Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Fish and Game policies hurt hunting

The recent Idaho Department of Fish and Game request for higher license fees across the board will amount to putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm.

The nationwide trend showing fewer hunters is not the reason nonresident hunters are staying away by the thousands. High numbers of Fish and Game personnel and vehicles have become more important than the deer and elk that support them. There are fewer deer and elk throughout Idaho than there has been in decades. What was the best hunting state in the West now is the worst.

The Fish and Game department in Pocatello stated in early October that it would take 10 to 15 years to bring the mule deer herd back to normal. Elk take even longer to multiply. In the past few years, deer and elk numbers have dwindled while the number of Fish and Game personnel doubled.

They try to make it a crime to feed big game during harsh winter conditions without a permit - issued by them, of course. If sportsmen don’t feed the animals in time of need, who will? Certainly not Fish and Game.

We can’t pay high wages to an army of biologists to sit at desks and think up excuses for the dwindling number of animals. Layoffs will be necessary, but the wrong people will be laid off. For every biologist laid off, the department could keep three of the younger, lower-paid employees who might be interested in more than retirement. Lloyd E. Westmore Spirit Lake

More to execution than justice

Texas Gov. George Bush Jr.’s decision in the Karla Faye Tucker case clearly illustrates the political implications of capital punishment.

Bush is politically astute and ambitious. He’s considered a strong candidate for president. He reads polls that tell him 80 percent of Americans support capital punishment. It’s especially popular deep in heartless Texas - by far the nation’s leader in executions.

Bush’s dad gave him a good lesson on the importance of being tough on crime with his Willy Horton ads against Michael Dukakis in 1988. Bill Clinton felt the need to demonstrate toughness when he left his campaign in 1992 to return to Arkansas to authorize the execution of a mentally retarded black man.

It was argued on Tucker’s behalf that she should’ve received special consideration because she “found Christ.” Of far more importance is whether Christ can find the rest of us with his message of love and of how we debase ourselves, individually and collectively, when we take another life.

This is from a father trapped in unyielding grief over the loss of his only son in a homicide. Buell A. Hollister Post Falls

SPOKANE MATTERS

Spokane people are the greatest

Spokane is a magnificent place.

In preparation for my participation in the Arts Tour today, I have been taking digital photographs of people all over town. I have photographed homeless people, street kids, hippies, gang members, musicians, our mayor and many more.

Wherever I went, I was greeted by kindness and genuine friendliness. After posing in a wide stance with a gang gesture placed by his head (like a gun), a gang member asked if I was showing the photos in public. I nodded and he paused, “Well could you maybe take a second picture, a little more mellow?” Sure. He crouched down and looked up at me with a wide smile. He looked like a little boy.

Mayor John Talbott was stern, unsure of who I was or what I was doing. He was quite engrossed and did not smile, but allowed me get into his space and have a close look at the man.

So it has gone. The coffee roaster at Four Seasons who was completely demure. The panhandling flute player downtown who knew all about digital technologies. Every one of them courteous, accommodating and exceptional.

I have lived in Spokane my entire life and I love it here. The people are, despite harsh commentary at times, earnestly amiable. We are an amazing, highly divergent community. Scott Riane Hampton painter-multimedia artist, Spokane

Market Place reopens Feb. 14

I congratulate the Spokane Market Place on its second grand opening, the first being Feb. 8, 1997. This opening will be on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

I invite the citizens of Spokane and the greater Inland Empire to come visit and enjoy this wonderful, ever-changing, growing facility. Relying strictly on private funding, the Market Place depends on creative and innovative ideas from its vendors and encourages those of the public.

Many think of the Market Place as a seasonal outlet for food items only. Wrong! Knickknacks, handicrafts, jewelry and art work are only a sample of the items for the public to view. Unique food items and table settings help one slow down so that they can take it all in. Remember, the Spokane Market Place is open year-round, so come see and enjoy! George H. Strenge Spokane

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Strip search more than inappropriate

Recently, as I was watching a local evening news broadcast, I was shocked to hear about a strip search of eighth-grade girls in McMinnville, Ore.

