Letters To The Editor

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Perfume wearers, strive for subtlety

This letter is directed to the woman seated in the balcony of the Opera House for the recent Tuesday performance of “Stomp” who apparently had spilled a bottle of perfume on herself.

I purchased tickets weeks in advance and drove 200 miles on icy roads to see “Stomp.” I hadn’t been to the theater for more than a year and was eager to enjoy the performance.

However, within a minute of two of you taking your seat near me, my eyes began to water and I began to cough. Because I’m not normally allergic, I didn’t recognize that I was having an allergic asthma attack caused by your perfume. Within a few minutes, I was nearly choking.

I wanted to leave my seat to escape the miasma, but I was in a center seat and didn’t want to interrupt the performance by crawling over 30 laps in the dark. In desperation, I filtered the air by breathing through the cloth of my coat. This worked, but I was forced to watch all but 15 minutes of the show with my coat clutched to my face.

Seating in a theater puts everyone in very close quarters, subjecting each of us to choices made by the others. If I’d lit a cigar in that environment, there’d have been a riot. The perfume-triggered attack of choking embarrassed me and distressed my companions.

I like perfume; I wear it myself. However, perfume that saturates the atmosphere within a 15-foot radius of the wearer is more of an assault than an enhancement. Coe Gifford Colville, Wash.

Generations can help one another

All the seventh-grade block classes at Greenacres Jr. High School have been learning about the elderly. As part of this unit, we watched a movie titled “The Electric Grandma,” a great science fiction story written by Ray Bradbury. We also went on a field trip to the Good Samaritan Senior Citizens’ Village. The choir gave a well-produced performance, then the students gave poinsettias to the elderly and visited with them. Some people had such a great experience that they are considering becoming volunteers at the Senior Citizens’ Village.

There should be more opportunities for youths to get to know the elderly and learn from them. I enjoy visiting with my grandmother and sharing my thoughts with her. It was nice to meet people at Good Samaritan to get a different perspective on aging. Another thing I learned at Good Samaritan is that teenagers and the elderly have a lot more in common than they think. I think the seventh-grade block teachers made a great decision when they decided on this unit. Alice Hale, age 13 Greenacres

U.S. AND THE WORLD

Controversial school a good one

As a former Air Force officer with 15 years of service, I doubt the accuracy of charges leveled against the School of the Americas in recent letters. I searched the Internet and found a report on SOA by the General Accounting Office that refutes the hyperbole of its detractors.

SOA protesters claim 450 SOA graduates have been implicated in human rights abuses. Who is the source of this information? Amnesty International, which claims the U.S. has a policy of raping women prisoners!

Let’s assume the 450 figure is correct. SOA has graduated 57,000 foreign military officers, noncommissioned officers, police officers and civilians. That’s less than 1 percent of all graduates. If SOA is training soldiers to suppress basic human rights, the school is a miserable failure.

Critics claim the school trains death squads. The GAO report contains a detailed listing of all courses offered at the school. Nowhere could I find Death Squad 101 or other classes designed to violate human rights.

The school is the only such program offered in the United States that provides military courses in Spanish. SOA courses include respect for human rights, civilian control and recognizing and clearing minefields. I’m surprised that SOA opponents would oppose bilingual education and protecting children from minefields planted by left-wing extremists.

SOA isn’t the monster its critics claim. The school’s mission is to train professional military personal in Spanish and foster the development of freedom. Check out www.parascope.com/ds/1096/soadoc3.htm. Paul G. Murray Jr. Newport, Wash.

Close School of the Americas

Proponents of the School of the Americas advocate it as an instrument for the furtherance of democracy in South America, and claim that South American countries need the “leadership” learned by graduates of SOA.

At Fort Benning, defensive armies are trained. The armies of the United States are used to defend us (theoretically) from our external enemies. Soldiers trained at SOA use the skills learned there as a police force to defend the rich and powerful members of their own countries against the poor citizens of the same countries! Where is the just implementation of democratic principles in that?

Close the SOA! Jackie Volz Spokane

WAR AND REMEMBRANCE

Our prayers are with our troops

On Dec. 16, my wife Sally and I learned that thousands of men and women from virtually every military base in the state will be directly involved in Operation Desert Fox in Iraq. Bremerton’s own U.S.S. Carl Vinson and U.S.S. Rainier have been ordered to the Persian Gulf. Three squadrons of EA-6Bs from Naval Air Station Whidbey, the 54th Medical Company from Fort Lewis and air crews from both Fairchild and McChord have all been called into action.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all these men and women and their loved ones at home in Washington.

