Letters To The Editor
WASHINGTON STATE
Republicans’ cop-out unacceptable
I listened to Gov. Gary Locke’s address and read the GOP response. I am insulted and angry.
Republicans dismiss out of hand Locke’s proposal to address road infrastructure problems without any discussion.
Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the plan they do have, saying it’s up to citizens to decide. Sending issues to the voters is sidestepping the responsibility they were given. This cop-out costs money and delays decision making.
Creating a plan that threatens the use of funds to build schools, support welfare issues and criminal justice, and depends on the assumption of a possible $10.5 million savings from efficiencies in the Department of Transportation is not responsible.
Republicans have no plan to send money back to cities and counties to help with their road improvement and maintenance issues.
When they blatantly say they will not help voters back home and choose partisan stands that do not solve our problems, they insult and lessen our status as constituents.
Constituents that’s us, the little guys back home each with a vote. Don’t underestimate us! We send legislators to do a job. If they’re more worried about keeping the job than doing the job, we will know that and consider it irresponsible.
Potholes are nonpartisan and need nonpartisan, user based and long-standing solutions.
Voters need to take responsibility to send clear messages to our legislators. Valerie R. Smith Spokane
Bill unfairly targets seniors
Senior citizens should obtain a copy of HB 2440, better defined as “An act relating to requirement for driver’s renewals.”
The bill will require seniors, when renewing their driver’s license at age 69, to demonstrate their ability to read and understand traffic signals as well as knowledge of state traffic laws. They would be required to pass a road test at age 75, pass both exams every two years after reaching age 81 and pass both tests annually after age 87.
Why discriminate only against seniors, most of whom have had flawless driving records for 40, 50 or 60-plus years?
Why shouldn’t those convicted of speeding, DWI or a chargeable accident be required to do the same when their license is renewed? Reg E. Morgan Coulee Dam, Wash.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Allow EWU ‘some breathing room’
Debate regarding the proposed merger of Eastern Washington University and Washington State University is difficult to understand.
I chose Eastern Washington University to complete my college education because of location and the quality of its business program. Class sizes were relatively small, which led to more opportunity to interact with the teaching professionals. My education and work experience at EWU has served me well.
We know EWU has had problems in attracting students to satisfy state mandates, but this has been a challenge for all the East Side universities, including Washington State University in Pullman.
As the enrollment issue became apparent, alums like me offered to help in any way possible, which is a testimony to our loyalty to EWU.
EWU has taken a hard look and is working on its problems. The result is a new spirit at EWU, where all of us - alumni, administrators, faculty and staff - are focused on our students. EWU is an outstanding institution that simply needs some breathing room. Spencer F. Sherwood, vice president EWU Alumni Association, Yakima
LAW AND JUSTICE
What if DiBartolo is innocent?
What if my son, Tom DiBartolo, is telling the truth?
What if Tom’s stoic countenance is characteristic of his 18 years training as a deputy sheriff?
What if the jury was so mesmerized by the overwhelming staging of the production presented by the prosecutors who had more than one year to prepare?
What if the perpetrators had been described as being white-skinned?
What if there is a connection between the women who have been murdered in Spokane with gunshot wounds to their heads and Patty DiBartolo’s murder?
What if the jury convicted a father of four who also reared his wife’s child to adulthood, and he is innocent?
What if Tom DiBartolo’s wound to his abdomen had been fatal?
What if Tom DiBartolo’s trial had been held in another jurisdiction?
What if Patty DiBartolo’s family had not exposed themselves so visibly and verbally condemning Tom DiBartolo?
What if an innocent man’s life has been completely destroyed? Ella R. DiBartolo Spokane
Justice is selective, not blind
“Ukrainian mother on trial” (Jan. 28) made for good reading. It contrasts what happened in Spokane this past year two alleged criminal offenses with different results. One involved a Ukrainian woman and the other a Spokane-area sports broadcaster, Paul Sorensen.
