Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

More female deputies? We’re trying

In response to the recent article by staff writer Adam Lynn and the editorial by interactive editor Rebecca Nappi:

No one in Spokane County Civil Service denies the fact the sheriff’s department needs more minority and female officers.

The department currently employs seven female deputy sheriffs. Two are sergeants and one is currently No. 1 on the promotion list for lieutenant. Four are currently on patrol; one is still in the academy.

We posted the test for deputy sheriff in September and notified 60 public agencies regarding recruitment of women and minorities. Of the 74 women who registered, 32 appeared for the written test. We qualified 20 women and six minorities. Five women and three minorities were in the top 40 on the eligible list and were called in for the physical agility test. Two women and two minorities qualified. One woman failed to qualify. Two women and one minority “waived” until the next agility testing in the spring.

All appointments in the department must be open by competitive examination except for six unclassified positions allowed by state law. Only the Legislature can make changes in this law.

The commission is open to any ideas from the public or the sheriff that will encourage females and minorities to be more responsive to our outreach endeavor. We will continue to recruit. But it’s up to the sheriff to appoint. Joy S. Fitzsimmons chief examiner, Spokane County Civil Service

Thanks to a kindly couple

I’m a Ferris High School sophomore who just found out that nice people do still exist. With everything going on in the news today, it’s easy for a teenager to believe that values and simple kindness are lost in our country.

But on a recent Saturday night, before our homecoming dance, my friends and I went to Shenanigans for dinner. We had the lovely surprise of sitting near an older couple who told our waitress that we were the most well-behaved teenagers they had seen in some time. They bought dessert for both couples, and we never even knew who they were or had a chance to thank them.

Whoever you are out there who did this for us, we want you to know how much we appreciated your kindness. There were many other young couples in the restaurant that night going to homecoming and you made us feel very special. We look forward to returning the favor some day. Heather Wells, age 16 Spokane

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Don’t uproot Evergreen Club

I am writing in support of the Evergreen Club, a program of Spokane Mental Health. Its goal is to provide vocational and educational services to adults with mental illness.

I recently attended a garden program at Evergreen Club, where the staff and members - in one year - have put in a large lawn, planted trees and shrubs, a flower garden and a large vegetable garden. They have put up also and maintained a greenhouse. The dedication, caring and hard work of staff and members is evident.

The approximately 280 members spend a variety of time at the club. Many have obtained employment and keep jobs with Spokane businesses. Training continues so that others may soon do the same.

This club and its various projects has won national acclaim. Some time ago, one staff person and one member were appointed to an international advisory committee that meets twice a year in New York. Recently, another staff member and a member were appointed to an international faculty for club development.

This is one example of Spokane’s mental health programs. I hope nothing will change this system that benefits so many of the mentally ill. Gwen J. Larson Spokane

Hear from those being helped, too

A hearing concerning mental health services is scheduled for Nov. 10 and will be for social agencies only. Clients needed to respond by letter, with a deadline of Nov. 4.

I am working with consumers in the Evergreen Club. I feel the members are responsible citizens and have much to say about what they feel they need. Where else can you hear how the program is functioning than from those seeking services themselves? It would be like missing a piece of a puzzle if consumers are excluded from a chance to speak. I urge the county commissioners to consider having an open hearing for the public before proceeding with their bids for mental health services for the citizens of Spokane County. Marian R. Zoesch, OTR/L occupational therapist, Spokane Mental Health Evergreen Club

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

No way to treat an early indiscretion

Steve Benson of the Arizona Republic really nauseated me with his stupid cartoon depicting Dr. Laura Schlessinger hiding behind the Ten Commandments.

Usually, I’m quite fair to cartoonists. I admire the work of Milt Priggee, although I may disagree with him. The purpose of a cartoonist is to anger the reader. He has failed if he doesn’t succeed. However, it is not his purpose to nauseate the reader. Benson accomplished this by attacking Dr. Schlessinger after it was revealed she may have done something stupid in her early days. Like posing nude. But we all have skeletons in our respective closets. Why does a cartoonist attack her for an early indiscretion?

