Should Council Members Be Elected By Precinct?

Tue., Aug. 11, 1998

Doug Floyd Interactive Editor

Foes call it ward politics. Friends call it accountability.

Whichever is the case, the idea of electing Spokane City Council members by district has been raised again.

Under the present city charter, all six council members and the mayor could live as neighbors in the same gated housing development. At times, it’s seemed as though that wasn’t far from true. However, it’s been suggested on occasion, and regularly dismissed, that council members should represent separate geographic areas of the city just as members of the Legislature or Congress represent specific districts.

Which is more appealing - continue with all council members running and being elected at large or convert to a system that would assure some geographical diversity and under which those elected would be accountable only to the voters in their respective districts?

Redecorating?

Now that one of the unknowns isn’t unknown after all, a controversy has arisen.

Air Force Lt. Michael J. Blassie was shot down over South Vietnam in 1972. Unidentified at the time, he was buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns.

His family obtained a disinterment after which DNA testing confirmed Blassie’s identity. His remains have been moved to a national cemetery in St. Louis but the family wants more. They want the Congressional Medal of Honor that hangs at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a decoration they acknowledge was awarded for symbolic purposes. A sister said Blassie was the symbol for 14 years so he should retain the medal wherever he lies.

Should he?

Horse race lives up to its name

For the fourth time in three years, a horse has had to be euthanized because of the Omak Stampede’s World Famous Suicide Race.

This year’s victim, named Deuce, was part of a pile-up at the bottom of the 120-foot-high embankment down which horses and riders plunge before swimming the Okanogan River. Deuce made it to the other side of the river but instead of completing the race to the stampede arena, he collapsed and began drifting with the current.

Once again, Stampede Director “Cactus Jack” Miller was adamant that the race will continue to be a feature of the annual rodeo. He says 97 percent of the public backs the traditional event. Animal rights groups want it ended. What’s the answer?

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