Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

End to affirmative action sought

I want to let everyone know about a new initiative being presented in Washington state. It’s Initiative 200, The Washington State Civil Rights Initiative.

The purpose of this initiative is to end affirmative action in this state. It wants to “prohibit government from discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin, in public employment, education and contracting.”

What’s wrong with that? How would you feel if someone told you that the only reason they hired you was not that you were the best person for a job but because the employer had to hire some people from different groups, no matter their qualifications?

Petitioners are out right now gathering signatures. If they get enough, the initiative will be presented to the Legislature for a vote. If the vote is yes, the initiative becomes law. If the vote is no or the Legislature takes no action, it will be put to the people to vote on in the Nov. 4, 1988 elections.

If you have any questions about the initiative, go to their Web site at http://www.wscri.com equality. Ernest J. Chamberlain Spokane

Voters were wrong to reject I-685

I am disappointed with the outcome of Initiative 685, which would have legalized marijuana and several other illegal drugs for medical use in Washington State.

I don’t think people are looking at the situation from the proper perspective. It’s not like we would be handing these drugs out in the streets for people to abuse. Instead, we would serve to benefit people who suffer from such illnesses as cancer. These people would receive relief from their nausea, pain and suffering.

I’m certain that most who voted no on I-685 would change their votes to yes if they, their family member or close friend ever experienced such a horrible, agonizing and frightening disease.

If we as a society allow legal sales of substances such as alcohol, and tobacco, which is commonly the cause of cancer and other fatal diseases, why can’t we legalize for medical purposes drugs that will help counteract the negative effects. It only seems fair. Fritz Nichols, Jr. Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Weight culprit in road ‘ruts’

Re: the letter from Charles Schmidt Sr., “Watch out for jumping cars,” (Nov 10).

Jumping cars do seem somewhat unlikely to be the cause for those pesky I-90 ruts. I have another theory.

The ruts are caused by truckers - 18-wheelers and such. When the asphalt is warmed by the summer sun, it expands and becomes malleable. The heavily laden trucks then leave their indelible marks (ruts). In some places these ruts are inconsistent and may even come to an abrupt end due to shadows or other factors causing the asphalt not to be a constant temperature.

When it cools, the asphalt contracts and shrinks. The ruts shrink proportionately and become smaller. During fall, winter and spring, mysterious ruts that are smaller than truck or car axle widths are then left on I-90.

Truckers vehemently deny their rigs are at fault, usually by quoting truck axle widths. In order to escape further the accusatory limelight, they blame others’ use of studded tires (which may, indeed, worsen the ruts). There is only one culprit causing the ruts: weight. Forrest V. Diehl Spokane

County voters made a wise choice

Your recent article regarding Skagit County’s challenge in growing while retaining its farm land and open-spaces character made me even more appreciative of the Spokane County voters who affirmed our use of the open space legislation established in 1971.

Spokane County passed an advisory vote on Nov. 4, emphasizing how important open space is to county residents and how we are willing to pay for it, through our property taxes, in our mortgages, and in our rental fees. Having a tool to purchase open space through the conservation futures programs is a key element for planning the kind of place in which we and our grandchildren will want to live.

As my daughter said, it was a little hard for the voters to vote no on everything except conservation futures. The people who worked to promote this program thank each one. In the more than 50 presentations we made, when people understood the program, we heard very few negative comments.

This is a fine bequest to the people of future generations, who will be able to enjoy walking, riding, contemplating and canoeing. Lunell Haught Spokane

Here, votes on facilities don’t count

Re: “If trend holds, Connecticut boondoggle is doomed,” Nov. 10. I agree, as far as the public being allowed to vote on facilities expenditures. While Spokane voters say no, the facilities seem to be built anyway. I take exception to one thing Bill Wallace wrote. The last time I was in the Midwest, in 1996, Minneapolis was still in Minnesota. Edwin O. Weilep Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

We’ve seen only good from Clegg

I’m writing regarding the story on ex-building code officer Terry Clegg. We have known him for years. He has been in our home, on business, and I have made many calls for him. Not once did he ever act in any way but as a gentleman.

