Letters To The Editor
FIELD BURNING
Militant growers, what’s it to be?
I was very troubled to read Paul Stearns’ defense of the grass growers who rounded up and detained private citizens and state employees who were trying to enforce state clean air laws (Letters, Aug. 21).
He suggests - or perhaps “threatens” is a more accurate word - that these lawbreakers should start a revolution to protest unfair laws. How ironic and hypocritical. When grass burning was legal, growers used the law to justify their burning. Never mind that their smoke made people sick, sent children to the hospital, was linked to asthma deaths and disrupted thousands of lives. Those who complained were told to shut up, tough it out or move away. Burning was legal and grass growers were law-abiding.
Using Stern’s logic, it could certainly be argued that the law allowing grass growers to use our air as their personal garbage dump was unfair to the hundreds of thousands of people forced to breathe their smoke. Yet I don’t recall ever reading stories of hotheaded, out-of-control mothers of asthmatic children surrounding farmers with blockades of station wagons. There’s been nothing about armies of emphysema patients trailing their oxygen tanks, illegally detaining farmers.
How frightening that Stearns suggests that grass growers are now justified in these types of actions simply because they feel the current law is unfair. Grass growers can’t have it both ways. Either they are law-abiding citizens or they are not. Vivian A. Burgard Spokane
Biggest single source of air pollution
In his recent letter defending agricultural burning, Ray Shindler points his finger at other pollution sources (cars and wood stoves) and maintains that wheat stubble burning contributes “less than 1 percent” to our air quality problems. This is both intentionally misleading and dishonest, and Shindler should know better. He is not just a private citizen with an opinion. Shindler is a paid lobbyist for the wheat and grass industries in Olympia.
The 1 percent figure, once used by the grass industry to justify their burning, was put to rest when headlines reported that grass smoke was Spokane County’s single largest source of particulate pollution, belching out more smoke than our 60 biggest industrial polluters combined. (Spokesman-Review, Jan. 16, 1996).
Last year, the Department of Ecology banned grass burning to protect our health. Now, wheat growers have decided to start burning their fields and Shindler has resurrected the 1 percent figure.
The facts are these:
The 158,000 acres of wheat stubble burned last year (outside of Spokane County; our farmers do not burn their wheat) produced 1,491 tons of particulate pollution per month during the burn season. This elevates wheat stubble burning to the status of our No. 1 pollution source during what should be the four nicest months each year. This is more pollution than motor vehicles (1,403 tons/ month), industrial facilities (112 tons/month), and wood stoves during winter (727 tons/month).
My source for this information is the Washington state Department of Ecology’s emissions inventory. Perhaps Shindler would like to show us his. Patricia Hoffman, president Save Our Summers, DOE Agricultural Burning Task Force, Spokane
SPOKANE MATTERS
What happened to speed monitoring?
While driving down an arterial in a residential area at 30 mph, I was passed by a noisy pickup truck going at least 50 mph. Two blocks later, that truck passed another car the same way. These were only two-lane streets.
I got to thinking, how long has it been since I saw a radar police car or motorcycle officers doing their thing? You don’t even see them by Comstock pool anymore.
Also, what has happened to that photographic way of catching speeders? Hayes M. Sanderson Spokane
Assessors have some explaining to do
We recently received a notice of increased valuation for our home in Spokane County. This was labeled “Corrected Notice” due to the repeal of Referendum 47 by the Supreme Court.
As I understand it, the assessors determined that Referendum 47 was unconstitutional and challenged it in court, thereby leading to its repeal. Where do these tax-supported bureaucrats get the authority to pursue this type of action? Referendum 47 was passed by a majority of voters and passed into law at the will of the people. I don’t understand how the assessors, whose salaries come out of tax funds, can use tax dollars to challenge a procedure approved by a majority of the voting public. Who paid the salaries of the attorneys who handled this? This type of procedure should be handled by members of the public who feel it’s a mistake.
This should be explained. So should how the spending of tax dollars to do it was justified. Douglas P. Wendler Spokane
Sterk will be a strong sheriff
Re: John Meadows’ Aug. 22 letter.
