Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Eugster is right about downtown

Why do I read in this newspaper comments about attorney Steve Eugster being negative about Spokane and especially about our downtown district? If this is the case, why has Eugster spent thousands of his own dollars refurbishing his downtown office building?

I applaud Eugster for having honesty, guts and mission to stop government from either spending our tax dollars on private investments or taking risks with our money again trying to support private investors. He’s right - government has no business, legally or morally, using hard-earned tax dollars for private projects when we obviously have greater priorities in this city.

How can city leaders in their wildest dreams think that Spokane residents back their efforts to put us on the hook with a downtown developer when we are breathing the third-worst air in the United States and when 50,000 of our families earn less than $25,000 a year?

It’s also a discomfort to hear so-called leaders call this project the economic panacea for all residents. Don’t make me ill; I’ve seen the numbers. Balanced growth and a local vibrant economy will arrive when special interests and their money are out of the picture.

God bless Steve Eugster. He’s good for Spokane.

Jonathan Swanstrom Sr. Spokane

Air traffic heading off course

During the last few years, passenger traffic at Spokane International Airport has increased dramatically. Over a million more people use the airport than was the case a few years ago.

With that simple fact, I wonder why there are fewer routes going out of the airport than a decade ago. I would expect, with Spokane air traffic being among the fastest increasing in the United States, that new markets would open up, i.e. Dallas and Las Vegas. Just the opposite is happening.

Last fall, the primary commuter airline at SIA, which is based in Seattle, suspended all flights to Bozeman, Mont., from Spokane. To get there from here you must connect at Seattle and backtrack on that airline. (Actually, it’s more convenient to connect at Salt Lake City!)

Next month, this same commuter airline will start nonstop jet service to Missoula and Kalispel from Seattle, with three flights a day. When that happens, Spokane service to those two cities will drop basically to two prop jets a day.

Montana has always been a strong market from Spokane. It seems obvious this airline seems to favor Seattle. Excluding Montana, no flights to smaller cities are offered from Spokane.

I wonder if city, airport or business leaders are concerned about these disturbing trends. It seems more competition is needed.

I wonder if current facilities at the airport are one reason for the reduction in service. Maybe operations aren’t efficiently coordinated for the airline. At busy times the airport does seem congested. Daniel L. Bielenberg Spokane

PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Help put puppy mills out of business

With the uproar about the horrible conditions at the Newport puppy mill, I would like to remind people that many, many pet shops acquire their puppies through brokers and wholesalers who buy from just such puppy mills. (The breeder’s location is listed on the AKC registration papers.)

Some prime puppy mill states include Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Nebraska. For a complete list of USDA licensed dealers and class B dealers, call Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care in Sacramento, Calif., (916) 857-6205.

According to a 1995 Associated Press story, Amish farmers supply many pet shops. “The bigger breeders keep more than 300 female dogs … producing a steady supply that fuels an economy of pet stores and brokers who resell the animals.

“Animals with matted coats sit crammed together two and three to each small cage, clawing frantically at the wire walls as they try to perch on mesh floors. They shake uncontrollably; they cower to human touch.” At three to five weeks of age, the puppies are removed from their mothers to be sold to brokers and on to pet shops.

Please, for the animals’ sake as well as your own, go to a breeder’s home. Check the conditions the dog lives in, meet its mother. You have no way of doing this when buying a pet shop dog.

Several AKC-affiliated dog clubs in Spokane, the one in Coeur d’Alene or Thunder Mountain Dog Supplies in Spokane can be contacted for more information. R.E. Moore Newman Lake

Deer alarm for car prevents tragedy

This concerns Jane Fritz’s Jan. 5 article in the Outdoor section on the accidental death of a doe on an Idaho road recently. Has she never heard of the front-bumper-mounted deer alarm? These small, inexpensive (about $6.95 at most auto supply stores) devices really work. My husband and I have them mounted on both of our cars. Deer, dogs, coyote and even cats stay out of our way, hearing the sound emitted from the alarms. B.M. Hanenburg Loon Lake

If belatedly, prosecutors must do right

The Pend Orielle County Deputy prosecutor recently said that people seem to care more about animals than people. Who speaks for the animals that can’t speak for themselves?

Proverbs 12:10 says that a righteous man regards the life of his beast. However, county officials seem to protest too much in this puppy mill case. It’s hard to believe that nobody knew about these goings on until now.

Let’s see how righteous the county officials can be when it comes to prosecuting this case to its full extent. Betty Roloff Spokane

Downplaying case won’t do

I do hope and pray that I am not the only dog lover in this area who is appalled and heartbroken over the fate of the dogs at the Newport facility.

Now these people are being released, without bail, since they have “ties to the community.” What ties would anyone possibly have with such people? They should never be allowed to have any contact with any animals as long as they live.

This is being smoothed over by the police as merely a misdemeanor. There is no punishment severe enough for monsters such as these.

I hope everyone who has any love for dogs will make as many waves as possible to convict these two. Winnie Richards Spokane

Program perverted by the greedy

Thank you so much for publishing the well-researched story (“Horses adopted, then sold for meat,” News Jan. 6), about the slaughter of America’s wild horses.

I remember years ago when the Bureau of Land Management adoption program was widely advertised in newspapers and horse magazines, and articles were written about the basic requirements needed to properly care for the horses and burros. The ads disappeared long ago.

I assumed it was because there was no longer a problem with the overpopulation and starvation of wild horses.

Little did I know that the ads ceased because the BLM employees, with their terrifying, gas-guzzling helicopters, wanted the horses for themselves in order to make a few bucks at taxpayers’ expense.

It is heartbreaking to think that what was originally intended to be a mission of mercy has become a march to death. Instead of a difficult journey toward a loving home, these horses and little burros now experience a terrifying journey in a semi to the slaughterhouse.

