Letters To The Editor

GUN CONTROL

Confiscation final aim to gun locks

Ed Keeley wrote regarding Initiative 676 (Letters, July 9), “requiring gun owners to have taken a gun safety course and mandated safety locks on triggers of handguns that are for sale.”

Keeley said the right to own and operate a motor vehicle is not compromised by the requirement that one pass a driving test and license himself and his car.

I don’t question that handgun buyers should be familiar with the firearm purchased, and that they should be licensed, but I believe if each person who operated a motor vehicle had to remove a mandatory lock from the steering wheel before they could drive, then it would be comparable to mandatory safety locks ontriggers of handguns.

If an armed intruder broke into your home in the night, do you think you’d have time to get up, find the key to the safety lock on your handgun and still have time to stop anyone? I think not.

Mandatory locks on handguns are the first step toward safety locks on all firearms, with confiscation the final aim of all anti-gunners.

If Keeley will check the record during the time of our fight for freedom from England, he’ll see that every able-bodied person carried a firearm, or had one at their immediate call.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution states it very simply: ” … the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Period. It refers to a well-regulated militia, but if arms are denied the people, there is no well-armed militia. Paul W. “Bill” Town Spokane

It’s a right to bear arms

Over the years Curtis Stone has excelled in his abilities to defend our natural right to keep and bear arms, in spite of the Edward Keeley’s of the world who downplay the importance of freedom.

I believe it was Patrick Henry of “Give me liberty or give me death” who also said, “Free men bear arms.” John C. Hodde Colville, Wash.

EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

EWU board of trustees clueless

Michael Ormsby’s perfectly witless remark that “Eastern has to find its niche” (Chris Peck column) portrays more than anything else how clueless the board of trustees has become. Ormsby has been on the board for 12 years and he doesn’t know what Eastern’s niche is? How many more years will it take for him to be a board member until he gets a glimmer of understanding what Eastern’s niche is?

The other board members are just as dim as Ormsby. They rubber stamp whatever Mark Drummond presents, in between trips to the trough for his salary enhancement, from the EWU Foundation, the housing allowances, the travel and, of course, the political networking he does in his own behalf - all paid for by the students and taxpayers.

Declining enrollment has been occurring at a steady pace for the last few years. That is not a result of “not finding its niche.” Rather, it is a symptom of the lackluster, laissez-faire, greedy attitude of not only its president but its board of trustees.

Considering the fact that Drummond got the job through the back door, he was appointed acting CEO by the BOT who swore that he was not a qualified candidate for the job of president, and then rather than start a nationwide search (a search he would not have been able to pass), the board of trustees appointed Drummond president!

So hand in glove, Drummond and the board of trustees have sold Eastern, its faculty, staff and students down the river. Dixie Coster-DeRoshia Spokane

SPOKANE

Good business community a must

Citizens of Spokane, watch out. The snow job that precedes the elections has begun. On July 9, The Spokesman-Review printed two articles about dangers to your future.

Re: “Jack Geraghty wants to serve as mayor again.” One of Geraghty’s promises that you can guarantee he will keep is the spending of more of your tax dollars on improvements for downtown. Our neighborhoods will not improve except for those who have activists to siphon off our tax funds. And businesses not in the downtown area will continue to lose to surly government servants who have no vision or wisdom.

Re: “Gilmore to run for City Council.” It ought to scare everyone that Gilmore was Gov. Mike Lowry’s representative, associate director of Walk in the Wild Zoo and Eastern Washington coordinator of the National Abortion Rights League, and now she wants to be on our City Council.

She feels that the council should work more closely with the Legislature. No, the council needs to work more closely with all the citizens and all the business owners of Spokane.

Gilmore puts the cart before the horse with her three goals. Before you have good jobs and housing, you have to have a good business community. That’s the silver cross for government liberals whose jobs hinge on spending your dollars: tax relief. Private business built Spokane, not state or federal legislation. James C. Allen Spokane

Fireworks ban a freedom lost

I have a different opinion than Cheryl L. Lee regarding fireworks. Nearly everyone in this country enjoyed personal fireworks. Then complaints came from people who are not patriotic. I now view the ban as another freedom lost. Robert D. Vaughn Spokane

DIVERSITY ISSUES

Racism bad news for region

I have to respond to Jodi Habel’s Your Turn column of July 9. What impressed me about her comments was not just her maturity and grasp of the problems we face in Eastern Washington regarding tolerance and diversity issues, but the hope her words provide. While my own baby-boom generation has fallen short in recognizing and addressing this issue and my parent’s generation has hidden it comfortably in the closet, it may be Habel’s generation that gives it the attention and action it requires.

I am encouraged by her obviously genuine comments. It gives me hope that others will also take a closer look at our diversity shortcomings. I agree wholeheartedly with Habel. Not only does racism and ignorance breed misunderstanding and encourage acceptance of outdated stereotypes, it is simply bad news for our region. Left unchecked it will have an impact on our economic stability, our security, our quality of life and our future as a healthy American community. Yvonne Lopez Morton Spokane

MEDICARE

Wealthy seniors shouldn’t pay more

The Spokesman-Review editorial of June 30, “Tough medicine - and necessary,” applauds the congressional proposal to require wealthy seniors to pay more for the same Medicare benefits as are available to the nonwealthy seniors.

It is probably necessary to restructure Medicare so that it is on a sound financial basis.