Let’s make it clear that neither Christians nor Jews hide behind the Ten Commandments. Rather, they expose our nakedness before God. We’ve broken all 10 of them. We need God’s mercy, not a cartoonist who ridicules someone for an indiscretion. I hope The Spokesman-Review will do a better job of screening the cartoons. Larry E. Clark Spokane

Preference for cad made clear

Milt Priggee’s election day cartoon features a soulful, sheepish and repentant Clinton, guilty of just lying about his “private” sex life, beside a smirking Ken Starr, who boasts of having “wasted” $40 million of our money.

Priggee clearly wished us to elect more Democrats to Congress and sustain Clinton’s efforts to escape impeachment. Priggee fails to consider the implications of what “private” sex really means, noting that the assignation between our chief magistrate and a 20-year-old intern took place on the people’s property, and that a similar misdeed perpetrated by a military officer with a subordinate on active duty or a civil service supervisor with a federal employee would have resulted in dismissal of the senior official.

Apparently, according to Priggee, supreme power confers commensurate power to escape accountability. An overwhelming Republican victory, so that an emboldened Congress could ensure that a worthless man is forced from office in deserved disgrace, would have been a fitting outcome of Tuesday’s election. I take comfort in H.L. Mencken’s observation that democracy is based on the notion voters think they know what they want - and deserve to get it good and hard. Tom Wootton Pullman

Follow Rev. Graham’s lead

All of you who have never sinned, lied, cheated, stolen, committed adultery, slapped your wife around, molested a child or committed any of hundreds of little sins, form a line. It will be a short one, so don’t crowd. Pick up your rock and hurl it as hard and as fast as you can, then walk away and forgive and forget, never to remember again.

Rev. Billy Graham has announced to the world that he has forgiven Bill Clinton and is still his friend. He also says he’s certain God has also forgiven him. So, why can’t we all do the same? Winnie Richards Spokane

A box of El Ropos for the chief

In view of the election results, I think it is only appropriate that House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Dick Armey publicly admit that the public has spoken its mind concerning the unofficial referendum on Bill Clinton as president.

If they are going to be truly gracious about it, the only proper thing for them to do now is contritely offer their apologies to the president and his party - and offer him a box of congratulatory cigars. Bill Eimers, Jr. Saint Maries, Idaho

Not reviling Clinton - how pathetic

The Nov. 2 Spokesman-Review contained three letters to the editor from folks who, in my opinion, support the old saying that you can fool some of the people some of the time …

B. Jean Rice condones Clinton’s behavior by implying that everyone does it and that there are more important things to worry about.

Richard Menke wants to impeach and throw the bums (GOP) out of office. I guess so he and the rest of the uninformed can replace them with more sexual deviants and perverts, more tree-hugging nincompoops, more taxand-spenders, more pro-abortionists, more moms in tennis shoes, etc.

Deborah Lawrence Hale wants us all to support the president. In what? Should I support his abominable foreign policy, his big government takeover policy, his tax-and-spend policy, his intern utilization policy or maybe his cigars for other than smoking policy?

I don’t know who’s more pathetic - Clinton or those who support his policies and condone his sociopathic behavior. Bill R. Klein Nine Mile Falls

End of term, sock it to him

When in our history have we elected a president who was a pot smoker (never inhaled), a draft dodger and a social activist (anti-war protests in Britain), is two-faced (said Nixon should be impeached if he lied), promiscuous and ambiguous (“That’s not sex, as I understand the question”), and thinks he is above the law?

Is this what we want and should expect from our president? Is it because times are good and our standards are so low?

Should this president be impeached? Nope. Should this president be charged with perjury when his term in office is over? You bet. Ed J. McAlpin Spokane

Let public vote on impeachment

I am an 18-year-old college student. I have been taught that the U.S. government is supposed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people.” So why not put the impeachment issue on a ballot and let the people of the United States decide? Yvonne L. Ahlborn Spokane

Leaf gesture precious to behold

Do you remember the innocence of one boy throwing a ball to another? It’s an easy grace that often gets lost along the way.

