Letters To The Editor

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Caucasian males being stereotyped

I am writing on behalf of my son and the other members of the only unprotected minority in this country: male Caucasians.

March 10 saw the premiere of a television movie that’s all too typical of drama in the 1990s. The two adult male Caucasians who were pivotal to the plot development were drunks, wife beaters, child abusers and conspirators to murder.

Contemporary drama in television, movies and novels continually portrays male Caucasians as the criminals. In this fictional world, male Caucasians are responsible for 90 percent of the spousal abuse, child abuse, murder and crime in general. You will find more female minority judges, lawyers and police chiefs than female and minority criminals in these portrayals.

I can certainly sympathize with any group that objects to its members being constantly portrayed as the bad guys because it leads to unfavorable and unrealistic stereotypes. But no fair dumping on our group instead.

My son should not have to grow up in a society where his every source of dramatic fiction portrays his group unfavorably out of all proportion to reality.

We male Caucasians should have the same right to be proud of our group as do members of other groups. I think we deserve the same respect and consideration other minority groups demand for themselves.

Terry Griner Spokane

Disagree honorably, civilly

Unlike Karen Boone, I’ve never been attacked on a personal level because of my color, but I have been harassed as a result of the “legitimate public conversation” that I have participated in by way of your editorial page.

One of my letters that The Spokesman-Review published was critical of a local union’s striking workers. This incurred the wrath of these same workers, who used company time to call my home on their graveyard shift and debate the issue. These people were not hateful, but no one appreciates a call at 1 a.m., regardless of the reason.

Another letter was critical of how the police handled a drunken driving stop of an officer’s wife. After this letter was published, I received a threatening call at home.

This incident occurred some time ago, but it upset me so badly that this is the first time I’ve written since. So as you see, intimidation has silenced this voice, at least in this forum.

The above mentioned incidents were not even close to the ugliness Boone and her family have faced, and my heart goes out to them.

If you have a differing opinion, at least have the fortitude and initiative to air your differences in the same manner that those who appear on the editorial pages every day do. Anything else is cowardly and unacceptable. Sally Hetland Spokane

Ugliness must be made known, fought

I commend the editorial board of The Spokesman-Review for your courage in exposing all members of our community to the shocking racism and hatred embodied by the ugly letter addressed to Karen Boone.

You should feel no hesitancy about violating any community standards of decency with publication of this loathsome and reprehensible communication. Rather, you would be doing our proud city a disservice by not placing this letter and the position it espouses into the record and onto the public agenda.

All citizens of Spokane should be ashamed that the racism and obscene words contained in the letter to Boone are still common occurrences in our city and our nation. All of us should set aside our momentary horror about the letter itself and instead let the words of the letter profoundly remind us that all too frequently our fellow citizens are treated with such hate.

We all must share the pain caused by the words. We all must suffer from the harm this letter does to the fabric of our society.

The letter to Boone is a letter to us all. It should serve as a call to people of all colors in Spokane, that we must continue to fight with indignation and a renewed sense of mission the people in our midst who engage in such shocking hatemongering. Charles D. Goodwin Spokane

Letter not representative of Spokane

Karen Boone’s Your Turn column was one of the best I’ve read.

In my immediate family, the under-40 generation (including three of my children) is about 40 percent Hispanic, Oriental or black. To some degree, her experiences as a black adapting to a white majority community mirror ours.

Her receipt of a hate letter after writing her column is extremely disturbing. She has my highest admiration for her courage in going public with this letter.

I would caution, however, against using this incident as a broad indictment of the community. Compare the number of hate crimes with the number of murders, rapes and shootings in any given year, and we quickly discover that hate crimes are a minor part of the crime picture.

I don’t mean to trivialize the effect of hate crimes on the victims or on the community. It is right and proper for us to condemn these crimes as forcefully as we can. It’s also right and proper to point out that for everyone who commits such a crime, there are tens of thousand of us who don’t.

Let’s not commit the mistake of the fundamentalist preacher who spends a lifetime denouncing the evil in others without recognizing the good. In our fight against racism, don’t underestimate or ignore the enormous amount of fair-mindedness and good will that exists in our community. This good will is our most powerful weapon. Jim Shamp Cheney

Disabled do better in community

Donald Hudson (Letters, March 9) alluded to the four developmentally disabled adults who were found living in deplorable conditions. Hudson’s solution is to have state institutions open their doors for such people.

