Letters To The Editor

THE RAGGED EDGE

Sorry old croakers win no applause

I thought most men in their 60s and 70s spent their time watering the lawn and going bowling, among other things. However, some old men apparently start militias, in Idaho of all places.

Please note the sarcasm. I am speaking of the Constitutional Policemen, a group in Hayden Lake whose members have decided to petition the government with a list of grievances.

I have no problem with members of this group using their First Amendment rights. I think they’re just starved for attention.

I would like to know why I have to come home to mindless drivel from a bunch of old people in my newspaper. I doubt these people have jobs. Maybe they’re collecting unemployment. My, my, how Uncle Sam must love them - and how they must love him.

I’m not all that jazzed about the government, but you don’t see me trying to overtake various government offices and/or make new ones.

You so-called Constitutional Policemen, stop wasting your time trying to instill fear in the government. If you were 40 years younger, government would care. But it might just decide to ignore you for the next 14 years, and by that time, most of you will have died.

Sure, you want respect and power. This might be why you’re parading around like you’re going to change the world. However, you don’t have respect and power and won’t get it from ripping on the government.

Most importantly, you won’t get it from the people because you never asked the majority if they wanted your presence. Mike K. Albertson Coeur d’Alene

Kehoes and their ilk can go now

Many up this way would appreciate the exodus of groups who are racially insensitive. The best example would be the Christian Identity Aryan Nations movement, with “followers of the faith” like Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe.

The so-called movement will continue to flourish because the Kehoe brotherhood is composed of buck privates following the direction of the Remnant Resolves - a document created and signed by about a dozen leaders in the Christian Identity movement - some in our area - and is intended to serve as a guideline for activists like the Kehoes. This document is viewed by white supremacists Christian Identity groups as their biblical basis for revolutionizing justice in our area.

It is a national imperative to cleanse our country of evildoers, of people who oppose separation of church and state. Your coverage of the “Felonious Priesthood” has been a mirror of truth about the tendency of local folks to deny that it exists, for one reason or another.

To continue to deny gives fuel to the Christian Identity-Aryan Nations plan to have dominion over our area. James Gordon Perkins Colville, Wash.

SPOKANE MATTERS

More taxation last thing we need

OK, you tightfisted Spokane taxpayers, I hope you read Our View on June 29, concerning our street conditions and who is to blame. Those of you who read it should feel properly chastized and realize that you had a political woodshed experience coming. Those who missed it, get a copy and take your medicine.

Our old friend, Opinion editor John Webster, and the editorial board are at it again. They lambaste politicians who held the line on tax increases and praised those who “represent the public interest” by raising taxes in spite of public sentiment.

Our city manager was deified for his leadership and for declaring that we must repair the streets, even if we have to borrow the money. Naturally, he didn’t say much about funding loan paybacks. That’s where Webster jumped in and demanded that “taxpayers dig into their pockets and pay the bill.” He suggests that there are only two messages to address current problems, both requiring new taxes.

The truth is that some Spokane taxpayers know how government spends money. We know that we struggled through most of May to pay our tax bill and that Olympia blew over $70 million recently on one worthless computer system.

Directing motor vehicle excise taxes to the transportation department will fund necessary street maintenance. Taxes raised from motor vehicle sources should be used for transportation needs, rather than being thrown into the general fund.

Eliminating mismanagement, bogus projects, and unnecessary bureaucrats will save millions and eliminate continuous tax increases.

Think about it, Spokane. It’s your money. Steven W. Carter Spokane

Effective leadership can prevail

I agree with the basic premise of Opinion editor John Webster’s superb editorial of June 29, and I am ready to pay whatever tax is proposed to make our roads more passable and less dangerous.

More to the point, however, is the first paragraph about leadership vs. public opinion. I wonder if the issue might be more a question of public confidence than public opinion?

Over and again, I hear people complain that government, at all levels, is less guilty of catering to public opinion than of ignoring it altogether in favor of special interests, especially of the propertied variety. I certainly hope that is an exaggerated perception on my part. But if it isn’t , it would appear that addressing that perception, if it really is a widespread perception (or misperception), remains key to obtaining popular support for a new tax, if popular support is required.

There’s no question our leaders ought to exercise the courage to take a stand, even if doing so proves unpopular. Voters will respect them more for taking a stand on something they disagree with than they will respect leaders who won’t take a stand at all. However, it’s still likely that voters will want to punish anyone they think did not give them a fair and equitable hearing, and if they think corruption and preferential treatment are involved.

Webster’s editorial seems like a step in the right direction, but public confidence is apt to improve based on more dialogue, rather than less. Philip J. Mulligan Spokane

MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

Libraries should shield children

The rights of free speech and press were originally included in our Constitution to allow citizens to criticize the government without fear and were not considered relevant to protection of indecent speech, writing or pictures for nearly 200 years.

In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that although obscenity could still be banned, it could only be defined by meeting subjective criteria of a three-pronged test. There has never been a sufficient amount and allocation of public resources to continually battle porn merchants, so we have an industry which has mushroomed unabated for the past 25 years.

