Letters To The Editor
WASHINGTON STATE
I-690 straightens out taxing issue
I just paid an arm and a leg for vehicle license tabs, and like most of our voting citizens, am not the least bit happy about it. Nor I am happy about the way our hard-earned dollars are being spent through Legislature controlled by special interests and lobbying efforts.
Since 1938, the state has been taxing the ownership of vehicles based on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. No consideration is given to the fact that upon leaving the showroom floor, your new vehicle just depreciated by 20 percent. In the case of a used car, it gets even more horrific.
The Department of Licensing alone took in over $900 million in 1997, of which 78 percent went to the general fund, 8 percent to law enforcement, with the balance split between the DOL and the Department of Transportation. Instead of fixing roads in our state, the money distributed to the DOT went to fixing the ferries.
Recognizing this as another travesty in government, the League of Washington Taxpayers is sponsoring Initiative 690, which changes the formula and distribution of funds so that 80 percent goes to the DOT, to specifically be spent on construction and maintenance of highways; 8 percent to law enforcement and 12 percent to the general fund.
I-690 will provide for fixed licensing of $70 for vehicles and pickup trucks every two years. Motorcycles, RVs, ATVs, heavy trucks, buses and trailers will see similar benefits as a result.
The League of Washington Taxpayers needs your help. If you would like to help, please call Jack Fagan at 467-5467. Michael J. Fagan Spokane
This is shifting, not saving
Re: Public Periscope item of April 13 on “cutting costs.”
As I read the comments about saving the taxpayers about $65,000, I had a question. The way the article is written, I’m not sure if that savings is for a quarter or the full year. However, I am delighted that some of our government employees are looking out for any cost savings that may be available, and I’m sure most taxpayers appreciate the concern with regard to wasteful spending habits within our various governmental agencies.
The Corrections Department employee who suggesting getting envelopes and boxes from the post office for priority mail, where they are “free,” apparently does not understand that if one government agency gets something from another government agency, it is not free and only adds more confusion to an already complicated system.
If this so-called freebie is available to everyone, it appears we’ve got the fox standing guard over the chicken pen. And, if it’s allowed to continue, we could be paying who knows how much to mail a letter in the future.
If I am mistaken about my assessment regarding the “free” anything from our U.S. Postal Service, will someone please set the record straight? Vernon D. “Buzz” Ruggenberg Spokane
Minimum wage increase no panacea
Those pushing for yet another increase in Washington’s minimum wage seem to specialize in promoting the unbelievable. In your story, “Minimum pay battle” (April 21), wage hike proponents claim mandated increases go, in large part, to families’ primary wage earners. This sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale.
A study of Washington’s proposed wage increase by noted economist Dr. David Macpherson of Florida State University projected it would wipe out more than 7,400 entry level jobs, washing away approximately $64 million in annual income. Washington’s entry-level employers will be devastated as labor costs increase by nearly $204 million per year.
Some might argue that every little bit helps when you’re poor. But they should realize the average family income of those who receive this mandated wage increase is more than $35,600 a year. Three out of four of those who will get the mandated raise live with their parents or other relatives, live alone or have a working spouse. Only one-seventh of these workers are the sole support of their families.
Among those who will pay for this mandated wage hike with their jobs, 39 percent have not finished high school, 40 percent have a family income below $20,000 annually and 51 percent are under 25. The true results of another minimum wage hike sound more like a horror story than a fairy tale. Tom Dilworth, senior policy analyst Employment Policies Institute, Washington, D.C.
IN THE PAPER
‘Flawed letter’ makes me wonder
I cannot understand The Spokesman-Review editorial policy for printing such an inflammatory, obscene and blatantly flawed letter such as the Shaikh Dawud Ahmad diatribe printed on April 25. The “Shaikh” laments the plight of Christians in Jerusalem, “almost all have been driven out before church-razing bulldozers and cemetery-paving machinery.”
Either your motivation is to fill an entire page with letters daily, regardless of content, or you naively print letters in a sense of “balance” to the exclusion of taste or accuracy. Marshall Goldberg Newman Lake
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Gayness is not something learned
Nelson DePartee’s letter of April 26 on homosexuality begs for an intelligent response.
I have five male cousins, all raised by the same parents in the same house, each given the same amount of love and attention by both parents. Yet two of them are gay. Explain that.
