Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

City, county, aquifer safety all at odds

Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing? This rhetorical question summarizes our city planners not knowing what our county planners are doing in relation to protecting our aquifer.

New regulations governing business waste disposal are being contemplated by Spokane city officials. The objective is to protect our irreplaceable water sources, our precious aquifers.

Let’s follow one case that took place in 1996. Biggs Rae Corp. in the city of Spokane was ordered to remove 712 tons of PCB-contaminated soil from its premises by the state Department of Ecology. The object was to prevent PCBs from seeping through the soil and contaminating the groundwater.

Spokane County officials, in their infinite wisdom, allowed the this PCB-laced soil to be placed directly onto an aquifer beneath the Graham Road landfill. The bottom of the lined waste disposal cells are five feet below the groundwater level. Groundwater has to be pumped out constantly to prevent inevitable contact with every conceivable kind of pollution in this facility.

What good is it for Spokane city to have the best regulations protecting citizens’ precious drinking water when the county has a lack of similar restrictions in neighboring aquifers? Allowing a landfill to be located in an area as sensitive as the Graham Road site is stupid.

Too many Spokane County bureaucrats are derelict in their duties of serving the citizens who pay their salaries.

City and county planners had better work toward the same goal of preserving our aquifers, the only ones we have. Dave E. Butler Medical Lake

$500,000 to learn the obvious?

The vast majority of Spokane city and/or county property owners know what the aquifer is and where it comes from; where our drinking water comes from; the dangers of toxic materials/chemicals being dumped on the ground, in landfills, in septic tanks, down sewers, etc., and allowed to seep into the aquifer. They know some basic measures to take to protect the aquifer. This is fairly basic stuff that a person who has lived in Spokane for the past 30 years would know.

There have been studies, discussions, lawsuits, a Spokane Valley sewer system constructed, landfills closed, and yet the city of Spokane paid $500,000 to discover what most citizens have known for years.

We’ve been extremely fortunate to have a large volume of water suitable for drinking flowing beneath the city and county. We must protect it.

Who at City Hall needed a half-million-dollar study to conclude that Spokane’s ground water is “highly vulnerable to a variety of contamination threats”?

Why are we only now talking about the protection of large wells drilled into the Spokane-Rathdrum aquifer?

Who at City Hall has been so ignorant of so many facts, conclusions and remedies for these many years? George Britton Spokane

Affordable landfill is available

Jim Cole (Letters, Feb. 22) blames the high cost of housing on the county commissioners for their attempts to protect county citizens’ drinking water by limiting the size of existing dumps. He also describes the public as uninformed and misinformed about this issue.

It seems incredible that anyone in the construction trade could have such limited knowledge of his own business. Whether or not any dump in Spokane County is allowed to expand will have absolutely no effect on the price of either new houses or the remodeling of older ones. For example, the Rabanco landfill at Roosevelt, Wash., will deliver a container directly to any job site in Spokane County for disposal of construction debris and will remove it when the job is done, eliminating the need for hauling. Other landfills in the state may have similar programs.

The cheapest local dump charges $8 per yard for this type of waste. Rabanco charges about $9 per yard, but when you subtract the cost of hauling, it’s cheaper than any local landfill. You simply cannot haul any material anywhere for a $1-per-yard difference.

The landfill at Roosevelt is situated in a geologically and environmentally safe area. Local landfills are not. Since all dumps leak leachate sooner or later and can poison nearby wells, let’s stop destroying the county’s groundwater and save money in the process. Cheryl Kenreck West Plains Neighborhood Association, Medical Lake

OVER THE LINE

EPA a troublemaking money sucker

Re: “Mayor opposes EPA pollution study,” (March 4).

I am not a citizen of Idaho, but I visit quite often to shop and tour the state. I really don’t think your mayor or chamber of commerce will have a problem selling tourism to anyone with common sense.

People of the Environmental Protection Agency have made a name for themselves as a bunch of arrogant, pushy government busybodies with nothing else to do except find something wrong with everything, regardless of who gets hurt, just as long as the government gets money it can’t get though taxes. Darlene S. Thiesfeld Wilbur, Wash.

BUSINESS AND LABOR

SHMC should be ashamed

What has happened to Sacred Heart Medical Center? I am seeing negative editorials, nurses performing information picketing and one-sided newspaper advertisements from CEO Skip Davis. To the best of my knowledge, this type of behavior has never been observed in the 112-year history of SHMC.

Davis’ letter to the community mentions, “a commitment to the highest standard of patient care.” How is SHMC going to provide the highest standard of care if registered nurses are on call on their days off and returning to work with only eight hours of rest?

