Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

NIC trustees do what is best

I voice my support for the trustees of North Idaho College.

As elected officials, they have an obligation to their constituents to do what they believe is in the best interest of NIC and the community. Any other direction by the trustees would be unacceptable.

I have worked with Bob Ely and Steve Widmyer (past trustee) in fund raising for the North Idaho Booster Club. Their work ethic, organizational skills and integrity were always apparent in any activity dealing with the college.

The attacks on the trustees for their recent decisions are unjustified. How can one, or a group, chastise the board when all the information is not available? State law dictates that discussions in closed sessions are not available to the public. Frederick C. Ostermeyer Post Falls

Spirit Lake building more than center

The Spirit Lake Community Center had its ground breaking by the building committee and Mayor Bob Knapp.

We will find building materials in the lumber yards and hardware stores in the area. But the most needed commodity to make a great new building and improve our town can be found only in all of our hearts. To bring about a winning project will take respect and cooperation from each and every one.

Spirit Lake, we are about to become great again. Robert R. Root Spirit Lake, Idaho

SPOKANE MATTERS

You’ll be missed, ‘Charlie Brown’

The city of Spokane has lost another true hero. “Charlie Brown,” as he was known by his friends and an untold number of children in Spokane, was a school bus driver for more than 19 years. He drove a special needs school bus and transported children all over Spokane.

Driving a school bus is a difficult task at best, and only a few can truly do the job with spirit. Charlie loved his work and cared for all the children he transported in a special way. To him, his work was his life.

His health took a turn for the worst this past school year. Finally, when the doctors made him, he gave up the work he loved so much.

On June 20, Charles R. “Charlie Brown” Blake passed away. His great sense of humor and true caring for children were a guideline for all of us.

Charlie, you will truly be missed by your family, friends, co-workers and, most of all, by the hundreds of children you’ve taken under your caring wing.

May you fly with the angels in heaven for eternity. David B. Baldwin Spokane

Diversity training flawed

Re: “Lessons in diversity for police,” June 21:

My excitement for the diversity training at the Spokane Police Academy training workshop turned immediately to rage upon reading some “practical advice from members of the community.” How can somebody make the statement, “When dealing with the African American household, approach the mother. She’s the one who runs the home”? This is a continued perpetuation of negative stereotypes, specifically regarding black males.

This may further facilitate any underlying disrespect some law enforcement officials may have toward black men. If you’re trying to teach any subject, remember the lasting impression you have on a captive audience that perceives you’re a qualified expert. Chester A. Carothers Medical Lake

What other vehicle facility site?

I question the sincerity of our City Council (Dec. 23, 1996) deferring the vote on a traffic study for the proposed citywide maintenance and operation facility. This was at the request of Mayor Jack Geraghty and done in order to look for an alternative site. This now appears to be a total travesty because no other sites have been brought forward.

The Hamilton-Foothills site seems to be the first choice as “we, the city, own the property.” But it is deficient in numerous ways:

The city will outgrow this property in a short 10-year period and will require expansion into the business area and/or into the neighborhood to the south and east.

Liability for two city wells on the site. Contamination is a distinct possibility. Laws two years hence could prohibit this type of business or development.

Imminent widening of Hamilton to accommodate the additional city fleet of cars and garbage trucks, with more traffic through the neighborhood at Logan Elementary School.

Gonzaga Prep is across Foothills Drive. All parents should be concerned about sharing these streets with 300 trucks that weigh 30 tons each.

There are less intrusive sites for a citywide operations facility. An environmental checklist has been appealed to the City Council for its determination of nonsignificance. The traffic study will be completed by August or September, when there will be a public meeting. C.G. Timboe Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Animal friends wonderful people

Linda and Doug Holden are truly wonderful people for dedicating their lives to helping sick, orphaned or injured wild animals and for helping to educate people on the importance of protecting animals in our world. Such selflessness should be rewarded. Please let readers know where they can send donations to help the Holdens.