My support for our sailors, airmen and soldiers is unwavering. The strength of the U.S. military is unsurpassed and the valor and bravery of the young men and women of the U.S. armed forces is extraordinary.

May God watch over them and bring them home safely. Sen. Slade Gorton Seattle

Keep alive memory of Dec. 7

Let’s only hope that Doug Floyd was playing devil’s advocate when he wrote that the remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day be put to the wayside.

As D.F. Oliveria points out in his column, I am of the generation that still reaps the benefits of those who fought before me. I’ve also grown up in an era where I have seen those veterans and others, from Korea to Vietnam to Desert Storm, denigrated to the bottom of the heap by none other than the government they fought under. I may have some serious reservations about the motives that take us to war and the horrible way our veterans are treated after, but the spirit of these men and women deserves much more respect and recognition than Floyd’s effort that would deliver the country from depression.

I don’t care what the motivation was that entered us into the conflict, that’s not the point. The point is that our veterans have basically been abandoned by our government and it would be a travesty if our citizens contributed to that.

December 7, 1941, should be remembered for what it was, regardless of any one person’s guilty feelings. It was an unprovoked attack by people bent on destroying our way of life. Michael Harmon Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Coincidence? Sure thing, chief

If President Clinton says he did not send troops to Iraq to forestall an impeachment vote, then it must be true. Why would we not believe him? Bernard A. Rihn Spokane

Lott outburst qualifies as treason

The pilots were in their aircraft, the sailors at their battle stations and the United States was in combat conditions against Iraq. At that very moment, one of the five most politically powerful men in the United States, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, stated he would not support the military action because the timing and policy were subject to question on his part.

Don’t you know that Saddam loved to hear that! If this doesn’t give Saddam a lift, who knows what will?

I can only imagine the lift it provided the military personnel and their families involved in Operation Desert Fox, knowing a senior leader of the Republican Party chooses to air his disagreement in public in the midst of a military engagement.

In fact, Lott has provided thinking people an example of an impeachable offense defined in the U.S. Constitution as treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Webster offers an example of treason as giving your enemies aid and comfort. It could be argued that is exactly what Lott did by his completely uncalled for and untimely public comments.

I wish the Lott of them would keep their partisan mouths shut until our troops are safely home. Barry C. Cross Spokane

Republicans have done worse

Which is the greater evil, the President’s lies and deceptions about his truly stupid affair or the attempt by Republicans to overthrow the will of the people by trumped up charges? Proof the charges are trumped up is the response of the Republicans to lies of Republican presidents and their henchmen.

For instance, Republicans praise the lies of Oliver North, who contradicted the expressed order of Congress and paid terrorists to murder Nicaraguan peasants. These terrorists were called freedom fighters by then-President Reagan (then, Vice President George Bush claimed he was “out of the loop” on the matter.) Which lies are more destructive?

Which lies were more certainly proved, that President Clinton fondled Monica Lewinsky or that North violated an order of Congress? Again, there’s no question. More importantly, which matters more?

Which investigation was more fair? Leon Jaworski’s of President Nixon or Kenneth Starr’s of Clinton? The answer is clear and simple.

Which hearings were conducted on a bipartisan basis, with both parties involved in all procedural questions? Look it up. There is a lot at stake for all of us. It is the future of our democracy. Robert M. and Janet G. Stevenson Spokane

Clinton exemplifies our weaknesses

Like most Americans, I am sick of the daily soap operas being foisted upon us by the media concerning President Clinton. Nevertheless, I feel inspired to express my point of view concerning this pathetic situation.

Indictment of the president is an indictment of the nation itself. The crisis confronting Clinton is also a crisis of our American culture. Clinton is a product of the times, just as you and I are. As the polls indicate, he is right in line with the majority of Americans as he relates to the approval of abortion, the obvious condoning of extramarital sex and the acceptance of lying when it suits one’s purpose.

I fear for our country when we put the pursuit of happiness and self-gratification ahead of basic respect for the law of the land, and the law of God.

I admit I voted for President Clinton twice. Now, however, I feel betrayed and embarrassed by his behavior during the past year. The only way he can regain my respect is to resign like a gentleman.

