Letters To The Editor
WASHINGTON STATE
WorkFirst education policy wrong, too
I was pleased to see Jamie Tobias Neely’s July 19 editorial, on behalf of the editorial board, pointing out some of the problems of Washington’s WorkFirst program. Neely focused on how inflexible WorkFirst rules harm families of children with severe disabilities. This is only one of the ways WorkFirst has harmed those it is intended to help.
I am a member of VOICES, a broad-based alliance of current and former welfare recipients, working poor and community advocates. I affiliated with VOICES because of my concerns about the negative impact of WorkFirst, particularly how it restricts opportunities for low-income parents of young children to obtain the education and training they need to leave the welfare rolls permanently.
Under the new WorkFirst regulations, participants can no longer receive support for child care while they attend classes or study. Educational opportunities for WorkFirst participants are also limited by discouraging enrollment in four-year colleges and universities, and exclusively promoting vocational and technical education. This is quite ironic, as Department of Social and Health Services records show that only 3 percent of public aid recipients in Washington state have achieved this level of education or higher, suggesting that members of this group are among the least likely to need welfare again. Encouraging educational achievement is one of the best ways to reduce the welfare rolls in the long term. Elizabeth A. Kissling, Ph.D. Cheney
West makes case for replacing him
The statements of James West quoted in The Spokesman-Review of July 22 raise several questions.
Is using influence to restrict the contributions of Eastern Washington University in Spokane a matter of pride?
Is blind, uncontrolled intolerance of the opinions of opposition a matter of sound judgment?
Are these the characteristics that you wish in your lawmakers?
I don’t! J.A. Stueve Spokane
Governor should correct his mistake
Re: July 10 headlines, “Locke defends approval of tribal casino.”
In Locke’s defense of his approval of the tribal casino on nontribal land, he said, “I would not support other tribes buying land, converting it into trust status and then trying to build a casino on it.” Furthermore, he goes on to say he is “not a fan of gambling” and didn’t realize what the House banking bill he signed in 1997 would do. (Not a smart thing to say.)
First, if another tribe were to buy land, convert it to trust status and seek to build a casino on it, would that result in a discrimination lawsuit that would cost the taxpayers considerably? In all probability, Locke did set a precedent with his approval of this casino and didn’t realize it, either.
Secondly, if Locke is “not a fan of gambling,” why would he approve any casino, no matter what the situation? What is really scary is the fact that our governor admittedly did not research the facts before signing this bill into law.
Locke, as the leader of this state, you make decisions for all of the people in the state. I ask you to carefully research the issues of any bill that you sign into law. Also, it’s not too late to take action to reverse the House banking bill and reverse your decision on the Airway Heights casino. Let’s make family values the focus of our state. Patrick D. Rushing Airway Heights
SPOKANE MATTERS
Upgrade and use ill-kempt parks
Prior to Expo ‘74, People’s Park and High Bridge Park were on the tax rolls, full of houses and families. The city of Spokane condemned this property and made an area for the tent city during Expo. Since then, these areas have become undesirable.
When the nude beach and other activities in People’s Park began, barriers were installed so people could no longer drive into the area. People still enter on foot. No major development has been done to these “parks” by the park department since they acquired the land.
High Bridge Park is nearly the same scenario. It’s overgrown with bushes and pretty much unkempt except for the lawn. Now, the department wants to barricade that area, too.
The park department should take care of these areas or hire private concessionaires to do it. People’s Park would be great for families to go to enjoy the water. With a small amount of care, this could be a wonderful addition to our city. It’s on the bus line and very close to downtown.
High Bridge Park is also a wonderful area. People are always looking for somewhere to have events, and if this area was maintained, it would also be great addition to the city.
I’d love to see High Bridge and People’s parks turned into places everyone could use. It will take the park department and public working together, with possible private concessionaires, to do the job. Nancy Hartley Chattaroy
Oh, what they call ‘improvements’
While Spokane Horizons develops plans to make our city more beautiful, other city departments are finding ways to hollow it out.
A few months ago, I asked city traffic engineer Don Ramsey if the planned “improvement” of Northwest Boulevard would tear out the trees and parkways that line it west of Maple. He said no and implied that it was just being done to make turns easier at Monroe Street.
Ramsey was right about the trees but he neglected to tell me the full story.
Kristen Kromer’s July 23 article makes it clear that the expansion extends far beyond improving turns at an intersection. Why in the world would a road that ends at Monroe be “improved” to Lincoln Street, as mentioned in the article? And why does the “improvement” extend in the other direction to Maple Street? And why are cross streets being blocked off on a neighborhood boulevard?
