Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Grant military people residency break

Washington state, Spokane in particular, has long reaped the benefits of the many military installations throughout the state. However, Washington is one of the few states that does not consider military personnel stationed within its borders as residents, for educational purposes.

Worse, the process of changing one’s residency is long, complex and a significant barrier to those seeking higher education. Residency requirements call for possession of a Washington driver’s license, Washington vehicle registration, voter registration here, bank accounts and property ownership, as well as changing your military home of record to Washington. The latter is virtually impossible for those who live in military barracks, since a street address is required. Even after compliance with all the above requirements, one year must pass before one is considered a resident.

Clearly, this policy does not encourage people to take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them as a member of the armed forces. Even at an inexpensive school, such as Eastern Washington University or the University of Washington, and even with military tuition assistance program and other benefits, full-time tuition costs can easily place degrees just out of reach of most soldiers, sailors and airmen.

These hard-working and dedicated young men and women are often far from their families and home states, sacrificing their own freedom to ensure the freedom of others. Surely, granting them this residency status would be the least the governor and Legislature could do for them. Robert E. Meehan Jr. Fairchild Air Force Base

Affirmative action still necessary

I am white, male and a high school senior. I have applied to colleges that use affirmative action “quotas” in deciding admissions. If anyone has a right to be suspicious about these policies, I do. Yet I agree with Jason Randall (Letters, April 6) that affirmative action is still necessary.

Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations represent exactly the type of hatred minorities face every day. Those who say this type of intolerance is laughable at best ought to turn their attention to unconscious biases - biases ingrained by a person’s societal situation that make them suspicious of anything different. This can be seen in my grandparents’ generation, those who were of age during World War II. Nearly all these people have an unconscious bias against the Japanese. When every person can look within themselves and truly say they have unconscious biases, maybe we will no longer need affirmative action.

Some people believe affirmative action is unfair because it treats people unequally. It does treat people unequally, and for good reason - something called the paradox of equality. Given two or more unequal groups (i.e. whites and blacks), the only way to achieve a state of equality is to treat the group with fewer advantages to more advantages. From this basis of equality, everyone can be treated fairly and merit alone will decide who rises to the top and who sinks. But a system in which whether you fail or succeed is decided at least in part by your skin color is decidedly unjust. Travis P. Ormsby Spokane

Make imbibing a losable privilege

“Chronic drunks left out to dry” (March 22) states that state liquor officers are cracking down on public drinking and businesses that sell to intoxicated buyers. I applaud these efforts.

A simple solution is to no longer let alcohol be a choice for people who need to be held accountable. Alcohol is a controlled substance. Perhaps these are instances in which it should be controlled.

The right to drink or dispense alcohol has the corresponding obligation to do so responsibly. All rights have conditions.

So, how about giving people the right to drink when they turn 21 and have it be a privilege they can lose? Criteria for loss would include being convicted of an alcohol-related crime, public intoxication, etc. The punishment could be 18 months of drinking privilege revocation.

Alcohol is the reason that the United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other major industrialized country; 80 percent of inmates are there for alcohol-related crimes. Many more are released back onto our streets because our jails and prisons can’t hold them all.

Drinking revocation as a consequence would save the state tons of money. More importantly, early intervention is needed before the problem becomes chronic. After a third offense, the chances of rehabilitation are much less than one might think. Denying alcohol to those few would reinforce alcohol rehabilitation programs and allow those who are unable to handle alcohol at the age of 21 to get to the age where they are able to. Sharon K. Snell Kalispell, Mont.

Spokane people great hosts

On behalf of the Governor’s Council on Substance Abuse, I sincerely thank Spokane for graciously hosting our March 13 meeting. The council was made very welcome by everyone we came in contact with: community and church leaders, organizers, service providers and regular citizens.

The council is especially thankful to the many citizens from local organizations working to reduce substance abuse in Spokane who came to share their knowledge and concerns with us. These organizations include the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council, Spokane County Victims panel, Spokane County Community Services, Community Detox and many local representatives from community mobilization, school districts and other public services. Special thanks to Pastor Roy Jeremiah and the staff at Central Lutheran Church for hosting and assisting with the meeting. Greatly appreciated was the hard work and dedication of Linda Thompson and the staff at the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council, who coordinated all the meeting arrangements.