We are pleased Mark Sterk is running for sheriff because our community needs someone with his political wisdom and 25 years of law enforcement experience. Former Sheriff Larry Erickson was a strong leader and Sterk is cut from the same cloth.
Sterk served well in Olympia as our state representative. Through integrity and hard work he built relationships that will continue to benefit our county. He has the ability to walk into the office of the House speaker and discuss law enforcement issues and needs for our community and state. For example, as vice-chairman of the Law and Justice Committee, Sterk was instrumental in drafting the new DWI law (to take effect Jan. 3, 1999) reducing the legal blood alcohol level to 0.08. Hopefully, this limit will add to the incentive to designate a safe driver on occasions when alcohol is involved.
As well, law enforcement executives from Spokane and the Inland Empire know both candidates and appreciate the value of Sterk’s experience in Olympia. Those executives have recognized Sterk’s leadership qualities and, along with every law enforcement agency in Spokane County, have endorsed his position as the next sheriff.
Let’s honor those endorsements and vote for Sterk for Spokane County sheriff. Mel E. and Bonnie J. Algar Liberty Lake
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Situation outgrowth of sex attitudes
Poet and essayist Wendell Berry prophesied with frightening accuracy how far worse the sexual spoilage the United States was poised to be in the years following the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas mess. In his early ‘90s essay, “Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community,” Berry warns of the severe disconnectedness between sex and the fabric of our social institutions. He explains how the vitally needed threading of public discussion on the nature of sex is all but absent.
Thus our situation today, where conservatives wish to oust President Clinton and liberals wish to excuse him. Neither seems willing to talk about the cultural crisis in our country that detaches sex from community and entraps sex in a false, private-public dualism.
It’s hard for me to accept the argument that there exists not a tragic epidemic of unprepared pregnancies, abortion and child abuse. The latest White House sex scandal is merely a symptom of our country’s unwillingness to engage in discussion of the great meaning, mysteries and powers of human sexuality toward horrific forms of destruction or incredible forms of beauty. Doug A. Demeo Spokane
Love will win over hatred, eventually
Charles Creasy’s courageous Street Level column on Aug. 23 brought tears to my eyes, in no small measure because of the gay-bashing mail he will receive from people who claim to understand Christianity but who have missed its meaning due to fear.
Love and inner peace are so rare in this often harsh world of ours that we should rejoice for those who find them, without fretting that a person’s particular path or means of expression are superficially different from someone else’s.
Far too many men and women have faced pain, shame, and even suicide because some people decide they should determine how everyone else should live. Civil rights and humane consideration must exist for all of us, and we should all cling to the notion, too often battered and bruised, that gentle love ultimately will conquer shrill hatred. Fred Glienna Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Column touching and enlightening
Thank you, Charles Creasy, for your Aug. 23 Street Level column. You exhibit great courage in expressing your thoughts and feelings about being gay, and the related difficulties of living in Spokane.
I agree that certain religious groups, so-called Christians, weigh in heavily when issues that would provide human rights and equality for gay and lesbian people are being debated. But unfortunately, that bias extends far beyond the religious community.
I was touched by your letter. I am the mother of a 30-year-old son who is gay. When my son revealed his sexual orientation shortly after graduating from college, some of my friends asked me how I could cope with such a devastating revelation. My answer came easily because my son had grown into a generous, caring, compassionate and moral individual with a strong desire to continue his education and to become a productive member of society - values we had worked so hard to instill in our children.
Today, my son lives in a large West Coast city and continues to pursue his profession, working with developmentally disabled adults. I have met his gay and lesbian friends, some of whom are living in committed loving relationships. These are good people, educated, hard-working and making a positive contribution. It is difficult for me to understand the harsh judgment and yes, even hatred toward gays and lesbians that comes from people of religion especially, but from others as well.
I sincerely hope your efforts to enlighten will have some effect on members of the Spokane City Council; that they will re-examine their attitudes concerning the ordinances that would extend equality to gays and lesbians, and that they will muster the courage to do what is right. Applying the Golden Rule would be a good start. Thank you for sharing. Paula Fitzsimmons Sagle, Idaho
WILDLIFE
Last few grizzlies being mismanaged
On Aug. 11, a 3-year old grizzly bear was shot and killed in Northeastern Washington, just outside the Selkirk grizzly bear recovery zone. There are a handful of grizzly bears hanging on the brink of extinction in the Selkirks. Grizzlies in the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery zone fare no better.
