Letters To The Editor

GAMBLING

We’re all gamblers in some ways

As expected, the emergence of legal card rooms in Spokane has met its match in a growing number of concerned citizens convinced that gambling is a scourge to society. No matter what kind of spin you put on it, opposition to taking a gamble in a capitalist economy is at the every least hypocritical.

Forget blackjack for a moment. If you really want to take a risk, why not open up a business? Or buy a used car and hope you didn’t get a lemon. Maybe purchase a new home in an undeveloped area. Ask your neighbors how well they made out on their last “investments.” I’m sure some have horror stories to tell. Of course, if you’d like to take the biggest risk of all, just throw your money into the stock market. How’s that for risky?

Banning card rooms in Spokane will do nothing except shift the jobs and tax revenues elsewhere. Those who gamble will continue to do so in other places, and then bring back all those problems which these concerned citizens wish would just go away.

Gambling is a big part of our society. Unfortunately, some will lose and some will abuse. However, turning down millions in taxes each year and putting hundreds out of jobs does not serve the best interests of our community.

Sean P. Berry Spokane

Replace derelict legislators

It is filing time for politicians and we will be swamped with the same team that claimed to be “asleep at the switch” when SB5560 passed 44-4 in the Senate and 97-0 in the House.

This egregious act increased gambling in the state and more specifically Spokane County. If these politicians are that derelict in their duty to this state, then they don’t deserve to be returned to office regardless of the position they occupy. Edward Thomas Jr. Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Let speeders pay for road repairs

Many thanks to the Spokane police for issuing so many speeding tickets on the Thor-Ray hill on a recent Friday.

I met with City Hall officials several months ago in an attempt to get those in charge of figuring out how to raise the money to fix our potholes to work with the local police and raise the funds by issuing speeding tickets. We don’t need a new tax and they would collect more than enough money in a very short period of time using this method. Not to mention that for once, those acting illegally would pay the price instead of taxing those of us who are safe, law-abiding citizens.

Speeding is a true epidemic in our society. If those who speed are not concerned with obeying the law, it would at least be nice to see a little more consideration for the children, pets and pedestrians who are at risk in residential areas. I can’t count the number of times I have been tailgated and/or passed on Bernard Street while driving 30 mph, the legal speed limit.

Officers, please set up your radar guns on Bernard soon. Jolee R. Benoit Spokane

Nordstrom bullying Hoopfest

It is obvious that a modern day version of David and Goliath is being re-enacted in Spokane.

Does an event like Hoopfest need to be bullied by corporate giants like Nordstrom because they do not want traffic blocked by their store for two days out of 365?

The construction area of the new Nordstrom store has blocked streets and impacted pedestrians as well as cars for months. They are in our face every time we drive in the downtown core area, and yet most of us are willing to endure it for the sake of downtown revitalization and the future of the heart of Spokane.

An event the size of Hoopfest, that easily draws more than 100,000 people to the downtown area, also enhances the revitalization of the core area and undoubtedly will have a positive and major effect in the future.

Hoopfest has tried to work with Nordstrom in the past few years to no avail. They need to wake up and become involved in the heart of what makes a city like Spokane such a unique and wonderful place, rather than a cold, corporate, money-hungry giant. Maybe the hands that feed Hoopfest are the same hands that feed the business community.

Back off, Nordstrom! Dennis B. Magner Spokane

ABORTION

Debating terms will resolve nothing

Mike Storms and Tammy Namet (Letters, July 20), in using their own labels to identify the two sides of the abortion debate in response to cartoonist Milt Priggee’s erroneous labels, miss the mark themselves.

The issue is not pro-choice vs. pro-life or anti-choice vs. anti-life, or pro-abortion vs. anti-abortion. The most accurate labels are pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion rights.

To advocate someone’s right to do a certain thing is not the same as advocating the doing of that thing.

Further, the real issue in this debate is whether the fetus possesses full humanity or not. If the issue had a really obvious answer, the debate would be moot. To simply call abortion murder and to end argument there is to beg too many crucial questions. It is incumbent upon both sides of the debate to establish a convincing case as to when an organism qualifies as a full human being.

It is perhaps not surprising that the argument that an embryo, merely by possessing unique DNA, is sufficiently developed to qualify as fully human, seems unlikely to convince opponents right away.

It is unlikely that most supporters of abortion rights think murder is OK. More likely, they have reason to remain unconvinced by their opponents’ arguments regarding the humanity of the fetus. Chris Cathcart Spokane

It’s wrong; no compromise will do

May I suggest that William Raspberry (Opinion, July 14) take up the cause of prohibiting partial-birth abortion and see how far he gets. It’s a matter of all or nothing at all and he should know it. A man of his talent and intelligence just goes to show how inadequate intelligence is in reaching the right conclusion in moral matters.

The only good that could come out of this ugly, repulsive, sick procedure is it may awaken people to the reality of what all abortion really is: the taking of innocent human life. There cannot be any control over this procedure as long as abortion is legal.

The Episcopal church opened the door a crack in the early 1930s, permitting contraception in hardship cases only. Look at the results. If you open the door a crack, you’ve lost the door. Bishop Fulton Sheen remarked then, “Oh-oh, here comes abortion and euthanasia.” That shows the wisdom of holy mother church.

Christ came to Earth to establish, empower and guarantee his church as a moral guide for mankind. That church still exists, despite man’s many attempts to abolish it. It’s called the Catholic church.

The Lord God said, “If you keep my commandments, statutes and ordinances you will be blessed. If not, you will perish.” We’re a long way down that road, folks. Jimmie D. Lloyd Otis Orchards

PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Don’t make pets suffer in this heat

Imagine yourself in a heavy fur coat, sitting in a hot car or tied to a rope, with no shade. No one can last in this heat, so why do people expect their pets to do just that?

Be kind to your pets and leave them at home. Give them lots of water and a cool place. They depend on us to make smart choices for them. Darlene Lockert Spokane

Help Humane Society help animals

This is a final plea for someone, somewhere, to get off their soft couch and do something to help the Humane Society.

The Humane Society is slowly but surely going under if someone doesn’t give them some help, either with money or time. If they get none of these things, the ones who will suffer are the animals, the poor creatures who have been discarded by former owners for various reasons. There are about 100 to 150 dogs there, available and begging for someone to take them home and give them the love they deserve. In addition, there must be hundreds of kittens, cats and puppies.

In a town the size of Spokane, there must be enough animal lovers to see that this place stays in operation with enough help to properly care for your discarded animals.

As of this date, two of the regular people have left, without advance notice, plus others have found other jobs and are no longer there. There is a great need for volunteers to do whatever they can to help, from answering phones to helping with the animals. This place is trying to operate on very little money, due to people turning their backs and trying not to get involved. It’s high time for a lot of you to get involved. Winnie Richards Spokane

Risk more than public should bear

Re: “Park officials hope to relocate bear that attacked woman,” (July 8). My God, how terrible! And to think that the grizzly bear advocates demand that we spend our tax dollars and give up use of our public lands to protect these beasts. These grizzly bear advocates should be made to take responsibility for their pets if they hurt or kill someone. Esther L. McDonald Spokane