If the RNs strike, how can replacement RNs from other states, without proper orientation, provide the highest standard of care? How can fewer RNs with more patients provide the highest standard of care?

Davis also indicated that health care is paid for with taxes, insurance premiums or out of pocket. I hope my health care dollars aren’t being used to pay for advertising, trips to Hawaii or other perks for administrators.

SHMC has been a leader in health care. If these proposed changes for the RNs occur, I have to question how SHMC plans to provide the highest standard of care. It will be physically impossible.

It makes me sad to see what has happened to SHMC under this new administration. The board of directors and administration should be ashamed and embarrassed by their proposal. A. Dawn Lorenz Spokane

RNs well know value of LPNs, others

Peggie Boothe, L.P.N. (Letters, March 3), feels many Sacred Heart Medical Center registered nurses are saying they’re “worth more” than other care givers and put themselves above team-effort patient care.

I was a licensed practical nurse for 18 years before becoming a registered nurse 10 years ago. The issue is not of one discipline being “better” than another to care for patients. It’s the level of education, training and coinciding responsibilities that vary.

Boothe said she has “the utmost respect” for RNs and would “follow their direction without question.” I remember how frightened I was as a new RN, praying I would do the right thing in a crisis. I secretly wished I could go back to being an LPN and let someone else make major decisions. I still pray before I start each shift.

LPNs and certified nurses aides are important members of our patient care teams. I value, respect them and need their help tremendously. Yet, to expect them to take on responsibility with highly unstable patients and perform tasks beyond their scope of practice isn’t fair to them or us, and could harm patients.

The balance of RNs, LPNs and CNAs on each hospital unit must be carefully laid out according to the care needs, high-tech treatments and stability levels of their patient population. A team approach, working with management to find this balance, is essential to ensuring all patients get the care they deserve. Peggy J. Sorenson, R.N., O.C.N. Hayden Lake, Idaho

Hospital just out for money, power

Sacred Heart Medical Center administration many months ago embarked on a course of austerity and cost cutting which has left its registered nurses frustrated and dismayed. Replacing trained professionals with minimally trained, unlicensed personnel will only diminish the quality and safety of patient care, no matter what high marks the state hospital commission bestows on the medical center.

Nurses from far and wide are crying out as patient advocates. One would think the Catholic Church and physicians would be leading the charge in support of the nurses’ cause. Patient well-being and safety are most certainly in their collective best interest.

Sadly, however, that support is not forthcoming. The good old boys club is alive and well in River City and the Catholic Church is conspicuously silent. This is precisely why so many area people harbor a certain disdain for the church and its people. I believe the catch phrase is “cafeteria Catholics.” It appears this isn’t about health care at all. It is about power and money. Charles R. Schilling Spangle, Wash.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Mistake made, but we’re not uncaring

I thank W.L. Weseman of Hayden Lake for his response to Doug Clark’s column about a case involving Social Security (Letters, March 4). I believe Weseman’s positive experience more accurately reflects the level of service provided by this and other Social Security offices serving the public.

In this case, the Coeur d’Alene Social Security office made an incorrect date of death input that resulted in benefits that were due a beneficiary, June Reynolds, being returned to the Department of Treasury. Because Mrs. Reynolds had passed away, the resulting underpayment was subject to laws concerning her estate and could not be automatically refunded to her daughter or back to her bank account.

For the error that occurred, I apologize. We are taking immediate action to reissue the money due Mrs. Reynolds to her next of kin.

Social Security administers programs that pay monthly benefits to over 45 million people in this country. We process many million more transactions each year, and we do make mistakes. However, we do our best to correct our errors as quickly and efficiently as possible. In addition, we strive to treat every individual with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Clark was wrong in characterizing the Social Security staff as uncaring bureaucrats. I see them in action every day, helping people file for retirement, survivors and disability benefits, explaining the intricacies of the programs we administer, and referring people to other agencies that can provide additional assistance, where appropriate. I am very proud of the dedicated Social Security employees in this office and believe they have been sorely misrepresented by Clark. Vincent Aurora, manager Social Security Administration, Coeur d’Aene

THE MEDIA

R-rated fare not worthy of writer

On the very day my oldest granddaughter turned 15, I read a disturbing article in The Spokesman-Review (Our Generation, March 2). It was written by Tammy Scholz, who is close to my granddaughter’s age.

The headline: “R-rated movies have nothing teens haven’t seen before.” The first sentence asks, “How many times while watching an R-rated movie have you thought to yourself, ‘Jeez, this is kind of inappropriate for me?”’