Young grizzlies must find a home when their mothers tell them it’s time to make their own way. Every road and every human development they encounter in their wanderings make that a very challenging task. Human-caused mortality, loss and degradation of habitat, and isolation from grizzly bears in other ecosystems are the greatest threats to these grizzlies.
The threat of extinction is enhanced by the continued failure of the Selkirk-Cabinet-Yaak subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee to take reasonable actions required to protect grizzly bears and their habitat in the Selkirk and the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems.
The current distribution of grizzly bears south of Canada has been reduced to less than 2 percent of the former range. While the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak (Oh yes, include the North Cascades) grizzly bear populations wander into extinction, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are busying themselves with plans to prematurely remove protections now afforded under the Endangered Species Act to the Yellowstone grizzlies.
Unlike California, the grizzly bear is more than a symbol in the state of Washington. But how long will it be before Washington is just like California? James R. Musgrove Spokane
More cougar attacks imminent
Lately, there has been a lot of news concerning recent cougar sightings and attacks. The residents of Washington state had better get used to it and begin to educate the children about what to do if they do see a cougar, because sightings and, yes, attacks, will only become more frequent.
Hound hunters used to provide the state a way to manage cougar populations and it was the voters’ decision to manage cougars and bears by other means. So, everyone better get used to the increased populations of big game or restore the use of hounds for hunting.
The people who voted against the use of hounds had better keep their children safe from the woods, because the bears and lions only see them as food. Donna R. Bruce Wellpinit, Wash.
Don’t forsake protection of species
Some people say the Endangered Species Act (ESA) needs changing. I agree. Seems that even with the ESA, birds, butterflies, fish and wildlife are still going extinct. So maybe the canary will be next. Maybe an update is warranted.
Some folks say that too much attention is paid a bunch of owls, bears, caribou and orchids. People should come first, they say.
Since I was very young, I was told a story about Noah’s ark and how God told Noah to save all species from a great flood. I have no memory of that parable suggesting that some wildlife, plants or people don’t matter.
The story of the ark presents a compassionate expression toward all life on Earth. Let us be prosperous and seek to improve our lives but not do so in ways that imperil the very existence other living things.
The U.S. Senate will address ESA reform in September. Idaho’s Sen. Dirk Kempthorne is pushing legislation (S.1180) that will weaken ESA, lengthening the time to list a species and locking in long-term land management plans, even if later on those plans are found to jeopardize an endangered specie.
Species on the edge of extinction need our help. They need an ark. In this time of plenty, how easily we forget that our wealth and well-being comes from Mother Earth. May we be so humble in the pursuit of treasure that we do not fail to recognize the richness of this land and generations yet unborn that will inherit our decisions. Timothy J. Coleman Republic, Wash.
OTHER TOPICS
Missile strategy not without risk to us
Recent attacks on terrorists, while justified, are a dangerous strategy that could very easily backfire.
There is no doubt that terrorism is the world’s No. 1 danger at this time. However, the side effects, both social and political, not only raise ethical questions but could give these terrorist leaders a public support or sympathy they might not otherwise have.
The bombing of these areas of suspected terrorists means a lot of innocent people will be killed or injured. Carrying out these bombings is a two-edged sword that calls for worldwide approval that may not be forthcoming. In a way, it’s like using a baseball bat for a fly swatter.
I hope our officials have thought this matter through thoroughly. The bombings could open a Pandora’s box of troubles for the United States. Edward M. Doherty Spokane
Gambling just plain detrimental
Re: the recent article on casino gambling. How many people will lose their home and car, probably going bankrupt, and you would compare this to a manufacturers job?
What percent of the money gambled will return to the people, to buy homes and cars? How much of the money won makes it out the door?
Would the news media really have Clinton getting all the credit for the economy? If so, what are we doing electing senators, representatives, etc.? Please!
Read the newspapers, watch TV and still have people believe what you are putting out as news for people. And you get paid for this! How sad. Victor Chimienti Spokane