Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Situation a conflict of interest

On June 23, a hearing on 26 pages of proposed amendments to Ordinance 159, Section 2.02, Case OA-64-96, was held.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just more wording and clarification changes to an ordinance. This is a repeat procedure that Kootenai County Commissioner Dick Compton uses to validate a decision he made to overturn the hearing examiner’s decision to deny a business in a rural zone.

That business, this time, is Associated Logging Contractors Inc. The hearing examiner’s decision was based on the comprehensive plan. Compton’s was not.

Remember another case involving a gravel pit over the aquifer, sanctioned by Compton and Commissioner Dick Panabaker? Then they had an ordinance changed to validate that decision.

In this case, the words “business league” are inserted in the nonprofit portion to validate their decision to allow a business owned by a friend, Jack Buell, Benewah County commissioner, to operate in a rural zone.

Compton openly states that he has been in that business building many times. I wonder why a county commissioner would frequent a private business that is for members only. Perhaps he should excuse himself from any deliberations due to a conflict of interest.

Better yet, have his friend move the business back to a commercial zone - where it was before the good ol’ boys started playing favorites. Gail Carter Coeur d’Alene

Case of ‘do as I say’?

Many of us know the work of the building inspectors. In fact, my elderly neighbor, who was putting a small overhang above her back door, was slapped with a stop-work order. She didn’t have a building permit.

Mica Flats Grange was putting up a small woodshed-type lean-to and was slapped with a stop-work order; it didn’t have a permit.

But, incredibly, Jack Buell, a Benewah County commissioner, and his company, Associated Logging Contractors Inc., remodeled a half-finished home and a barn for business purposes and they were not slapped with a stop-work order for not having a building permit. Nor were any building permit updates on file for either of these projects.

Now we know how diligent the building inspectors are. So I don’t think it was an oversight on their part that Associated Logging was not required to obtain an updated permit. The permit for the barn expired in 1991. Perhaps the inspectors were told not to be so diligent by the man who writes their paychecks. Isn’t this blatant favoritism? Jeanine L. Broderick Coeur d’Alene

Hospital taxpayers want a hearing

Taxpayers and patrons of the tax-supported East Shoshone Hospital Taxing District demand to be heard in any discussions about the disposition of our doctors who are being evicted from the county hospital and facilities.

We demand to be included in decisions made by questionable hospital board members and directors. We pay their salaries, yet we’re being denied equal representation. We request a public hearing.

We ask that Shoshone County commissioners respond to this request and that the public be notified of the details of this hearing. Brenda J. Auld Wallace

‘Rooster’s crow is nothing’

In regard to the June 18 article, “Nobody sleeps in siren vs. rooster war”:

William S. Prickett thinks a crowing rooster is a nuisance? A train passes every 15 minutes just two blocks from our house in Athol. A rooster’s crow is nothing compared with the blasting of a train whistle. Do you think, perhaps, I could borrow your air-raid siren, Prickett?

If I can’t get a good night’s sleep, why should my neighbors? It’s definitely time to fight back. It’s the mature thing to do, now isn’t it, Prickett? Taryn Anna Hecker Athol, Idaho

Officials see Joe Camel as cash cow

I hold no sympathy for tobacco companies. I quit smoking five years ago. The hypothetical pronouncement of state politicians about the billions to be paid in retribution by the tobacco companies is pure bunk and needs comment.

All the talk of youth and health means nothing. What state officials want and are going to get is billions of dollars pumped into coffers to be used as they see fit. It isn’t about health or kiddies; it is about money, lots of it, and that is the bottom line. Lee Corrigan Rathdrum, Idaho

THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD

Take sympathies to Iraq

I take exception to Al Mangan’s June 16 letter, “U.S. starves innocent Iraqis.” Just who does he think was responsible for all the Gulf War diseases, the plundering of neighboring Kuwait and the atrocities committed against the Kurds?

He asks for a raising of American voices and the American people putting a stop to this. Well, Americans are fed up with feeding the defeated, i.e. North Koreans. Isn’t it about time we stop feeding enemies and transfer those funds to eliminating the national debt, reducing our atrocious tax load and feeding our own hungry?

If Mangan is so hellbent on solving their food and supply problem, I suggest he use his savings to go to Iraq himself and help them out. Dary D. Liepelt Colbert

Representatives correct about U.N.

I highly commend Reps. George Nethercutt (R-Spokane) and Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho) for voting in favor of getting the United States out of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, too few legislators’ constituents have voiced their opinions to them, their constituents are ignorant as to the goals of the United Nations, or they, too, would have encouraged their legislators to vote yea with Nethercutt and Chenoweth. Without our voices, our elected officials vote blindly or through their personal feelings.