DePartee says heterosexuality is something “nurtured” during childhood. If true, how can any kind of sexuality be inherent? Attraction to the opposite sex becomes merely something taught, like a parent instilling a desire not to be a smoker. This means the adrenaline rush and the pitter-patter of my heart that I get when I’m with a woman is merely a conditioned response my father instilled in me when I was young! Ha!
His theory also suggests that all men who had bad (or no) relationships with their fathers will struggle with homosexuality. I’d like to see the data on that one.
People who insist on believing homosexuality is an “alternative lifestyle” have never asked themselves this question: Why would anyone want to be gay? If every man had a natural attraction for women, why would any man want to start having sex with other men? Moreover, scientists have discovered homosexual behavior in creatures, from apes to fruit flies. Are fruit flies capable of choosing an “alternative lifestyle?”
Talk to any group of gays. You’ll find that most gays spent years fighting their feelings to no avail. Homosexuality, like heterosexuality, is not something learned, it’s as natural as the desire to be loved. John Adams Spokane
Homophobic sentiments disgusting
Re: “Homosexuality is just a bad habit”
Today (April 26) I found two letters on the Roundtable page that made me want to regurgitate last night’s dinner. I am disgusted by the ignorance of homophobes in our society.
Homosexuals do not “suffer” from an addiction. You cannot “cure” homosexuality by slapping someone into a recovery support group. It is not a disease or a social disorder, nor should anyone treat it in such a way.
Being with someone for temporary sexual pleasure and being with someone because you love them and need them to love you back are two different things. If you are in love with someone, you cannot help that. Why should it matter if the one you love is of the same gender? Nicki M. Thompson, age 15 Spokane
TOLERANCE
Let Aryans celebrate at their place
I am amazed that the Neo-Nazi march in Coeur d’ Alene might actually happen. We know what the Nazis did during World War II and the crimes that still go on today (even though they deny the Holocaust ever happened). We also know what their purpose is for the future, according to their white supremacist views.
I know people say it is not American to take away someone’s freedom of speech, but is it American to tolerate hate?
The neo-Nazis can celebrate on their own property, if they think Hitler’s birthday is worth celebrating. They don’t need to do it in public. If they want to be treated fairly, they should learn to respect equal rights.
This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. It has to do with our basic human right to freedom from hate. That is more powerful than any government law. The people’s right to freedom from hate is far more relevant than the Nazi’s right to freedom of speech.
Let’s not forget that Hitler started out marching in public with his group of lunatics. With time it ended up in the killing of millions of people.
If the government officials in Coeur d’Alene allow the Nazis to march, I can’t help but think they might be Nazis themselves. And that scares me even more than celebrating Hitler’s birthday. Evelyn Gottlieb, age 15 Spokane
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Flagger safety no laughing matter
I wish to take Doug Clark to task for statements in his column regarding the foreclosure notice on the cemetery at Spring Valley.
Clark’s comment about dead people who perform jobs as well as “highway flaggers, etc.” causes me grave concern. I have to work in traffic and appreciate those “dead” highway flaggers especially today, with so much road rage being exhibited by so many people.
Comments such as Clark’s have added to the belittling of personal responsibility for safe driving. Highway flaggers are professionals; a license is required. These belittling comments add fuel to the existing lack of respect and concern for those who must work in high-risk areas, such as in traffic.
If I had my way, I would make the traffic completely detour around our work areas. But out of consideration for the public, we will often allow traffic through.
If Clark would use as much space telling how to improve worker safety, instead of being “humorous” about those who are attempting to make traffic inconveniences as limited as possible and who are working to help make safety as much a priority as possible, maybe we wouldn’t have to worry so much about our “winding up dead.”
Also, people need to be reminded that traffic fines double in work zones. A work zone is any area where there are workers in the street with cones for warning.
Please realize that we all have families that really do want us to come home alive. Walter Clouse, surveyor Spokane
LAW AND JUSTICE
Don’t twist meaning of laws
Letter writer Walter Becker, like most left-wing ilk, twists the truth to suit his agenda. To use his analogy, since it’s against the law to yell fire and cause a stampede in a movie theatre, we do not have freedom of speech.
Becker should read The Federalist Papers. It was never the intent when the Constitution was drawn up to have a standing army. Citizens, i.e. any able-bodied men, made up the militia. The Minute Men were your average Joe Citizens. John F. Weyant Priest River, Idaho
Why would meaning of ‘right’ shift?
Re: Walter Becker’s letter of April 22.