I believe people with developmental disabilities and their families should have a chance to choose a way of life for themselves - a right the rest of us take for granted. Incentives should be given to expand services and settings available for differently-abled people.

Problems with community-based residential services are being addressed. The Quality Assurance bill to require annual certification of adult family homes and also provides training and technical assistance to those who serve clients with developmental disabilities, is currently being considered in the Legislature. A developmental disability ombudsman program could identify potential problems before they become tragic situations.

I believe in community supports because of the experience I have with my son. Lance Jr. lives at home with us, his family, goes to public school full time and is totally accepted into our local community, despite the fact that he is multi-handicapped.

I also believe in the cost-effectiveness of community-based services. With community-based services there is the ability to rise above government-funded programs to become a self-sufficient, employed member of our community.

I have watched families of disabled institution residents, families of disabled residents within the community and the state employees labor union fight it out for years. There are lines drawn, sides chosen, and too much time and energy wasted fighting each other.

We should all work together for a brighter tomorrow to benefit all people with disabilities. Lance Morehouse Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

GMA ruinous of freedoms, rights

The Growth Management Act purports to preserve the environment and promote a quality lifestyle for Spokane County citizens. Sounds pretty, doesn’t it?

Omitted from this act of depredation are the costs to the citizens - taxes, fees, the loss of land rights and time preparing endless forms and studies. A massive transfer of your assets into the control of the ever-growing bureaucracy. Imagine what awaits you and your children when all of the new regulations are set firmly in place.

Today, we have the academic elite and a few within our government who - by deception and stealth - would force their distorted social experiments on us, turning this nation against itself. Any taxpayer-supported academic group or government agency that holds contempt for its citizens shall themselves be treated with contempt. The Russian people have taken 75 years of Karl Marx, social experiments and control planning and tossed them into the garbage - forever.

The loss of any of our constitutional rights is totally unacceptable. Our elected representatives must be made fully aware that they are bound by oath to support the Constitution. They have the responsibility of managing the bureaucracy and sending this sad old land control prune back in time - forever.

The true wealth of our nation, our heritage from our forefathers and our legacy to all of our children, is keeping our government under control. Your rights and freedom are not political chips in a social control experiment. Philip P. Brasseur Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Potential lead hazard widespread

I was very interested in your March 9-10 articles on lead pollution in North Idaho and the effects lead can have on the development of young children. While the effects of lead exposure in the Silver Valley are well known and documented, and Bunker Hill is acknowledged as responsible, your readers should know young children’s exposure to lead is a very real possibility just about anywhere in the U.S., in houses and housing units build prior to 1978, Spokane’s included.

In 1992, Congress passed Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act, Section 1018 of which directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Environmental Protection Agency to require disclosure of known information on lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards before the sale or lease of most housing built before 1978. Almost three-quarters of the nation’s pre-1978 housing contains some lead-based paint.

Properly maintained and managed, this paint poses little risk. However, 1.7 million children have blood levels above safe limits, mostly due to exposure to lead-based paint.

Your stories did a fine job of reporting the effects of lead poisoning on young children but, I fear, could leave many parents of young children thinking this is a problem for residents of North Idaho only. Please consider providing additional coverage on the problems of lead in our environment, in particular the dangers that poorly maintained lead-based paint in older homes can represent to young children and pregnant women right here in Spokane. Barry C. Cross Spokane

Bias toward right shows

Ever notice how The Spokesman-Review is heavier when you pick it up with your right hand than when you pick it up with your left? Example: The March 12 front page, “Clinton demands stumping for nothing.” Nowhere in his talk did he use the word “demand.” Several times he said, “I think …” That’s an opinion, not a demand.

Example: Same issue, page 10, “Republicans sell $5,000 tickets to forum.” This is touted as an “opportunity” to share your views, experience and expertise with various congressmen. Among these are the ones who decide who pays how much taxes and who gets how much money.

Tell me again that Republicans are not peddling congressmen. Dave Perkins Spokane