Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Finke’s qualifications are outstanding

Lt. Jim Finke is intelligent, ethical and highly trained, with 24 years of experience in almost every area of the sheriffs department. He created and proposed a million-dollar traffic unit which was accepted by county commissioners and actualized in 1994. Finke played a principle role in developing the Sheriffs Community Orientated Policing Effort, known as SCOPE.

Finke was accepted as one of only 1 percent of all law officers worldwide to attend the prestigious FBI Academy this spring and graduated with a 3.9 gpa. The emphasis was on government budgets, agency leadership, forensic sciences and other advanced studies.

Finke was mentored, supported and promoted by sheriffs Reilly, Erickson and Goldman, who all recognized his potential as well as his contributions to the department. We are impressed with his articulate knowledge of the depth and breadth of the responsibilities and authority inherent in the sheriff’s position.

Finke is a dedicated officer committed to upholding and enforcing the law, protecting the citizens and reducing crime. The sheriff’s position is not typically political. There are no legislative promises to be made in exchange for financial support. Finke can only vow to be a good administrator who spends tax dollars wisely, provides supervision and training for his officers so they can do their job professionally, and keeps open communication with citizens, fellow administrators in law enforcement, the courts and county government.

We hope voters will remember Finke’s extensive experience and training. Ken Pelo and Valerie Smith Spokane County Democratic Central Committee

Vote to keep vital emergency services

The Emergency Medical Services levy is on the Sept. 15 ballot, for renewal. Since it is illegal for firefighters and the fire department to campaign for this levy, I feel it’s my duty as a Spokane citizen to do anything I can to help it pass. This includes promoting public awareness.

Levy failure would seriously curtail our fire department emergency medical technicians, paramedics, EMS equipment, supplies and apparatus.

The fire department, America’s first line of defense, must answer all calls and assist accordingly. A recent call to a Spokane station was from a man who needed a glass of water and his bathrobe. Not all calls constitute an emergency. Still, the department has to answer.

I cannot visualize the chaos Spokane would experience should the levy not pass. We are familiar with and take very much for granted our emergency medical assistance. To continue to have this valuable community service, we must vote to pass this levy. Sharon A. DeBauw Spokane

Cultural event deserved Opera House

On the evening of Aug. 12, I had the privilege of seeing a marvelous dance-drama presentation at North Central High School auditorium. A group of dancers from India was brought here by the South Asia Cultural Association. This was something that deserved to be seen in the Opera House. The costumes, the vigorous but exceedingly graceful dancers, both men and women, were outstanding in every respect.

I thank the South Asia Cultural Association for bringing such a wonderful program to our city. Dorothy E. Carter Spokane

CONSUMER ISSUES

For most of us, rip-offs at every turn

Columnist Molly Ivins (Deregulation, Aug. 21) really hit the nail on the head. Deregulation in the communication business has not worked for the consumer. AT&T is becoming just as arrogant as it was before the courts busted up its stranglehold on America some years ago.

Americans should be pretty used to paying for services not rendered, items not delivered and products not received. Remember when consumers were buying both leaded and unleaded gasoline? Lead is something added to gasoline, yet unleaded gas cost more. We were paying for not getting something we didn’t need. Low-fat versus whole milk is another example. We’re paying less for low fat, even though it takes an extra step to take the fat out. Dairies make up for the added expense by charging more for whole milk. Taxpayers, through government subsidies, are paying farmers for not growing certain crops.

We’re also paying for educations not received, streets not repaired, politicians voting their “conscience” instead of the will of their constituents, medical care not given, and wages not earned. When it comes to money, just about anything you can think of is a rip-off.

When we hear rhetoric about the United States being the “richest nation in the world,” it must be about Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and Donald Trump. It sure can’t be about the single parent having to watch every extra dime go to AT&T or to his rising health insurance premiums. Edward B. Hanson Airway Heights, Wash.

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

GOP stone throwers live in glass house

I’m so sick of reading the rabid conservatives’ letters to the editor, repeating the tedious tripe their mean, corrupt Republican leaders constantly, hypocritically spew. Want to talk about values, morals, lies and lawbreaking? OK.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich took divorce papers (and two daughters as witnesses) to his wife’s hospital bed directly after her cancer surgery, and urged her to sign them forthwith. The papers contained his demands for settlement. I guess he hoped she was too groggy to care.

George Bush said, “Read my lips no new taxes.” I guess the taxes he later imposed were old ones.

Ronald Reagan used a lot of tap dancing around the Iran Contra affair. Yes, everyone knows by now that “I don’t recall” is a sure sign of innocence when circumventing Congress and our Constitution. Also, what a great dad he was. In 1964, while shaking hands with a group of college students, he held out his hand to one young man and said, “I’m Ronald Reagan. What’s your name?” The boy stared and said, “I’m your son, Mike.” Ron hadn’t bothered to see his son in years.