But it is wrong to charge wealthy seniors more money for the exact same Medicare insurance benefits as would be available to the nonwealthy seniors. If such a change were made it would be a fundamental and significant change in the Medicare and possibly Social Security programs. Placing such a requirement into the law would be a precedent for future Congresses to convert Social Security and Medicare programs into national welfare programs. Most people do not want to be put on welfare at any time under any circumstances. J.O. Neal Ephrata, Wash.

IN THE PAPER

Information in article distorted

Unlike the well-written Spokesman-Review articles of May 17, 21 and 23 on the presidential change at Gonzaga University, which were informative and fair, your latest article, “A crisis of faith at Gonzaga University” (June 30) seems neither. Not only does it contain hardly any new information, but the main thrust of the article is distorted and does a disservice to our local university.

The judgment represented in the headline is not justified. The claim that “the mood is dark” on campus is balderdash. I’ve been around every week since this story broke, am currently teaching summer school, and can testify that Gonzaga is functioning superbly. Administrators, faculty and staff members are serving our students with the same buoyant, conscientious dedication that I have seen consistently exhibited through my 20 years here.

When you’ve got a story to tell (as in May), report it; but when you haven’t, please don’t concoct one. Wayne P. Pomerleau Gonzaga University Department of Philosophy

Lesson in geography neeeded

One would hope that your writers on geopolitical or cultural matters could display at least a sixth-grade education. In the July 3 article, “Faculty exchange,” Nina Culver seems to be unaware that Africa is not a country; it is a continent in which there are many countries. I think I learned that in the fifth grade. Yet she says, e.g., “Africa is a country with …”

Moreover, to claim that one who has visited one of those countries is therefore an expert on the whole continent is patent nonsense. It is like visiting Alabama and claiming expertise about the United States. Ghana is one, and only one, country in Africa; it is not all of them, and it probably is not typical.

If your writer cannot do better than that, perhaps your editors can. Sanford E. Gerber Spokane

Children parents responsibility

In response to the very well written Your Turn commentary by Bonnie Wiens asking, “Where have all the child-care centers gone?” I present a perspective quite different from Wiens’ closing statement, “It really does take a village to raise a child.”

I differ quite substantially with that socialistic concept. It takes (two, preferably) dedicated, caring parents to raise a child. All the social agencies, government programs, etc. cannot raise a child.

From the financial reality of operating a child care facility, I propose that all these institutions only make it more difficult for the child care facility operators to do the job. The endless red tape and regulations, the delayed reimbursements, the continual meddling by these social agencies (the village) drive the operators out of business.

In my view of the demise of day care facilities, the “village” is the problem, not the help alluded to in Wiens’ article.

It is the parents’ reliance on the “village” to relieve them of their responsibility for their children’s welfare by not paying the fees on time, or not paying at all, that has contributed heavily to the demise of so many facilities. The social agencies’ lateness in reimbursing the facilities for welfare parents’ children’s fees and food subsidies have also contributed to the demise.

No one is arguing the desirability of quality day care, or the benefits to the children for this type of care. What is arguable, however is if it’s the “village’s” or the parents’ responsibility for children’s early education and care. Robert E. Sayler Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Background check necessary

At the last Airway Heights City Council meeting, Mayor Don Harmon made the statement, we do not do background checks.

This statement left me with the feeling that maybe there is something to hide.

Is it not every bit as important to know the background of our elected officials and city volunteers as it is to know the background of someone who wants to buy a handgun? Ed B. Booher Airway Heights

Services better than Fulcrum’s free

I read with great concern The Spokesman-Review article featuring the Fulcrum Institute and its fee-based interchange program for exchanging children between parents.

The article omitted two very important points: The Fulcrum Institute Dispute Resolution Clinic charges clients for its services, and there are several agencies in Spokane that have supervised exchange programs at no cost to the parents. SCAN, the Martin Luther King Center and a combined effort by Lutheran Family Services and the state Department of Social and Health Services have been up and running for quite some time. They do an excellent job.

Possibly, the Fulcrum Institute should look to these agencies for guidance instead of requesting that students looking for internships, not certified counselors in the field, volunteer. Dropping a child off in a foreign environment, with strangers who may or may not be trained, can be very disconcerting and dangerous to the parties involved in an already tense or volatile situation. Mollie J. Dalpae Spokane

With new stadium comes new jobs

With all of the pros and cons on a new stadium for the Seahawks, I haven’t heard much about the hundreds of jobs that will go along with building this huge undertaking.

I’d be willing to bet that the people who voted against the stadium will not turn down a job to help build this three-year project. Norma L. Smith Spokane

Learn about power deregulation

Deregulation of electric power service is on a fast track, with utility companies and their largest customers rushing to get this done before the public is fully aware of what is happening.

Already in the Washington Water Power Co. service area, an experiment is under way to test deregulation for the company’s largest consumers. This program would allow these very large corporations to transfer up to one-third of their electric load to service providers other than WWP.

If approved on a permanent basis, this would leave the rest of us holding the bag for all the generation, facility and other such costs that are now partially covered by sales to these very large customers. Doubtless, our rates will go up.

According to a June 7 story in the Idaho Statesman, 35 percent of Idaho residents recently polled are opposed to deregulation, 29 percent favor it and 35 percent have no opinion.

As more people understand what is being planned for us, I predict opposition to deregulation will grow. Emilie R. Fowler Hayden Lake, Idaho