Letters To The Editor

ENVIRONMENT

Clear cuts not biological deserts

Those researchers who are touting the recovery of the burned over areas in Yellowstone National Park might expand their studies a little to the west to examine the recovery of the clear cuts on the West Yellowstone district of the Gallatin National Forest.

This would provide them with a comparison, within the same ecosystem and habitat types, between the recovery of forests destroyed by the forces of nature vs. the recovery of forests subjected to timber harvesting. In so doing, they may just end the myth that clear cuts are biological deserts, as some in the environmental camp would have us believe, and that they instead become thriving young forests containing the same mix of plants, bugs and animals that they are finding in the recovering park lands.

Richard F. Creed Sagle, Idaho

Chamber should represent all

Re: “Health and safety: Environmentalists go too far.”

I have participated in several Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce committees. In recent letters to the editor, Terry Hughes and Nancy Lynne have captured the spirit of the chamber. Environmental viewpoints are not invited nor are environmental advocates welcome to participate in chamber activities such as the upcoming Educate the Legislator Day because environmentalists are “prejudiced” and confuse the issues with facts.

The resource extraction industry has stacked the deck in the chamber in order to protect its stranglehold on Idaho politics. Chamber member Bobbi Condos’ July 15 letter to the editor stated her concern “about what appears to be a movement to completely stop all extraction-based business … we can continue to use our natural resources in a responsible and environmentally friendly manner.” Condos is not only on the payroll of Idaho Forest Industries, she is responsible for the quoted material in the above paragraph. She has, in fact, twice in chamber meetings with Hughes and Lynne, blocked discussion of an environmental presence in the upcoming day with Idaho legislators.

Our chamber needs to represent all businesses, including those with an environmental conscience. Condos, by her employment, has devoted her career to the chainsaw massacres seen in Idaho forests and views them as “forest management” and “environmentally friendly.” Many of the rest of us view this destruction of public land as greed-driven atrocities so painful we must speak out. We will continue to do so in support of the environment, which drew us here not to loot, but to cherish and protect. Bobbi Dalton Coeur d’Alene

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Just leave me alone, that’s all I ask

Re: “Christians also have rights” (Letters, Aug. 5).

If, as you say, the parts of the Bible that hurt can’t be explained away so that we can accept the parts that comfort and encourage, please explain why I haven’t seen a massive campaign on the part of Christians to eliminate the production of cotton/polyester blends (Leviticus, 19:19). Whose decision was it to ignore this part of the Bible? I, personally, am not trying to explain away anything. I just want to know why some parts of the Bible are stressed by Christians, while they (not me) ignore other parts.

I made no demands in my previous letter, so I find all of your assumptions about what I want to be rather presumptuous. All I want, personally, is to be left alone. I want Christians to quit selectively persecuting me. I think it’s unfair and unkind. You all are not out making laws denying civil rights to adulterers; you seem to be able to allow adulterers to repent before God. All I want is for you to allow me the same.

My homosexuality is between me and God. I think you should allow me that right. I’m simply tired of being picked on, and I question your right, of all the sinning going on in the world, to focus on what you perceive to be as mine and so vehemently attack me.

Is this what your God tells you to do? I think it’s just hateful, and I think my God’s not going to like you much for it. Micki Archuleta Pullman

End social engineering

The proposed Human Rights ordinance is a bad idea. It is redundant to federal and state laws, it is impossible to enforce, it encourages petty lawsuits and it benefits the few at the philosophical and economic expense of the many.

As one of the morally benighted, I believe that people of all races, disabilities, classes, genders, religions and sexual orientations should have the right to discriminate against whomever they want without fear of government retribution. There is no Constitutional mandate that people must like each other, and I hereby publicly assert my right to dislike anyone I choose.

If I run a business, a job is mine to give. If I own a property, it is mine to rent. No one else has a right to these things. I should be able to grant them to whomever I please. Why must I be forced to compromise my beliefs to accommodate others? Why do they need legal protection to get what isn’t theirs to begin with?

If this ordinance is rejected, the worst that can happen is that a few whiners will get their feelings hurt. If it passes, Spokane landlords and business owners should prepare for a flood of frivolous lawsuits, endless media hype about the poor souls they are “victimizing,” and accusations of intolerance should they choose to fight back.

Let’s end this social engineering. A few bruised feelings are a small price to pay for intellectual and economic freedom. John M. Lemon Spokane

EDUCATION

Class should focus on one science

I’m writing in response to the July 31 article about the new science programs in District 81 schools. I will be in 10th grade next year, and I have been in both types of science classes. My eighth-grade science class was an integrated science class, whereas my freshman class focused mainly on chemistry and a little bit of biology. Both of my teachers were excellent teachers, so I do not fault my eighth-grade teacher that I came away from her class wishing I had learned more. In ninth grade, I learned more about science than in all my previous science classes put together. This is why science classes should be focused on one type of science rather than becoming “science samplers.”

Science classes focusing on one type of science offer the teacher, an expert in his or her field who may have limited teaching experience in any other field, the opportunity to thoroughly teach the curriculum. I cannot imagine having to learn what I learned last year spread out over three years of different classes. Many students, including myself, may forget what they had learned the previous year and the teacher would have to spend all of his or her time reviewing for that particular subject, and the class would learn nothing new.

I consider myself lucky that I can still take pure chemistry, biology and physics classes. I also pity the younger kids who will never have the opportunity to learn in the manner that I have. Megan E. Smith Spokane

EWU good site for Olympiad

I would like to express my appreciation to The Spokesman-Review for printing the article regarding the National Science Olympiad coming to Eastern Washington University. Speaking as both a teacher and coach, I have seen over the past seven years the tremendous positive impact this program has had on my students.

I was quoted in the recent article as sounding negative about our students going to EWU for a national tournament. That could not be further from the truth. We have been very fortunate that EWU has invested time, resources and people-power in the Science Olympiad. EWU, thanks to the involvement and leadership of Heather McKean and Jean Cavanaugh, is known across our state for putting on a first-class tournament. The facilities are excellent, and the involvement of people from both EWU and the Spokane community is outstanding. The students get an opportunity to “do science” with professionals from both education and business.

EWU will be an excellent site for the national tournament and will draw participants from every state to our area. As this will be the first-ever national tournament in the Pacific Northwest, excitement is high for both those of us working on this project and those from across the nation who will be attending. Our students will be honored if they are able to represent the state of Washington at EWU in 2000. Cinda Parton Spokane

GOVERNMENT/POLITICS

Stop voting for evil

Ken K. Fuller (Letters, July 30), be assured that we the people can head into a Godly era if we vote for Godfearing leaders. To do this, we need to give up our bad habit of voting for the lesser of the two evils. That is to say, stop voting for evil of any degree.

In the September primary elections, we can start this Godly voting trend by voting for John Beal for U.S. congressman. M.G. Grosselfinger Spokane