Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Emergency training not a boondoggle

The emergency management training in June is not a travel perk (Spokesman-Review, May 6). It’s not just training. It is a test of our local emergency response plan.

A test now seems wiser than waiting for a large-scale emergency. Any realistic test must involve all the agencies and industries that would be involved in an actual emergency.

People attending the training are less than 10 percent of the employees of agencies and industries represented. Having the training in Virginia is understandable. Training lasts four days, with evening meetings and five- to 10-hour-long scenarios. Do this locally and interruptions from offices and participants’ families would render the training useless.

Proper response to a large-scale emergency lasting days or weeks involves large-scale expenses and purchases, heavy equipment for rescues if a building collapses, civil liability and possibly a criminal investigation, large numbers of people and equipment that need room to assemble, and emergency shelters for evacuated people and pets.

This is why financial officers, city-county engineers, attorneys, parks department employees and animal control officers attend such training.

Lastly, the costs are not unchecked. Those attending pay travel costs up front and apply for reimbursement, which will not be received until after the training. Most who attend take their personal budget into consideration, as well as the taxpayers’ money.

The cost of the training is small, considering the lives, property and potentially millions of dollars that will be saved in the future. Chandler C. Bailey Colbert

Training necessary and a bargain

I urge public officials who planned to attend the FEMA disaster training to still do so, despite Commissioner Kate McCaslin’s negative comments in “Feds treat Spokane officials to terrorism disaster training,” on May 6.

Since this training could ultimately benefit citizens from every walk of life in the event of a disaster, I can’t think of a better way to spend my tax dollars. I certainly understand the justifications in sending representatives from several different professions and disciplines. All services will need to be utilized in the event of a disaster. Sending one person to the class and expecting that person to become informed in all aspects of a disaster is counterproductive.

Considering the huge financial losses and emotional stress suffered in a disaster, the $100,000 to receive this valuable training is truly a bargain. Pam D. Wolfrum Spokane

McCaslin knows only about dollars

County Commissioner Kate McCaslin, widely known as the courthouse sourpuss, knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

One value she has missed is that which people place on their pets, especially in time of crisis or natural disaster. In normal times, animal control officers are stressed to meet demands for service. How much greater the need, how many more pets need rescuing, in a disaster? Contrary to McCaslin’s assertions, “that sort” of person will make better use of the FEMA training than any other “sort.”

McCaslin’s condescending, ignorant remarks make us hope that next time, voters will elect a commissioner who actually likes and cares about people. Robert M. Franzen Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

Bad reflection on all NW students

I am currently going to school at North Idaho College, and was considering continuing my education at Washington State University to become an athletic trainer. I have been given a view of campus life at WSU that truly shocked me, and from what I can tell, WSU is not or me.

I could be wrong, but I thought universities and colleges were places where one can further one’s education, not “party” to the point that 23 police officers get sent to the hospital.

Another outcome of the riot is the embarrassment it caused. Not only did it embarrass the students and alumni of WSU, it also embarrassed students in the rest of this area. I am thoroughly embarrassed to be a student in this area. What do those students who were in the riot think the rest of the country thinks of us? After all, it’s not like the students were protesting human rights issues; their cry was “no more dry,” to protest the restriction of parties on campus. Boo hoo!

They think that the students in colleges in Western Washington and North Idaho would prefer to get drunk than get a good education.

The riot at WSU had only one positive outcome: the police officers handled the situation in a professional manner, which prevented any deaths. Hat’s off to them. Michael Peterson Coeur d’Alene

These are our children

We are having a beautiful spring, the like of which we have not seen for a long time. We are looking forward to a busy but peaceful, happy summer and then, literally, hell breaks loose on campus. It utterly destroys our complacency, our comfortable feeling that “all’s right with the world.”

These are our children. These are the product of our society. If we take credit for the “good kids,” we must also take responsibility for the crazy, foolish ones. The few utterly irresponsible have tarred the many who do hold themselves and the world in respect and have been dedicating their lives to becoming educated and giving back to the world some of what they have been given.