Thanks to all of you for your assistance, dedication and hospitality. I hope to have the opportunity to visit your fine city again in this capacity. Priscilla Lisicich, chairwoman Governor’s Council on Substance Abuse, Olympia

Tighter reins needed at DSHS

Re: April 8 article, “DSHS official advised to get ethics training,” by staff writer Jonathan Martin.

There have been quite a few articles in the past few months regarding supervisors or administrators of the state Department of Social and Health Services in regard to illegal, immoral or just plain stupid behavior. The regional director, Bernie Nelson, always seems to be the person responsible for the employees’ supervision. His corrective action is usually to change their job from one of responsibility to a make-work job out of his office.

Shouldn’t he, as the active supervisor in a position of authority, be “markedly sensitive to abuse and perceptions of abuse,” as he so eloquently states, and be more responsible for the behavior of those errant staff members, especially when it makes the newspaper month after month and probably has for many years? Thomas J. Berg Spokane

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Hold Second Chance accountable

Vy Thang has been charged with aggravated firstdegree murder for the robbery and beating death of 85-year-old Mildred Klaus of Spokane. Thang allegedly broke into Klaus’ home, robbed her of $82, beat her and left her for dead, for her son to find.

Thang was an escaped inmate from a Centralia, Wash., work release facility. He escaped during a field trip to a Seahawks game. One of Thang’s friends, Simeon Terry, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property in connection with the Klaus robbery and is to testify against Thang.

Second Chance owns that Maple Lane work release facility in Centralia. It also owns the work release facility from which David Dodge escaped and raped and murdered a 13-year-old baby sitter in Stanwood, Wash. That’s two escapes and two murders in one year. Second Chance owns two work-release facilities in Spokane, the women’s Eleanor Chase House and the newly renamed Turner House (originally the Cornelius House, then the Brownstone).

Second Chance can continue to change the name of its facilities to hide the negative press, but when it comes to a courtroom, facts rise to the top.

I urge the authorities to do whatever is necessary to hold the company’s staff, administration and inmates accountable for these detestable crimes. Downtown Spokane faces enough problems without the fear of citizens becoming victims of another senseless crime. May Klaus’ family find comfort and peace in these trying days. Patty H. Marinos Spokane

Let Medicare fund annual checkups

One of the most cost-effective changes that could be made to Medicare would be to allow one major wellness examination, or physical examination, each year, paid 100 percent.

The short-term cost of this benefit would be a small percentage of the greater long-term savings. A step in the right direction was put into effect by covering the cost of mammograms and pap smears. Maybe one day we will get smart, but I’m not holding my breath. Kenneth Johnson Post Falls

THE ENVIRONMENT

Judge held back lunacy

Re: “Feds must show damage from mining” (April 4).

It’s about time. Like the Inland Empire Public Lands Council, Sierra Club and other such self-appointed protectors of the environment, government agencies often ask the public and courts to rely on their good intentions instead of offering peer-reviewed, scientific evidence. Great harm can result.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency’s dioxin policy springs to mind. In 1996, EPA invited a panel of 39 prominent scientists to evaluate its dioxin policy. The panel found that EPA had vastly overestimated dioxin hazards. Among the kinder comments about the basis of the policy was, “This isn’t science.”

The most chilling thing about the panel’s report is that another, equally prestigious group rendered almost the same opinion about the policy in 1986, 10 years before. Both reports were buried, however, and the policy remains unchanged. Enforcement and compliance with it have cost and are still costing people billions of dollars for nothing.

Why? Because the agency panders to the politically potent special interest groups that use and support it - the fearmongering, pollution-is-everywhere, stop-logging-mining-grazing crowd. They in turn favor shallow bumper sticker slogans that bring in money and members, not hard science.

The EPA now seems to have abandoned science completely, having recently introduced air quality standards that it admits can’t be justified by science. Thank God for Judge Lodge, who ruled that the agencies must produce hard evidence to support their claims. May his tribe increase. Fred R. Hobbs Spokane

Rivers can help to conserve, too

I would like to share an economic and environmental observation on breaching the Lower Snake River dams.

