Letters To The Editor

ORGANIZATIONS

Despite media, NRA hale and hardy

“Once powerful NRA losing members, influence” (News, Jan. 30, was inaccurate and slanderous.

The media gleefully report the alleged decline of the National Rifle Association and its “defeats” during recent elections.

Actually, a pro-gun majority who voted to repeal the Clinton gun ban and ran for re-election were victorious. Despite the millions spent to defeat them, 84 percent of NRA-endorsed candidates won state and local elections.

It’s despicable to assert that the NRA is hospitable to anti-government militia groups. Scores of NRA members are law enforcement officers and military personnel. All are opposed to extremism from any source. It would be equally ludicrous to state that the gun-ban lobby is hospitable to Marxists.

NRA President Marion Hammer, a grandmother, says: “The Second Amendment is about more than just guns - it’s about freedom. It’s not about duck hunting, it’s not about target shooting, it’s not about gun collecting - it’s about the right of the people to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their freedom.”

Perhaps our local anti-gun spokespersons can tell us why they feel it’s necessary to disarm peaceful, average, hard-working citizens.

William Pitt, in a speech to the House of Commons in 1783, said, “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”

Dissent has been ruthlessly crushed in police states like China, North Korea and Cuba. Why? Because the people have no Bill of Rights, including the right to keep and bear arms. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.

NRA may be down but hunting isn’t

Re: “Once powerful NRA losing members, influence,” Jan. 30.

As an avid sportswoman, I take to heart any negativity about hunting. When reading about the blame of decline on U.S. hunters or the loss of National Rifle Association members, it makes me wonder if you have researched the increase in hunting licenses and tags, both resident and nonresident.

My husband and I both hunt in Washington and Idaho. We accumulate over $2,000 in fees. I’m sure this has more to do with the loss of hunters in this area than is reported in your article.

Also, as former NRA members, we were bombarded by requests for money for everything you can imagine. It makes you wonder where the money actually goes.

All the news reports on not being able to feed the elk and deer herds until the end of January made me wonder why we were paying the high fees to hunt in these states. Instead of paying dues to an organization that I have no idea where my money goes (other than the Senate), I would have been more responsive to donations to the Fish and Game Department in our area to help feed these starving animals.

That is probably where the blame for the changing times and attitudes toward the NRA comes into play. Tanya K. Ulrick Deer Park

AARP support efforts are good

I hope Frank Bartel’s column, “AARP chapters struggle to hold, attract members,” makes national American Association of Retired Persons members aware of chapter activities in our area.

Chapters bring retirees together for fellowship, informative and entertaining programs and a forum for discussing current issues. The Spokane Falls chapter will meet for lunch at Town & Country Restaurant on Feb. 13. We hope members of the disbanded Valley chapter will join us.

Bartel’s comments suggest chapter membership is dwindling because the area coordinator - Evelyn Meile - is “just a volunteer” and AARP paid staffers are all in Seattle.

I am also a volunteer and have held various positions in the past 10 years. At a training conference last summer I had the privilege of touring the West Region office and meeting state and regional staff members. These staffers give excellent support to all area volunteers. To replace volunteers with staff positions all over the state would tend to create another bureaucracy.

AARP staffers, as well as volunteers in leadership positions, do come to Spokane. In recent months, hundreds of seniors attended our candidate and issue forums, Medicare’s 30th birthday party and a finance seminar presented by these leaders.

A strategic plan for every member to have a personal involvement with the association is summed up in AARP’s new vision statement: “AARP excels as a dynamic presence in every community, shaping and enriching the experience of aging for each member and for society.”

Chapter membership is a good place to start. Elinor Nuxoll Spokane

Animal groups not as depicted

It’s obvious that Lu Broadsword (“AKC lets dogs and people down,” Letters, Feb. 2) misundertands the makeup and function of the organizations she refers in her letter.

The Humane Society of the United States operates no shelters. It’s basically a propaganda arm of the animal rights movement. HSUS was in the vanguard of proponents of legislating dogs out of our ownership through promoting breed-specific dog laws and anti-breeding laws. It does not make it into the Better Business Bureau’s list of legitimate animal charities because none of the money it gets goes directly to animals.

The American Kennel Club is made up of clubs. It’s a registering body, not a policing agency. Each parent club should be the overseeing body for the breed it’s concerned with. Parent clubs belong to the AKC.

All breed and obedience clubs are sanctioned by the AKC to hold shows and trials according to its rules. The only breed the Bergmans own that’s accepted for AKC registration are the golden retrievers. The Golden Retriever Club has done an exemplary job of rescuing the animals. Cherie Graves Newport, Wash.

