Letters To The Editor

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Help us eliminate hunger in U.S.

A widespread disease is afflicting our nation. This sickness strikes children, the elderly, the disabled and low-income families throughout the United States. This illness has almost been wiped out in all the other industrialized nations and could be eradicated in the United States as well.

The disease is called hunger. The cure, in part, requires the commitment of the federal government to provide a national nutritional safety net. However, last year, the federal government retreated from this commitment and to ensuring an adequate diet for families in our country. Last year’s welfare bill included steep cuts to the food stamp program.

This year, Bread for the World, a nationwide Christian citizen’s anti-hunger movement, has launched a campaign called Tell Congress Hunger Has a Cure. We will work to pass federal legislation to improve and expand the national nutritional programs, notably the food stamp program and the Special Supplemental Nutritional Program for Women Infants and Children.

It’s important that our members of Congress support Hunger has a Cure legislation. Write or call your senators and representatives today.

No child should go to bed hungry in the richest nation in the world. A. Jo Austin Post Falls

Capital gains tax cut fair, needed

There has been much talk in recent months about a possible capital gains tax cut. Battle lines have been drawn and a fight is imminent.

Capital gains are the profits made from selling investments, such as a home or stocks. The current tax on these gains is 28 percent, and congressional Republicans are pushing for a drop to 19 percent. Opponents of a cut say that it’s unfair because it benefits the wealthy disproportionately.

While it is true the wealthy would benefit most from a tax break, it would also provide great help to farmers and middle class families. One good suggestion is a $500,000 capital gains tax exemption for couples selling a primary residence, every two years.

Also, current tax rates on capital gains make it nearly impossible for many farmers to leave their property to their children.

A capital gains tax cut is an essential benefit to our country’s working class and farmers. It is important that our congressmen know that a cut is supported. Jana A.L. Hardy Spokane

Murray vote on abortion courageous

I am writing on behalf of the Clergy Advisory Committee for Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman counties. We applaud Sen. Patty Murray’s vote on HR1122 and appreciate her courage in taking a stand for a woman’s right to choose.

We firmly believe that the attempts to regulate late-term abortions unnecessarily intrude upon medical decisions most properly made by a woman and her doctor. As members of the clergy, we are often called upon to stand with people as they make difficult decisions regarding their lives and matters of reproduction. Because of this, we are particularly concerned that all options remain open to families facing hard choices.

Our thanks to Murray for taking this stand. We recognize that it was a vote made in the face of a great deal of pressure from people who hold beliefs different than ours. We want Murray to know that many people of faith stand with her. The Rev. Linda A. Hart Spokane

Integrity too rare in public life

Don’t confuse political integrity with political correctness or party loyalty.

The definition of integrity is honesty, virtue, honor, morality and principle. Integrity does not imply intelligence, nor is intelligence required. A con man is generally smart but lacks integrity.

We seldom find political figures who meet the test of integrity. That must include performing the duties they were elected, appointed or hired for. Personal agendas and political fund raising are not included in those job descriptions.

We need only to watch the “Fleecing of America,” “60 Minutes” and the many news articles about the tobacco industry and their testimony in congressional hearings to understand that position, status, intelligence or wealth does not guarantee integrity. Many cases of theft and corruption are just plain stupidity, but they don’t seem to be the rule. Efforts to cover up the wrongdoing of party members are well established.

The effort to find something in President Clinton’s past and the tremendous amounts of money that have been spent to no avail are a shame. Very possibly, Clinton has questionable things in his past. But as the Bible says, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Self-preservation is the name of the game, not interest in doing the country’s business. Basic honesty and an honest effort to promote the interests of people they took an oath to serve would be a vast improvement. Richard B. “Dick” Hopp Spokane

THE MILITARY

Adultery? Worry about savagery

The garish display of laundry in the Kelly Flinn spectacle often reminded me of your May 16 editorials.

Apparently on opposing sides, staff writer Jamie Neely and Opinion editor John Webster shared the tendency to make this controversy a matter of honor, either for women or the military.

