Letters To The Editor

GRASS FIELD BURNING

Growers have no right to foul the air

This fall, as I watched the skies around Spokane being blackened by grass-burning smoke and listened to my asthmatic daughter cough throughout the night, I wondered again about the fairness of our current policies regarding air pollution.

Knowing the harmful effects of particulate pollution on respiratory health, how can one small group of citizens, the grass growers, be allowed to release so much pollution into the air?

Citizens of Eastern Washington have been deluded into thinking that the grass burning problem has been resolved now that the farmers can only burn a third of the acres allowed in 1995. What they don’t realize is that grass burners under the new rules are still producing a huge amount of particulate pollution - far more than their fair share.

Each man, woman, and child in the 11 grass-burning counties in Eastern Washington produces annually through all sources of particulate pollution (including automobiles, wood stove use and industry) about 53 pounds of particulate pollution. Compare that figure with the whopping 6,400 pounds of particulates produced this year by each of the 150 grass growers.

Even scarier is the fact that grass growers are currently suing the state Department of Ecology in an effort to restore the number of acres to be burned to 1995 levels - a time when each grass grower annually produced 19,200 pounds of particulates.

We live in a society where we all need to do our share to protect the quality of the air we breathe. Are the grass growers doing their fair share? I hardly think so. Janet L. Tenold Spokane

To quit putting up, join SOS

This is written in reply to Lynn J. Woehrle’s Oct. 5 letter, “Why do people put up with this?”

I don’t know why people put up with the smoked-filled skies. Our family has lived at Newman Lake for the last 10 summers. We have so few really nice days that even one filled with smoke is one too many. Not to mention the health and driving hazards.

Smoking is banned in public places, including the Interstate Fair this year, yet the skies continue to be filled with grass-burning smoke.

You can help. Join Save Our Summers, a nonprofit group that works very hard to end the grass burning. Their number is 928-2417. Susan M. Hanley Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

Get past mythology; Pass I-685

Re: Lt. Gov. Brad Owens’ stance on the so-called war on drugs, “This debate is killing our kids.”

What’s killing our kids is the campaign that has been based on outright lies and misinformation perpetuated since the 1930s.

The only way we can teach our kids, for a positive and socially beneficial outcome, is to face the truth about marijuana - not only the medicinal issues but the agribusiness, economic and environmental issues as well.

Voting yes on Initiative 685 could be a glorious pivotal point for humanity and our stewardship of Mother Earth. Cassandra L. Thommen Spokane

I-676 misinformation plentiful

It is extremely important that when we make our decision on Initiative 676, or any issue, that we evaluate it on its merit using logic and common sense, not emotions intentionally stirred up. Too many issues being put in front of us these days are falsely presented as being for some oppressed, underprivileged, impoverished, helpless or downtrodden group while the real reason is distorted by spin.

“Spin” is a new journalist’s word for something we can’t print in the newspaper. Arguments against I-676 epitomize just such spin.

A recent letter would lead the reader to believe I-676 would have prevented Barry Loukaitis from going “wacko for a day.” If anyone believes that, I question their sanity more than I questioned Loukaitis’.

I-676 states that when the handgun is transferred, “the handgun is equipped with an operable trigger-locking device.” There is no requirement to keep the trigger lock on the weapon. Besides, Loukaitis used a lever action rifle, not a handgun.

Supporters of I-676 are trying to push through an abundance of bad legislation on one good idea. The only good idea in the whole thing is that people become familiar with the safe use and storage of handguns before they own one. That can be done through the National Rifle Association or through a safety course at Sharp Shooting Indoor Range. It should not be done through the Department of Licensing. Mike R. Scalera Spokane

Show West Side elitists you count

Eastern Washington people, you are the truly good folks of this state.

The billionaires of King County and their elitist sheep would have you believe you are outnumbered on the worst proposed law in the history of the state, Initiative 676.

They would have you believe you have two choices: either vote for it or don’t vote at all. That’s because, they say, you are outnumbered by voters in King, Thurston and Pierce counties.

Nothing is further from the truth. They never have had a majority in favor of I-676 in the above three populous counties, nor will they have a majority in November.

