Letters To The Editor

ENVIRONMENT

Wild fires not grass fires

Re: “All field burning should be stopped” by Mary Dee Berg (Aug. 6).

It is incomprehensible to think that Berg believes all the fires that have burned this summer have been set intentionally. The “grass fires” that have occurred around the Spokane area have been wild fires, prairie grass and weeds, not grass seed fields. Is it because the media calls all fires grass fires that she is led to believe they are from grass seed fields?

Berg obviously does not understand the heart and souls of the farmers here in the Inland Empire. Farmers do not set fires that can become wild and burn forests and injure or kill someone who goes to fight them. Farmers take care of the earth, it is their livelihood. If she really wants to understand farmers she needs to read the article, “Lining up to help” in the same edition as her letter. Farmers are compassionate, helping people who sweat and toil without much thanks from society - the very society that the farmers’ labor provides food for.

Alisa Cook Conger R.N. Chattaroy

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Out of parade comes respect

Re: The Aryan parade.

I now have more respect than ever before for my father and his generation. They paid an incredible price so that ignorant people like that little wannabe tyrant from Hayden Lake, Idaho, and his motley band of misfits and societal outcasts could march freely on the streets of America and preach the very views of oppression that our country fought so bravely to defeat.

The Nazi’s should send us all a big thank you card for destroying their father land and providing a place where even the most unwanted people in the country can express their views without being rounded up and systematically eliminated. Michael J. Bourcy Liberty Lake

Forget Aryans, think of the aquifer

While we have all been busy turning the Aryan Nations’ 15 minutes into several months of fame, we have all missed the travesty on the prairie. I encourage all readers to take a drive on Trent (Highway 53) between Hauser and Rathdrum, Idaho. Despite the public outcry, Burlington Northern (or their contractor) is working daily and has all the appearances of proceeding with their multi-million-gallon fuel storage facility right on top of the aquifer, the primary source of water to some 400,000 of us.

Forget the Aryans. A disaster over the aquifer could quite literally devastate us. Gene Zande Spokane

Religion doesn’t belong in school

Re: “Post Falls rejects creationism” (July 14)

The Post Falls School Board got it right. The whole issue of creation science is the promotion of Christianity in public school - strictly prohibited under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Anyone can get a copy of “Dictionary of Christianity in America” (page 326; Creation Science), which points to Henry Morris as the impetus behind the creation science movement. Using papers of conservative theologians like John Whitcomb’s 1961 “The Genesis Flood,” Morris established the Institute for Creation Research. The institute published a book for public schools entitled “Scientific Creationism.” Although Arkansas legislated teaching creation science in 1981, in 1982 it was ruled unconstitutional.

The public needs to know creation science is a Christian fundamentalist religious movement. Establishing the teaching of religion in public schools is a Pandora’s Box of religious intolerance.

The founding fathers knew about state-sponsored religion of Europe and early colonial experiments in theocratic governments. Ergo, the first words of the First Amendment read, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion …” As long as public schools are part of our government, religion does not belong there. We talk or teach about God in our churches or in our homes. But the First Amendment was written to protect the minority from the abuses of the majority.

Well done, Post Falls. Angel Manuel Fitzpatrick Jr. Fairfield, Wash.

IN THE PAPER

Why should we tolerate behavior?

In an otherwise excellent editorial by John Webster (“Level with the people; let us all move on”) he misses one crucial point when he says the country has more important business. Webster notes that straightforwardness, accountability and integrity are important in an apology. I contend, however, that these character issues are fundamental to any leadership position.

To say, as many are today, that one can dichotomize private choices from public duty misses an essential point: who we really are is determined by the sum of our choices. This is no less true for a parent than it is for a president. Character is important business. And competency and character go hand in hand. Why should the American public tolerate a private peccadillo, as Webster suggests? If our president is willing to cheat on his wife, how can we expect him to tell the truth to us? Don S. Otis Sandpoint

Story lacked facts

Re: “Springdale contractor faces impersonation trial” (Spokesman-Review, July 31).

