Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Come on, Holmes, do the math

In response to Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes’ criticism of my testimony regarding Spokane’s 1999 budget, I offer this.

Holmes said I was “very adamant” when I stated Spokane has one of the highest city utility taxes in the nation. My emphasis was on the nation versus her admitting to the highest city tax in the state, defending the tax, saying, “our utility rates are low.”

Holmes, please do your homework and learn the use of a calculator - so are the wages low in the river city. Wages here are over 25 percent less than those in the Seattle area.

Holmes also complained I only had one theme. As usual, she hasn’t been listening. It reminds me of a letter to Spokesman-Review writer Kristina Johnson, telling her about the smirking, laughing and talking by council members during testimony.

Spokane’s No. 1 revenue source is the city utility tax. The more than $24 million for 1998 will be over $25 million in 1999. Holmes’ vote to increase property taxes every year, many times the cost of living, and your vote to increase the 1999 property tax by 6 percent, over four times COLA, is appalling. Holmes said the city utility was 17 percent. What she forgot is, the city taxes the 17 percent and the effective rate is 20.5 percent.

Holmes also forgot to mention that Spokane also taxes the over 5 percent state tax. Dick D. Adams Spokane

Open burning is indefensible

Re: Opinion editor John Webster’s Dec. 15 editorial, “A complete ban would be overkill.”

I was appalled by Webster’s apparent lack of knowledge concerning the dynamics of smoke dispersal. His contention that the smoke from rural trash burning does not affect city dwellers is inaccurate and dangerous.

Had he attended the last Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority hearing, he would’ve learned smoke collects, much as water does. On still, windless days, smoke “runs” down valleys, gathering additional smoke from tributaries until it finally creates a lake at the lowest point in the system. In our case, smoke from our rural neighbors runs down the valleys and into the city, where it forms a huge lake of smoke in our bowl-shaped basin. It hovers here for days or weeks until air currents finally lift it out.

This year, the five days designated by SCAPCA as open-burning days for yard and garden waste were windless. Smoke from rural areas flowed into the city and added to an already huge lake of smog created by agricultural burning. The result was some of worst air pollution our city has seen in years.

With more and more research showing the adverse affect of smoke pollution on human health, we cannot allow this to happen again. Because of our geography, the only sure way to protect health is to ban open burning altogether throughout our region. Composting is a nonpolluting alternative yard and garden waste disposal. Let’s use it instead of fire. Janet L. Tenold Spokane

Shorelines board decision is clear

A singer once said, “understanding is the best thing in the world.” What doesn’t the City Council understand in the decision of the Shorelines Hearings Board? Sound bites by council members purporting to be firm while vacillating won’t satisfy the public.

SHB 98-06 was specific, as the order read:

1. Ecology’s denial of Spokane’s application for a shore line conditional use permit for the Lincoln-Post streets bridge project is affirmed.

2. Both the appellants’ and the respondents’ petitions for reconsideration of the board’s summary judgment order are denied. Done this 16th day of December 1998. Whether the vote was 4-2, 5-1 or 3-3, the order is clear, “We got better,” a carefully investigative hearing that rendered a verdict.

Next project: streets! Edward Thomas, Jr. Spokane

Bless the children

Every year at this time we are touched as a people by the needs of others. It’s a sad statement for our fair city that those in need grow in number each year as well.

Those more fortunate are encouraged to generously support efforts by this newspaper and local radio and TV stations that collect and distribute food and gifts to our neighbors who may need a helping hand. It is the heart of Spokane at its best.

With these huge efforts, though, we often overlook the little heroes who walk and play among us. It is in recognition of them I write this letter.

Every year, the fifth graders at Finch Elementary knock on doors in their neighborhood, regardless of weather, to collect food for the families of fellow students. They hoped that this space could be used to thank those neighbors that gave so much. I am so impressed.

There are thousands more kids like this - puddlejumping, eraser-chewing, don’t-slam-the-door, put-your-coat-on angels among us, knocking on doors and asking us to share. It is we who should be thanking them. Merry Christmas to all. David Bray Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

Sting operation laudable

Washington State Liquor Control Board agents are to be praised for carrying out their assigned duties when they recently performed a sting operation enforcing the Washington law that forbids the transportation of tobacco products into this state without Washington tax having been paid.

The 1998 Legislature passed legislation that specifically directed the Liquor Control Board to increase its efforts in this regard. Taxes on tobacco go into the general fund and help fund the Basic Health Plan. A small percentage is used to prevent water pollution. None of the money is directed at tobacco control.

