Letters To The Editor

OVER THE LINE

Threat of hatefulness makes us leery

This Aryan Nation thing scares me. Why? Although I live in Alaska, I go “home” every summer to Spokane. My parents live four minutes from the Idaho state line. We grew up in Idaho - it was our back yard, and still is. Coeur d’Alene Lake, Post Falls, all of it. Now, I’m afraid to go there with my family. I’m afraid to go to Silverwood with my kids. Why? We are a biracial family. My husband is black. I’m white. I’ve never been to Silverwood and I want to go. My family there says nothing will happen to me, that I’m safe, that this is our area we grew up in. This is true, but I know the ramifications from some sorts of people (skinheads, hate groups). I can’t chance this with my children.

It saddens me that we have to make other plans because I’m afraid to go into Idaho. Someone like myself should go to the Aryan parade, to show these hate groups I’m not afraid of them and don’t accept their beliefs. The problem? They can violate my rights by catching up with me and my family and possibly harming us. I can’t risk this. It could happen. My husband believes so. He won’t come to Spokane unless he has to.

They’re protected, this hate group. They can have rallies. Who’s going to protect me? Hate is a powerful force. These guys are not intimidated. I hope the good folks of this area prevail in this, to show the Aryans they don’t accept this. Someone down there does, though. A rally, a march in downtown Coeur d’Alene. How awful!

Cheryl Bozeman Anchorage, Alaska

Let’s clarify things about task force

Re: Misconceptions in the recent report on the Task Force for Human Rights.

Preceding 1986, the Rev. Larry Nelson of Trinity Lutheran Church led a group to Coeur d’Alene to confer on the problem of the Aryan Nations. We learned much.

We were ready when Robert Miles of Michigan planned to move to Bonners Ferry. Some 60 people came together and selected a steering committee and Rev. Nelson as leader. A letter went to Miles and he stayed away. Our Task Force for Human Rights didn’t fold.

We meet once a month. The numbers attending wax and wane according to the liveliness of present problems. Sometimes, we’ve had a full room; sometimes, only a few.

We tackled problems before Grace Siler, a secretary from New York, came in the late 1980s. She’s been a willing worker, ready to write letters or to contact movements in the Northwest. She did not “resurrect the anti-harassment watchdog group in 1988.” When Nelson went to Oregon in 1996, Siler took over the leadership role through attrition and consent. She is still a good secretary.

Nelson did an admirable job contending with tough situations and the Ruby Ridge emotional crowd, the Montana separatists, etc., keeping his cool, using forbearance and good judgment. He was a leader in this cause for over 10 years. Julien Bucher and Allen Chrisman have been effective leaders of larger events in the task force.

We did not see “guns at their shoulders” separatists at our meetings. Earl Erickson, owner of the restaurant, had routed them the night before.

We have much respect for Bill Wassmuth as a director and speaker. Laura W. Venard Bonners Ferry, Idaho

English as our language makes sense

Re: D.F. Oliveria’s June 24 editorial.

Oliveria and 15 Idaho Republicans, do you approve of tax returns, driver’s licenses, voter ballots, etc., being printed in many different languages, even citizenship ceremonies being performed in foreign languages, all at a cost to taxpayers?

English as the “official” U.S. language does not affect the customs, traditions or the speaking of foreign languages. It simply means this: Learn to read, write and speak the English language if you wish to become a citizen of the United States.

I have spent my entire long life in Ritzville, a community in an area settled by immigrants primarily from Germany and Russia. Those pioneers made certain they and their children learned the language of their adopted country in order to become productive citizens.

Regarding Idaho’s “racist image,” I urge all residents of the entire area to vacate downtown Coeur d’Alene and all businesses to close their doors during the Aryan Nations’ parade. Those racists are seeking attention and publicity. Don’t give it to them. Laura M. Telecky Ritzville, Wash.

SPOKANE MATTERS

Forum was about proven solutions

Staff writer Kathy Mulady missed the most important point about the symposium at The Met on June 26 (“Urban growth forum urges deconstruction,” June 27). These were not radical people discussing radical ideas. These were nationally recognized professionals speaking about national problems.

The issues discussed were not unique to Spokane. Other cities across the nation have the same challenges related to development and discovered positive solutions.

We must now take what we have learned from these professionals and from what has proven successful in other cities and apply it to Spokane. Let’s learn from other’s positive progress. M. Christine Collins Spokane

TOLERANCE

Allusion to pedophilia specious

I couldn’t allow another derogatory reference to gays go by without comment.