As the mushroom feeds on decay, so the pornography industry feeds on the detritus of a rotting society. In that rottenness, sex has no connection with love and covenant, and the miracle of procreation, but rather manifests itself with increasing violence toward others, who are only viewed as objects for one’s own gratification.

Now that the ability to transmit such depravity has increased exponentially via the Internet, it is urgent that libraries do not become, by default, panderers of pornography to children. Training sessions, parental permission and a kids’ home page are a good start on exercising a library’s share of responsibility in educating and nurturing young lives.

But if there are technological tools to shield children from contact with harmful materials and libraries don’t employ them, to that extent they abdicate their share of responsibility in the well-being of the community. Richard P. Unger Spokane

Free access violates public trust

Condoned access to pornography through the Internet served by or to a public library is a violation of the confidence citizens place in public libraries. This practice corrupts our public morality and morale. It must be stopped.

Pornography is a wrongful experience of exploring sexual qualities of persons. It occurs outside the context of intimate mutual interpersonal relationship and communication, which should be prerequisite to sexual experience. Pornography instills an attitude that has decadent results: rape, sexual harassment, premarital sex and births out of wedlock, abortion, child abuse, nonpayment of child support.

Some local schools have begun “true love waits” pledges to help youths know the importance of sexual purity before marriage. This commendable program merits our widest acceptance. Abstinence-based methods presented by Teen Aid are also worthy of communitywide esteem.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down the authority of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that would have made it a criminal offense to knowingly make “indecent” materials available to children by means of computers. This is regrettable. Perhaps there is no better solution to resolve such a problematic situation than volitional godliness in our citizens. With God, all good things are possible. There are many great reasons to become a convert to Christ; this is another.

Meanwhile, may God give parents and youths vigilance to keep themselves involved in wholesome purposes. May our libraries find ways to keep their work from disrepute, such as by use of a commercial filter that would screen out scenes such as group sex and other obscenity. Bruce C. Wakeman Spokane

Library mustn’t dodge responsibility

The Spokane Public Library says it will not install a filter on computers children use to prevent them from viewing hard-core pornography because it’s not 100 percent effective (“Library’s sound policy beats questionable technology,” guest column, June 21).

A commercial filter called X-Stop, using highly sophisticated technology, claims to filter 98 percent of objectionable material. That’s close enough.

As a public institution, the library should lead the way and make a good faith effort in doing the right thing to protect the minds and safety of our children. Construction workers put fences around dangerous holes. Clerks check ID before selling cigarettes and even the movie theater checks ID on R-rated movies because parents can’t always be there. The library cannot opt out of the village. Pam K. Lehinger Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Slavery: No justification for apology

Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts’ June 29 column continues an obvious trend of poorly thought out and significantly left-of-center editorial opinion.

Pitts wishes an apology for slavery from the nation on behalf of black citizens. In fact, he blames all of the problems of the black community on that institution. He refuses to view black servitude in the context of the times and derides a black conservative columnist for suggesting that the issue is more complicated.

Why does Pitts not also seek apology from the African blacks who initially captured the slaves or the Arab slave masters who profited from selling them to the Europeans? Why doesn’t he seek apologies from the Brazilians, who maintained the institution legally until the 1890s or from those countries in Africa where it allegedly still exists? Perhaps he could obtain a special mea culpa from the descendants of the American blacks who owned slaves or those who served in the Confederate Army during the war between the states?

Pitts doesn’t mention the Civil War and the northern rallying cry of abolition. An American condemnation of slavery was secured by the blood of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who fought against the institution. Would not a formal apology this many years after the fact sully their sacrifice?

Although I deplore the institution, none of my ancestors came to this country before the 1880s and I refuse any apology on their behalf. It further strikes me that a congressional declaration on this issue would only pave the way for reparations. George A. Bratina Spokane

Many boomers don’t fit stereotype

Staff writer Jamie Tobias Neely, in her June 30 editorial, “Tough medicine and necessary,” stereotypes baby boomers as latte-guzzling, BMW-driving narcissists. Sure, a few of them are that way, but most of them are working hard and raising a family.

Many baby boomers who 20 yeas ago were middle class are now living in poverty, working off and on in minimum-wage jobs because their skills have become obsolete. It is difficult to start over in a new career at age 50. Economic efficiency (more goods and services produced per man-hour worked) is the reason why many jobs of the 1970s have been eliminated. This is especially true in clerical work, where one computer can do the work of many people. Neely should not judge an entire generation on the lifestyle of a few. Alan J. Gnehm Spokane

VIOLENCE

Father’s hitting required action

In response to Gail McCandless’ June 25 letter, “Father’s actions wrong, damaging,” about the man hitting his daughter, I implore McCandless and others to realize this is domestic violence.

Calling the police, taking the man’s license number, enlisting bystanders to intervene would all be appropriate responses to an adult visiting violence upon another adult. Why not these measures, as well as calling Child Protective Services, for a helpless child? Until we stop looking the other way as adults inflict violence upon their children, the slow wheels of societal change cannot even begin to turn. Karen R. Elkins Naples, Idaho