I have answered that question in the affirmative, and so I avoid R-rated movies. However, Tammy thinks differently. She’s irritated because her tender age excludes her from theaters showing R-rated movies. Seeming to speak for her peers, she wonders what’s so inappropriate about R-rated movies. All that foul language, nudity and violence are old stuff to kids, she wrote. Such sophistication for one so young!

Fortunately, Tammy understands that the “plot of any good movie shouldn’t depend on sex, violence and profanity to get an audience.” At the same time, she recognizes reality and doesn’t like exclusion from theaters that show R-rated films. For her, PG-13 means yuck! She seems unaware of the drip-drip effect continual exposure to life’s seamy side has on her developing world view.

It was for just such a situation that the Apostle Paul gave this advice: “If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on what is true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and praiseworthy.” R-rated movies rarely measure up to that divine standard. Edwin A. Olson Spokane

Kafentzis editorial a ‘great write’

Who is staff writer John Kafentzis and where did he come from? I was very pleased to read his column on the phonics bill in the Legislature. It was informative, instructive and entertaining. It was really refreshing to read a point of view that was not predictable simply by the signature. I’d like to get to read more of his work.

Thanks, Kafentzis, for the great write on an issue that has been so distorted by political perspective and, until your column, poorly articulated. E.J. Terhaar Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Attacking Iraq invites world war

The stake in the Iraq controversy is the oil of Iran, Kuwait and Iraq; two-thirds of their supply is used by Russia and the United States. Russian allies line the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria. These are all Arabic countries whose arms and financial support are supplied by Russia. U.S. allies are its fleet and planes, and its only friend in the area is Israel.

Iran, Iraq and Israel lie at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Iran, a large country, has told the United States it will not allow us to attack Iraq via Iran.

President Clinton is worried that Iraq is storing chemical weapons and threatens to bomb Iraq to destroy them. Why? Many nations have them, including Russia and the U.S. Others, including China and North Korea, have the atomic bomb.

In World War II, no nation used a gas attack against us, as they knew we were well prepared to do the same to them. The U.S. is well equipped to do similarly to Iraq. We cannot initiate a saturation bombing of Iraq, for Russia has shown it will risk another world war to protect Iraq, its major ally in the area. President Clinton should take Iraq’s assurance it is not planning chemical warfare against anyone, for the alternative is World War III. Curran D. Dempsey Spokane

Pornography does lead to crimes

Recent letters attempting to discredit Penny Lancaster’s opposition to pornography by trying to discredit Lancaster herself reflect sophomoric, illtempered mentalities, lacking fact and merit. Each letter (Feb. 24 and 27) defends pornography as an outlet that doesn’t lead partakers to commit sexual crimes. However, many partakers do.

In research done by Dr. W. Marshall, almost half of the rapists studied had used pornography depicting consenting sex to arouse themselves, preparatory to seeking out a victim to rape.

A study done by FBI researchers of 36 serial killers revealed that 29 were attracted to pornography and incorporated it into their sexual activity, which included rape-murder. These figures reflect only sexual crimes reported to authorities.

Most recently, there’s the account (Spokesman-Review, Feb. 27) of Dr. Barry Kottler, a man who no longer found just looking at child pornography satisfying, and who’s alleged to have arrived in Spokane intending to sexually violate an 8-year-old girl.

For those who believe their pornography use isn’t an addiction, being charged with sexual assault may be the first wake-up call these “recreational” porn viewers (addicts) receive. Sexual crimes victimize someone.

I’m thankful for Lancaster and people like her who keep such issues in the public eye, reminding citizens of the disasters resulting from tolerance and unchecked control over practices that threaten families and public safety - such as pornography. Kimberly A. Utke Spokane

What teachers do isn’t always best

Re: “Early warning system” (March 3). I applaud the two moms (Renee Kent and Rhonda Reiner) who are paying attention to what is happening in their children’s classroom at Riverside Elementary.

Although not involved with the elementary schools for some time, I follow the news with great interest and, admittedly, growing anxiety over what seems to be national and state education association attempts to push their own agenda on our children, regardless of the effects on same or on families.

In spite of all their supposed education, they are narrow-minded, very focused and counting on the fact that few parents pay attention to their children’s classrooms and are assuming teachers are doing the right thing.

I know many teachers are doing a fine job and many are so busy doing things right, whether or not it’s the right thing for the children. From what I read about the program, I do not believe it to be appropriate for second grade. Lynne Lind Spokane