Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Look beyond golf courses
Re: the county commissioners’ denial of hotel tax revenue for the Spokane Symphony:
I hope the commissioners have heard the Spokane Symphony Orchestra perform one of its free concerts at Comstock Park or heard its exhilarating performance with Arnaldo Cohen last Friday, playing Rachmaninoff. If they have, I’m sure they will reconsider their decision to renege on promised funding.
While I am mindful of Spokane’s investment in our golf courses, the commissioners need to know that the symphony and its many musicians are assets equally as beautiful and important to this community as our golf courses.
These musicians give so much more back to the community than they ask of it. The small part the county is being asked to play to ensure the symphony’s continued excellence should be encouraged. Quality of Spokane life means so much more than well-manicured golf courses. Nancy L. Isserlis Spokane
Ante up for our vital arts
Giving expression to heart and mind, critiquing life and community, providing insight into ethical issues and erupting into unspeakable beauty, the arts lie at the heart and soul of every thinking city. Spokane is blessed with great artistry in both performing and nonperforming genres.
Artistic organizations were hard hit by this winter’s ice storm, resulting in low ticket sales and attendance at performances. That majestic bit of our city artistry, the Spokane Symphony, received a double blow, with the county commissioners reneging on a commitment and adding another $17,000 to the shortfall. Not only does the commissioners’ action contribute to a dollar crisis, their gross insult strikes a blow to artists’ morale.
I hope we will not be content to leave it there, that we will send a clear message to the commissioners and the artists.
Certainly there are thousands of us in this town who are capable and interested enough to send $100 to the Symphony. I’m sure we have another thousand who can do the same for other artistic organizations, such as the performing theaters. Some of us will be in both groups.
To no little degree, the arts are the vibrant city’s guts. Therefore, my two checks are already in the mail. Come on now, let’s all ante up! Gerald M. Ford Spokane
Restore $17,000 to symphony
The draw of tourists by the Spokane Symphony warrants committing $17,000 hotel tax money to the symphony. A case in point is the story of our trips from Lewiston to hear the symphony, which helped us decide to retire here.
More importantly, experiencing classical music firsthand enlivens the spirit and produces a ripple of beauty extending beyond our being. As children in Boston and St. Louis, we awakened to Prokofiev via “Peter and the Wolf,” and to great opera. Our first project when we moved to Spokane was to purchase season tickets to the Spokane Symphony.
Children in the Spokane area require the stimulus of Spokane Symphony visits to their schools to lift them from the mundane beat of “popular” music. After all, Verdi’s was the street music of Italy. Spokane can do the same with Bernstein and Copeland if we feel this music in our guts - done best by experiencing it live.
In the interest of our community’s soul, encourage our Spokane Symphony by restoring the $17,000. The Rev. Carol and Ciro Bommarito Spokane
A pledge is a pledge
Your March 7 article states that the county commissioners pledged $17,000 to the Spokane Symphony for this year’s operation. We fail to see where there is any room for discussion. The commissioners either fulfill their pledge or the integrity of the body as a whole is forever questionable.
The fact that Commissioner Kate McCaslin was not there when the pledge was made is irrelevant. Carmel and Robert Mullin Spokane
Bring on that bridge
I just read the March 9 Bottom Lines. When you state “nobody wants the proposed Lincoln Street Bridge,” you are wrong. I have lived here all my life and believe the plan as presented is very good. I am a citizen who does want it. Byron L. Swanson Spokane
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Suspect fen/phen was factor in death
After reading Dianne Stradling Denenny’s March 8 Your Turn, I must add my voice to the fen/phen debate.
I lost my only sister, who was 45, on Feb. 11, after it was learned that, from out of nowhere, she had a heart condition. Guess what wonderful diet she had found just a few months before? That’s right - fen/phen.
My sister’s cardiologists are both still investigating the situation and my family has promises from them that if it was the fen/phen, they will take it all the way to Washington, D.C., if they have to. I would be happy to testify in order to remove this drug from the market.
Want to lose weight? Eat less and exercise.
Want to live? Get off - or better yet, never take - the fen/phen diet pill. Stephen Baker Spokane
Bill is camel’s nose under tent
In the March 3 Public Periscope, “No need to come to a boil,” the writer is off base saying “It (SB5321) also directs the state Health Department to ‘promote the addition of fluoride to communities with public water systems serving over 1,000 connections’ … Promote is far different than ‘require’ …”
Webster’s Dictionary defines promote as “To move forward, advance, to further.” Thus, the facts are that passage of SB5321 would advance fluoridation throughout Washington.
Recent scientific studies link drinking fluoridated water to an increase of bone cancer in young males (Appendix E, “Review of Fluoride Benefits and Risks,” Feb. 1991, Public Health Service; Nov. 8, 1992, N.J. Department of Health study); hip fractures in the elderly (Journal of the American Medical Association, Aug. 12, 1992); dental caries and gum disease in children (Chemical & Engineering News, July 27, 1992; Science News, March 3, 1994; and ADA News, Oct. 7, 1996); motor dysfunction, IQ deficits, learning disabilities in humans (Vol. 17, No. 2, 1995 Neurotoxicology and Teratology).
Building and maintaining fluoridation plants is costly. Six months after Seattle fluoridated, water rates increased 50 percent.
