Letters To The Editor

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Irresponsible pet owners, take heed

On Sunday, my mom and I were driving north on Highway 41 in Post Falls when a black dog ran across the highway and was struck by a southbound car. The driver didn’t have time to swerve or brake. We watched in horror as the dog was run over and left lying in the middle of the road.

Mom pulled her car over to the side of the road, as did the driver who hit the animal. They rushed to the animal’s side. The poor dog was crying and writhing in pain, and there was nothing any of the people who stopped could do to help him. Finally, a man pulled the dog by its tail to the side of the road and rolled him down the embankment.

This dog obviously had owners, as it had a choke chain on, but no tags.

My mom couldn’t approach the animal as it was lashing out in its pain. Finally, we drove to a phone and called the authorities.

People, please keep your pets safe by confining them to your yard or on a leash. No living being should suffer like the way this dog did. Running around loose will only result in the horror we witnessed - and the dog experienced.

My mom cried all the way home, and I was so upset I could hardly even talk. My thoughts strayed constantly to that poor animal.

It makes me angry that the owners of this beautiful dog cared so little for it that they let it run loose. Rob D. Fiessinger, age 15 Coeur d’Alene

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Communication problem is board’s

I am shocked by the North Idaho College board’s decision that resulted in the resignation of Bob Bennett.

Bennett is a man of superior integrity and competence, and a great resource to the Kootenai County educational community. He will be sorely missed.

Last Fall, I ran for a position on the board of trustees. During the previous 12 months, I spent many hours with the NIC staff to better understand relevant issues. I have taught at NIC part time for several years. During all that time I came to know Bennett quite well. His professionalism is beyond reproach. The Board will be hard pressed to find a replacement of Bennett’s caliber.

I heartily applaud the courageous efforts of the NIC students to recall the trustees.

The board should be held accountable for its actions. If the board members’ problem with Bennett was communication, they should have fixed the communication. And if that’s the best they can tell us, I suggest we have a communication problem with our board. David C. Paquin Coeur d’Alene

These Pauls aren’t that one

On May 23, your paper published a bankruptcy for David C. Paul of Post Falls. My wife and I request you clarify that the person filing bankruptcy is not Dave P. and Joanne F. Paul who live on Prairie Avenue in Post Falls. We are fairly new to the community and would like to set the record straight. I also ask that your paper be more specific when publishing future notices so it does not negatively impact uninvolved people. Dave and Joanne Paul Post Falls

Lease situation bad all around

Re: “Priest Lake lease fees go way up,” June 5.

Leases based on market value sounds great. How about real estate taxes based on market value?

Why doesn’t The Spokesman-Review look at the real problem and solutions? A few hundred leases is like looking at a pimple on a mosquito’s hind end, in comparison.

There are groups that would like to eliminate all leases. People leasing were evicted and lost cabins at Priest Lake. No leases - no income on property that has no other value. How about selling the property to leaseholders?

We don’t like the lease situation either. It is far from Utopia.

Please, get informed before exploiting such a minor issue. Jack W. Curran Priest Lake

WASHINGTON STATE

Maybe we’ll outgrow spendthrift phase

Thanks to staff writer Lynda Mapes for her research on the stadium controversy. Until last Friday, I had planned to vote yes. My wife and I follow the Seahawks on TV, and we love them.

My reasoning to vote against the bond issue grew out of an argument by a respected friend that the project is another step on a wrong road - bigger bucks for the wealthy and the rewarding of greed, paid for by ordinary people at the cost of education, roads, health care and money in our pockets. It is, my friend insisted, time to take a stand. Mapes’ article backed that with specifics.

Consider one possible scenario: The stadium doesn’t get built and the team moves, probably not to any bigger a market area than Seattle. Meanwhile, player and manager salary inflation continue. Owners and fans demand championship teams. Costs and ticket prices escalate. Franchises are crowded to the financial wall and big-time sports will begin to fail.

The leagues, public, maybe even the players, may finally bite the bullet and reform the financial affairs of big-league sports.

