In her letter concerning the actions taken against her over vehicle registration, Valdene Troyer notes that she documented going to her supervisor, Ellen Marsh, in 1994. Nothing was heard (“Points overlooked in clerks’ case,” Letters, Dec. 21).

This sounds like a typical case of governmental dynamic inaction. Only when it was to her supervisor’s benefit did they react. Shameful as usual.

If The Spokesman-Review reporter had a copy of that documentation and either chose not to use it in the article and decided against doing any investigative follow-up, then his irresponsibility is reprehensible. If it was the editor’s choice to drop any further investigation, then it is reprehensibly irresponsible.

In any case, the least that The Spokesman-Review owes is an apology to Troyer and the readers. H. Sid Fredrickson Coeur d’Alene

Sterk may be in for a surprise

I’m seldom surprised at the boners elected officers pull, but I was floored by the latest from that paragon of folksiness, Phil Harris. Is he trying to commit political suicide?

Imagine, a county commissioner acting to reduce the salary of the sheriff in an effort to discourage his candidacy for re-election! This was petty, but to suddenly “change his mind” when Sheriff Goldman announced he wouldn’t seek re-election was despicable. This places a stigma of dishonesty on the office of county commissioner that won’t soon be erased.

Dan Hansen’s reporting of the news was as biased as Harris’ action was dishonest. The inference one must draw from Hansen’s article is that Mark Sterk doesn’t have a viable candidate opposing him. This has been the case in past elections for Sterk, but I suspect he’s in for a surprise this time.

Lt. Jim Finke of the Sheriff’s Department will be more than a formidable candidate. He has almost a quarter century experience in the department he would head. He is a product of Spokane Valley, a graduate of University High School and currently lives close to the area where he grew up.

Finke is tall, powerfully built, but with a voice as gentle as a minister’s. It’s difficult to imagine him as a SWAT team leader and sniper before his promotion to leadership status within the Sheriff’s Department. There is much to know about this complex man and I am sure as the campaign develops we will all become aware there is no comparison between Finke and Sterk. Lois M. Meadows Opportunity

Now we need to work together

On Dec. 29, at 5:30 p.m., a new mayor, John J. Talbott, will be sworn in to serve Spokane for four years, through one of the most important times for the future of our great city and into the new millennium.

Mayor-elect Talbott and his lovely wife, Claudia, are sincere and fully committed to the entire city of Spokane and to the region. Talbott is a retired Air Force colonel and they both have been actively serving this community in various voluntary ways for years.

It is time to put aside the anger and rhetoric of the election, for all City Council members and citizens to put aside any past negative experiences and to move forward together to make decisions and do what is best for all our citizens and our city.

Getting off to a harmonious and optimistic beginning will make a big difference to Spokane’s future.

I hope many Spokane residents will be in the City Council Chambers on Monday to congratulate the new mayor and council members. Sheri S. Barnard Spokane