First, let’s dispense with the insults. I do not assume that Becker is easily confused by legal issues and is in need of simple examples. I ask that he please not make that assumption about Second Amendment defenders.
I’ve been following the Second Amendment debate for the past few years. The only time I have seen a partial quote of the Second Amendment is usually by control advocates. Becker is a prime example. Whenever I quote the Second Amendment, I always quote the whole amendment.
The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Perhaps Becker can explain why he believes the “right of the people” means government in the Second Amendment and the “right of the people” means people in other amendments?
Possibly he is not aware that the Washington state Constitution and the constitutions of several states emulate the U.S. Constitution. Care to guess what amendment was copied in most state constitutions? The Second Amendment.
The courts are not infallible. For example, the Supreme Court once ruled that slavery was constitutional. The courts have also held that sawed-off shotguns and pistols are not military weapons. Do you believe that sawed-off shotguns and pistols are not seen in battle, Becker? My primary duty weapons in the Air Force were a shotgun and a pistol. Paul G. Murray Jr. Newport, Wash.
IDAHO VIEWPOINTS
Times writer got Idaho’s number
D.F. Oliveria is upset because Timothy Egan called Idaho the “Rocky Mountain version of Mississippi.” I was born in Idaho 59 years ago. With the exception of two governors who were Democrats, Republicans have been in charge of Idaho as long as I’ve been alive. They cannot avoid blame for the things that have gone terribly wrong.
A partial list: dreadful Highway 95, from Lewiston to Canada; weak environmental laws and low wages, which are offered as incentives to companies interested in moving to Idaho and help explain our “exploding job market;” the Snake River, polluted by waste from enormous dairies and humongous trout farms around Twin Falls, where the river literally stinks; the toxic fumes from unfiltered smokestacks in the Silver Valley, poisoning children while the state looked on; those same children, now grown, chronically sick or mentally retarded in disproportionate numbers; and teachers who spend their own money on books and equipment, and teach in buildings that are falling apart.
Want some more? Grass burning, which allows a few dozen farmers to pollute the air; lack of resources spent on the young, the old and the infirm, which pushes families to the limit, and leaves people who have worked their whole lives in misery; hate groups, attracted to an area that has made contempt for government into an eleventh commandment; and advertisements urging visitors to enjoy the unspoiled beautify of Idaho, while the Legislature does everything it can to destroy that unspoiled beauty.
Egan might have spent only a short time in Idaho but he got it right. Bill Turner St. Maries
Lake more precious than money
The people who don’t want the EPA to clean up Lake Coeur d’Alene are the people thinking about the almighty dollar or the tourist. Anyone who did not swim in the lake 65 years ago, as I did, doesn’t know if it’s polluted or not.
I hope the EPA starts at the Washington-Idaho line and goes up the Spokane River to Lake Coeur d’Alene. When are the people at City Hall going to get tough with the people at Sanders Beach? Give them one week to clean up the mess on the beach, and if they don’t, sue them!
As far as city employees getting the shaft, it’s too bad some of our elected people at City Hall think more of the concerned businessmen of North Idaho than of our city employees. No one has a right to give away, sell or trade Tubbs Hill, Sanders Beach or our baseball fields downtown. Oscar S. Peterson Coeur d’Alene
USFS culprit in road problems
I must respond to a recent Handle article concerning the closure of the Boundary Creek Road. I’ve lived in the Porthill, Idaho, area most of the time since 1936, so I have some knowledge with which to form an opinion.
First, the Forest Service has nothing to do with the “service” in its name. In my memory, there were no problems with the Boundary Creek Road, as far as large landslides and plugged culverts, etc., until the agency took over the road and began a series of so-called improvements.
I also think the large money figures quoted at various times had to be paper figures only. The Forest Service didn’t even pull the ditch lines or clean out any culverts. That’s why the washouts and landslides occurred. Some of the many foolhardy, so-called improvements were certainly no help, either.
Although they allow some public discourse and input, there was never any intention on their part to do anything other than close the Boundary Creek Road and ignore their own responsibilities and culpability in the matter. This is typical of any bureaucrats at about any level when a commitment to the public is involved. Kenneth W. Kelson Bonners Ferry
Chenoweth and NRA - no surprise
Re: “Media bias shows in reports about Chenoweth, she says,” (April 16). Sounds like she’s in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. Why am I not surprised? Richard W. Waitt Spokane