Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Brewer poor excuse for what’s needed

Mike Brewer and Rockford Mayor Michael Fuch’s March 6 letters attempt damage control for their roles in the Spokane Country Air Pollution Control Authority board takeover.

In his letter and a subsequent radio interview, Fuchs said he acted only with concern for air quality. Touting Brewer, Fuchs also said board members should have “talent” be “open-minded” and not be “controversial.” This ignores Cherie Rodgers’ superior record.

I have been told Fuchs never attends SCAPCA meetings - a weak basis for judgment or concern for SCAPCA’s air quality role. If Fuchs attended the meetings, he would see that Rodgers is talented, constructively well-informed and open-minded. Serving SCAPCA’s mission, Rodgers questions just who profits at the public’s serious financial and health distress. Who would find this controversial?

I went to the March board meeting. Rodgers, who cared enough to be present, was not allowed to serve as chairwoman or sit on the board, thanks to Brewer and his mayor friends. She asked to continue receiving SCAPCA reports so she can stay current on air quality issues. Brewer, whom Fuchs feels would be the superior board member, was nowhere to be found.

Whose actions work to protect and improve the lives of Spokane County residents and their air quality? Demonstrably, those of Rodgers.

There is no “thorny problem” on the SCAPCA board. The problem is the outside air SCAPCA intends to protect. Brewer is not a compromise. He is a willing participant for controversial political interests. He needs to step aside. Gwen Juliano Innes Cheney

Bragdon more than qualified, as-is

Roger Bragdon’s candidacy for Spokane chief of police reportedly is jeopardized by lack of a bachelor’s degree. Rational criteria for choosing our police chief are superior competence in police work, good judgment and leadership. A bachelor’s degree is so weak an indicator of these as to be irrelevant.

Bragdon has a superb record of excellence, professional skill, integrity and knowledge of Spokane. He is known and proven, not a gamble.

Yes, if some other candidate can walk on water, Spokane should hire him or her. But I guarantee that a bachelor’s degree would not be what would enable the other candidate to walk on water.

All else being equal, I suppose a bachelor’s degree might tip the scales. But everything else is never equal. To mark Bragdon down for lack of a degree 25 years ago would be the height of mindless bureaucratic folly and detrimental to the best interests of Spokane citizens.

I’m on a citizen’s committee with Bragdon and I am impressed by his intelligence, competence and mature judgment. George F. “Fred” Richardson Spokane

Growth means pay more, get less

I could not disagree more with the March 7 guest column, “Big economic development goals are worthy of Spokane.” The shortsighted among us are enticed to worship the false god of pro-growth, failing to realize that an increase in economic growth is offset by an increase in the cost of living.

As a city increases in size, costs of providing utilities, sewage and waste removal, police, fire and emergency services increase disproportionately. While politicians are motivated to support growth because of the promise of a larger tax base and businesses look for a larger customer base, it’s the lower economic classes, average working men and women, who pay the price. So, too, does the small business owner suffer, in terms of regulatory costs and taxation.

Another important point is that as the size of a community increases and the cost of police and emergency services spirals forever upward, at the same time, the quality of these services declines.

What makes Spokane such a good place to work and live is that Spokane is not a small town but not a big city, either. Please, let’s keep it that way. Let anyone who wants to change it move to Seattle or New York City. Ron Yorke Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

West a poster boy for term limits

Three cheers for Sen. Jim West. He has again made the case for term limits by proving that the only thing needed to push a bad bill through is power.

West, in his infinite wisdom, has ordained that Washington State University should control the destiny of higher education in Spokane. Instead of writing legislation based on information and analysis, he has chosen to rush it through on the basis of his own divine revelation.

Kudos also go to co-conspirator Sen. Eugene Prince, who, in a myopic effort to further his long-time agenda of keeping Eastern Washington University in Cheney, helped craft the “compromise” that fit the WSU agenda to a T. Now, with no evaluation of the higher education needs in Spokane, WSU is given the power to further its enrollment goals at the expense of EWU, its students and the community. But Prince says, “the governor will sign the bill and it will be good for everyone,” and we all know that Prince is an honorable man. Having said that, I’m sure students paying higher tuition or commuting longer distances, and faculty removed from their offices at River Point, will be overwhelmingly consoled by Prince’s proclamation of good health for all.

The unconsoled can call Gov. Gary Locke at 1-800-562-6000 and ask him to veto SB6655. They can also work to relieve West of his legislative duties this fall, thus freeing him up to pursue his apparent avocation as a public psychic. Bonnie A. Mager Cheney

Support breast-feeding bill next time

My attention was caught by a newspaper article which seemed to reflect badly on the male members of the state Legislature. I refer to “Senate allows breast-feeding measure to die,” in which Rep. Eileen Cody (D-Seattle) is quoted as saying that some male senators “spent a lot of time joking about the bill. One wanted to know if there would be an age limit on who could be breast-fed in public. Ha, ha, ha.”