An expended gallon of fuel will transport a ton of commodity 59 miles by truck.

A gallon of fuel will move a ton of commodity 202 miles by rail.

That same gallon of fuel will move a ton of commodity 514 miles by river barge.

The water will not wear out. In fact, it can neither be created nor destroyed. Only the infrastructure that contains it can be put in jeopardy. Gerald J. Druffel, commissioner Port of Whitman County, Uniontown, Wash.

Get past pendulum-swinging policies

Re: “Zero cut” by Patrick Moore. At last! An environmental activist who tells it like it is.

After the Sierra Club, the Inland Empire Public Lands Council and other Earth Just Us groups have tried to take over public lands management by advocating nonmanagement, a founder of Greenpeace says the idea of banning all logging on public lands is politically correct but environmentally and economically wrong.

We must understand that radical changes beget radical changes. If preservationists get what they think they want - for everything to be preserved - the effects will be devastating. Then, the next administration will correct that by going too far the other way.

We must strive for a sustainable solution that will withstand the test of time and changing political administrations. A solution that takes into consideration a nation of people who want to keep the option of using wood products and who want the integrity and beauty of public lands maintained. Gary Garrison Northwest Timber Workers Resource Council, Kettle Falls, Wash.

PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Bunnies will be safer now

I want to thank you for running the article, “Rabbit realities” (April 3).

Up until two years ago, I had a business in which I bred Dutch rabbits and fuzzy lops. Easter time was very busy as I provided pet stores with my adorable bunnies. My intentions were good. However, through heartbreaking experiences, I learned that good homes are hard to find.

Shortly after Easter, I learned two of my Dutch bunnies, which had been purchased from a pet store, had been tortured by some kids. One of them died and the other one is crippled. I have her back, thanks to a neighbor of these horrible abusers.

I love my rabbits too much to let them go into the hands of strangers where their futures are not guaranteed. It was disturbing to see what kind of homes my rabbits were going to because the pet stores will sell to anyone.

Now I have only a few rabbits, but I know they will live happy and safe lives. Denise A. Miller Spokane

Landlords too restrictive about pets

My wife and I recently moved back to Spokane from Boise. While we were living in Boise, we adopted an 8-week-old chocolate Labrador puppy. We did not fully realize then the consequences of our actions.

Me moved out of our apartment to a relative’s house because of the hardships we were faced with in trying to find a decent place to live that allowed pets. We looked for two months. Ninety-five percent of the places allowed no pets, not even a small bird, and extremely high deposits were asked for at the few places where pets were allowed. Or, they were major dumpy units.

We decided to move back to Spokane and stay with family until we could find a suitable place to live. After three months we still have not been able to move to a suitable home because no pets are allowed or there is an extremely high deposit. I am sure it is the same way all over the United States.

Renters who own pets (especially medium to large dogs) are faced with major obstacles in trying to rent. I have known many people who have gotten rid of their animals because of this. As responsible, loving pet owners, we refuse to do this. So, when we read about the countless pets euthanized every year, can we place some of the blame on these no-pets-allowed landlords? Let it weigh heavily on their consciences. Steve D. Carpenter Spokane

TECHNOLOGY

How ready for 2000 are we?

What effect will the century change have on the functioning of computers and software responsible for meeting people’s basic needs? There is a need in the community for some segment of the media to discover and report on the following question:

Do our water, waste disposal, electric power, telephone, banking, transportation systems and such depend upon older mainframe computer systems to provide these services?

If the answer is yes, more questions should be asked of information managers - not public relations managers - of the firms and government agencies.

Is your computer system now year 2000 compliant? If not, when did you begin code repair? How many lines of code have you repaired and tested thus far? How many lines remain to be repaired and tested?

We could either be assured there is no problem with a given system’s readiness for Jan. 1, 2000, or we could be given fair warning so we could make whatever alternative arrangements that might be needed to provide for our own well-being.

A service provider’s silence about this matter may indicate that the king has no clothes. Robert K. Lesser Spokane