Letters To The Editor

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Band directors doing plenty

I must respond to Andy Kelly’s letter (“Bring on the bands,” March 11) about why more high school bands don’t participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. He seems to think it’s because area band directors are unwilling to give up a Saturday. This is far from the truth.

Just within the last month, band directors have given up or will give up several Saturdays, to take students to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, to the Eastern Washington Music Educators’ Association solo and ensemble contest and to the Eastern Washington University Honor Band. They’re also preparing their students for the Eastern Washington Music Educators Association large group festival next week. These events are rarely mentioned in the media.

These band directors have spent many Friday and Saturday nights since school started with their pep bands at sporting events. Some schools have only one teacher for both orchestra and band.

One likely reason for their not participating is the cost of transportation. Many musicians must pay for bus transportation to events because the school doesn’t provide it. Also, St. Patrick’s Day is an early spring holiday. Up until last week there was snow on the ground. How do you expect bands to practice marching?

Music teachers in the public schools do a wonderful job with limited funds and often very little recognition.

Yes, it would be wonderful for these young musicians to display their talents in front of a large audience. Call your local high school and ask when the next band or orchestra concert is and attend. Also, attend the Spokane Youth Orchestra Concert this Sunday at The Met. Elizabeth Lally Newman Lake

Critic doesn’t know the score

In response to Andy Kelly’s March 11 letter: Chase Middle School and Ferris High School have been my daughter’s only means of flute instruction. Private lessons are expensive. Were it not for these schools, she could never have played.

This year we helped her in the massive fund raising required to send 250 Ferris students to participate in the Rose Parade. No student was left out due to financial hardship.

In preparation, the Ferris Marching Band played in statewide competitions. Now, the pep band is playing for home basketball games and accompanying the team to the state AAA basketball championship.

Recently, any student who chose to do so had the opportunity to play in Spokane-area adjudications, at which they received marks as well as an instructive critique of their playing. The students were rewarded for taking advantage of it with points toward their school letter.

If my daughter were to participate in every single event to which this remarkable band is invited, she would be forced to enroll in less-challenging classes, earn far poorer grades than are acceptable or choose for herself which events would be most beneficial.

I am grateful for the many opportunities she has been given, and for the responsible selection process her band teacher exercises to protect these students from taking on too much and failing in some area of their lives. Susan Guffin Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Creek names plenteous

In the last couple of years I have devoted a sizable amount of time to research on the Hangman Creek area. The name controversy addressed by staff writer Jim Kershner and the follow-up letters of March 10 can get even more confusing. There are even more Indian name variations, and noted road builder, Capt. John Mullan, listed a name choice rarely mentioned today, the Camas River or creek.

The comment in one of the letters about seeing salmon returning again to spawn is a mindset that is highly romanticized and not at all realistic. Consider the three dams on the lower Spokane River alone. This problem with realism is the case with the name controversy as well.

Viva Hangman Creek! Long may you flow and remind us of our turbulent pioneer history. Glenn Leitz Fairfield

IN THE PAPER

Grocer understands what Clark doesn’t

Rosauer’s is to be complemented for having the courage to pull this month’s issue of Cosmopolitan magazine off its racks. Bedroom material should not be blatantly displayed.

Doug Clark, making fun of Rosauer’s for getting rid of the offensive material, does not score any points. Neither does most of his writing.

Also, I find it saddening that you would feature Howard Stern in the Weekend magazine. Your description of him should make anyone realize his work is not suitable for a family newspaper. Trash sells, unfortunately, but your good newspaper can very well get along without it.

I look out the window as I write and see signs of spring and brightness. How about a rebirth of good moral values in our great country? It is certainly the better route for all of us. Florence A. Westmeyer Coeur d’Alene

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Yakima firm sells torture gear

Your Associated Press article on stun guns as the torturer’s tool of choice (March 4) was interesting, but you missed a good opportunity to bring the nightmarish business a bit closer to our doorstep.

Since Amnesty International is calling for a halt to the export of stun guns and stun belts to countries that use them for torture, Washington residents should know that such business has been flourishing in our state.