The statement was made in a recent editorial that accepting gays will lead to accepting pedophiles. To equate the two is the ultimate in ignorance about sexuality.

Healthy homosexuality is relational. There is caring, respectful love between equals who enjoy each other, just as it is in healthy heterosexual relationships.

Pedophilia is sexual exploitation of a child by an adult, an act between a predator and a victim. Pedophiles can be gay or straight. To compare homosexuality and pedophilia is fundamentalist propaganda.

For those bothered by gay relationships, try focusing on the loving, caring, mutual respect and happiness that occurs between gays. How can any rational human being begrudge anyone these things? Quit obsessing about what may or may not be happening in their bedrooms.

God help us all if society adopts a Bedroom Police mentality for any of us. Frankly, it’s no one’s business and a very private and personal matter. Besides, all healthy relationships, whether straight or gay, are about much more than just physical intimacy. Cynthia Haberman Coeur d’Alene

Numbers point to the greater menace

Re: “Homosexuality is sin, period” (Letters, June 28).

Cynthia S. Pitman, tell me again why homosexuality is a sin. Why is homosexuality such a menace to our society?

Let’s look at some facts. Who commits the great majority of murders in our country? Heterosexual males. Who commits the great majority of rapes? Heterosexual males. Who is involved as a perpetrator in a great majority of domestic violence cases? Heterosexual males. Who makes up the majority of pedophiles? The vast majority of pedophiles consists of heterosexual males.

Gee, it seems to me that as far as the downfall of our society is concerned, maybe it should be a sin to be a heterosexual male!

I have a brother who is gay and my church, my God and my common sense teach me that I am to love my brother. The Jesus I follow spoke of love and acceptance. Maybe you should read again what Jesus really taught and reflect upon how you can help our society instead of hindering it with hatred and bigotry. If you truly want to “follow God’s will instead of (your) feelings,” you need to learn all you can about homosexuality, meet with homosexuals. Once you’re educated, you’ll be able to see that homosexuality should be accepted as a normal part of our society.

God’s will is that we all treat each other with love and respect. Maybe if we all actually tried harder to follow his true will, this society would be a far better place in which to live. Elizabeth H. Smith Spokane

Partial tolerance not much help

For the most part, I’ve been pleased with recent news coverage and features about racial issues in The Spokesman-Review. However, I was troubled, toward the end of staff writer Steve Massey’s June 28 commentary by the gratuitous lumping together of violence, slander and homosexuality as “moral wrongdoing” that ought not be tolerated while we strive for respectful race relations.

What perhaps more aptly should be lumped together for consideration are the severe injuries done to persons’ bodies, minds and spirits when any unchosen category they are in (skin color, sex, height, age, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, disability) subjects them systematically to degrading comments or unfair treatment.

Trying to achieve justice for one category while justifying prejudice and injustice toward another tends to fragment social change efforts and raise issue of moral integrity. How can we work credibly for human justice if, for example, we ignore sexism while promoting racial justice, condone racism while working for better life conditions for persons with disabilities, or dismiss the needs of aging populations while striving for sexual orientation justice?

Can we learn to treat all people with respect, honesty, compassion and fairness?

Can we listen carefully to each other’s views about life experiences, and thoughtfully consider how differently we are affected by our diverse life circumstances?

Can we actively seek more soundly based information for shaping our opinions?

Can we stay open to possibilities of growth and change as we examine information?

Can we engage in real conversations about controversial issues, rather than merely declaring absolute positions?

I hope so. Martha L. Ice Spokane

Conversion therapy not so efficacious

The Rev. A.C. Jacobson wrote (Letters, July 5) concerning the ability of homosexuals to be “converted” to heterosexuality. Among other resources, he gave Exodus International and NARTH. However, he failed to acknowledge many facts, including a study of Exodus International.

To quote: “The researchers interviewed the 30 and determined that only 11 had really been largely “cured” of their homosexual orientation. Eight of the 11 still reported homosexual dreams, fantasies and/or impulses. Two of the 11 were Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, the founders of Exodus, who … criticized their own organization and other ministries for gays as fraudulent.” (http://milepost1.com/gaydad/comeout/ HealingHomo.html)

Another key point is found in (http://www.apa.org/ monitor/oct97/conversion.html), where the American Psychology Association discusses conversion therapy. In addition, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.

Finally, before people attempt to use the Bible as a defense for anti-homosexual statements, the following two references should be read in their entirety. Both deal with interpretation of the Bible, taking into account the historical context.

http://members.aol.com/gunnyding/christ.htm addresses the more famous Biblical statements regarding homosexuality from a Christian point of view.

http://members.aol.com/chalera/index.htm discusses many statements regarding homosexuality in the Bible and also addresses the interpretation of the Bible.