The United States should remain just that and not just be one of the United Nations of the world. Richard A. Wiltse Sr. Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Mothers’ selfishness must be curbed

I applaud staff writer Rebecca Nappi for her June 17 editorial on women who leave their children with “unbonded” boyfriends. It’s about time that the community becomes outraged at this horrific problem.

I am heartbroken every time I read about these men who throw children around as if they were rag dolls, seriously injuring, sometimes killing, them.

What’s wrong with these women that they need a man so badly they will ignore warning signs? Their selfish needs come before the health, welfare and life of an innocent child? What kind of woman would choose a man over her child? A woman such as this does not deserve to be a mother when there are so many good, caring people who are unable to have children.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum, where good parents are afraid to discipline their children for fear of being labeled as child abusers. Our society must find a middle ground - and we must find it quickly, before any more children are killed.

To women who can’t live without a man: Please, seek counseling or give your children to someone who will care for them before it’s too late. Never, never leave them with your boyfriend. Annie Tomson Spokane

Father’s actions wrong, damaging

On June 13 at about 12:30 p.m., I was parked at the Albertsons at Liberty Lake when the driver of a newer, small red car stopped beside me. A man and three children were in the car. The man got out of the car, yanked the oldest girl from the back seat and hit her. He continued to do this four or five times.

Each time after he’d let her get back into the car, he would yell at her and she would cry and yell back. Then he would yank her out and hit her again. The girl looked to be about 10.

This man is setting his daughter (she called him daddy) up to believe that when someone is upset with you, it’s acceptable for him or her to hit you. I firmly believe this is where domestic violence starts.

If you recognize yourself in this letter, please get help for yourself and your daughter. I’m sorry I didn’t do something but I didn’t know what to do. Gail R. McCandless Spokane

Commentary underscores what’s right

Thank you for printing the commentary, “Boyfriend, state are poor substitutes,” (Opinion, June 13). It’s stated that parental consent for abortion is not an issue involving one’s ethical views about abortion but rather an issue of a parent or guardian’s right and responsibility to assist an inexperienced child to make a decision that will affect her whole future - a future that may be filled with complications of a botched legal abortion, depression and even death.

Those are a few reasons why God, out of great love, guides his people to not murder.

William N. Maston Spokane More power to Brooks, song sentiment I read the June 15 article Olivette Orme wrote regarding Meredith Brooks’ song, “Bitch.” But it was not until I read the letter from Wendy L. Heward (“‘Bitch’ label a badge of honor,” June 20) that I felt moved to write in response to both.

Bravo for Heward; she said it so damn well. I agree with her that the word “bitch” is a powerful word. I am a 60-year-old career woman who has had the epithet uttered by disgruntled men. It still makes my heart race to think that we women have the ability to direct our own lives, even if it means being called a bitch.

My 14-year-old granddaughter and her friends sing the song proudly and loudly, and I applaud them for it. I prefer songs that empower women, as opposed to the ones that are so popular with the men, where the women are just bitches and ho’s and neither is meant with any respect.

Brooks’ words have a significant meaning to many young girls and make a positive statement.

As for Orme’s comments regarding our safe and comfortable America, Orme needs to get in touch with reality. Not every young girl lives in her safe haven, as Heward bravely pointed out.

I support music, books and poetry that empower our young women, that make them think positively of themselves.

Jann A. Williams Spokane Health and safety Winfrey voiced a legitimate beef The June 17 “Corner office” article stated that Oprah Winfrey is being sued by some cattlemen under a 1995 Texas law that protects agricultural products from slander.

It seems that Oprah made an “anti-burger” statement on her show after a mad cow disease specialist made his presentation. The cattlemen claimed that their prices went down for a few weeks. I’ve considered myself a supporter of ranches and farms, especially small ones, and I certainly never thought I’d be defending a talk show host. However, I would like to register my support of Oprah. When I studied biology in high school, I learned that cows are herbivores. Their digestive systems are not set up to eat ground-up beef and other animal parts. I also learned that ours is a civilized society with certain taboos to keep us in line. It seems to me that feeding a cow animal parts is disregarding some basic biology lessons, if not a very reasonable taboo. A tribe of New Guinea headhunters has for many generations violated a basic taboo of civilized life by eating their own kind. Now, it has been discovered that that tribe has a high rates of degenerative brain illness very similar to mad cow disease.

If cowboys want to sell more beef, they’re going to have to show potential customers that they’re doing the right thing. They will get their reputation back. In the meantime, since I do love a good burger occasionally, I’ll continue to request organically and naturally raised beef, the same way I ask for my coffee and vegetables.

Penelope A. O’Hara Coeur d’Alene