Letters To The Editor

ABORTION ISSUE

Abortion is not embraced by most

I’m responding to the rantings of Ellen Goodman and her pack of lies regarding abortion.

The majority of Americans do not think that abortion is acceptable or a right. A right, as set forth in the Constitution, is endowed by our creator. And among these rights, first and foremost, is the right to life. If the “pro-choice majority of Americans” honestly were pro-choice, abortion wouldn’t be unavailable in 84 percent of all counties!

The truth is, abortion is only necessary as a means of saving a woman’s life in a minuscule number of pregnancies. And no woman worthy of becoming a mother would choose to save her own life at the cost of murdering her child.

As for the butchering abortionists who dare call themselves doctors, they had better reflect on this section of the Hippocratic oath: “I will prescribe regimen for the good of my patients, according to my judgment and ability, and never do harm to anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug, nor give advice which may cause his death. Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my art …” Patricia Wolford Wallace

Call it what it really is

The pro-choice crowd does not want to be called pro-abortion. Why not? If abortion is a good thing, or at least not a bad thing, why not boldly choose the “pro-abortion” label?

Instead, pro-choicers like to espouse the idea of “safe, legal and rare” abortions. But why argue for rare abortions?

What is it about destroying a fetus that is wrong? If it is not a person, if it has no moral standing, if abortion is merely about removing tissue surgically, why care, really, how often it occurs? No one says that tonsillectomies or appendectomies should be rare. Patrick Rogers Hayden, Idaho

SPOKANE MATTERS

We don’t need another sister city

So the mayor is going to a broken down city in Romania. Gee, it will be just like old home. Streets in disrepair, public transportation all messed up. I would have thought he would go some place that is different from everyday life.

Is he going to suggest they put in more parking meters? Get Nordstrom to revitalize the core area? Raise the parking fees? Hire a consultant for $300,000 and pay her before they get the OK from the head honcho?

With all the problems we have right here in the river city, we need another sister city like a long-tailed cat needs a room full of rocking chairs! Charles E. McCollim Spokane

SALMON RECOVERY

Breaching dams not an overall plan

To consider fish as the only asset associated with the Columbia River is wrong. The dams also provide flood control, power and transportation as well as recreation.

Salmon recovery is paid for by Bonneville Power Administration, who gets the money only from its electricity customers. A majority of electricity users do not pay anything for salmon recovery. BPA provides only 40 percent of the power used. The same water BPA uses generates power for other companies and PUDs. But they don’t pay BPA for salmon recovery. Customers of WWP or Idaho Power pay nothing. Customers in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and the areas served by private utilities or PUDs who buy small amounts of BPA power pay only a tiny part of their power bill for BPA salmon costs. It is the rural areas of the four states who pay, not the big urban areas. Guess who is all for breaching? They don’t have to pay for it. Is that fair?

The pit tag research has shown the barged Chinook have a 1.5 times as high return as in river Chinook. Barged steelhead have a two times better return.

Why have undammed rivers experienced the same loss of salmon as the dammed rivers? There is something more than four Snake River dams to blame.

Lastly, how can an endangered species like Chinook salmon be subjected to legal killing? Breaching four dams is a poor excuse for a comprehensive plan. Hobart G. Jenkins Athol, Idaho

Dam removal will save salmon

The Golden Pen letter from Mr. Lathim (11/02/98) regarding removal of the four lower Snake River dams was pure misinformation.

Our nation’s leading fisheries biologists agree that retiring the lower Snake dams is necessary to restore wild salmon and steelhead to 1960 levels. Dams account for 95 percent of salmon losses on the Columbia-Snake system. Thousands of smolts die on their way to the sea, unable to maneuver the series of slackwater pools that create lethal water temperatures, greater exposure to predators and a much more exhausting journey. Mr. Lathim’s fish-friendly turbines won’t cool the water or make the journey faster.

Neither will Eastern Washington be turned back into “sagebrush” as Mr. Lathim claims. Only 13 farms depend on irrigation from these dams and they were irrigated before the dams were built. All these farmers need to do is modify their intake pipes.

Retiring these four dams will significantly improve salmon and steelhead populations in hundreds of miles of habitat, including the Tucannon, Grande Ronde, Clearwater and Salmon rivers. These fisheries help support recreational and commercial fishing industries that include thousands of jobs and bring hundreds of millions of dollars into our economy. Both the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association and the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association have endorsed removal of the lower Snake dams.

Salmon and steelhead survival depend on the removal of four dams that provide no flood control, no irrigation and little power. Let’s act before it’s too late. Samantha Mace Washington and Idaho Wildlife Federations, Coeur d’Alene

IN THE PAPER

Girl’s actions don’t deserve praise

Re: “This girl brings home the buck, and the bucks” (Doug Clark column, Nov. 8).

