Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Whole sting business is senseless

On Dec. 14, I was among those stopped by the Washington State Patrol and Tobacco Tax Enforcement Program officers. I work at Liberty Lake and find both the convenience and cost savings of going to State Line for cigarettes attractive.

Yes, these people had a sting operation going on and confiscated 32 packs of cigarettes from me ($83). I am very upset this state has the time to go after me and the others stopped for tax evasion. Come on, there must be bigger fish to fry out there. What Montanans who purchase things here and just have to show their driver’s license to pay no tax? I can purchase things out of the country and bring them back here easier than go from state to state.

I was not asked if I would like to pay duty on the cigarettes or told I was only allowed one or two cartons.

One cigarette is not allowed!

If Washington is going to continue to look for us tax evaders, it should post warnings at ports of entry explaining the law. Now, I’m scared to go to the factory outlets for a pair of shoes. Gary L. Magney Spokane

Today, cigarettes; Tomorrow … ?

Add my name to the list of those protesting the Liquor Control Board’s sting operation targeting smokers who buy cigarettes in Idaho.

I can’t help wondering why this so-called smuggling and tax evasion charge has been leveled against smokers only. Why isn’t the board going after those who buy liquor in Idaho, since that should be - by definition - its primary area of jurisdiction?

Is this same type operation being carried out on the other side of the state? I wonder if agents are lying in wait in Astoria or other points just south of the state line to nab Vancouver or Kelso residents buying cigarettes in Oregon. Or have Spokane residents been singled out for this honor?

As a nonsmoker, I could easily dismiss this issue as one that doesn’t affect me. But the next freedom my state government chooses to take away might. Who knows? Will purchases at the outlet mall in Post Falls be considered contraband tomorrow? Karen K. Carver Spokane

Just tend to liquor law violations

I find it impossible to believe the State Liquor Control Board is spending thousands in high salaries to nab middle-age people buying cigarettes in Idaho and bringing them back to Washington. Wow, crime is really going to go down now.

Sure, it’s illegal, but do you think this sting is a priority at the top? Next thing, they’ll watch Washington customers at Silver Lake Mall buying a TV and transporting it into Washington, to avoid the local 8.1 percent sales tax.

I suggest the agents spend more time on liquor problems with underage kids buying alcohol and killing people on the highways. Priorities, priorities, priorities. Patrick Forster Spokane

VIOLENCE

Tribute to warmaking rings hollow

Retired Major Curt Messex’s Golden Pen letter (Dec. 7) is an articulate expression for many who feel the need to cast aspersions at those opposed to society’s embrace of violence. I appreciate the good luck wish. Look what happened to Jesus, Gandhi and King.

Unfortunately, ignorance of nonviolence usually includes ignorance of the extent of global and local violence. Just because war is used to establish a state of non-war, one must be more than conservative to declare violence a good solution to violence. Any peace on Earth is in spite of military preparedness, not because of it.

Having studied and practiced war and peace, I still lack the “maturity and wisdom” Messex expects to result in respect and gratitude for implements of war. It’s not peacemongers who lack appreciation for the relative peace of the moment, but those willing to sacrifice prosperity for adventurism, with half our annual spending going to the military.

Wars no longer have winners, only losers. War has failed to make or keep peace, while nonviolent efforts have failed only when cut short by pressure to resort to violence. Consider the peaceful overthrow of the militarily powerful Ferdinand Marcos in 1985.

As a soldier in Vietnam, I was never asked to die for my country, only to kill others for someone who could make a buck off of it. As a peacemaker, I may not create world peace, but I refuse to intentionally kill another human being - even after enjoying a college football game. L. Rusty Nelson Spokane

Know the extremes and spare children

Half the people killed in war are innocent civilians, especially children. This silent insanity is seldom talked about by war veterans or the American media.

One of the most devastating moments in my life occurred in Vietnam, when I held the dead, limp body of a small child who simply had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Any ideas of there ever being glory in war vanished forever. Seeing so much death transformed my life into another dimension. I eventually realized few people would ever be able to relate to my war experiences. Most people don’t want to hear about such unspeakable things.

As Vietnam veteran (Army medic), I have tried every imaginable method to bear witness about the realities of war, only to be ignored or shamed by most of the people I encounter. I refuse to give up because my main emphasis is on protecting my children and yours, who are psychologically abused every day with the nationwide commercialism of violent entertainment.

Please think about what I have written the next time you think about buying your child a war toy, war computer game or a violent movie. There is a sickness here that has become so prevalent and acceptable in America that most people have no comprehension of the hidden emotional trauma it has on children.

Violent entertainment will violate your precious child’s soul. Mike Hastie Otis Orchards

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Kaiser makes bad faith its creed

Fifteen years ago, Kaiser CEO Ray Milchovich got all union and lower-salary workers to take pay and benefit cuts. All the while, Milchovich and his top managers got raises. Nine months ago, Kaiser’s contract with the union was replaced with a contract on the union, ending with a corporation-created labor dispute.

Yesteryear, Kaiser would spend a dime for a fair contract to earn dollars in loyal, quality production. Today, Kaiser spends $10 million for scabs and such to save a dime. What once was corporate-union partnership is now economic treason.

Striking Steelworkers, many of whom have a college degree, are going without pay to fight for their collective bargaining rights. Can those who speak against our union on Kaiser’s behalf say the same? Without morals and ethics, they erode their own rights. A good union is like a good, protective police department - without crime, we wouldn’t need one and without injustice, we wouldn’t need the other.

Big business is singing “Happy Days are Here Again” due to the negative ripple effect in America from NAFTA. This means that just as huge businesses are merging, all unions will have to do the same.

Kaiser must not undermine the spirit of the contract by downsizing its past corporate family values for short-term greed. Vincent E. Blindauer Spokane

Labor right are human rights

Kudos to The Spokesman-Review for marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights with two fine articles. Celebrations in Coeur d’Alene had excellent reporting, as did festivities at the United Nations. But as Bill Wassmuth, quoted from the commemoration in Coeur d’Alene, said, “We see violations of human rights as being political prisoners in China, not the person next door to us who does not have access to food and housing.”

Why didn’t The Spokesman-Review cover, or at least mention, the commemoration in Spokane? A hundred people, representing a dozen community groups, gathered at the STA Plaza and at City Hall.

A primary focus was the Steelworkers on strike from Kaiser - the “person next door.” Article 23 of the Declaration of Human Rights upholds “just and favorable conditions of work … protection against unemployment … just and favorable remuneration… right to form and to join trade unions.” Steelworkers were at the commemoration, trying to tell the public their human rights are being violated.

Maxxam Corp. is engaged in an all-out effort to break the union. The worker next door to us is being violated.

It’s easier to believe human rights only get violated in another country, but never here, never in the U.S. For some reason, we can’t grasp that the corporate power of Maxxam-Kaiser trying to break the Steelworkers’ Union is a violation of human rights.

Labor rights are human rights! Please wake up, Spokane. Kateri Caron Spokane

Thanks for kindness shown to strikers

A fellow Steelworker told me about a man who stopped at the line the other day. This man gave Steelworkers with children under the age of 12 at home an envelope containing $50 to buy presents for those children.

Steelworkers say to this man, to people who’ve donated food and to those who honk and wave as they drive by, thank you! Have a merry Christmas! Mark G. Olsen Spokane