Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Rethink infrastructure choices

Recent negative interest in the Lincoln Street bridge should come as no surprise.

The conclusions of our traffic engineers that a new bridge will reduce pollution are based on assumptions that auto traffic into the downtown area will inevitably increase dramatically over time. Given our present planning, or lack thereof, this is probably, but not necessarily, so.

The bridge will have a negative impact on the beauty of the area and on non-auto access to the falls. Then there is the ever-expanding cost to the community of the bridge project. The bridge, the planned new road construction on Sprague and new Valley arterial, plus the ever-hoped-for north-south freeway will all contribute to more urban sprawl. This will ultimately lead to more pollution, degrading of the city’s core, development of rural suburbs, etc.

A wiser vision is to contain sprawl by providing commuters and shoppers with clean, easy access to the city and Valley by building an urban light rail system that could eventually link the Valley and North Side to the city core without auto pollution and disruption of neighborhoods that more roads, bridges and freeways will bring.

It’s never too late to change our course to a better way. Bob J. Riggs Spokane

We must better know, value trees

I applaud Michael J. Goodwin for comparing Spokane with Seattle when it comes to showing appreciation for the beauty of trees and other greenery. I, too, have noticed how lax Spokane is about maintaining the flora natural to Eastern Washington.

Goodwin has a great idea for encouraging volunteerism and the planting of trees. But I believe it would be just as beneficial if our city and county planners would support the maintenance of the trees we have.

I’m amazed at how many people complain about the pine needles and those “ugly old pine trees.” Why not move somewhere without trees at all?

A county Planning Department employee once had the audacity to tell me that those pine trees don’t do anything to help pollution, when I suggested that they cleaned our air. He claimed that since Palouse dust is one of our biggest problems, these trees are useless.

All trees clean our air. Billions of dust particles are caught by millions of pine needles to be eventually washed back into the soil. Pines are the right tree for this arid area because they don’t require a great deal of water. And they form a buffer on the edge of the Palouse.

When developers are allowed to bulldoze every tree before putting up a shopping center or housing development, we not only lose shade-producing and pollution-absorbing trees, but we also lose a very distinctive part of the Spokane landscape.

I hope others will demand that our planners and developers do more to preserve the trees we already have. Judy D. Gage Spokane

Voting rules create a fiasco

Has Spokane County ever had a more fouled-up election? This, at a time when every Eastern Washington “no” vote is very much needed.

When we first registered to vote in Washington more than 40 years ago, and upon our return in 1989, we were told that even though we have a post office box, we must use the residence address because the post office box address does not indicate the precinct in which we live.

Now, residence addresses cannot be used for boxholders. Many thousands of votes will be lost over this fiasco. A by-mail election may save a few dollars at the cost of very poor election results. Bill D.C. Burnette Otis Orchards

Library friends grateful for support

On behalf of the Friends of the Library, many thanks to everyone who made the downtown book sale on June 7 such a rousing success.

Thanks to members of the Friends board and other members who volunteered their time. A special thanks to Dolly Richendrfer, community relations officer for the library, who worked tirelessly orchestrating the event.

Thanks also to everyone who bought the books. You generated nearly $5,000 that will be used entirely for library programs of benefit to the public. Don R. Hornbeck, president Friends of the Spokane Public Library, Spokane

HIGHER EDUCATION

EWU top-heavy and badly led

Recently, a flurry of articles appeared about Eastern Washington University. A student wrote a moving letter commenting on a whiny professor’s lament. A story by Tracy Ellig remarked on EWU’s plan to lay off three teachers, 13 classified staff members and, notably, no administrators. Editor Chris Peck presented a summary of EWU’s woes from the administration’s point of view.

EWU’s faculty contributed to the problem. Under the concept of shared governance, the faculty has participated with the administration in bringing the institution to its financial knees. Individually, EWU’s faculty members are wonderful teachers. Collectively, they’re gluttonous financial carnivores, devouring every cent of the university’s budget for themselves. They have steadfastly ignored the institution’s interests.

EWU’s management fiascoes are well-documented. EWU’s board of trustees, Dr. Mark Drummond and his gang of political misfits have systematically dismantled the university’s traditional campus life. They have decimated EWU’s human infrastructure, the classified staff, to such an extent that remaining employees cannot properly see to the buildings, grounds or students’ needs.