It’s obvious that the entire purpose of this project is to create an expressway tying the Maple-Ash couplet to the controversial Lincoln-Monroe couplet and the yet-to-be-justified Lincoln Street bridge. Is the city neglecting to tell us about other plans, like improving Rockwood Boulevard to five lanes connecting Grand and the longneeded Perry-Arthur South Hill couplet, while blocking off Overbluff?
Similar “improvements” in other cities have destroyed small businesses and property values in the affected neighborhoods.
Is this what we need? Are there better ways to improve our city? Christopher M. Kelly Spokane
Thanks for help in blocking store
Re: “Commission denies Wal-Mart rezoning” (July 23). We thank the Spokane County commissioners for their decision not to approve of this rezoning request.
We, the ordinary Citizens for the Preservation of Neighborhoods, are intensely interested in our area and wish to preserve its tranquility while at the same time enjoy its proximity to local business establishments. A Wal-Mart would have been overkill.
Victory in this hard-fought battle can be attributed to many, many individuals. We commend those who took the point and led us through the heavy guns of Wal-Mart. These individuals are Karen Barniol, Kay Saxton, Lee Spencer, Karen Stebbins and Scott Brown. We probably left out many more who should be thanked but we do not know their names. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “We owe so much to so few.” And to all who did those mundane jobs needed to back up these people, our gratitude is also extended.
Long live Camelot, Carriage Hills and College Place! Mr. and Mrs. Carlo Ferraro Spokane
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Less blatant racists are still racists
Members of the Aryan Nations and other fringe racist-hate groups openly advocate the separation of “pure” white people (whatever that means) and those of “lesser” races. But they do so under no false pretenses. Their thinking may be hateful and their logic and sense of history twisted, but at least they are honest (albeit cowardly) in their views.
While most of us publicly disavow these views, how many of us are hypocrites? How many of you have switched your purse or shopping bag to another hand if you’ve seen a black kid, with his hat turned backward, approaching you on the street? How many of you have seen a black person in a nice neighborhood and immediately assumed he was up to no good? How many of you have read about a street crime and imagined a black or Hispanic as the perpetrator? How many of you have hired the white person because you figured “he’d fit in better”? How many of you have felt it necessary, when relating a story to someone, to mention the color of the people in the story (as in, “I was talking to this black guy today”)?
This kind of prejudice is far more insidious and dangerous than that of a few malcontent fools who spout Nazi propaganda from dilapidated shacks in the North Idaho woods.
Sometimes it takes only a look into our own bathroom mirrors to see the real problem. Sam J. Thomas Spokane
‘Hands’ supporters deserve applause
The Human Rights Rally “Hands Across the Border” at Gonzaga University on July 18 was a huge success. While rejecting the ideas of extremist groups like the Aryan Nations, more than 700 people who attended expressed their support for diversity and to continue working toward improving relations with all multicultural groups in our community.
Unity in Action thanks all participants, sponsors and volunteers who helped in making this a successful event. We thank especially Gonzaga University, for hosting the rally. We welcome all those who want to continue working toward a better understanding of others to attend the Unity in Action meetings.
As part of ongoing efforts to bring understanding in our community, the second Congress on Race Relations is being planned. We encourage people to volunteer and to attend this event on November 20 and 21 at the Ag Trade Center. June Shapiro, Dina Tanners and Eileen Thomas Unity in Action
Brotherhood’s not complicated stuff
I protested the Aryan Nations’ parade in Coeur d’Alene by just not going. Why give the hatemongers what they want - your presence and recognition?
But after reading all the articles in the newspaper after the event, I felt compelled to reveal my feelings on the matter. Whenever my children questioned me about racism, bigotry, etc., the one thing I’ve always told them is this: We are all members of only one race, the human race. Some of us are just more human than others. Denise Rodgers Loon Lake
Group for gays’ parents a blessing
Your story on Spokane’s Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays chapter helped to publicize a very worthwhile and needed public resource which, unfortunately, is underutilized. Many parents of gays and lesbians feel devastated when they learn of their child’s sexual orientation. Worse, they feel isolated. PFLAG provides these parents with support and can help them understand that having a gay or lesbian child need not be a tragedy - it can be a blessing.
I know firsthand because my mother felt guilt and confusion when she first learned I was gay. Now, after three years of involvement with PFLAG, she not only accepts me and my partner completely, she strives to educate others so that the world will become a safer place for all gays and lesbians.