We had three houses with bad yards in our area and he cleaned them up. Now we are very proud of our neighborhood. If it wasn’t for him, it would still be a slum area. We should hear his side of the story before passing judgment. Betty and Karl Von Heydrich Spokane

HIGHER EDUCATION

EWU a true area treasure

Lately, Eastern Washington University has received some bad press, some well deserved. Today, the thing to do is to be very angry, negative and tear apart all institutions, their officials and anyone with a vision. I hope this letter starts a movement against this destructive attitude.

I’m an EWU graduate who received an excellent education. My degree and dedicated professors helped me get immediately hired in my field. Today, there are some 100,000 alumni scattered throughout the world. About 25,000 of them live in the Inland Empire. They’re doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, educators, writers, artists, colonels, generals, health care workers, bankers, business men and women, pilots, NFL players, homemakers, etc. They all have two things in common: receiving an excellent education and that their degree took them as far as they wanted to go.

In 1983, against all odds, EWU made the decision to upgrade its athletic program to Division I-AA. EWU now has one of the nation’s finest sports programs. EWU is in the Big Sky conference,’ the premier Division I-AA league in the country, and is very competitive. Most student-athletes are from the Washington state, a real plus.

Those professor-naysayers, especially alumni and students who have not attended an athletic event in Cheney, have no idea what they’re missing. It’s Division I college sports at its very best. EWU is an excellent regional university. It’s a true Cheney-Spokane treasure that can be highly recommend to all high school and community college graduates. Jim Wagner Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Officials ignore growing rail crisis

America’s railroads are fast heading toward a drastic situation, as recent news reports have indicated. Yet politicians are ignoring the problem.

The merger mania and downsizing that had its beginning in the 1950s has produced what we who work in the railroad industry predicted could, and probably would, happen.

In Texas, San Antonio and Austin are experiencing traffic delays that will end up costing consumers extra thousands of dollars a day. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the farm belt, elevators and grain growers are unable to ship their products to market, and manufacturers are in a bind because of inadequate service or outright abandonment of service by railroads.

Had a slowdown of this proportion been caused by a labor dispute between rail employees and management, the carriers would have instantly sought a court injunction ordering a return to work, citing disruption of the economy.

Where are our representatives in this crisis? How much damage to the economy will they allow before intervening?

Hopefully, voters are aware and interested enough to demand relief in this situation now. K.A. Smith Newman Lake

GLOBAL WARMING

Scientific evidence is lacking

Several letter writers have proclaimed that global warming is real according to “most” scientists. Most real scientists have wisely refrained from saying any such thing, since few have sufficient climatological expertise. Of those who have grabbed headlines, few have the necessary scientific background. True scientists are specialists.

Climatologists point out that temperature changes over the past 120 years have been within the normal variation over the previous thousands of years. Most of the past century’s one degree increase occurred before the large increase in CO2 emissions after World War II. Between 1945 and 1978, CO2 emissions increased 9 percent - and the Earth cooled 0.2 degrees C. Satellite data show Earth has cooled and additional .09 degrees C. over the past 18 years.

As computer models have improved, their forecasts of higher temperatures over the next century have shrunk from the 3.3 degrees predicted in 1990 to one to two degrees now being predicted.

Global warming theory predicted a temperature increase for the biosphere. Measurements show a decrease. The conclusion is obvious.

Dr. Richard Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorology professor, summed up the current scientific status of the theory by saying, “A decade of focus on global warming and billions of dollars of research funds have still failed to establish that global warming is a significant problem.”

A climate treaty that deliberately puts our country at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the world to cure an imaginary problem really is, on the other hand, a significant problem. Curt Messex Cheney

THE ENVIRONMENT

Only environmentalists can speak out

Re: “Coalition to explain mining ailments plan,” (Nov. 5). It’s helpful to remember the first blood level surveys in the Silver Valley showed no children with elevated lead levels. The second survey showed only two. Those two children are alleged to have lived lives so odd they would have been leaded anywhere.

It’s disappointing that environmental activists may state their cases freely but people in positions of responsibility who oppose them can’t speak out at all. Because of today’s laws, people in industry who are the butts of environmental extremism are threatened with imprisonment, fines, punitive audits, frivolous lawsuits, vandalism and wild invective.

