Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Reform welfare with great care

Welfare reform is a reality in Washington, but the shape of this reform is undecided. A state plan prepared by former Gov. Mike Lowry is in place, with waivers that allow for time limits and work requirements based on recent reforms. These allow greater flexibility than the federal legislation. No one expects this plan to be in place in six months, but this is a choice.

I agree with opinion editor John Webster (“Our view,” Feb. 26) on the importance of “inducements and tools for more aid recipients to become self-sufficient,” such as education, child care, community mental health services and other constructive services to accompany time limits. Services to legal immigrants also are important, especially to children, the blind and the elderly.

I fear welfare reform will eliminate the security required for forward steps without opening the doors to opportunity. In this case, we will move people out of the welfare system and into desperation and from there into our expensive medical and legal systems.

Our lawmakers face hard choices about urgent needs in the context of budget limits - and they are moral choices.

I hope lawmakers who care will refuse to set aside the Lowry plan until they genuinely are convinced that welfare reform actually will make it possible for the required 80 percent of recipients to find jobs with adequate compensation. Our legislators will need the support of informed citizens.

These complex issues require the thoughtful, thorough and balanced coverage of the print media. Welfare reform needs ongoing public discussion. Paul Clay Metaline Falls, Wash.

Teams should buy own stadiums

Why should Washington state taxpayers pay for the building of sports arenas?

While our tax money is thinly spread over existing projects, we are being asked to cough up more money just to keep teams in Washington for a limited number of fans and people who can afford to attend games.

Sports are big businesses, not nonprofit enterprises. The teams and owners should be responsible for the costs of new arenas, not the taxpayers. Susan Baier Almira, Wash.

Veto a defeat for decency

Another defeat for morality in the state of Washington. We are speaking about the recent action of Gov. Gary Locke in vetoing the ban on same-sex marriages. What a wonderful example for our children!

As born-again Christians, we are very disappointed in this veto but not surprised. God’s Word is very clear in Romans 1:26-27 that those who practice this perverted lifestyle will receive the due penalty for their perversion. God loves the sinner but he detests the sin.

What is even worse is the Legislature’s failure to override the veto. Doesn’t anyone in government have the moral backbone to stand up for the truth? Someday it will be too late.

Please join us in prayer for our nation. Dave and Beth Carlson Spokane

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Attitude a factor in lights problem

On Feb. 19-20, a segment on KREM-TV news dealt with the short duration of Spokane’s yellow lights.

It seems federal safety standards call for about 5.5 seconds for the yellow light at Division and Francis, while the actual duration is only about 3.5 seconds. The time is needed to safely stop traffic on a street of that width and speed limit.

What particularly disturbed me was the city engineer’s attitude. He said if the length of the yellow light were increased, more people would just run it anyway. That is a very abusive attitude toward Spokane drivers. It’s wrong to let personal animosity affect public safety.

This attitude probably does much to explain why traffic flow is so terrible in Spokane compared with that of almost any other city I have visited. You have to stop a dozen times driving the length of Division. That much stopping, idling and restarting contributes heavily to our pollution problem.

Is the city engineer punishing us all for the traffic indiscretions of a few by making us stop as many times as he possibly can? Safety and pollution control are his problems; traffic infractions are a police problem.

There might be many fewer red lights being run if drivers were to have a safe amount of time in which to stop. Bradley W. Donaldson Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Ease up on Mount Spokane use

When was the last time you visited Mount Spokane State Park? If you have been up there sometime in the last two or three years, you will see that there is quite a bit of human activity that goes on up there.

It seems to me that the mountain is getting more abuse than it should be; whenever I go mountain-biking at Mount Spokane, I always see fresh-cut trees and numerous ruts created by motor vehicles.

Mount Spokane State Park is among my favorite places in our region. In the summer, it’s a beautiful place to go for a bike ride or day hike. Within the park, there is thick, beautiful forest and a wide variety of wildlife. During winter, Mount Spokane is only a 45-minute drive for a great day of skiing.