While I despise the hypocrisy of the radical right as exemplified by the Christian Coalition and the ilk of Rush Limbaugh, I feel there is a middle ground where a leader with common sense, who respects the sanctity of life, the laws of the nation and the laws of God, will emerge to save us from national self-destruction. Vincent Wetzler Deer Park

Fairness requires vote on censure

Today, a first for me, at age 66, a letter to an opinion page. Today also, a trip in the rain to the library, to get addresses for members of the House of Representatives.

The issue for me is fairness. The most partisan committee in Congress has brought this action. I would feel more at ease if the more moderate element of the Republican Party had judged this case. It troubles me that the leaders of the Republican Party (other than the partisans), are not speaking out on issues of fairness, in light of the expressed wishes of the American people. We feel powerless that representatives do not have the option to consider censure as well as impeachment in this most important case.

The majority keeps referring to the framers of the Constitution as their guide. I do not believe those framers could have dreamed of the power our modern political parties can exercise. I watched as much of the Watergate proceedings as possible, and all of these proceedings. There is no comparison. In Watergate, as several have said, the system worked. In this case, it is a case of deep distress, because the entire matter has been flawed.

I pray that the House, which is controlled by Republicans, will allow a full House vote on either censure or impeachment. The fairness of a full House vote was given by a Democratic majority in the Persian Gulf War decision. How can they not let every elected representative have that option in this case? Shirley A. Smith Veradale

OTHER TOPICS

Avoid taking kittens to SpokAnimal

I recently visited SpokAnimal CARE on North Napa in Spokane. I noticed up front that there were a dozen or so cages, each containing from one to five beautiful kittens. I asked what was going to be done with those kittens. I was told many of them would be destroyed unless she could adopt them out that day.

Being a cat lover, I told her I knew of several pet shops that take kittens on a regular basis and find homes for them. I told her I would check with the shops, to see if they could take some of the kittens she otherwise was going to kill.

She told me no, that I would have to adopt the kittens, at a price of $42.50 each. I explained I didn’t have several hundreds dollars to adopt them but would still check with the pet shops. They wouldn’t allow this, even though I wouldn’t have taken the kittens until I’d first contacted the pet shops. One pet shop in particular regularly takes kittens and finds them homes. I commend them for this.

Pet lovers, won’t you rally around the cause and see if we can save these beautiful kittens from the bureaucracy and politics of SpokAnimal? Please check with your local pet shops before you take kittens to SpokAnimal. If they already have their quota of kitties, you will get on a list to bring them in when they can take them. Robert W. Snyder Spokane

Monopoly status ailing mail service?

Eighteen months ago, I posted a letter to the Broadway Truck Stop using the address in the Yellow Pages. It took 14 days to come back marked “undeliverable.” More recently, a letter was returned similarly marked that was addressed to Appleway Subaru on East Sprague. What does this say about the mentality of a postman who does not know where these two huge establishments are?

In my business, goods are shipped by UPS with a copy of the invoice to the identical address sent by post. It’s common for the letter to be returned undeliverable while UPS delivers the parcel with no problem.

Could these problems be connected to the initiative and energy of the private sector compared to the couldn’t-care-less, take-it-or-leave-it government monopoly? Roger Slater Mica

Winged Lion deserves four stars

I read with interest Leslie Kelly’s review of the Winged Lion Restaurant. Having eaten at the Winged Lion approximately a week ago and having read her review, I don’t think we went to the same restaurant.

I went to the restaurant with my wife and another couple. We had the bouillabaisse, the duck, ravioli and venison. My wife thought the bouillabaisse was the best she had ever eaten and the lobster was particularly succulent. The other meals were also excellent.

Kelly observed that the venison did not have a wild, rustic flavor. I wondered if she thought the venison was shot on Mount Spokane, rather than obtained from a New Zealand farm which the waiter announced when taking our order.

I personally rate the Winged Lion a four-star restaurant. I suggest Kelly go back to rating fast food restaurants and steakhouses, as she doesn’t seem to be able to appreciate cuisine other than meat and potatoes. Ned M. Barnes Spokane

Anti-hunting letter nonsensical

Re: Mary E. Cosentini’s Dec. 11 letter, “There is no excuse for hunting.” A hunter safety course does not teach people to kill animals. It teaches firearms safety.

This letter was a real slam toward my granddaughter, who is very much a lady and loves animals.

When will people lose their Disneyland fantasy about animals? That letter insulted all hunters, including me. Sharon R. Gilmore Spokane