Unlike the less fortunate Ukrainian woman, Sorensen was just given a citation and was never harassed or arrested. Worse yet, the same judicial system that prosecuted this less fortunate woman let the Spokane broadcaster walk scot-free for the same exact offense.
Why does the judicial system work for some people and not at all for others? Why will the judicial system go out its way to harass, prosecute, try and convict some people while leaving others untouched?
Why was the Ukrainian woman harassed, arrested, prosecuted and her life put through a living hell by the local judicial system. Fortunately for her, she was acquitted by a jury on Jan. 28.
Why was Sorensen never harassed, arrested, prosecuted and his life put through a living hell for the same offense?
The answer is simple. Had this less fortunate Ukrainian woman been the judicial system’s preferred citizen, such as a police officer, a lawyer, a member of the media, the rich and the famous (or one of many other categories of citizens too numerous to list) the local judicial system would have never have put her life through a living hell for the same offense as committed by the Spokane-area sports broadcaster. Tony A. Sanchez Spokane
Bereaved speaker provided insight
On Tuesday evening, I was in an audience at Gonzaga University listening to Bud Welch speak about his love for his daughter, Julie-Marie, a young woman who could speak several languages and had just gotten a job as a translator.
I’m not sure what I had expected to hear. The flyers given out at church highlighted rage, pain, vengeance and forgiveness. What I heard is that this man does not believe in capital punishment, that he would have prefered to have those convicted of this crime spend the rest of their lives in prision without hope of parole. He said death for these criminals would never bring his daughter back and would give surviving family members guilt at some point.
He had personal stories of several convicted criminals’ deaths at the hands of state governments that did create additional pain for surviving families. Welch spoke of being on a journey that started after the five dark days it took to find his daughter’s body in the rubble of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
He hasn’t reached a total place of forgiveness, neither does he dwell in total vengeance.
Speak, communicate and debate with the powers that be about the continued value of capital punishment and remember, slavery and segregation were once state-approved.
Thank you, Welch, for giving me something to carry with me on my journey. Bonnie J. Sheridan Spokane
Family violence response too narrow
Re: domestic violence. Prosecution of only select persons in the family is a Band-Aid approach to violence in American families.
Children are abused by both parents. Yet our courts aren’t filled with the perpetrators. Children many times are unable to call authorities because they are too young or fear they will be punished further. Children are taught violence in two-parent as well as single-parent homes, where physical abuse is protected by a parent’s right to hit their children.
Do we continue to celebrate and prosecute domestic violence against women only or do we take a good look at who is responsible for violence in families and go after the perpetrators - mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers?
Our children need our protection even more than do women. It’s nice that there are classes on parenting, anger management, a Vanessa Behan Nursery and Child Protective Services for single parents. But maybe the cycle of violence would be reduced if society took a wholistic approach toward violence in all types of relationships, such as between mother and child, father and child, sibling and sibling, and male and female.
Violence exists in all these relationships. Mediation before prosecution is needed to assess the problem.
Shall we prosecute everyone on an equal basis or continue our lopsided approach? Lindell Reason Spokane
ABORTION
Abortion foes muddy their issue
What I don’t like about many abortion opponents is the way they present their case. It is almost always portrayed as a religious issue and very often with some attached (mostly stupid) additions.
Editorial writer D.F. Oliveria demonstrated it in his, “Let’s stand by women to avert tragic choices.”
Not that I consider his editorial stupid, only the part where he can’t handle his unbearable desire to regulate other people’s sex lives: “There is no such thing as safe sex outside marriage.” How that is relevant to the abortion issue is unclear, as many abortions are sought by married women and many single women bear their children.
The level of civilization in every society is defined by the way the most vulnerable and defenseless are treated when they become a nuisance, when their very existence becomes inconvenient.
Is it acceptable to just simply get rid of them? If so, long live legal abortion. Peter C. Dolina Veradale
Activism, not mud-slinging, welcome
God gave us two very wonderful gifts: the ability to reason and the ability to speak. Some 500 people attended the rally at Planned Parenthood on Jan. 18, either in support of or in opposition to the legalization of abortion.
