Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Street crews are working on potholes

I am impressed with the city of Spokane’s pothole crews. While at times I feel I have waged a one-woman campaign to fix all the potholes on my daily route to work and back, I can attest that they have fixed every pothole I have reported to them, so far. Twelve holes are no longer holes!

Thank you, city crews, for an excellent job. Thank you for keeping my wheels in alignment. Please keep up the good work. Kathy Altieri Spokane

Council got one thing right: Pupo

Hurrah! The City Council did one thing beneficial to our city that is recognizable: it appointed Bill Pupo as city manager. It also probably saved $25,000 or so by not hiring a recruiting consultant.

Now, if we could remove the three bureaucratic pensioners from the council along with the mayor next election, replacing them with young, energetic Bill Pupo-type people, the city would move forward.

I hope Pupo cleans the entire city staff of bureaucrats and deadwood within the next year. With the savings, he’ll fix our potholes, also. Dave Olson Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

State policy wasteful, hurting people

The Feb. 21 Spokesman-Review included an article about four developmentally disabled men living in a pump house on a farm south of Spokane. The four lived in conditions too bad for animals.

Newspapers at the time were full of the terrible conditions at a dog farm in the Newport, Wash., area. Thousands of words were written about these dogs in many newspapers across the United States. The story about the four men did not even get reported as far away as Seattle.

Has human life come to mean so little?

Within a few miles of this farm is a state institution with four empty cottages, each capable of housing 15 developmentally disabled people in warm, safe, friendly conditions, with clean beds, warm water for showers, many things to occupy their lonely hours, good food and someone to help them with their problems. Lakeland Village was set up so this sort of thing would not happen to our most vulnerable citizens.

A few years back, some do-gooder types decided that no one could live a fulfilled life except on their own in a community, so Lakeland has been downsized and a lot of people who need these services are out on their own.

No new residents have been allowed entrance in the last several years and now all these houses must be heated and maintained, even though no none is allowed to live in them.

The time has come for us to demand that the state facilities are used to their fullest. Donald Hudson Rosalia, Wash.

GMA not rip-off some claim it is

Curt Messex’s March 3 letter lauding property rights over the common good is the argument at the root of the Growth Management Act and the reason we should thank the Legislature for recognizing the shortcomings of the current law but keep intact the spirit of the law.

The “common good” is not some socialist point of view, as Messex stated. Rather, it is the means by which we live together in an increasingly populous world. One individual’s expression of property rights may be another’s property destruction, as people polled by The Spokesman-Review may have recognized when they responded that they approve of growth management even though they may not have full knowledge of the law.

Recognition of property rights is, as Messex stated, as old as the Constitution and it has been interpreted by the courts to warrant due compensation. That doesn’t mean a guaranteed investment return.

However, GMA is not seizing property. It is defining a boundary within which we, as a community, can provide services to a population and that population can afford to pay for them.

Services are, for example, roads, which we have found to be costly to pave and maintain and for which there is currently no money. It’s unreasonable to assume that we should continue to build more roads when we cannot maintain those in existence.

It’s our good fortune that the Legislature and our county commissioners recognize the need for planning so citizens will be able to afford living in this community in the future. Pam Behring Spokane

SALUTE

Archer was a fine man, friend

It’s not an everyday occasion, to celebrate the life of a true American. A person who could see through our self-serving mire. A person who based his decisions on logic, not greed.

Another empty suit? No way, not Michael Archer. Archer was a man, a free spirit, a friend.

Michael Archer, an American patriot, may you rest in peace. Steve Thompson Spokane

ABORTION

Cause more than justifies protest

As part of the Monday morning abortion protest in front of Rogers High School, I was shocked at school Principal Wallace Williams’ power-down remarks recorded in this newspaper: “City officials should consider an ordinance to keep the protesters farther from school property.”