Recently, the Panhandle Area Coalition received a glossy award for bravely standing up and stating badly skewed environmental logic. It would be fitting to give an award to the victims as well. John H. Wiegman Osburn

Nice trick, if it could be done

James D. Hunter (“Plenty of forest roads will remain,” Letters, Nov. 9) claimed there are “… areas in which there are up to 20 miles of logging roads per forest acre” in the Panhandle National Forest. It’s too bad he didn’t include a picture or at least map coordinates for one of these areas he’s found. I’m sure there are many who would like to see something so remarkable.

Assuming a 10-foot-wide road, which would be about the minimum one could squeeze a logging truck through, it takes 52,800 square feet, or approximately 1.21 acres, for each mile of road. If the supervisor of the Panhandle forest has really figured out how to cram 24-1/2 acres worth of road into every acre of forest, and can extend this miracle to create 15,515 acres of trees in every square mile of his forest, future clearcuts will be so small no one will notice them.

Come to think of it, traffic jams would obviously be history, too. Anita Messex Cheney

Logging road foe’s claim nonsense

In a scornful response to an earlier letter, James D. Hunter (Nov 9) asserts that as a result of “corporate greed,” “… there are up to 20 miles of logging roads per forest acre” (Nov. 9).

Since an acre of ground is a square less than 210 feet on a side, 20 miles of road completely covering an acre of clearcut forest would be less than five inches wide! Even the stumps would have to be removed from the acre by the greedy corporation to make room for their five-inch road. Obliterating half the roads, as Hunter advocates, would result in, “… a mere 10 miles of road per acre.” The roads could then be widened to nearly 10 inches, still a little narrow for a hiking trail.

If Hunter meant to suggest that somewhere there is a 20-mile logging road leading to a tiny one-acre forest, or a 100-mile road leading to a five-acre forest, etc., then the corporation responsible is not greedy but insane. A reasonable argument can certainly be made for road obliteration, but scornful letters containing wild exaggerations only weaken such an argument. Robert K. Barcus Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Article contained misinformation

Within the past week, two Spokesman-Review articles by reporter Grayden Jones provided inaccurate information on actions of the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board in regard to funding requests made by Spokane’s Joint Center for Higher Education. The articles appeared on Friday, Oct. 13, and Tuesday, Nov. 4.

The articles claim the HEC Board denied a budget request for $1 million to support technology development and commercialization activities of SIRTI. This is not accurate. The HEC Board recommended that funds for this request be secured from other (i.e. non-higher education) sources. As it as been the intent of the Joint Center for Higher Education to seek economic development funds for this appropriation, both agencies are in agreement on this issue.

Secondly, the articles also indicate that the HEC board denied the JCHE’s request for design funds for a classroom building. In fact, discussion of this item was deferred until Dec. 3 at the request of the JCHE. Kristianne Blake Spokane

Follow the facts about AIDS

Friday’s contributions from Priggee and Ellen Goodman only go to show that we all need to follow the facts from the American Medical Association and the Center for Disease Control, instead of the propaganda from the gays and lesbians.

AIDS is a very active epidemic gaining more victims continually. The AMA and CDC continually show gays and lesbians AIDS cases at 70 percent and druggies using dirty needles at 28 percent. They say there are drugs that cure AIDS, but the very best have only slowed the progress. The only true cure is abstinence from perversion. The true heroes are the homosexuals who profess abstinence from any kind of sexual perversion. Ivan T. Barker Spokane

Deja Vu activities indefensible

I wondered how long it would take after passing the ordinance’s controlling the amount of sexual activity a business can promote before The Spokesman-Review would publish an article defending Deja Vu, as it has done several times before.

Columnist Doug Clark recently answered that. He failed to mention it is the secondary effect that this effort seeks to control. There’s a reason for the high metal fences around the businesses located around the Deja Vu. Even with these, the businesses complain of the sex paraphernalia, pornography and liquor containers that get thrown over the fences. There is a reason for the sheriff spending so much time and effort to be in the Deja Vu parking lot and around the area.

Activities at Deja Vu and the type of customers it attracts can’t be defended by comparing them to the recent sex activities of certain city employees. All such activities are wrong and should not be condoned or defended by the Review or anyone. Laurence R. Morgan Spokane