This affair should tell Americans that the witch hunt, the hunters and the hunted all reflect national values horribly distorted by the willingness to believe the military exists for the good of the people.

Neely seems to feel sexism is the last great flaw in the military. Webster insists someone with mass destruction at her or his fingertips should be “of the highest moral character.”

Moral priorities are amazing. Adultery, glorified among people of wealth and power, becomes treasonous when military women are involved. Murder, punished harshly when committed by the poor and desperate, is glorified as contemplated by the squeaky-clean, highly educated B-52 crew soaring high above any holocaust it leaves.

Adultery is not one of my crimes, but it would lie more gently upon my conscience than the misery I caused as a warrior. Imagine enforcing moral standards among those trained to kill thousands in the blink of an eye. Double standards are among the best results that can be wished for.

This system has somehow made Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf appear stellar examples of the humanity they so recklessly butchered in the name of national security. Would that they had stooped no lower than adultery in their obedience to precious orders. Citizen Flinn has been made an example from which we refuse to learn. L. Rusty Nelson Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Logging a contributor, not a threat

Regardng Paul Lindholdt’s May 30 letter, “Stop logging in public forests”:

Obviously, Lindholdt is using the good old tactic of scaring people into believing that logging on public land is am immoral act of destruction. Logging is a valuable resource for managing land and utilizing renewable natural resource products.

Currently, there are 2.8 million acres of old growth forests on federal lands; 1.5 million acres are preserved forever. The remainder is currently set a side for noncommodity uses and protection for spotted owls and marbled murrelets.

In fact, less than 50 percent of the land has been logged - far from the 95 percent Lindholdt claims.

Since federal land is exempt from local property taxes, Congress directed 25 percent of national forests’ gross receipts be paid to counties for schools and roads. I guess since Lindholdt would like to stop the sale of timber, he can pay the $30 million to $40 million that the Forest Service gives local governments in Washington state.

The sale of renewable natural resources, including timber, is the backbone of America’s economy and culture. All the logging and mill workers who are displaced can get jobs serving burgers to all the tourists who can afford to travel.

Times have changed. Foresters and loggers are learning new ways to harvest timber, ways better for wildlife, timber, water and humans.

Please, Lindholdt, learn the facts and stop spreading misinformation. Jerry K. Emerson Wilbur, Wash.

Environmentalists’ strategy backfired

People love to hate. So, promoters of professional wrestling stage hero versus villain. Most adults realize this is an act. The grudge match between the environmental groups and the timber corporations also is suspect.

When the most visible land on Snoqualmie Pass was clearcut, the “nonprofit” environmental corporations profited by increased donations. When these groups used the spotted owl to shut down most logging on federal land, the artificial lumber shortage that was created made billions for the lumber corporations. All their inventory of logs and lumber as well as their millions of acres of timberland almost doubled in value.

Who needs friends when their enemies treat them this well? Joe W. Bloomsburg Worley, Idaho

HIGHER EDUCATION

Legislators behind quality loss

Some recent letter writers have criticized Eastern Washington University for large class size and have blamed the administration. The letters are a bit off target.

Ironically, EWU has the lowest faculty-student ratio of any of our state universities. At any other, the average class size would be larger, even much larger.

For example, I had two sons graduate from Washington State University. Both, as seniors, had classes - in their majors - of over 300 students. Thus, parents and students who want senior faculty to be accessible have a much better chance of finding this at EWU.

Second, it is not fair to place all the blame for canceling smaller classes on our administration. While there seems to be ever-increasing faculty chagrin with its leadership (as well as disgust with a willfully obtuse board of trustees), in this case, much of the blame must go to misguided legislators.

Formerly, small classes and individual attention were considered hallmarks of educational quality. Unfortunately, many legislators now equate quality with what they call “productivity,” as if education were merely information transfer, and they have ordered EWU to increase its faculty-student ratio.