If Eastern Washington unites in opposition to I-676, it will take a sound beating - and some reward for your mistreatment on the Seattle stadium.

I know these Seattle elitists. I have lived among them for 56 years. In recent years, it has become politically correct at cocktail events and coffee houses to show disdain for the antiquity of the state and U.S. constitutions. I-676 is a product of this so-called mentality. Charles Autry Seattle

Alleged basis for I-676 doesn’t exist

Walter Becker (Letters, Oct. 1) says, “Unfortunately, most parents aren’t so dedicated” (regarding firearms safety training).

There are handguns in more than a million homes in Washington, yet there’s been an average of less than one fatality accident involving a child under 13, per year, over the past five years. If indeed “most parents” are irresponsible, imagine how horrendous the numbers would be.

I do not by any means suggest that any child fatalities are acceptable. But, in the past 20 years, the population has nearly doubled, the number of firearms in civilian hands has quadrupled, and the number of firearms-related injury accidents has declined by over 50 percent. Now, when firearms accidents nationwide are at the lowest point since statistics have been kept, people who know nothing about guns - except that they personally don’t like them - want to place Draconian restrictions on those of us who have been actively working on real, effective programs to keep our kids safe.

If the proponents of 1-676 were really concerned about child safety, they’d be spending their hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote proven, effective programs like the one called Eddie Eagle, instead of airing emotional commercials that include a blatant example of an incredibly dangerous violation of handgun safely rules: a trigger-lock on a loaded gun.

If you want to protect children, support groups that are successfully doing the job. If you want to make it more difficult for honest citizens to own firearms, don’t hide your objective behind child safety rhetoric.

Read Initiative 676 and please vote no. Jeff A. Knox Spokane

Learn the facts, then defeat I-676

All accidents involving children are tragedies, but the focus of Initiative 676 is not child safety, it’s total control.

Unfortunately, this is misrepresented by some. The latest pro-I-676 TV ad equating a pistol with a casket containing the body of another dead child is in extremely poor taste. It’s also unfounded.

I-676 is directed at law-abiding citizens, people guilty of no crime. It is onerous, heavyhanded and will be expensive to implement.

Parents, educate your children - about drugs, traffic, strangers, etc., as well as firearms.

People, read the initiatives carefully and ascertain what this measure is really about. Then, cast an informed ballot. Norman F. Gale Spokane

AFTERMATH

Bicyclists take too much for granted

Re: Doug Clark’s column, “Punishment doesn’t fit the tragedy,” Sept. 30, concerning the driver who ran down the bicyclist.

I’m sure that the two women who struck and killed the bicyclists in Cheney area and on the Sunset Hill in Spokane will live in anguish for the rest of their lives. Their lives are ruined forever on a certain fundamental level.

And what did these two women have in common? In both cases, the bicyclists were in the middle of the lane.

What were they doing in the middle of the lane? Did they assume that alert drivers would see them, slow down, and pull around them?

Did they assume that all of the one-ton automobiles they encountered that day would contain politically correct, share-the-road, mentally stable, vigilant drivers?

I have bicycled literally thousands of miles in Spokane, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, so I believe my opinion is not just that of a cautious driver.

The claim-a-lane mentality of a large part of the bicycling community has just claimed two lives and shattered two more. Victoria P. Keyser Spokane

Bicyclists should follow car rules

I am troubled by the recent cries for blood. A poor woman accidentally hits a bicyclist on the road under reduced visibility conditions and people cry out for her blood as if she had been out to hurt someone on purpose.

I feel the recent deaths of two bicyclists are prime examples of why we need to regulate the use of bicycles on the roadways.

The people who operate bikes on the road are making the road unsafe for us all. They pop out of intersections without warning, dodge in and out of traffic, and if a light is red, they move over into the pedestrian walkway and cross the street protected by pedestrians.

Bicyclists have no safety equipment on their vehicles - no turn signals, brake lights, headlights, often no helmets - and no trained or licensed operator.

Bicyclists pay no taxes for the privilege of riding the streets and roads. I have never seen one pulled over for defective equipment or an impaired rider.