The latest budget reveals the same unsuccessful thinking: Eliminate more classified staff members. EWU has 187 administrative-exempt employees, Central Washington University has 142. EWU’s administrative-exempt payroll is $2 million more than CWU’s, not including benefits. It would seem appropriate to reduce the size of the administration, since enrollment is down by almost 1,000 students.

If EWU is going to turn around, it must do so from within. Classified employees are the university’s strength. EWU needs a management team to lead them. Thomas L. McArthur Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Champions of selfishness don’t know

Two separate but equally awful letters in the June 12 “Roundtable” make some interesting, albeit ignorant, statements about poverty, hunger and mankind’s perceived moral rights.

In “Poor kids have no right to others’ food,” Chris Cathcart states that people have a right to pursue their own interests and do not have a moral duty to care for others.

Sam Cathcart, in “Welfare state is the problem,” writes about how poor people shouldn’t “covet their neighbors’ belongings.”

I can see that Chris and Sam have never been in a situation where there’s no food on the table and the kids are hungry. In today’s capitalistic world that Chris is so proud of, a household needs two parents working outside the home just to barely survive. After essential bills are paid, there usually isn’t much left for groceries. In Sam’s own little Christian theology, the answer is: I’ve got mine and to hell with the rest of you.

First, under the food stamp and commodity programs, nobody is taking anything away from anyone. Cuts that are now under way will see to it that even more people get less. Secondly, in a true Christian fashion, Sam would be taking great pains to help his neighbor. (Ever heard of the story of the good Samaritan? It’s in the Christian Bible.)

Chris is a capitalist and Sam is a Christian, yet Jesus took great pains to upset the capitalist apple cart in the synagogue (the money changers). These two must have cornered the market on blinders. Kelly D. Reinlasoder Spokane

Ill-considered treaties waste lives

When was the last time you heard of a sitting or retired president losing a son in combat? I believe it was Theodore Roosevelt, who lost his son, Kermit, in World War I.

The time when America’s prominent families sent their sons into combat is long past. Sure, John Kennedy and George Bush both fought in World War II, honoring their family names in so doing. John Kennedy’s older brother, Joe, died fighting the Nazis - a loss to his family both terrible and honorable.

Since World War II, however, for the son of a prominent family to don battle dress is virtually unknown. Accordingly, we should decry the expansion of NATO, as heralded by President Clinton and many in the Senate. They are not volunteering their own kids to fight for Poland’s security and independence. They are volunteering yours and mine.

Twentieth century history proves over and over that signing treaties unwisely compels young soldiers to go to war and die, sometimes by the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. Thus, it’s imperative that we sign treaties only with countries whose security is a vital American interest. Poland does not qualify.

How ironic that a president who declined to risk shedding his own blood in Vietnam is now pledging our kids’ blood to defend Poland. P. Norman Nelson Colbert

Highhanded Congress in the wrong

I am appalled by Congress’ total disregard for the people who were devastated by the flood in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Anyone who has friends or relatives living in the flood-stricken area should be on the phone to contact his or her congressman about holding devastated people hostage so pet projects get passed.

All disaster bills should pass Congress without any riders attached. Any member of Congress who attached a rider to the flood-relief bill for pet projects should be voted out of office, whether Republican, Democrat or independent. Bernard F. Brickweg Moscow, Idaho

BELIEFS

What may seem idolatry is not

The last paragraph of “Is it the Virgin Mary or just a water spot?” (June 6) states that “millions of Mexicans visit the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City each year to worship the image.” The writer is obviously ignorant of our teachings and belief.

Ordinarily, I would dismiss the remark but I feel it reinforces a mistaken notion already in the minds of many people who do not know what we really teach.

Catholics do not worship images. We use physical objects such as pictures, paintings and statues to remind us of the saints in heaven who are there with Jesus. When we pray, we do not pray to the specific object in front of us. We pray to the one it represents in heaven. They are more alive than we are because they are in God’s presence (biblical reference, Mark 12:26-27).

To try to put this in perspective: Let’s look inside your home, where there are displayed pictures of family, relatives and friends some not with us anymore. When you look at the photos, you recall incidents that make you happy or sad. Maybe one was sick before dying and you may have requested your friends/church members to pray for a healing. We do the same thing. We are not any different.

We do not worship images. We worship only God. Carlo J. Ferraro Spokane