Before you write any letters condemning people for interpreting the Bible in a nonliteral fashion, please realize there are two distinct and contradictory statements regarding creation of the Earth in the Bible. Which do you interpret as fact and which do you interpret as an explanation? Ben M. Kosse Sandpoint

THE ENVIRONMENT

Breaching dams - it’s junk science

Our government was considering listing the spotted owl as an endangered species. Some scientists threw out some figures, saying there are only so many left, that there should be a certain number for the species to survive and that they can only live in old-growth forests. These pseudoscientists didn’t count owls in wilderness areas and preserves, so their figures should have immediately been suspect.

The owl was declared endangered and tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs. Whole communities withered and died. Since then, real scientists doing real research have found well over four times the number of owls originally said to be needed for the species to survive living in the old-growth, second- and third-growth forests but their figures were totally ignored.

The salmon, which is our spotted owl, is swimming up the Columbia and Snake rivers. It’s easy to see the multitude of problems facing salmon recovery; from gillnets to Caspian terns and sea lions to uncontrolled commercial ocean fishing.

Three separate credible scientific studies have concluded there is no silver bullet to save the salmon. Isn’t it odd, although salmon spend three quarters of their lives in the ocean, that there’s never been a study of its survival in the ocean? The American Fisheries Society released a study showing more than 140 salmon runs in British Columbia rivers with no dams have gone extinct. But all we hear is breach the dams.

Breaching our dams is a political agenda, like the spotted owl, driven by the Clinton administration and its preservationist friends. Real science has nothing to do with it. Marvin F. Dugger Lewiston

Chenoweth still industry handmaiden

Rep. Helen Chenoweth has again won a spot on the Dirty Dozen list. This influential list brands the worst politicians in America with the proper label of “eco-thug,” based on their consistent voting record which opposes human health and common sense environmental concerns.

To compound her dismal record, she again is issuing press releases condemning and harassing the Forest Service for finally implementing policies that protect our forests, rather than clearcut and destroy them, as timber industry lobbyists pay her hundreds of thousands of dollars to do. She wants the Forest Service to turn over “accountability” to local employees she can then terrorize and intimidate into making lucrative decisions for timber lobbyists, at the cost of utter devastation of forest health and beauty.

It’s clear from her tunnel vision on resource extraction that her bustle is firmly planted in the economy of the 1800s rather than in the technologically driven 21st century. Someone should explain to Chenoweth that dependance on resource extraction is the cause of Idaho’s high unemployment, poverty, and Superfund designations. And, 21st century employers with high-paying jobs and pollution-free technologies will not come here to be in the midst of toxic waters, clearcut forests, and senile politicians.

What is bad for the environment also is bad for the economy. Nancy Lynne Coeur d’Alene

OTHER TOPICS

Amtrak is its own worst enemy

Take a nostalgic journey as you elegantly dine aboard a streamlined Zephyr. Or perhaps you would prefer the slower pace of an old steam engine whistling through the wilderness.

Across our country, business is booming for private enterprises offering scenic train rides. Why can’t Amtrak cash in on this growing industry? Why does our nation’s own railroad system deliberately run trains through national parks in the middle of the night, replace dining cars with vending machines and provide dismal and sometimes rude employee service? It seems, in fact, it does everything it can to discourage passengers from riding the train.

My father was a vice president for the United Transportation Union. He once told me that Abraham Lincoln gave huge land grants to the railroads in the 1800s with the provision that passenger service be provided wherever track was laid. If my father’s assertion is correct, that means the railroads have defaulted on their agreement and should lose their vast land rights. At the least, private companies should pay nothing for use of the rails.

The lame excuse that railroad executives have always asserted is that passenger service does not pay for itself. Private enterprise is proving them wrong. There is a buck to be made by providing quality service.

Our country has the poorest passenger railroad service of any industrial nation. It is long past time for the stagnant bureaucrats who have run our once-proud rail system into the ground to be replaced with people who have vision for a modern railroad transportation system. Stephen P. Combs Spokane

Gun people keepers of rights

I’ve noticed that letter writer Walter Becker continues his diatribe against the Second Amendment. He would like us legal keepers and bearers of arms to give up our Second Amendment rights. Would he be willing to give up his First Amendment right of freedom of speech that he so frequently exercises in his letters to the editor?

As Thomas Jefferson once said, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

Becker, it is only our exercise of our Second Amendment rights that protects your exercise of your First Amendment rights. Jack S. Ranck Spokane