If a bicyclist wants to share the road with me, I am willing to do so as long as he obeys the same laws that I have to obey. The laws are there for a reason and they should be respected by all of us.

I learned a long time ago that a 20-pound bike with a 200-pound rider is no match for a 1,300-pound car driven by a 90-pound driver. K.L. Osborn Spokane

Too many drivers are incompetent

The motorist who ran into and killed the young bicyclist on a highway west of Cheney this summer, if not blind, was grossly incompetent.

She “had more than ample time to observe the bicyclist,” according to the police. But, legally, she was guilty of no more than an infraction. Because she wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the law lets her off with a $250 fine.

Maybe, instead of focusing on drunk drivers, we should be railing against those who shouldn’t be driving under any circumstances - stoned, drunk or cold sober.

I suspect there are drivers charged with negligence who are simply doing the their best. Shouldn’t it be up to the licensing agency, in this case the Department of Transportation, to get these people into some remedial driver’s education or off the road altogether?

At the very least, the woman who killed the cyclist should have had her license revoked until she can prove competence behind the wheel. Even then, she should be put on probation. But until that unlikely scenario, the state should be taking far more responsibility than it does now for public safety and should require far more from driving applicants than the standard fee. Del T. Cameron Coeur d’Alene

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Patients, families give us strength

Trauma is an unexpected, tragic event in people’s lives. The care of trauma patients is marked by difficult moments, successes and sorrows. It can demonstrate greater human courage than one can ever imagine.

Recently, several young trauma patients have inspired and gifted us in their lives and in their deaths. Their doctors, nurses and care givers remember them well.

One young person wonderfully returns to college after a severe injury as another is laid to rest. Their families, even among us a co-worker, struggle with the question of why. A young man who is special to us is taken suddenly during his recovery.

There are no easy answers. We want to prevent traumatic death and injury, and we try. But we face the reality of our mortality too often.

This tribute is to our patients and families who are in our hearts. It is also to all of those who care so much, and give so much of themselves. You made a difference in these lives, as they made a difference in yours.

May we all have the courage to keep caring. Michelle Haun-Hood, R.N. critical care-trauma, Deaconess and Valley medical centers

White males targets of stereotyping

Many people think of stereotypes as bad images of African Americans, Hispanics or women. Nobody now thinks of the most common stereotype: the white American male. I happen to be a white male, and it wasn’t my choice to be so. If I say I am better at something, even in the most polite way possible, to a female, I know a number of my peers who would call me sexist. But they would have no trouble with me being identified as worse than females at something.

In less than six years, I will be going to college. I don’t want to be given less of a chance just because I am white and I happen to be male.

What has happened to this world of minority support groups trying to make things equal but putting down the whites and men in America?

According to numerous columns in newspapers around the country, domestic abuse is only committed by men. Alan D. Chatham, age 12 Spokane

Bishops’ statement helpful, welcome

Re: “Bishops advise parents to love gay children.”

It’s wonderful that the Catholic church is beginning to open its doors and heart to gay, lesbian and bisexual youths. These bishops deserve a pat on the back for making the members of the church aware of the fact that homosexuality is not freely chosen, for advising parents of gay youths to “put their love and support for their children before the church doctrine that condemns homosexual activity,” and for informing people about the effects rejection has on gay, lesbian and bisexual youths. (These include homelessness, drug abuse and suicide.)

As one who is working toward a master’s degree in social work, I can see what an amazing effect this message from the church could have on nonheterosexuals, their families and society. We could see a reduction in the discrimination they face in the workplace, church, family and society, as well as a gained acceptance in gay marriage and child rearing.

Many programs are designed to work with the family and friends of gay youths and adults. These groups and programs (such as Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) are designed so parents learn how to support their gay children. They offer a place for parents to deal with their own feelings and learn from other parents who have gone through the same experience. As a bisexual woman, I understand how important it is to have a family that accepts, loves and supports you for who you are.

Being gay, lesbian or bisexual often requires much soul searching and questioning of one’s self. Having family support makes all the difference in the world. Sara M. McGregor Spokane