I find Rep. Cody’s interpretation of the senator’s question offensive, since I don’t believe the senator in question meant the question to be offensive, especially when I read the article on the same page headlined “Dumbest congressmen named.” I have to agree that the booby prize was justly awarded to the Republican from Georgia, Rep. Bob Barr, who earned his place on the list by “licking whipped cream from the chests of two buxom women” at a fund-raising luncheon.

The bill is a relatively simple, straightforward measure, designed to alleviate the burden on women who don’t have the choice of being a stay-at-home mother. It also specifies the definition of the term “infant” to mean a child under the age of 2 years.

Since the Washington state Senate seems to be shouldering the blame for stalling passage of a fairly straightforward measure to encourage businesses to be family friendly, I encourage you to write to your elected state legislators to support HB 1194 and SB 5885 in the next session. Judith Maibie Spokane

Sommers’ makes his priorities clear

My spirits were lifted when you reported the courageous effort of Cooper Jones’ family to advocate for a bicycle safety bill in honor of their son. Who would have guessed that just three days later, Rep. Duane Sommers would jeopardize the future of the bill by caving in to the insurance industry. Sommers tried to justify his action by saying, “The halls are filled with special interest groups and, like any special interest, they (insurance) were persistent.”

It’s too bad Rep. Sommers didn’t consider the memory of Cooper special. Craig A. Peterson Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

I don’t have phone to help you sell

Re: Donna Butterfield’s letter, “Telemarketers aren’t all scam artists.”

I’m sure this is true, but scams are not the only reason people dislike telemarketers. They invade our homes via the telephone without our invitation, even if they are representing legitimate Fortune 500 companies. I pay for a telephone for my personal use, not as a sales route to my family. Telmarketers seem to always call at an inconvenient time (dinner hour, TV news hour, etc.) They often refuse to take no for an answer but keep right on with the sales pitch after you’ve told them you’re not interested.

Phone companies should be required to annotate phone numbers in their publications for customers who do not wish to be contacted by telemarketers. I will not hold my breath until they do this, since about 25 percent of telemarketing calls we receive are from phone companies wanting us to change our phone service.

If Butterfield calls me trying to sell something, she had better have a thick skin. Anyone who invades my home and privacy without an invitation shouldn’t expect tolerance or courtesy. Gail Parke Jr. Post Falls

Gas pricing mysteries raise suspicion

Gas prices are at their lowest point in years, according to an article in the March 10 Spokesman-Review.

Why did Spokane Valley gas prices jump up to $1.11 one week and settle at $1.09 the next? Does it cost more to ship gas to the Valley than to Airway Heights, where gas is still at 99 cents? I really don’t think so.

Also, why are prices all the same on some corridors and there is no competition between stations across the street from one another? This leads one to believe in price fixing. Please enlighten me if I’m wrong. Jim Easling Greenacres

OTHER TOPICS

Jobs not worth what comes with them

There is a certain delicious irony in Coeur d’Alene’s Mayor Steve Judy protesting the Environmental Protection Agency proposal to study mining contamination throughout the entire Coeur d’Alene Basin, saying his town could not afford to be labeled a Superfund site. Perhaps the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce should also pay attention, apologize to Sandpoint for supporting Asarco’s proposed Rock Creek project and withdraw support for that project.

Some of us in Sanders County, Mont., and Lake Pend Oreille country foresee a similar future for us if the project is permitted. The health of the entire Clark Fork drainage already is reeling from the nation’s largest Superfund site, at Butte and Anaconda. Millions of dollars have already been spent on cleaning up the Clark Fork and the river is improving. But toxic metals still surge through the system during high water events, and the fishery is still compromised. We do not need to add insult to injury at this point.

Right now, I don’t believe the 300-plus jobs promised by Asarco are worth the risk of contaminating North Idaho’s largest remaining pristine lake and affecting the thousands of lives and jobs dependent on the current quality environment.

We also can not afford for this area to be labeled a Superfund site. Judy Hutchins Heron, Mont.

Let’s end dependence on Mideast oil

The roots of our involvement in the Middle Eastern turmoil reach further than Saddam Hussein, his biological weapons or even his United Nations violations. We are involved in Iraq for one reason: oil.

We should analyze our dependency on oil and determine if it’s worth the time, money and lives invested in fossil fuels to keep pumping it over here. With so much happening in the Middle East, it’s time to break free from the chains of fossil fuels and invest in our future: alternative energy.

With our technological capabilities increasing, it is only a matter of time before it will be economically, environmentally and politically efficient to become an energy-independent nation. The costs of policing Iraq far outweigh the costs of alternative energy. We have spent so much on keeping our way of life constant, but now is the time to change.

The United States has reacted less over more serious crimes, such as the ones in Tibet and China. We are in the Middle East because it has what we want. If we invest in alternative energy now, we won’t be involved in such conflicts over oil because we will be energy independent.

We must stop killing ourselves and others, and quit thinking the world is for our own consumption. We have all the resources for an energy-independent nation right under our noses. Dillon Murphy Spokane