I don’t think you know all the facts.

Pat Anderson donated the work done on Ms. Williamson’s house. He also purchased most of the materials and then had trouble recovering the money he had spent from Williamson.

Pat and Lonnie Anderson are well known in the community for helping people when they are down and out. It is an outrage that they have been put in this light. I know that they helped Williamson move, and let her and her kids stay with them for nothing. They also stored her things in their garage for some time and then hauled it to Chewelah.

I think this is a really good railroad job against these people, incited by former public officials of the town of Springdale. I hope the Andersons file a suit against the town of Springdale, and the town officials who allowed this to happen, as well as this newspaper. Wayne Peterson Springdale, Wash.

Clarification needed on story

I would like to amend the Aug. 4 article written by Kathy Mulady on the human rights decision. As someone who was present at the City Council meeting, I would like to report that the City Council members did not rebuke testifiers on both sides of the question for lack of civility. As a matter of fact, they commended the people in favor of the ordinance for remaining civil and level-headed in the face of a barrage of vicious attacks from those who opposed it.

I only bring this up because, judging by letters to the editor on this subject, there will be many readers who did not attend the meetings who will read the article and assume that “those militant homosexuals” must have made quite a spectacle of themselves by relentless attacks on the character of the fundamentalist Christians in attendance. In reality, the opposite was true. In this case, I felt the citizens of Spokane deserved more clarification than they got in the article, since, on this issue, very little ammunition is needed for setting off more attacks. Gregory M. Presley Spokane

‘Small World’ tune should remain

It’s a cool day in the infernal regions when I can placidly agree with each viewpoint in the Friday From Both Sides regarding the significant matter of the Disney “Small World” attraction.

Yes, the ride speaks gently to the universality of human potential, perhaps best exemplified in the simple lives of children. Yes, the blending of the world’s waters provides a powerful metaphor for a globe scarred by violence, and Walt Disney should get some credit for being way ahead of the curve on this aspect of the human rights front.

Yes, also, the figures are a trifle outdated, a bit cliched and potentially insulting. Even by the standards of the early 1960s, the animation is crude and simplistic. But while it is time for a facelift, I firmly believe the song should remain.

It is so easy to get that melody locked in your head, possibly forever, that I like to think the message behind the ride and the song will seep slowly into our consciousness as well.

And as for being stuck listening to the song during a breakdown in the ride, if it had been 100 degrees outside and muggy, Steve Massey most likely would not have minded so much. Fred Glienna Coeur d’Alene

Rypien family in our prayers

Re: Mark Rypien article of Aug. 4.

What a delight to read in the paper about a sports figure who had not beaten his girlfriend/wife, wasn’t charged for cocaine or marijuana use, not involved in a car accident while driving drunk, but rather a heart-warming story about the love of his family, wanting to give his full-time attention to the short life of his precious son.

I lived in the Washington, D.C., area when Rypien was the quarterback for the Redskins. I never met him, but had a friend who did and regarded Rypien as one of the most respectable sports figures. My prayers go out to Mark and his family. Kay Cameron Spirit Lake, Idaho

Initiative 688 story unbalanced

My faith in the objectivity of The Spokesman-Review received a near fatal blow when I read Frank Bartel’s recent article on Initiative 688 (raising the minimum wage). The source he used for his assertions (the Employment Policies Institute) has been widely discredited by economic experts for being absolutely biased and for using speculative data. Compounding the misinformation in the article is the fact that it wasn’t even gathered from Washington state, further distorting its accuracy.

I have always believed that it was the job of a good reporter to research their sources and confirm the correctness of information before putting it out for public consumption To warp public perception through inaccurate and biased information is unprofessional journalism. How about a balanced story based on the facts?

I have studied both sides of the issue and have learned that the loss of jobs, inflation and other predictions that would harm business are absolutely not true. Let’s do the public a favor and print the truth. Mary Anne Stuckart Spokane