Too many times we hear only about the darker side of professional sports - the drug use, the inflated salaries. It isn’t often a sport elevates and shows us a higher level of humanity.

Ryan Leaf’s donation last week (in memory of Mark Rypien’s son, Andrew) transcended those shadows, a gesture that reminds us what sports can be all about. In honoring the memory of one little boy, he gave all of us a glimpse of what we each could be and dusted off some of that forgotten innocence. Elizabeth Templeton Coeur d’Alene

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Story accurately relates hatefulness

I thank staff writer Susan Drumheller for the article she did on the Bonner County outrage (“Bonner County outraged over election mailer,” Oct. 29. It was factual, unbiased and certainly summed up the feeling of the majority of Bonner County residents

It’s really hard to believe that there are people in our small community who can be so vicious. We are all victims, when this kind of trash comes to us in our own mailboxes. It’s something we didn’t ask for and would never even think of, until we are faced with it and have it in our hands. I believe I speak for most people when I say how sorry I am that this kind of thing has taken place in Bonner County.

The hate mailing from the Hayden compound earlier in the month certainly had nothing on this trash for pure venom and this was aimed specifically at three people. It is frightening!

Thanks again Drumheller, for a good article. Shirley Hethorn Oldtown

Take a lesson from deep in the heart

I never thought I’d be siding with the Hagadone Dynasty on anything, but on the Alan Golub Condo project, it is 101 percent correct.

One of Lady Bird Johnson’s pet beautification projects was the Austin, Texas, Town Lake Park and Greenbelt (and later, hike and bike trail) south of downtown, with its scenic views of the capitol building and equally scenic views of the hills west of town. While living in Austin for 25 years, I watched in horror as the north side of the lake got closed in by high rise after higher rise during the late-1980s building boom. Thanks to the overdevelopers, there is now no capitol view. Hikers and joggers on this stretch of Town Lake hike and bike trail can now be treated to the “view” of people having cocktails on balconies or talking on their cell phones.

Don’t make the same mistake Austin did. Developers like Golub finished off the incredible aesthetic qualities of Austin, Texas, and it is one of the reasons I sadly packed up and left. Robert G. Cardwell Post Falls

‘You get government you deserve’

Re: “Men sentenced for hiding barrels of toxic waste,” (Oct. 21). Who is the judge working for? The county commissioners in their wisdom thought the owner of Hern’s Ironworks was a victim when they wiped out his fine. You get the government you deserve. Pollution will grow in Idaho, but unlike the meth dealer’s (must not know the rules) it’s prudent to donate to the politicians; it helps later. Wes Albert Rathdrum

Tribe should first master air quality

Re: “CdA Tribe will listen to ideas about lake,” (Oct. 28). I hope the Coeur d’Alene Tribe manages the lake better than it manages the grass field burning. The smoke was terrible around Worley this year. At one point, you couldn’t see to drive on the road. Smoke was so bad that you could not see across the lake on several days. We all want responsibility in managing our lake. A good place to start is in the quality of air around and over the lake. Gary Clarke Worley

Habitat appreciates the support

Ruth Olson of Coeur d’Alene purchased the winning ticket on the Habitat for Humanity log cabin. Funds gathered by the summer-long raffle go toward building Habitat homes in both Kootenai County and the Bonners Ferry area.

Almost $6,000 was raised during the sales effort. Area supermarkets helped by selling tickets and allowing Habitat to set up the cabin in their parking lots for several weeks at a time. Super 1 of Hayden, Albertsons at Ironwood, Tidyman’s of Post Falls and Stein’s IGA in Rathdrum supported the project.

Thank you to the stores and mnay thanks to all who bought tickets. Also, thanks to the volunteers who staffed the cabin. Harry D. Perry Coeur d’Alene