In a society where apathy runs rampant, I was thrilled to see so many taking a stand. Our next obstacle is to overcome the rhetoric that buries the facts.
I firmly support the Roe vs. Wade decision. However, I find mud-slinging on both sides of the issue tasteless and embarrassing.
Several pro-life speakers, all male, led the crowd in prayer, song and sermon. Much of their rhetoric circles around “finding the truth.” Ironically, much of what these people had to say was presumptuous, poorly construed and laughably misinformed.
To set the record straight, those opposed to abortion are not bad people. Rather, I applaud them for asserting their opinion, although I don’t agree with their logic.
Conversely, I am not a “baby killer.” I, too, am entitled to my opinion. Furthermore:
Not all abortion supporters have had abortions, nor have they engaged in premarital sex.
Planned Parenthood is a business establishment. Drugs and alcohol are prohibited.
Abortion is a legal, medical procedure; therefore, it cannot be considered murder.
Apathy may be overcome, but ignorance is still at large. Izarra M. Varela Spokane
Why does when baby is killed matter?
I heard about the teenage girl who gave birth to a baby and then killed it. I also heard she is to be tried as an adult. Excuse me, but what’s the difference between her giving birth to a baby and murdering it, and abortion? Is abortion a little less dramatic? It’s no less a murder. Leah M. Madison Dalton Gardens
OTHER TOPICS
High office brought low, foolishly
What a refreshing change it would be if I could wake up some morning to the headline, “President Clinton nominated for priesthood.” No disrespect intended. Yes, it would be ridiculous, almost as ridiculous as what Clinton’s partisan foes are trying to do to him.
Unfortunately, these repeated accusations and actions are destroying the respected office of the President of the United States. In their furor to crucify this man, the opposing party and the media are doing irreparable damage to this respected office.
It will come to rest in the same category as other offices refused by nominees who absolutely refuse to move themselves and their families into a house made of glass, no matter how well qualified they are.
At the risk of being considered politically incorrect, hopefully, some day Kenneth Starr and his cohorts will hear the voice of a bearded man whispering, “Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone.” James A. Nelson Spokane
Bad parking hurts handicapped
People of Spokane, a travesty is going on currently with public handicapped-access parking. When it snows or rains in our city, the population gets amnesia - totally forgetting where those spots are. So, no spots are left for those who really need them.
Also, it’s annoying to come out to my side-ramp van and find I am blocked, again, by an illegally parked car. The other day, it happened four times. I missed some appointments because when that happens, I have to take time to find the guilty party.
Please pay attention to what you’re doing. Next time, I will call the police to issue a ticket. In Oregon, handicapped parkers can issue tickets - good idea.
Maybe the police should look at making this a priority. It wouldn’t take much effort. Gina M. Smith Spokane
Schools right to filter Internet use
Although it wasn’t mentioned in the Jan. 18 article, “The computer kid,” in a telephone survey of all area public schools, I was assured that all school districts will be using blocking software and firewalls to secure their Internet system from access to pornography. Some districts have realized the hard way that curious children have learned more than they should from school computers. One software company reports that students were trying to access inappropriate sites up to 700 times a day, even on computers which were being filtered.
Many kids have also stumbled across erotic images as they research innocent words.
No public computer purchased with tax money, including those at the Spokane Public Library, should be used to access illegal hard-core pornography. Current advancements in filtering software provide 90 percent or more security. Override codes can be used to access inappropriately blocked sites.
I am pleased that all school districts have agreed to fill these dangerous “potholes” on the information highway. Penny A. Lancaster Coalition for Better Community Standards, Spokane
Gambling is a losing proposition
Re: Tribe’s national lottery up and running,” (Jan. 20). Lotteries play on the people who can least afford to lose money. By being able to play by computer, those who are compulsive gamblers will really suffer. Gambling has never lifted anyone up or made a better person out of a man. Lily M. Brown Veradale, Wash.