It is unfortunate that before Americans will take care of their own they have to take care of the Belgians and the French. Leslie Vilhauer Cheney

‘THE WAR WITHIN’

Series tilts but one way

Your “War within” reveals a clearly biased attitude that fails to address the true problem of terrorism in America. Credibility becomes lost when journalism places what is truthfully an international crisis, as well as domestic problem, on any one political side.

Most patriotic Americans, including militias, remain innocent of either criminal intent or racism.

The dangerous breakdown of lawful justice in our government must be addressed. Also, a glaring breakdown of our society’s moral fabric and education create conditions no nation can long survive.

Numerous respected congressmen, veterans, police officials and citizens have warned that our republic is now more dangerously divided in sociopolitical reality than at any time since the Civil War. By allowing the federal government to enact clearly unconstitutional laws and increase its already proven uncontrolled police power, the American people effectively put one foot in a literal national gulag.

Terrorism and criminality do pose a complex problem. However, it’s not fair to throw the entire weight of your so-called investigation toward just one political sector of our populace. Millions of Americans see some glaring answers to this unfortunate situation in U.S. State Department foreign policy abroad and Justice Department failure within.

I’m an American militiaman, a patriot and proud of our heritage as a free nation. I make no apology for standing for what is constitutionally correct as a citizen. I also am no racist and agree with legitimate law enforcement in maintaining the civil peace. Jim Watkins Republic, Wash.

Key knowledge stays under rug

I agree with Rebecca Nappi’s suggestion, “Knowledge is the key in terrorism fight” ( Opinion, Dec. 31). However, I wonder if the Good Paper is ready to print everything already known about terrorism.

Commenting on the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, Malcolm X said “the chickens have come home to roost.” Thereupon roasted by almost every black and white journalist for his bold insight, Malcolm simply suggested that U.S.-supported terror abroad had found its way home, organized to murder the alleged assassin using another doomed assassin, Jack Ruby.

Malcolm’s parable still holds true. Several noted domestic terrorists learned the finer arts of killing in the U.S. military. Terrorism is the technical term meaning terrorist acts the U.S. government doesn’t accept. We say Israeli terror isn’t, while deploring Palestinian terrorist acts. If we count acts alone, the largest terrorist organization on earth is the U.S. Pentagon. The School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., turned out dozens of U.S.-trained Central American terrorists.

Nappi assures us the FBI is on the case. Pure smoke-and-mirrors journalism. Nappi ignores the many times this century the FBI has surveilled, imprisoned, provoked and murdered U.S. citizens at home. There’s massive amounts of writing on this. It’s doubtful the FBI will reveal its role in the murder of Martin Luther King, information available in William Pepper’s “Orders to Kill.”

I doubt The Spokesman-Review really believes knowledge is a key to anything except its own self-interested version of what’s to be printed. Chuck Armsbury Greenacres

OTHER TOPICS

Uniforms are tools of repression

Uniforms have only one purpose: thought control.

When the women of Afghanistan were recently required to wear a garment called a “burqa,” the Islamic regime’s purpose wasn’t ensuring everybody looks nice. It was to stop progressive thought by suppressing the individual’s and progressive culture’s choices.

Some of the most deplorable acts against mankind have been done in nice, crisp uniforms. Uniforms were the first order of the day during Maos’ cultural revolution, and also one of its undoings, as people eventually struck out to emulate America’s free-thinking pop culture.

What really drives an economy is innovation. That’s why Toyota International built its design plant in California where new trends are made, not in Japan where uniform behavior is the norm and fresh ideas are scarce.

In sports and business, those who break the traditional molds are re-energizing and moving them forward. Snowboarders and their unique style were initially blamed for ruining ski hills. Instead, they have revitalized a declining sport, and spawned a new fashion industry of commercial products.

Current ultra-competitive, uniformed school sports programs have alienated many more students than they have served and helped many to think sports are only for jocks.

Instead of writing editorials that trample on the spirit of a 12-year-old, Anne-Marie Ophus (Golden Pen, Jan. 6) should write a meaningful defense of professional women in Afghanistan who are forced to wear a burqa and cannot speak for themselves.

Discovery is dependent upon experimentation. True liberty comprehends all ways, not just the old ways. Mike Wolther Spokane

Advice for Goodman: Make sense

In reading Ellen Goodman’s column, “First lady should do whatever she wants,” I was surprised to find many logical fallacies and abstract points. It seems that even writers for the Boston Globe still do fluff pieces.

The uproar over what Hillary will do seems irrelevant. Hillary is not president and what she does is unrelated to the matter of government. In a time when the voting population is at an all-time low, I’m sure we can find better things to discuss.

Goodman feels Hillary should be able to do whatever she wants, yet when Mrs. Clinton told her she hadn’t thought beyond the election her answer was deemed “cautious and wholly improbable.” This seems to contradict the whole point Goodman was trying to make. If Hillary truly can do whatever she wants, why is her answer “improbable”?

There are also abstract points mentioned briefly dealing with Kenneth Starr and even Hillary’s hair. These seem not even to be related to the topic.

Most interesting is The Spokesman-Review’s comment at the top of the column, “Ellen Goodman has some advice for Hillary.” This in itself seems to undermine the whole point of the column. Linda Henderson Spokane

Smith would make better Democrat

Republican Rep. Linda Smith of Washington referred to House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the “little round kid.” She also likens him to a “fat kid” who is depriving the rest of his family of food and thus causing them to starve.

Might I suggest, Smith, that you change your party affiliation and take your insults and move to the other side of the aisle, where I’m sure you will be welcomed with open arms. Bill Klein Nine Mile Falls