If that is what he said, I suggest he linger in thought about Martin Luther King’s protests of the 1960s. I also suggest he remember the idea basis for King’s demonstrations enacting the heart and center of Bible teaching - that lies and injustice cannot be tolerated.

What is the truth? What is the injustice? We explain by a picture showing a developing baby bloodied and torn from the sanctuary of his or her warm, protected home during his or her most tender moment of growth and well-being.

He or she is like the curly-haired, Technicolor child in “Schindler’s List.” Years of life and love ahead, but those in power say no.

Against such brutality, I protest. Jerry Malone, pastor Cheney Community Church

Cause mistaken and protest senseless

What rock do some of these right-to-life advocates crawl from under? As if high school isn’t hard enough and filled with enough distractions, they are forcing their beliefs on young and impressionable minds.

When Jerry Malone said he hoped “it would stimulate some classroom discussion,” I couldn’t help but wonder where he was getting his inspiration.

Let’s be realistic. We are talking about 14- to 18-year-olds. If they make the mistake of getting pregnant, it would be a bigger mistake for a child to carry a child to term. Not to mention the fact that it is dangerous at that young age, why compound the disaster by forcing a child to go through with a pregnancy?

If Lifeline Ministries wants to save every pregnancy, let them sign up to support the baby and put the mother through high school and college so she can be an asset to herself and her child.

They are great at preaching to others. I support their right to express their beliefs but think their choice of location and audience was a no-brainer, when there are hundreds of malnourished and undereducated children and abused women in this country who need help.

The students showed more maturity than the demonstrators did. Malone should look at the entire message from his God, not select bits and pieces. Mark W. Harry Mead

Bid to keep women subservient

The actions of high school student Rebecca Johnson (“Rogers students face abortion protest” News, March 4) are commendable.

Johnson has obviously been raised to value independent thinking. It took courage to assert her own values to a group of adults trying to impose their own onto her. Young people, girls especially, are vulnerable to attacks on their values simply because older people, men especially, have the power and freedom to do so.

Historically, women and girls have been treated as property. As such, we do not have the privilege of basic human rights, such as the power to choose for one’s self; property cannot choose, but has decisions made for it by those who own it. This elite and privileged group will not forfeit their control of the property for any reason.

This is the essence of why abortion is thrown into the political limelight. If members of the elite group gave birth, abortion would be considered a private, rather than political, matter, and day care would be readily available on job sites free of charge.

Yes, abortion is an ugly, horrifying act. It is as horrifying as treating women and girls as property. D’Andra B. Robb Pullman

Protesters really unwelcome meddlers

In response to Operation Rescue picketing at our public schools, this sensitive situation should be handled by interested, involved parents, teachers and friends, one to one, not by strangers on the street.

Why should a handful of people be allowed to send negative, unhappy thoughts to our public school children? We as parents, guardians, teachers, and friends are responsible for their well-being in our homes and schools. Now, Operation Rescue wants to put another distraction in their young lives. This is brainwashing at it’s worst. E.J. Peterson Spokane

Students can learn from this

After the recent Operation Rescue abortion protests at Rogers High School, I hope educators can seize these teachable moments.

Regardless of one’s view of abortion, regardless of the language (fetus, child, etc.) one uses, no one can deny the enormous impact of this issue. Though they cannot speak, the unborn have deeply affected our nation. Particularly in the wake of changing “facts” about partial-birth abortion, this issue seems particularly relevant.

Consider how teachers could use this protest as a springboard for additional topics in the classroom. Interpersonal communication, conflict management, First Amendment rights, developmental biology and statistics could be easily addressed and connected to this current event. As many high school teachers are eager to cultivate critical thinking skills in their students, I hope they will take advantage of this opportunity.

Ironically, administrators seem to be clamoring for a controversy-free zoning ordinance, while beckoning students away from the controversial protesters. This intended protection may send a dangerous message. Perhaps from these actions, students will learn that America’s great debates should be ignored. David Pommer Pullman