Apparently, a CD player was missing and there were suspicions it had been taken by someone in one particular gym class, if I remember correctly. Some of the girls say police officers took them into the locker room and told them to remove their clothing. Girls said they were threatened with a full body cavity search if they did not cooperate.

The police department now admits the officers’ actions were “inappropriate” and is sending formal apologies to the girls’ parents.

Inappropriate? More than a little!

What did the police hope to accomplish by forcing a bunch of scared girls to strip? As for the body cavity search, just where on or within a girl’s anatomy did they expect to find that CD player? Their actions were totally uncalled for.

One of my good friends recently moved here from McMinnville. Although she is three years removed from eighth grade, I can vividly imagine the rage I would feel if she were subjected to such a humiliating thing.

I am a high school senior, not quite an adult, but even I would know better than to order a strip search of middle schoolers. They are children, not prison inmates, and their rights and privacy are far more important than a missing trinket. If one of those girls was my daughter, I would not accept a simple apology. I would take the police department to court. Erica A. Orto Coeur d’Alene

THE MEDIA

Critic’s coattails less than clean

I object to Nancy Nelson’s Feb. 1 Street Level column (“Review should follow Spokane Chamber’s lead”). The commentary attempted to call attention to supposed photographic misrepresentations of African-Americans by The Spokesman-Review.

First, when you and other subscribers criticize “The Spokesman-Review,” you criticize the hundreds of people who work hard every day to put out this product, myself included. I work in the production department, preparing pages for the press. The editorial department decides what content goes into the paper. If you mean to criticize the editorial department, then be more specific.

Now, to your concerns about misrepresentation. Your article stated just two examples of supposed misrepresentations in The Spokesman-Review. You act as though the majority of the thousands of photos in the paper every year focus negative attention only on African-Americans.

The article ended with a hope for an apology to the African-American community from The Spokesman-Review and the call for a need to “show other cultures, including European-Americans, in some of the negative general stories.”

What does that say? Photograph African-Americans for stories only once in a while, but pick on the others, especially the European-Americans? How hypocritical. Many other cultures are negatively represented in photographs for the general stories.

Your last hope in the article was that “the paper will work not to stereotype cultures but to picture news and the community in an honest way.” You yourself work much harder at stereotyping cultures than the paper ever has. Ken Burtch Spokane

Media, face up to your flaws

I have noticed a second story developing over the last couple of days, tied to the alleged Clinton affair, and I’m growing increasingly confused.

At what point did the media stop referring to themselves as “we,” and switch to “they?”

As published in an article in the Jan. 27 Spokesman-Review, and as a story I’ve seen on TV a couple of times, discussion of the “media feeding frenzy” seems to be all the rage. However, each of these stories, as reported by the media, refers to the media as an outside entity.

In The Spokesman-Review’s coverage of this story, I counted no less than 14 articles in section A alone that had some reference to the alleged Clinton affair.

In ridiculing the journalistic integrity that has surfaced in these later days that has allowed publication of almost any rumor, The Spokesman-Review begrudgingly admits publication of one of these stories, but then returns to the media “they” references.

Are the media beginning to go with the tide of American mentality? I’m never the problem, everyone else is? Will we ever see a newscast or read an article saying, “We’re getting out of control. We apologize and will return to our previous state of responsibility.”? Probably not, but we could at least do away with the faux integrity hunts the media perform on themselves. Bryan Nickels Moscow

Rahmaan story gives welcome relief

I commend you for the uplifting and inspiring story about Julia Rahmaan (“A hunger to help,” Jan. 26), the handicapped lady who is conducting a food bank and services for the elderly, poor and disabled. What a breath of fresh air!

If we could all be more involved with things of this nature, we wouldn’t have time for the sleazy news that has taken over our TV news and publications lately. Please print more articles of this nature. Jean C. Dury Liberty Lake

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Hand washing shouldn’t be lost art

Interactive editor Rebecca Nappi’s editorial of Feb. 1 touches on a subject that deserves much more attention than it gets: the neglected practice of hand washing, especially after using restrooms.

Casual observations in restrooms used by the public suggests that the percentage of people who don’t wash is probably even higher than she reports, at least among men. Friends to whom I have mentioned this agree when I say that I sometimes hesitate to shake hands with strangers because of this.