The most important thing is to teach people to respect and have empathy for animals. But if one can’t do that, the next best thing is to help out those who are. We need more people like the Holdens. Good luck to them. May they keep up the good work! Deborah L. Peterson Moses Lake

Ghost Riders not a biker gang

Re: “Bizarre bacon case ends in 9-1/2-year rap”:

Your assumption that the Ghost Riders is a motorcycle gang is stretching the truth to its limits. Just because these people wear black leather and mimic a biker does not make them such. The name “Ghost Rider” in Spokane has come about because these people ride ghost bikes. In order to be a motorcycle gang, you must first own and ride a bike. Wearing a patch and having a bike frame or several bike parts lying around does not count. What counts is that you ride; whether you ride a Harley, Goldwing, Japanese or European bike does not matter.

These people have done nothing but cause trouble and headaches for those of us who do ride. Ghost Riders should be classified as posers or just a plain old gang of troublemakers. If this newspaper cannot understand the difference, maybe your staff could use some diversity training. I’m sure there are some true patch holders who would be willing to provide the training. I.S. Miller Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Headlines about testing inaccurate

Regarding the June 24 article by Eric Sorensen on the Department of Energy-funded Institute for Shock Physics, I want to state unequivocally that the headline for this article, “WSU lab to test safety, reliability of N-weapons,” was neither correct nor appropriate. Such a task can be carried out only by Energy Department labs (Los Alamos, Livermore, Sandia) in conjunction with the Department of Defense.

Also, the Page B1 headline, “WSU gets millions to test effects of major explosions,” is incorrect. As stated in the article, the Institute for Shock Physics will not deal with any nuclear materials and will focus entirely on fundamental research related to shock compression of benign materials (crystals, ordinary metals and ceramics). The research work will be completely unclassified and will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Less-sensational headlines would have been more appropriate. Yogendra M. Gupta professor of physics and director, Institute for Shock Physics, Pullman

Global warming hardly news

The June 24 Spokesman-Review included an Associated Press story about signs of global warming being found in the national parks. I cannot believe you run stories such as these.

Of course you will find signs of global warming in parks. You can find signs of global warming in Riverfront Park. Look at the riverbed, the sculpted basalt formations, the falls and the cliffs along High Drive. These were all created by global warming. You find evidence of global warming everywhere you look the Palouse, the Great Salt Lake of Utah, the Great Plains of the Midwest and the great lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron and Erie.

Global warming has been going on for the past 20,000 years. We are in an interglacial period and will continue to warm until the start of the next ice age. Glaciers will continue to melt, seas will continue to rise (they have risen more than 400 feet in the last 10,000 years) and surface temperatures will still rise, but not enough for you to notice in your lifetime.

Ecologists have a monetary interest in promoting a natural progression of Earth cycles as a disaster. After all, their pseudoscience preys on the fears of the poorly informed. That’s how they make their living. K. Lee Osborn Spokane

Democrats conveniently indignant

Golly, gee, what short memories the Democrats have. They are outraged that Kenneth Starr is trying to find some female acquaintances of Bill Clinton and ask a few questions.

“No one’s personal life should be subject to a desperate dragnet by a prosecutor with unlimited resources,” they say. As a matter of common sense and decency, most Americans would feel outraged. … This kind of crass invasion of individual privacy, if true, is indefensible, … it is outrageous, it is sickening, and so on.

I can remember watching the confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas, where Sen. Ted Kennedy, the hero of Chappaquiddick, was challenging Thomas’ fitness for the Supreme Court due to alleged sexual pursuit of Anita Hill. I recall thinking while watching Kennedy, with his sanctimonious, indignant concern, that it would have been funny if it were not so serious.

Then we have the Democrat blitz on the late Sen. John Tower as he was up for a post in a Republican administration. “A womanizer,” they cried. “A boozer.” Tower did not get the position he wanted.

It is hard to shed any tears for the outraged, for what goes around comes around. Pete A. Brittain Sandpoint