The U.S. is undergoing cultural adolescence. Sooner or later, with a little luck, the country will mature, discovering that, in the long term, we can’t spend without paying. But all of us know of adolescents who self-destructed. John Dalmas Spokane

Let Anaheim have team, its costs

I’m a sixth grader at Browne Elementary School. I have heard a lot about the new Seahawk Stadium proposal from the news and in the paper. I disagree with this idea.

With the way they have played in recent years, it’s not worth it. Since they only play at home eight or nine times a year, does it make sense to pay $321 million so they can play badly in a nicer place?

I agree with staff writer Linda Mapes. There are lots of things we could do with $327 million. For example, 2,335 policemen patrolling the streets for five years. Eighty-two new schools or up-to-date textbooks in all the schools. We could have just about anything else we want or need. You could give it to me and I would put it to good use.

The Seahawks are threatening to move to Anaheim, Calif., if we don’t give them a new stadium. Tell them if they want a new stadium so bad, build it in Anaheim. Randall A. Ruiz Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Nethercutt says one thing, does another

After reading an article in the May 31 Spokesman-Review I find it interesting to note that Rep. George Nethercutt now resides in our nation’s capital, something Nethercutt repeatedly condemned his adversary for during his first campaign, in 1994.

He continues to support legislation the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional: term limits. He also refuses to account for the legality of certain contributions made to his congressional campaign by individuals known to have already made illegal contributions to Republicans (an Othello farmer’s contributions to Dale Foreman’s failed gubernatorial bid as reported by The Spokesman-Review, 1996 Republican primaries).

Additionally, he has explicitly stated he has no intention of making a career of politics but now is publicly contemplating seeking other elected offices. This affirms Nethercutt’s lack of integrity and trustworthiness. And that, of course, reflects poorly on his self-proclaimed capability to help lead this nation. N.G. Hannon Spokane

Republicans latest hostage takers

President Clinton vetoed the Republicans’ emergency flood relief bill, as he had promised to do. House Speaker Newt Gingrich then blamed Clinton for opposing disaster relief.

Aren’t Republicans the ones who took the extra time and legislative effort to turn the emergency flood relief bill into the emergency flood relief, government shutdown, census survey reform, roads through parks, endangered species, etc., bill?

If Republicans really had the best interests of the flood victims at heart, they could have quickly appropriated funds for just disaster relief. Clinton long ago said he would sign such a bill. The Republicans have instead tried to use this bill to force their ideological politics and pork barrel projects into law by using middle class American citizens as economic hostages.

Recent headlines told about another political group that took hostages to try to push their own ideology down the government’s throat. That took place in Peru, and the Republicans praised President Fujimori for not giving in to “political terrorists.” Why is it that Republicans think Clinton should give in to their hostage taking?

In 1994, Gingrich and the Republicans promised us it would no longer be government as usual. Gingrich has been true to his word. The Republicans have now raised political warfare to a whole new level by using middle class Americans devastated by a natural disaster as little more than pawns.

Will our Republican representatives ever take a real interest in the well-being of middle class citizens? Or are we nothing but prospective hostages for their political games? Vern P. Stevens Moscow

Amtak not worth its high cost

Elizabeth Schuett’s “Don’t you dare derail Amtrak” forgets one important thing. Amtrak is bleeding the nation to death with its demand for more and more tax money to pay for a non-profitable operation.

Amtrak is in the history books with the Wells Fargo Express that crossed the plains in horse-drawn buggies carrying mail and people. It had to give up and so should Amtrak.

Another thing Schuett forgets is that if you want to see the “amber waves of grain,” the mountains, etc., instead of driving your own automobile, take Greyhound. Its buses have comfortable seats, large windows, rest stops at which you can relax and eat, and you can arrange the whole trip to be made in daylight, which you can’t do on Amtrak.

If you like paying taxes for an outmoded and antiquated system of travel, by all means keep Amtrak. You will never live long enough to see it pay its way. F.T. Westmeyer Coeur d’Alene