Not fluoridating the public water supply does not cancel anyone’s opportunity to use fluorides from many other sources, if they choose, but it respects the rights of individuals who want to avoid fluoride to protect their health.
At a time when money for health care is under surveillance, a bill promoting removal of fluoridation in Washington would result in enormous savings in dollars and human lives. Betty Fowler Spokane
Risk takers authors of own tragedy
I extend my sympathy to the family and friends of the person killed by an avalanche while “high-marking” last weekend. Also to the person he apparently followed up the hillside. That said, it would appear from the March 11 article that family and friends blame Search and Rescue for the man’s death.
Whoa! Several things need to be pointed out.
Over the past two weeks there have been two separate (reported) incidents in which high-markers have caused and been involved in avalanches.
Due to the unusually heavy snowpack combined with weather conditions, avalanche danger is extremely high in the back country.
Search and rescue teams are not clairvoyant. If they were, they would have foreseen that a group would have forsaken common sense and taken part in an activity that, given the conditions, would likely cause avalanches.
While the incident seems to point out problems with Search and Rescue’s deployment methods, inaccessibility of the site and the conditions at the time of the incident make it highly unlikely that rescue could have come from anywhere but the group that was at the scene when the incident occurred.
We have to return to the concept that activities such as this are high risk. Participating in high-risk sports essentially means you sign a waiver that holds harmless all other parties to the consequences of your behavior.
We are not doing any favors by blaming a valued group, Search and Rescue, for individuals’ foolish acts. Marsh Jones Spokane
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
Meditation great but not in school
Although I fully support Rep. Mark Sterk’s bill to ban yoga and meditation in public schools, I’d like to clear up misinformation spread by letter writers last week.
While not appropriate in the classroom, these techniques are very appropriate in our homes. One letter writer quoted a psychiatrist who found all kinds of problems after “empty-minded” meditation. Herein lies the misinformation.
Meditation is not about empty-mindedness, but about stilling the mind, quieting the internal dialogue and developing self-control. Too few of us can go more than a few seconds without thinking something, or can stop negative, destructive thoughts. Who’s in control, you or your mind?
In our busy, 200 MHz, fiber-optic fax, satellite network, Prozak-Valium-Ritalin world, humans with inner quietude and self-control are true gems.
One of Western Christianity’s weaknesses is the inattention to silence. Prayer is emphasized over and over, typically as “talking to God,” but rarely as listening to God. Only in the Eastern branches of Christianity will you find an emphasis on silence, known as Hesychasm. You also find in these branches the use of mantras, useful tools in quieting the mind. The Psalmist is clear, “Peace, be still, and know that I am God.”
Meditation and other similar techniques shouldn’t be taught in our public schools. They can be extremely beneficial, when taught and used appropriately, to those who incorporate them into their daily lives. Bob Cole Jr. Spokane
Young could benefit from techniques
The current flap about teaching progressive relaxation techniques in school misses the point. It is a very effective way to alleviate anxiety and stress, and our young people have plenty of those to contend with. The suicide rate among teenagers proves that.
Thanks to progressive relaxation (which I do myself; nobody hypnotizes me), I haven’t had a headache in 40 years. Other minor aches and pains are also alleviated. I don’t need to pop a lot of pills at every occasion, as our “druggie” population does. This is a life skill that enables young people to learn better and to be less violent and suicide prone. Dorothy E. Carter Spokane
THE ENVIRONMENT
Speak up for species-saving bill
The Endangered Species Act is one of America’s most notable conservation success stories. The bald eagle, peregrine falcon, gray whale and American alligator are among many species to benefit from this law.
Unfortunately, the promise of the ESA recovery of species - has not been achieved for most species listed under the law as threatened or endangered. Too often, lax enforcement, special interests’ political influence or other factors stand in the way.
Species aren’t listed in a timely manner, recovery plans are weak or habitat protection requirements are ignored.
A soon to be introduced bill, Endangered Natural Heritage Act, was written to improve the law by promoting timely listing of species, effective recovery plans and financial incentives for landowners who conserve wildlife. It is based in part on the recommendation of the National Academy of Science in 1995 encouraging strengthening of the law in several important ways.
Our legislators can take a strong position for responsible stewardship of our environment and protection of the ecosystem upon which both people and wildlife depend by sponsoring the Endangered Natural Heritage Act. Please educate yourself as well as your legislators on this important issue. Jeffrey G. Hedge Spokane
Watson visit illuminating
Thank you 1,000 times, Gonzaga and the Edward Abby Foundation, for bringing Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to Spokane.
Watson is one of today’s most amazing heroes, simply because he walks the walk in a talk-the-talk, media-saturated culture. Last Tuesday night’s standing-room-only event was one of the most inspirational nights of my life. I’ve never seen so many radiant smiles. The audience was glowing. Chris Bowers Liberty Lake
PARTING SHOT
Cloning: Consider the possibilities
Clones, clones, clones. Can you imagine the ethical questions to be raised by such action? For instance: Let’s say a clone turns out to be cruel and a menace to society, and the creator of said person in desperation then throws him off a 12-story building. Would that man be arrested for making an obscene clone fall?
Where will it all end? Judy Wick Cheney