Currently, the mountain’s condition seems to be in the safe zone, but if heavy recreational activity continues, the condition of the mountain may take a turn for the worst.

The park is a valuable asset to our region, and it’s also a great place to spend the day, regardless of season. On the contrary, we must lighten the loads of use and abuse upon the park so that it can maintain itself on a natural level. Fritz Nichols Spokane

It’s time to preserve forests

In the past decade, people around the world have become more environmentally aware. However, people have done little to make a difference in the deforestation of the world.

Companies continue to chop down forests, and the common person sits by and talks about change without acting to bring about change. It is our responsibility as citizens to make a difference in the deforestation of the world.

The first step that can considerably change the amount of deforestation is to use different materials for construction. Residential housing, for instance, uses a large quantity of wood. Alternative means of construction are available and it’s time to initiate their use. Steel and other forms of metal are available for wall studs. Aluminum is a practical use for roof shingles, hay is now a feasible alternative to insulation and Styrofoam is an economically justifiable solution for exterior sheathing. Right now, these options are available to the common homeowner. They are a little bit more expensive; however, we must save the forests.

When we initiate these alternatives, the forests will stop vanishing. Kevin Grimsrud Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Just skip the dirty laundry

I know it’s the vogue to try to discredit our public officials in the news whenever possible, but I fail to see where the mayor’s divorce and financial problems are the public’s business. Shame, shame on you all.

Come on, Spokesman-Review, there must be something more newsworthy in this great city to report. I am thoroughly embarrassed for our mayor, and I feel the newspaper should be embarrassed also.

It is no wonder that a lot of really good people will refuse to run for office when even their private business, which affects the public not at all, cannot remain private.

More and more, the newspaper is being used to air the soiled laundry. Mike Etten Spokane

Bad news always goes up front

I pick up the paper today and what do I find? Yet another front page article trashing the place where I live.

Don’t get me wrong - there are things that are wrong with this place. Very wrong. But it never ceases to amaze me that the littlest bit of bad publicity will get on the front page of (sadly) the only daily newspaper in this part of Washington. I am quite sure, however, that there are other small towns in this area that have just as many problems.

Also sadly, whenever there are good things to say about our city and county, they are buried on Page 14.

We are a community here. We care about one another and we do care what goes on here. We are human here just like people in every other small town in the Northwest. It’s a shame no one ever sees that except the people who live here. Pamela Martinson Newport, Wash.

Wolf story a dangerous disservice

Shame on The Spokesman-Review for publishing “Myth busters,” a grossly inaccurate article featuring wolf-hybrid breeders as “experts.”

In past articles, this paper has wisely published the sad facts and statistics regarding ownership of these animals and always has discouraged its readers from incorporating these animals into their homes and families.

I am horrified at the idea people like Bill and Nancy Taylor are profiting from these splendid animals that first and foremost belong in the wild. The Taylors were only partially correct when they stated that wolves and hybrids are not for everyone. But the truth is: These animals should not be under the care of anyone except the real experts trying to save them from other people who seem determined to exploit them.

Wolf hybrids are extremely unpredictable, especially with children or anything else the animal may perceive as weak - a fact the Taylors and this article conveniently gloss over.

You not only have given these backyard breeders some free publicity, but you also have made the wolf hybrid look like the perfect family pet. You have done a great disservice not only to the animals but also to those seeking the truth about wolves and hybrids.

Next time, be careful to get information from those who don’t have a financial stake in the raising and selling of wolves. I am confident that representatives from Wolf Haven International in Tenino, Wash., and the Humane Society will give only the most accurate information on this subject. Kerri L. Oakley Pullman

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Decision should be parents’ alone

In regard to Anne Windishar’s view on SB5592 (“Measures withhold needed facts, help,” “From both sides,” Feb. 28): Who is meddling with whom? For the last three decades, the public school sector has gotten away from what is supposed to be its primary mission: teaching.

Schools would be better off without any kind of sex, drug or social agenda.