Washington state voters have indicated to their legislators that they do not want additional taxes. More effective collection of the tobacco taxes will help to ease the tax burden on the general population. All Washington citizens should support this effort. Dennis W. Biggs, Jr., M.D. member, American Cancer Society Board, Spokane

Sting operation appalling

Re: “Small-timers smoked out,” (Dec. 15). I was appalled by the stings being taken at State Line. I, too, am a smoker and detest this harassment to us smokers. It is against our constitutional rights.

One has to have a reason for the law to stop a vehicle and then search it. I suppose not. It’s just another law the state has imposed on us smokers, not that this state doesn’t make its funds in many other ways. Janet E. Baker Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Social Security needs attention now

We must reform Social Security to maintain a safety net for the needy of all ages who cannot provide for themselves. Both the Social Security Administration and Congressional Budget Office project bleak pictures for Social Security’s future if we fail to reform it.

In 2032, the Social Security Trust Fund will be empty and SSA will only be able to pay benefits at 75 percent of current levels.

Disabled workers, widows and retired workers all rely on Social Security. In fact, 91 percent of all retirees rely on it, according to the SSA and American Association of Retired Persons. Forecasted growth of retired workers will overwhelm the system. As the saying goes, we have met the enemy and it is us.

The program’s solvency isn’t the only worry. As the trust fund liquidates government bonds to pay beneficiaries, it reveals the true magnitude of our federal deficit. The federal government is using trust fund cash to fund other federal programs but does not account for it as debt (Washington Post Special Report on Social Security). Where will this cash come from when the trust fund is depleted?

Solutions for Social Security include raising taxes or cutting benefits. Cash in the trust fund not used to fund current outlays could be invested in riskier investments that could provide higher returns. By not making choices today, we resign ourselves to a less secure future. Rob L. Stephens Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Too soon judgmental, too late smart

Reps. Boehlert, Gilman, Castle and Greenwood, having gone tamely along with the partisan charade of impeachment, now wish to make that catastrophic vote simply disappear. They claim to have had their hands tied by a solemn process. Now, they wish to excuse their own exercise of choice by calling upon the Senate to do what they should have done in the first place.

“We are not convinced,” they insist, “and do not want our votes interpreted to mean that we view removal from office as the only reasonable conclusion of this case.”

Sorry, gentlemen - each one of those four counts you approved ends with this wording: “Wherefore, William Jefferson Clinton, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office.” And all four of these people voted against even the consideration of a House vote on censure.

The House impeached the president based on a book of uncontested accusations. We should stop this talk of censure, which will only serve to let Republicans off the hook for their cynical coup. They insisted on drastic measures, and should now reap the fruits of their rashness.

Let the Senate go forward with a full trial, and let everyone see what Ken Starr’s case is really all about: the relentless, dishonest attempt to depose a twice-elected president. For those four House Republicans who now want to change their votes, and for that party on the whole, it is too late to turn back now. They will be condemned in the long term by history, and in the short term by the voters. Michael G. Hanly Pullman

Timing of bombing was self-serving

Feeling he’s more important than the rest of us, President Clinton ordered the bombing of Iraq of the eve of his impeachment, rather than wait a few days so our service personnel could enjoy Christmas with their families. Art V. Bradley Nine Miles Falls, Wash.

Plenty of blame to go around

The political debate over impeachment has made a mockery of our system of justice. Instead of any kind of rational, or even civilized, weighing of the facts in light of constitutional principles, we’ve seen instead something akin to a school of piranhas waiting for their next victim. Now ,this has spilled over into foreign affairs arena with the bombing of Iraq and questioning the motivations behind it. I’ve had enough of it.

It’s interesting to see that our congressional representatives can indeed act with zeal and lighting speed on something. At the same time, it’s disgraceful their efforts are not devoted with the same intensity to issues such as health care reform, Social Security and reducing the national debt. Just imagine what could be accomplished in a year with that kind of effort!

But I don’t place all the responsibility on the politicians because it is we, the voters, who put them there and keep them there. We have become apathetic and tolerant of mediocre work in government, and we accept any little bone they throw to us and call it good.

It’s time for each of us to take inventory of what what needs fixing in America. We can be a little less self-righteous and a little more concerned about the country’s future. Ann Hurst Spokane

President’s high ratings - ‘hogwash’

Again, I read how President Clinton’s approval rating has risen to heights never before achieved. It’s disturbing to hear how the pollsters will contact 800 people and then the media extrapolates this information as the “heartbeat of America.” Hogwash.

Unless I am living on some fenced-off island of this country, a clear majority of those I see and hear in everyday real life support the lawful action taken by the House of Representatives.

Having testified hundreds of times under oath and having raised two sons under guidelines based on truth, it’s appalling to see media reports of the country’s approval of lying under oath as OK as long as it’s only about your girlfriends.

The bottom line: perjury is a felony, whether it’s committed by a police officer, a criminal or even the president. Dennis L. Klein Hayden, Idaho