We can’t just pass it off by saying, “Well, yes, there are always a few bad apples in the barrel.” We must all of us, even though a lot of us are no longer in the child-rearing business, concentrate on what we can do to make new beginnings. We must help change the atmosphere which nourished this canker. R.R. Vanderwall and members of the Episcopal Church Women, Pullman

‘No excuse for this’

Let’s hear from all of the proud Cougar parents of students from Pullman. I feel embarrassed and ashamed and I don’t even have any affiliation with Pullman! There is no excuse for this. Tami Sorensen Spokane

Law may have to be adjusted

What kind of message would college students listen to, regarding the unacceptability of rioting? Should we have the administrators at WSU withhold part of all of the academic credits that rioters have earned at WSU? Should the WSU transcript be erased in its entirety?

The public has a say in this because we pick up a major part of the cost of education at our public schools. We expect that students will demonstrate basic civilized behavior as part of the contract between the public and the students.

If WSU administrators tell us they don’t have legal authority to withhold academic credit that’s been earned, then we can tell our legislators to codify our expectations of basic civility and to make it explicit that administrators have the right to erase the transcripts of students who riot. Wiley Hollingsworth Pullman

Bad mistake, but stop piling on

Every day I open up to the Opinion page and read through the many thought-provoking and insightful letters to the editor. I would like to commend our many fine writers out there, taking on such tough subjects as the WSU riots. The kids made some big mistakes and deserve to be punished, this I agree with. What angers me is when everybody jumps in and starts demanding expulsions and decapitations.

There’s a tough letter to write - demanding punishment for a bunch of drunk rioters. This incident has allowed all of the more timid folk to rush out while it’s safe and show off their prowess at jumping on the bandwagon. Heck, they aren’t my kids, and it isn’t my town, so maybe I’ll write a generic letter and then run away, laughing at how clever I am.

Enough with the letters on WSU. It’s already been said.

One more thing. Let’s try not to forget these kids are human and like us all they made a mistake, albeit a rather large one. Don’t dehumanize them. One letter writer referred to them as “the most despicable people I have ever heard of.” I very much doubt this. What if it was your child? Please think before writing. Adam P. Sweet Spokane

Rioters’ attitude appalling, scary

Boy, am I glad my father, who was a Cougar through and through, wasn’t alive to see what happened in Pullman. It would have repulsed him and broken his heart, just as it did mine.

What a slap in the face to all the Inland Northwest people who rallied behind WSU with all of their Go Cougs! signs and thousands of dollars worth of WAZZU paraphernalia, bought in anticipation of the Rose Bowl.

I appreciate the apology given by the present and future ASWSU presidents, Neil Walker and Ed Prince. It’s sad, though, that they have to apologize for the actions of those who aren’t sorry and cared so little about the damage done to lives and property. Thank God no one was killed!

I’m scared to think about people graduating from our colleges with such attitudes. I doubt many businesses will be anxious to hire those who have the idea that they are not subject to authority and that they can do what they want, whenever they want. I pray that these young adults will see the harm they’ve done and turn their lives around to be a more positive force in our community. Susan E. Allen Spokane

Clark’s bashing goes too far

Being not only a student at WSU but also a resident of Spokane, I am appalled by Doug Clark’s column, “Bloom off the Rose at Brew U.”

Yes, what happened was a total embarrassment and I hope they do find the people involved and expel them. But to say WSU should mean “wasted, stupid and unruly” is unfair and downright hateful.

I am 21 and not a drinker. I am here for an education. To diminish what I am aiming for just because of one incident is very offensive. I am not the only one who didn’t come here to get a “cirrhosis degree.” The people I come in contact with on this campus are good, responsible people and here to make themselves better. Lilly Haeger Spokane

It was just a few, Clark

Re: Doug Clark’s May 7 column, “Bloom off the Rose at Brew U.” Such items make all WSU students appear wasted, stupid and unruly. Clark states that our student body is responsible for injuring 23 officers, when in fact a small minority of WSU students were involved. WSU has more than 17,000 students enrolled, and roughly 200 were at the center of the riot.

Many students, including myself, are embarrassed and ashamed of the actions of our fellow Cougars. Please be aware that many WSU students were not involved and are not proud to be in the headlines.

WSU is a good school with many outstanding students who are being branded for the ridiculous actions of a few. As a graduating senior, I want the class of 1998 to be remembered as the class that won the Apple Cup and went to the Rose Bowl. Go Cougs! Christina M. Felts Spokane