S&J Products and Services in Yakima has been making and selling stun guns and similar equipment for some time and was raided by U.S. Customs and the Commerce Department last month. S&J was not targeted because it has been selling these devices and tear gas indiscriminately here and abroad, but because it might have been exporting this stuff without the proper permits.

This is the strong stand from the U.S. government. If you want to profit from abuses like the ones the AP described against a Turkish nurse, four young Chinese girls or adolescent Tibetan brothers, at least have the decency to get the proper permits.

An appropriate follow-up might also include some of the documented torture used by police in the United States. When we get that close, we might be able to force ourselves to look at the physical and psychological torture routinely carried out with our own local tax dollars.

Torture is not a secret any more. It’s high time we stop allowing it. Rusty Nelson Spokane

Misdeeds finally make page 1

The Spokesman-Review deserves two thumbs-up for giving us front page stories about our corrupt president. This is long overdue. These stories have been relegated to the back pages of all newspapers across the country for too long.

Now the truth is finally coming out: We have the most corrupt White House this country has ever had. This president has sold the White House and the country down the river and yet 60 percent of the people recently polled think Clinton is doing a great job. This shows how uninformed the American people are.

To put it bluntly, America has been suckered by a man who had no business being elected president, let alone being elected governor of Arkansas.

I hope America’s papers will continue to print the facts about this ongoing corruption so the people, who have already been fooled twice, will finally wake up and smell the coffee. Justin Childers Spokane

Fun’s over - it’s time to investigate

Every day, President Clinton, Hillary or one of their crew have something to deny. It’s almost laughable when you look at what has transpired; it’s like a comedy of errors - they just keep stepping in it. Of course, it wasn’t their fault. Or, they just can’t remember doing it.

The comedy act falters when you tie in the indictments, jail sentences and suicide of people close to them. We have heard about millions of dollars given to the president’s election fund by foreign nationals. The FBI has indicated its concern with foreign interests buying political influence during the last election. Now, a foreign company has leased the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Today, I heard the White House pushed for a loan to another foreign company for shipbuilding in the Southeast.

These politicians are extremely intelligent and their actions are deliberate. I don’t like the idea of my country being sold and I thought that our elected officials worked for us.

People are grumbling about what is happening inside the White House but grumbling is not enough. Call your senator and congressman. Let’s find out if the Clintons are Lucy and Ricky reincarnated or if their actions have a dark and sinister purpose before our next coin has a foreign emblem on it. Bob Cubr Rathdrum, Idaho

Voters, remember Gore’s antics Al

“I am not a crook” Gore has given us all new insight to what it means to be vice president. According to Webster’s Dictionary, “vice” means “evil or wicked conduct or behavior … corruption.”

Hopefully, voters won’t forget his illegal and greedy money grubbing for the Democratic National Committee while he was in his office and supposedly serving as vice president - all paid for by American taxpayers. Since he lacks the charismatic smile and charm of his mentor, maybe in the year 2000 voters will instead elect a president with ethics and integrity. P.P. Lynch Spokane

Cast of characters without character

When the federal government began construction in 1792, the White House became by definition a federal building. Unless some foreign investment firm has purchased the home since, it is a federal building still. The law expressly forbids political fund raising from any federal building.

Vice president Al Gore has admitted to fund raising for the Democratic National Committee from his White House office and has apologized for doing so. Yet he tells us he has done nothing wrong. The president held fundraisers in the White House and may have sold stays in the Lincoln bedroom, and yet claims to have done nothing wrong.

Is it possible that the character issue of last year’s election has revisited us? Do those who said character is unimportant now realize that it is character which defines us as good and honest people, or otherwise?

Somehow, I fear that the misinformation coming out of the White House will again bury the facts and allow those who disdain the law to continue with impunity.