Am I impressed with Charlene Monson? Hardly! How dare you glorify such actions!

Monson’s story and her account of her first hunt give new meaning to the term “tomboy.” She and whoever encouraged her to hunt are a disgrace.

Please write about teens who give back to their community through their own sweat and time, not those who shed the blood of our nature.

I don’t care about her ancestry. Ancestry doesn’t justify hunting, especially not in this day and age.

As a footnote, I’m not one of those people who are afraid of guns or thinks they need to be banned. I have shot trap and skeet. The pure skill of it is hitting a 6-inch inanimate object, not a living, breathing, defenseless animal. If she really “questions” things, let her question that.

I plan to cancel my subscription to The Spokesman-Review and to encourage all my friends who subscribe to cancel as well. Ruth A. Sunde Spokane

Paper missed the real story

An Oct. 23 headline in The Spokesman-Review proclaimed, “Court backs judges in employees dispute.” The accompanying article made the same assertion. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled against the judges, not in their favor.

The Spokesman-Review has not printed a retraction or correction of its erroneous report, although it has had ample opportunity. The case referred to arose in 1996, when some of the Spokane County District Court judges, miffed over an arbitration decision on a personnel matter, decided they did not want to deal with the union any more. They filed a lawsuit claiming that they were exempt from public employment laws due to the “separation of powers.” The Supreme Court rejected their claim by a vote of 8-1. The District Court still has to deal with the union.

It’s mind boggling to see the press report the opposite of fact. The public was entitled to accurate information, not “spin.” It was also entitled to know that the judges persuaded the county commissioners to finance this litigation and then spent $113,044 of public funds in this quixotic exercise.

A story was there, but you missed it. William J. Powell Powell & Morris, P.S., Spokane

SPOKANE MENTAL HEALTH

Spokane Mental Health a ‘Godsend’

The staff and administrators at Spokane Mental Health deserve an abundance of praise and recognition for all they do for mentally ill people and the community. They help hundreds of sick people every day with medication, counseling, community support projects, crisis intervention and day treatment programs.

I, myself, have not been hospitalized since the 1970s, due to the care SMH is giving me. If it were not for SMH, I would either be dead or in a mental hospital.

I don’t know much about the politics or funding of Spokane Mental Health, but I do know that it’s a Godsend for people like me. Because of their help, I’m able to do volunteer work five days a week, enjoy my grandchildren and lead a somewhat peaceful, normal life.

If I could (but it probably wouldn’t be prudent) I would shout out from the rooftops, Thank you, Spokane Mental Health, thank you! Michael B. Gary Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Comstock Foundation appreciated

I would like to bring recognition to an organization which very quietly, year in and year out, through its tireless and unselfish efforts, brings about enriching improvement throughout the Spokane area.

That organization is the Comstock Foundation. For decades they have been benefiting countless individuals through a variety of organizations. They truly have elevated this community in ways that are too often unnoticed. While asking for nothing in return, this wonderful group has benefited thousands.

Recently, the Western Washington/North Idaho Carpenters, Millwrights and Piledrivers Apprenticeship Program was a recipient of the kindness and generosity of the Comstock Foundation. I cannot adequately express our gratitude to them, but let me assure you the Comstock Foundation’s help is greatly appreciated, as are all their deeds of benevolence. Spokane is truly fortunate to be the home of this foundation. William H. Kenny, training director Carpenters, Millwrights and Piledrivers Apprenticeship and Training Program, Spokane

Asarco mine would damage area

Are you Idaho folks going to let this happen? Construction of the Rock Creek Mine in northwestern Montana most certainly will affect you. Asarco wants to build a mine in the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area, and use Rock Creek Basin water to run it. This polluted, tainted water runs down the mountain and drains into the Clark Fork River and heads west into your beautiful lake. You residents and visitors who enjoy fishing be careful. If Asarco has its way, you’ll have to cook the fish slow, or they’ll blow up. They’ll start glowing. You could use them for a night light.

Montana has been sympathetic toward the mine because of jobs for residents. This could be a good thing, but not if it permanently damages countryside and things that make it special. Over 90 percent of the jobs will be filled by people from other areas. Asarco will damage a beautiful, pristine place and add to the damage of an already polluted waterway. Add to this unwanted traffic on our highways 24 hours a day. Most workers, being from other areas, will not spend their money here, and will not benefit this area. Our mountain accesses will become much more restricted. Not only will we be pushed out of the Rock Creek area, but also surrounding areas will be wildlife protection zones, and more roads will be closed.

Anyone who questions this decision should visit this area and imagine what Asarco wants to do there. Asarco has a terrible record, over 200 documented cases of big-time screw-ups. This land is much more valuable to all of us left the way it is. Lon J. Labelle Noxon, Mont.