PFLAG is a wonderful community resource. Thank you for running your story. Jason Folkman San Diego
HISTORY
Writer failed to get history straight
Regarding Angel Fitzpatrick’s July 20 litany of alleged historical inaccuracies by Alan Chatham, pagans did indeed persecute Christians in the Colosseum, employing brutalities that would in turn be inflicted on heretics by Christians on an even broader scale for a longer time (consider the sustained horror of the Thirty Years War).
To paint the Crusades as simply “counterattack against an Islamic Jihad” overlooks how the initial spread of Islam occurred after imperial iconoclastic extremism and costly military misadventures weakened Byzantine authority.
Overall, the Islamic regimes adjoining the dwindling empire were not especially cruel to either Christians or Jews - that is, until the many crusades emboldened Islamic intolerance. But by then, the crusaders were too busy looting Christian Constantinople to notice the bitter fruits of their handiwork.
Finally, it is revealing that Fitzpatrick refers to “modern philosophical debates on the nature of God” concerning “the inherent worth of all human beings.” Modern indeed, for Christian abhorrence of the inhumanity of slavery did not benefit from scriptural authority.
Old Testament rules advised how to treat your slaves and did not enjoin you to free them. New Testament references concerned how slaves were to relate to the faith of their newly converted masters. As religious defenders of slavery in the antebellum South knew full well, the God of Abraham apparently had no unwavering objection to the notion that some human beings might legitimately constitute property.
Sometimes a little more research is in order before weighing in on matters of historical scholarship. James Downard Spokane
Crusades, jihad poorly understood
In her “Critical teenager ill informed” (Letters, July 20), Angel Fitzpatrick tries to rectify a teenager’s knowledge about Christianity. However, she exposes her own misinformation, in that the “Crusades began as a counterattack against Islamic Jihad.” She bears no blame, however, for that’s how history is generally presented. Such distortions about the Islamic world are especially deep rooted. Westerners have a “vague and confused impression of the Crusades” (Karen Armstrong, “Holy War,” 1981).
Certainly, it was not a reaction to “Islamic Jihad.” The word “crusade” (from the French “croix”) specifically refers to holy war (Christian jihad?); the word “jihad” simply means struggle - striving for scholarship, community, salvation, etc. Medievalists tell us the Crusades were initiated as: 1, a holy war directed by God through his pope; 2, fanaticism-bigotry against “infidelpagan” Muslims; and 3, eastward migration to colonize more opulent terrain, given the meager resources and population pressures (12th century’s “most influential expansionary movement,” as per one scholar). After all, Pope Urban in his 1095 appeal mentioned Palestine as a “land where rivers of milk and honey flowed freely.”
Richard Suskind’s 1962 “The Crusades” suggests motives as: 1, religious; 2, carving out kingdoms in Islamic lands; and 3, “to loot, pillage and rape.” Indeed, the Crusades represent perhaps the only war in recorded history in which cannibalism was consciously practiced against the “infidels” (December 1098, Ma’arra, Syria). Dr. S.M. Ghazanfar Moscow, Idaho
Here’s why Vietnam was different
Re: “Escaping Vietnam” (IN Life, July 21).
It still puzzles me that it is not yet common knowledge as to what sets the Vietnam War apart from others. I’ll do my best to reiterate.
The Vietnam War was the only one in which victory was not our primary objective. The only one in which its architects were able to benefit from misapplied doctrine, lies and cover-ups up to the present day. The only one in which they mostly abandoned low-ranking Vietnam veterans in every way, including to the wrath of their frustrated fellow citizens at home. And the only one which has caused the broad mass of Americans to shift from believing in the essential honesty and decency of most government, cultural and commercial institutions to believing that most of the rich and powerful have special dispensation to lie, cheat and steal from everybody else. (An exaggerated view both in the before and after phase, no doubt.) Philip J. Mulligan Vietnam veteran, Spokane
OTHER TOPICS
Ritzville offers visitors a lot
There is an old adage that says there is nothing more certain than change and another that states when one door closes, another opens. The residents of Ritzville are sad to see our historic clothing store close its doors but we were very glad to host 1,700 people for our fifth annual Blues Festival.
Our interesting, historical downtown area is becoming a welcome stop for tourists tired of big cities and traffic jams. Folks often stop at our motels rather than go on into the city. People drive from Spokane for a piece of homemade pie; antique plane clubs touch down at our airport just two blocks from Main Street; the golf course is often enjoyed by nonresidents and there is talk about a German noodle factory offering nostalgic products from our agricultural and historic past.
As one of our residents, Sally Powers, says, “You can get in a larger town what you can’t get in a small town, but you can’t get in a larger town what you can get in a small town.” Think about it, and come visit Small Town, U.S.A. - Ritzville. Sandra Sparks, president Ritzville Chamber of Commerce