THE MILITARY

Video depicted deviants, not Marines

The Spokesman Review, like other newspapers, has published accounts of a 1991 Marine Corps hazing incident. As commandant of the Marine Corps, I wish to comment on our core values of honor, courage and commitment.

Many of you have seen the video of the hazing incident. I was outraged by the images on that video. The fact that this video was made in 1991 makes no difference - not to you, not to me.

This so-called “ceremony” is contrary to that which is most dear to Marines - the ability to count on one another, to take care of one another, to be faithful to one another. Corps tradition has nothing to do with hurting or humiliating each other. It has everything to do with Marines exhibiting mutual respect, strength of character and willingness to sacrifice for one another.

You have entrusted your sons and daughters to my care, believing they will be treated with dignity and respect. They have become like my sons and daughters. That is how strongly I feel about my responsibility and your trust.

My policy is clear. All Marines will be treated with the utmost dignity and respect. There is no place for hazing, sexual harassment, discrimination or any other form of degrading or immoral behavior.

No part of what makes the Corps the world’s premier fighting force has ever relied on brutality. These actions are anathema to our values.

Those who cannot live these basic moral tenets do not deserve to wear the eagle, globe and anchor. I will not allow them to tarnish the sacred trust between you and one of America’s most dependable, steadfast institutions.

Semper fidelis. Gen. C. C. Krulak, commandant United States Marine Corps, Washington, D.C.

LAW AND JUSTICE

Hixson sentence sends wrong message

Re: “Man sentenced to year in prison for fatal shooting of teenager,” Region, Feb. 2:

The case was concerned with the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy who was fleeing after breaking into Kenneth Hixson’s motor home in Kennewick.

Handing down such a light sentence of one year in prison for killing seems to sanction the use of deadly force to protect private property.

As Benton County Superior Court Judge Dennis Yule stated, personal safety was not an issue. The boy was shot in the back as he was running away.

What is the most a 14-year-old could have carried away by himself - $1,000 at most in property? Or maybe the runaway was just seeking food and shelter on that night in the middle of the winter. Was Wesley Dale Highley’s life worth only $1,000?

It’s interesting that the prosecutor asked for only nine months of imprisonment for Hixson. I wonder if private property is valued above human life in this country. The outcome of this case makes me believe so. The frightening part is that there are probably some who see Hixson as a hero.

Handguns are dangerous regardless of whose hands they’re in. They are used to kill about 25,000 people in the United States every year. That seems a high price to pay for the right to bear arms. Molly O’Connor Spokane

Finally, some justice for Simpson

I often trembled as I watched that mockery of a trial of O.J. Simpson last year.

I watched as the criminal got every right - even the victims’ rights. I watched as devious, money-hungry lawyers, greedy of a name and fame, twisted every grain of truth. I listened as the police force, the crime lab, etc., were slandered and mucked. And I could not believe my years when the verdict of not guilty came, when the evidence was overwhelming. How could such a thing be?

Then I remembered that the wheels of justice turn slowly. They squeak, moan and get stuck. But praise God, they do turn.

I - like the world, I’m sure - am so glad justice was at last served. Please, no more judicial charades. T.R. Nelson Spokane

THE MEDIA

Wrong to slight president, his address

I was disappointed that your coverage of the O.J. Simpson case appeared to be more important than the State of the Union address by the president.

At a glance, I noted the front page, large picture of the Goldmans compared to the pocketbook photo of President Clinton.

At other times I have noticed that you rarely feature the president on your front page unless it is a negative portrayal. He deserves better. Anne Skok Spokane

Cut to O.J. verdict was lowdown

While watching the State of the Union address, I witnessed a national disgrace. The president of the United States of America was interrupted by the media so they could inform us of the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Republican or Democrat, nothing should be more important than the president’s message to the people of the United States.

This is a very sick, morbid money-hungry media. I ask and invite my friends and fellow Americans to please wake up and smell the coffee. Sanford R. Sams Elk

MEAN STREETS

Cement is more durable - use it

I may only be 20 years old, but in those 20 years I have been to many different cities. From Seattle to Los Angeles, New York to Miami, and even a few cities outside of the country - Frankfurt and Munich, to name a couple.

I have either ridden or driven on all sorts of streets and highways. But I have never seen, ridden or driven on streets in a more terrible condition than the streets of Spokane. Never before have I seen so many potholes, cracks, or ruts!

Come on, Spokane, ever heard of cement? Sure, asphalt might be all right for Seattle, where there is not the constant freezing and thawing in the winter. Add to that the snowplows with chains on their tires, spraying chemicals on the roads. It’s a wonder there are still roads to drive on at all.

Asphalt might be cheaper in the beginning, but in the long run the city can save money by paving the roads with cement and leaving the asphalt for the parking lots. Michael Schafer Spokane