Will Slick Willie continue to laugh up his sleeve at the ignorance of the American public? The answer is yes, unless we wake up to the shenanigans going on in Washington, D.C. Clinton had better hope Attorney General Janet Reno continues to protect him or he might find a number in place of his name. Stuart W. Hightower Spokane

Bad to begin with and getting worse

The president would have us believe he is the victim of Secret Service carelessness that began in former administrations. If this falsehood, among others, becomes reality in the public mind, this is very sad. The truth is that, from day one, the arrogance and highhanded manner of this administration made it impossible for the Secret Service to do its job.

The Clintons alone are responsible for the shady characters who had access to White House functions. The president and his minions can look us in the eye and tell us blatant and obvious lies without a flicker because their contempt for the average person is colossal. Sylvia James Spokane

Gore broke the law; impeach him

Due to the vice president’s admission of soliciting campaign funds on government property (a crime) the House of Representatives should bring charges against him. The Senate would try this impeachment and, if the judgment is that he’s guilty, the vice president will be removed from office and disqualified from holding office again.

After impeachment he would still be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

The Senate should not play petty politics with endless investigations about the Democrats’ fund raising activities. The House should not allow the Senate to play petty political games. Fear of impeaching any individual in any branch of government is inexcusable.

It’s time for the House to accept its responsibility and start impeachment proceedings.

George Nethercutt, you are my representative. Grab the bull by the horns and file the impeachment of the vice president. Dirk Reith Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Our forests aren’t amusement parks

Recently, concerned people and I met with U.S. Forest Service recreational planner Jim Archambeault about the Okanogan Forest’s new fees for overnight camping and parking. Different approaches, such as back country permits, are being tried in other forests. This trial authorized by Congress begins this year in 100 forests nationwide.

In the Methow District, starting in mid-April, fees are $5 overnight, $10 for three days and $25 per season per vehicle. Vacationing in other regions will require additional permits. There’s also an opportunity to work a day to earn a season’s permit, with no guarantees past this year.

I object strongly for several reasons. These wild, public lands should remain sacrosanct and available for all to experience, not become a playground for the rich, and not be cheapened by yet another tax. Let’s not equate our wilderness with an amusement park.

In 10 years this benign-sounding $25 fee will surely increase several times. Backpacking and camping will become an elitist activity unaffordable by many.

We already pay enough fees and taxes to make this the most powerful nation on the planet, creating a $1.5 trillion budget, an awesome war machine and incredible space program. We pay fees for nearly everything. Now a tax to walk, sleep or park in the forest? What next?

This experiment must fail, for us and for future generations. Only warnings will be issued this year for nonpayment, according to Archambeault. Please refuse to pay, and give your reasons.

Contact your USFS office and congressman. Make yourself heard, or we will lose our precious inheritance. Richard Tingelstad Twisp, Wash.

Protest ill advised several ways

Freedom of speech is precious. However, standing outside a high school with signs and pamphlets, and in essence attacking young adults’ personal space and the integrity of their atmosphere of learning, is silly and wrong.

Setting aside the high school students, has anyone stopped to think about the grade school-age children in the area at the time? They also were subjected to this graphic display.

If no one is worried about them, what about the day care-age children? If the Rogers area is like other neighborhoods, day cares are abundant around the high school.

My understanding is that these protests are to continue at other Spokane schools. There a preschool on site at Ferris and a day care and elementary school are just across the street. Do you want your kindergartner seeing this carnage? At Havermale there is an on-site day care, with several more nearby.

Simply saying don’t have sex doesn’t stop people from having sex. Statistics for the last 25 years, especially the last 15 years, prove that.

I’m not saying abortion is the answer, but what is there for these children once they are here? Abuse, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, drug use, despair, homelessness and eventually, the chance to complete the cycle by having their own children as teenagers. No, this is not the answer either. Milissa Simon Spokane

Parents should monitor TV fare

I agree wholeheartedly with syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.’s views in his March 7 column about the new rating system for TV.

It’s about time someone articulates parents’ responsibility for monitoring what shows their children watch on television. To expect anyone else to shoulder that responsibility is absurd. Too many people forget that televisions are equipping with an off button.

There are many other, much more important problems in this country than a rating system for television programs. I’d like to see all this energy directed toward something more productive. Cathy Smith Spokane