Letters To The Editor

Thu., Nov. 12, 1998

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Will they be understanding then?

In recent weeks, I have heard how replacement workers have looked upon the Kaiser strike as an opportunity to better themselves and their families and how they hope that the striking Steelworkers and their families understand.

When the day comes that these replacement workers are asked to work for lesser wages and/or benefits or face being replaced, I hope they are as understanding as they as asking the Steelworkers and their families to be now. And that day will come. Craig Gruenig Spokane

Picketers there for future

Kathy Landry (Letters, Nov. 9) refers to the members of United Steelworkers of America as sheep and encourages them to return to work with her behind the picket lines (“Don’t let union hold you back”).

Ms. Landry, those “sheep” you speak of are courageous men and women who strive for economic justice for their families through the collective bargaining process.

The picketers you disparage are “the union” and have elected through the democratic process to take a stand against an unacceptable agreement.

As you read this, remember that our neighbors, friends and family members have spent another cold night on the picket line standing together for the future of their families. Deven F. Johnson Spokane

Strikers on right side of pickets

I read the letters to the editor every day. I have read all the comments I want to read from the people who say “if the Kaiser union workers are so unhappy with things there, then they should find other work elsewhere.”

You people have no idea what you are talking about and shouldn’t be sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.

I was raised by a Kaiser salaried worker and am married to a Kaiser laborer. I’ve seen both sides, and let me tell you these strikers are on the right side of the picket line.

Henry J. Kaiser is turning over in his grave about what this company is doing to its workers. He was a fair man and knew the value of his management and labor. He worked to have his plants run as units. This is no longer possible and it has nothing to do with any of the employees.

These people have given and given and given - time, money, security, retirement, etc. All they are asking is a little in return: a decent living, job security and a retirement to look forward to, not dread. These people haven’t been unhappy until this company chose to send them a contract that puts them back decades.

Wake up, people! If this company gets away with this, then what have any of us got to look forward to? Lu Broadsword Rathdrum, Idaho

IN THE PAPER

Story sensationalist journalism

Re: Bill Morlin’s Nov. 5 article, “City letter carrier charged with murder of Utah man.”

I would like to know why Morlin and his editor feel the necessity to focus the bulk of the article on the fact that Scott Merrill worked for the U.S. Postal Service. Indeed, the details of Merrill’s route boundaries and his length of service with the USPS make for fascinating reading. But what if he had been an average guy who worked for, say, a local mechanic’s garage? Would so much emphasis have been placed on what type of vehicles he had routinely serviced or how long he has worked for that company?

It’s the fault of the media that make a hard-working bunch of people like the vast majority of the Postal Service employees targets of jokes and sensationalism. We are all just a little sick of it.

I, too, am a letter carrier in the city of Spokane. I am also a father, husband and law-abiding taxpayer. Does that make me a more likely candidate to “go postal” any time soon? I think not.

Your brand of sensationalist journalism makes you no better than the National Enquirer, if selling papers using these types of headlines and articles is all you can come up with. Brian L. Stolz Spokane

Forgive him, he’s confused

Those criticizing Milt Priggee for his political cartoons vilifying conservatives, conservative moral values or independent counsel Ken Starr are wasting valuable print space.

Priggee’s propensity toward liberal political posturing displays a kind of pitiful pomposity. Though rather pernicious, it calls for our sympathetic understanding as it is his lifelong struggle with MVDD (moral value deficit disorder) in tandem with him CHCD (compulsive hostile cartoon disorder) that hopelessly drives him.

Instead, these maladies call upon our sympathetic nature to simply forgive him, for he knows not what he does.

Those familiar with “the Peter Principle” know that Priggee has risen to the highest level of his incompetence, and unless he stumbles into another line of work, he is hopelessly stuck with this compulsion to express his hidden hostilities through these boorish cartoons.

This particular type of compulsive behavior most likely precludes The Spokesman-Review from dismissing him, as this specific behavior problem may well come under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

I submit that the futility of it all should lead your readership to join my outreach endeavor, the PFP (pray for Priggee) outreach. Any donations to this outreach will go to the VOPCRAP (victims of Priggee’s cartoons recovery anonymous program) and the PCVRO (Priggee cartoon victims’ rights organization). Ken Van Buskirk Spokane

SEX EDUCATION

Planned Parenthood ad improper

An ad appeared in the Lewis and Clark High School newspaper that was very offensive to many high school students who saw it. This ad was placed by Planned Parenthood and promoted condoms and emergency contraceptive pills. This ad is appropriate in certain places, but not in a high school newspaper. It is not the school’s responsibility to educate students on these issues, it is the parents’. An appropriate place for these ads is in adult materials so that parents may decide what is appropriate for their own children.

Many teachers and social workers are striving to lower the rate of teen sex, they say, but how can they when they allow ads such as this one to appear? If teenagers are aware of an easy way out of being responsible, they will definitely use it. High school should be teaching teens abstinence rather than sending them the message: Sex is OK as long as you are responsible and don’t get pregnant.

Using contraceptives is not responsible, it is irresponsible. The better way of teaching responsibility to us students is abstinence, not contraception and birth control. An ad on abstinence would be more appropriate for the teens who attend Lewis and Clark High School. Mary Baird Spokane

Ad in LC paper contradictory

I was disgusted at seeing an ad for Planned Parenthood in the Lewis and Clark High School newspaper. School District 81 uses an abstinence-based education and it is inconsistent for Lewis and Clark to allow an antiabstinence company like Planned Parenthood to place an advertisement for sex on demand without consequences.

Planned Parenthood supports premarital sex. Their business is supported by young people becoming pregnant and going to their clinics for abortions. So many people are getting pregnant because Planned Parenthood advertises in youth-targeted media.

Because young people are impressionable, Lewis and Clark should use more tact in what they place in their paper. The ad for Planned Parenthood states that their drug “will prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex.” This implies that conception did not take place, which would discount the need for the drug. The truth is that if the drug is needed, conception did take place and then a child is not prevented but aborted. Pro-lifers and pro-abortionists alike should be disgusted at Planned Parenthood’s misleading advertisements.

If LC uses abstinence-based education it can’t advertise for a company that contradicts what LC teachers state as truth. Some young people are not endowed with a strong moral base at home and are easy targets for mind persuasion campaigns like that of Planned Parenthood.

Lewis and Clark, you need to give your students the truth. Don’t let them be Planned Parenthood’s next victims. David J. Edwards, president Teen Outreach, Spokane

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