We shouldn’t have to be threatened with an infectious disease to see the importance of hand washing. Many of us, I’m sure, had this drummed into us as kids, at home and, yes, in school hygiene classes (do they still have such classes?). But apparently, many never received such instruction, or if they did, it didn’t take.

I’m surprised that more restrooms don’t have prominent signs urging the washing of hands, and not just for employees. What would it take to force awareness of the need? We know that an occasional op-ed item in the newspaper won’t do it. Legislation regarding signs and soap in restrooms used by the public shouldn’t be necessary. But then look at all the laws we have that wouldn’t be necessary if we were as civilized as we think we are. Bob McClure Post Falls

OTHER TOPICS

Judge’s wolf ruling all wrong

U.S. District Judge William Downes’ ruling ordering the removal of wolves from Yellowstone and central Idaho is ridiculous. The wolves and their offspring should stay right where they are now and be protected wherever they choose to roam in the future.

Since no substantive habitat was provided, it’s understandable that they would occasionally bring down the easiest prey. The ratio of wolves to cattle makes a wolf much more valuable than a cow, for which ranchers are generously compensated.

Cattlemen should not receive any payment for the cattle they lose. They are intruders in the wolves’ territory and cattle are easily replaced. If this were not true, there would not be so many “downers” at the feedlots.

Although the justice system may cloud the issue with terms such as experimental, nonessential, translocated, etc., wolves are a valuable part of our ecosystem and deserve the right to live free in the wild.

I support any individual, organization or newspaper that wants to keep the wolves in Yellowstone and central Idaho and allow them to multiply freely with maximum protection. I am in favor of huge fines and jail time for anyone who harms a wolf. Carol J. Coney Hayden Lake, Idaho

Downward and backward we go

In ridiculing the “arrogant, misleading, narrow-minded money-grubbers” in academe who deign to object to politicians weighing in on matters scientific - specifically, evolutionary theory) - Pullman editorial cartoonist Adam Ahola (Jan. 29) follows in the venerable footsteps of Renaissance clerics (“Earth does not revolve around the sun”), Nazis (“relativity theory is Jew science”) and Stalinists (“Genetics is anti-proletarian”) in trying to achieve by decree or coercion what they cannot accomplish by the stern light of empirical investigation.

How exactly does one “prove” evolutionary theory to someone ideologically disposed to reject it? Many published anti-evolutionists are aware of the existence of transitional fossils (like the increasingly mammalian synapsid reptiles that litter 50 million years of the Permian era precisely as the supposedly unproved evolutionary “theory” predicted they would); they simply find it all “unconvincing,” while offering no explanations of their own.

Why stop with evolution? If theories are “unproved” until all aspects of them are understood, I’m afraid that granddaddy of mechanistic theories, gravitation, will have to go, too. Not only does it invoke still hypothetical force particles (gravitons), it cannot (even in theory!) describe the interaction of three similarly massed bodies. So welcome to the Brave New World of deciding scientific legitimacy by plebiscite. Just keep a lit torch handy (there may be witches to burn later on). James Downard Spokane

Casino-owning tribe blameless

Re: Jan. 13 column by E.J. Montini (Arizona Republic) concerning Herminia Rodriguez, who won a $330,152 Quartermania jackpot but was told by Harrah’s management that the slot machine malfunctioned.

One could assume that tribal casinos operate similarly. This isn’t true. In Washington, under the self-regulated conditions that the Colville Gaming Division operates, this wouldn’t have happened. Our tribal gaming controls far exceed any others we’re aware of.

Under the conditions described by Montini, we wouldn’t have allowed the machine to be played while it was being serviced. That would have prevented a false jackpot from a malfunctioning machine. Machines do occasionally malfunction, but we always try to rule in favor of the customer to maintain good relations.

Harrah’s is the largest gaming company in the world. That a customer wasn’t paid was Harrah’s doing. The tribe hired Harrah’s as manager and delegated that responsibility. The Spokesman-Review’s cartoon portrayed an Indian casino causing the problem, giving the rest of us a black eye. It was a feeble attempt at twisted humor and has no basis in fact. Wendell George, CEO Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp., Coulee Dam