I’m retiring, after 27 years here. Over that span I have seen us consistently provide good teaching, with few exceptions, for the thousands of very fine students we have graduated. This, I believe, is what parents and students are chiefly concerned about.

Too bad our “leaders” don’t choose to publicize that, and that our legislators have forgotten how it’s achieved. Donald C. Wall EWU Department of English, Cheney

OTHER TOPICS

Total marijuana ban senseless

Marijuana should be used as a medicine.

It has been shown to reduce vomiting and nausea in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy. It has improved the appetite of AIDS patients, reduced the pain and muscle spasms of people with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses.

The federal government says it will fund a $1 million review of literature on medical marijuana, yet it has refused to do a clinical study, which is what’s really needed. There is clear evidence that marijuana has much potential value medically, but the government has opposed it at every step.

What we are talking about here is what’s in the best interest of people suffering from illnesses, not 16-year-olds smoking pot with their friends. How is it that doctors can prescribe morphine, a drug which is more harmful and addictive to the human body, but are not able to prescribe marijuana? It doesn’t make sense. Erik A. Kelley Bonners Ferry

I wish to clarify comments

Re: “Tot goes home without father” (May 21):

Reporter Dan Hansen’s simplification of my comments, perhaps to polarize the views, has given your readers misinformation. I also have received numerous calls from colleagues questioning whether I had said what he attributed to me. I did not.

First, I clarified I could make no predictions about Dylan, that I could only address what was known about trauma, development and memory relevant to the event.

Second, I clarified that the cultural and family context of an event was much more powerful than any event in and of itself. Further, I clarified that patterns of events were much more powerful than any event in isolation.

Third, I explained that memories were modified by developmental stage, context and time. I said that it was unlikely someone would have a memory of an event that occurred at age 19 months separate from stories they had heard about the event.

Fourth, I gave information on the much more common resilience that researchers are finding among children.

This is a fascinating area of research, in part because there is so much misinformation about childhood trauma. Laura Asbell, Ph.D. Spokane

Don’t accept blame shifting

Re: Lynn Stuter’s May 27 letter, “Look at system at odds with parents.”

A child must be taught to accept responsibility for his own actions. It’s all too easy to say someone else made them do it.

My children were taught right from wrong. To say that someone else was to blame was never an acceptable response. That would have told me and others that they were stupid, and I knew better. If they were involved with mischief, then they alone made the decision to go along with it, not someone else.

The bottom and the first line is that the basic values are learned at home. Joyce C. Hoffman Spokane

Parking enforcement too lax

Nancy J. Keller’s letter, “Enforce our way to better streets” (June 1), hit the nail on the head. She could have gone one step further, however.

What about the parking fines for parking on the wrong side of the street? It’s also illegal to park on the sidewalk, which can be seen in many residential areas in town. How often do you see vehicles stop a full car length past the stop line and block a pedestrian lane?

If the Spokane Police Department would get serious about enforcing the traffic laws, there are thousands of dollars per day available in traffic fines alone. J.E. Johnson Veradale

Tribe’s request reasonable, not stupid

In his Sunday column, editor Chris Peck called “stupid” the request by the Colville Tribes that Colville High School change the name of its Indians sports teams.

This request is part of a long line of heartfelt actions by Native Americans to regain their full self-respect in America. In the mid-1960s, Native American students at Stanford University convinced the student body and faculty senate that Stanford Indians was an inappropriate name, and offensive to their personal and tribal human dignity. Although the team mascot, a real Native American called Prince Lightfoot, graced the field of play with authentic native regalia and dance, he held no true ties to the racial or cultural composition of the teams or the student body. Stanford honored the reasonable request and became the Stanford Cardinals.

In the 30-odd years since then, hundreds of schools across the nation have replaced names like Indians, Chiefs, Braves and Savages with ones not offensive to the proud and sovereign race of peoples native to North America. It is time that Colville High School did the same. Phil Branch, member Upper Columbia Human Rights Commission, Colville, Wash.