But in the battle over your children’s minds, the public school system has seized any parental authority by using quotes such as yours regarding parents discussing sexual matters. You say, “School curriculum on sex education … gives kids age-appropriate information on sex issues. For many, it is the first and only thing they hear about the topic, since parents aren’t comfortable talking about it.”

Shouldn’t it be my choice to not talk about that subject with my child? What you call “righteous posturing” is just what I believe my child should know. When did my child not become my responsibility and become the school’s?

I have a great idea. How about we save everyone a lot of time and money and not allow inappropriate talk about sex, drugs or violence from teachers or children at school?

No, we couldn’t do that - the focus might switch to something like math, reading or science. Then parents might actually be able to influence their child’s moral thinking. Then the school might actually support the child’s parents as their child’s role model, instead of the concerned parent being labeled “fundamental,” “pious” or some other term that is meant to erode parental authority. Donald J. Caron Coeur d’Alene

Effort about ending bad reforms

Even though I’m grateful to The Spokeman-Review for covering the story, “Your basic fight for education” (March 2), I feel some important points were left out. The article reflected nothing that resembled why we were in Olympia or what was accomplished.

For example, most people who testified to return our state to a skills-based system (pro SB5890) were principals, teachers and school board members. Their testimony was well-documented, researched and very revealing. Comments they made can best be summarized by saying Goals 2000 doesn’t work. That information - not the hair spray on the bus - is news.

I was compelled to drive all night to Olympia to hear these testimonies and lend my support to SB5890, a bill to overturn Goals 2000. Currently, our tax dollars are wasted on teaching politically correct attitudes. School systems are designed to teach solid subjects such as math, reading, science and geography.

I am not against reform or federal tax dollars as the article implies. However, Goals 2000 and outcome-based education as the current reform vehicles do nothing more than try to create a paradigm shift in attitudes and behavior with education in the back seat. Tamera Lund Chewelah, Wash.

Bill seeks end to ‘trendy stuff’

Lack of substance is an understatement characterizing “Your basic fight for education,” a March 2 lead article. You were so mesmerized by the bus trip that you forgot to mention information of importance.

This information could have included why parents like myself (pictured in your paper) drove 360 miles to Olympia just to support passage of SB5890 - a bill to expel Goals 2000 and reinstate a skills-based system.

Contrary to staff writer Jeanette White’s reporting, many men were present, and testimony was largely from the education Establishment itself. Principals, teachers and school board members spoke boldly, backed by much research. They declared that after years of trying implementation, trendy outcome-based education doesn’t work. Children are not learning facts, figures and information. Too much time is spent on programs such as explicit sex education from kindergarten on; on drug programs and on teaching what’s politically correct.

One teacher bemoaned that she was not encouraged to spend time teaching traditional holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July and Washington’s birthday. However, Mother Earth Day is celebrated in a “big way.” A Western Washington school changed the Pledge of Allegiance to say “One nation under many gods.”

All this trendy stuff, my friends, is what reform is all about. Reform is failing our children and draining our wallets. SB5890 would bring common sense back into education in Washington state by returning us to a knowledge-based, subject-driven system. Dana Zerba Addy, Wash.

Iditarod a great teaching tool

I was so happy to see the huge article in the Sunday paper about the Iditarod (sled dog race in Alaska). There are many classrooms in the area that follow the Iditarod. (Hundreds of classes across the United States do, according to the Iditarod people.)

I am a second-grade teacher at Athol Elementary in Idaho. I’ve used the race as a teaching tool for every subject for eight years now. The most fun is our Iditarod Reading Race. The children’s names are posted along the trail on an Alaska map.

Each book they read and write a summary of means they move to the next checkpoint on the map. Every four checkpoints means a prize (pencil, postcard of Alaska, dog-shaped eraser, etc.), just as the mushers receive prizes as they reach certain checkpoints. Nome means 24 books have been read and a genuine dog bootee and a book, “The Story of Balto,” as prizes.

(Schools along the trail will collect discarded bootees and send them to schools if asked to do so, if postage is sent.)

We search the newspaper every day for a story about the Iditarod. We appreciate your coverage immensely! Sharon Steele Athol, Idaho