Richard Nixon if you don’t know, you probably haven’t the sense to read this newspaper anyway.

These are just recent Republican shenanigans. I’m not allowed enough space to go further back. They’d have to give me the entire page. On top of everything else, the men mentioned above didn’t even do a good job in office to make up for their “lies, immorality, and lawbreaking.” Now, will you please shut up already? Teresa Keene Spokane

Our minds, priorities are in the gutter

News flash! Clinton slept around and the sun still came up. Maybe we should take a clue from the sun, for we seem to be paralyzed by one man’s infidelity.

Bombs in Ireland, Albanians slaughtered, Rwandan refugees systematically removed from their homes and killed, and all we care about over here is whether Monica and Bill did something naughty. And the worst thing about our skewed priorities is that the central issue is not marriage and fidelity, it’s partisan politics as usual.

Newt Gingrich and Kenneth Starr have found a way to weaken a Democratic president, so they jump up on their soap box and preach to us about values and truth, the very qualities they are using as a front to push their real agenda. Maybe Clinton did stretch the truth, but should he have ever been questioned about it in the first place? It’s his own personal life, and it only affects his presidency when the good ol’ boys decide to be clever. Some of our greatest presidents in history were less than faithful.

There’s a world of problems out there and most of them deserve more attention than Clinton’s sex life. Get real. Adam P. Sweet Spokane

PRIGGEE

Discrimination can be appropriate

Staff cartoonist Milt Priggee’s Aug. 13 cartoon was an attempt to shame those who oppose the so-called human rights ordinance now before the City Council. He tarred opponents with the always effective label “discriminator” in hopes of elevating himself and so-called gay rights to the moral high ground.

Priggee would paint discrimination as universally bad. Certainly, he will get no argument from me that it is almost always wrong to use gender, skin color and ethnicity as relevant criteria in personnel decisions.

Homosexuality, however, is a different issue for many of us. We consider societal endorsement of homosexual conduct as a moral offense. Unlike skin color and gender, homosexual conduct is a chosen behavior, neither destined at birth or an inevitable outworking of a homosexual tendency. Just as adulterers cannot morally justify their adultery by pleading uncontrollable lust, gays ought not act out inner drives if doing so is wrong.

And wrong it is, in the judgment of many people. We regard such conduct as morally unacceptable and definitely relevant in certain of our very personal decisions. These include hiring close associates and renting personal property.

Those who struggle discreetly with same-sex attraction and keep themselves under control are not likely to experience discrimination. It is the out-of-the closet, in-your-face types who transform Priggee’s cartoon words from a caricature into a reasonable question: “Well, what about my right to discriminate against gays?” Preventing me from so discriminating in certain situations can force me into actions that violate my conscience. Don’t I have human rights, too? Edwin A. Olson Spokane

Another gun cartoon misfires

Re: Milt Priggee’s Aug. 27 cartoon and latest lies about firearms.

Priggee asks, “Now aren’t you glad we defeated that inconvenient trigger lock law?”

Yes, I am, because the trigger lock aspect was the smallest part of Initiative 676. The main part of that badly written initiative would have registered law-abiding firearm owners and would have done nothing about crime.

Also, I can show Priggee a video which demonstrates that trigger locks are unsafe. A trigger lock can cause a firearm to discharge. However, a responsible adult should lock up any firearm not being carried for self-defense, especially in a home with children.

While it’s true that several hundred accidental shootings occur annually nationwide, and I would be the first to grieve for anyone lost this way, millions are saved annually from harm by individuals with those same firearms. As usual the gun control nuts (victim disarmers) wildly slant the statistics to support their view.

Priggee totally misses the fact that in the use of a firearm for self-defense, a shot is usually not even fired. The fact that so few criminals are shot or killed is usually due to restraint on the behalf of the intended victim or the fleet feet of the criminal. Would you rather the criminal be shot by the intended victim at the time of the crime to even out the balance sheet? Well, for attempted rape, murder or home invasion, so would I. Paul Alan Claussen Spokane

Fact-free assertions a specialty

Re: Milt Priggee’s Aug. 27 cartoon concerning trigger locks.

The first thing that came to mind was the evidence for Priggee’s conclusion. In my 10 years of reading The Spokesman-Review, I can’t recall him ever allowing facts to clutter his opinion. C. Craig Reifle Post Falls

OTHER TOPICS

Border search arbitrary, guard rude

Re: Aug. 9 letters about mistreatment at the Canadian border: I love Canada, too, but that has been tarnished by our experience three and a half years ago, very similar to Judith Farrey’s (Letters, Aug. 9). My husband and I were headed to Nelson through Metaline Falls, with our seven children and a very packed Colt Vista. Nothing was extreme or unusual, just a family on vacation.

I was shocked and upset as we were pulled over and absolutely everything was torn apart and gone through. It seemed to go on forever. We were humiliated to be standing there as if we were criminals while they waved other cars by. The children were upset, of course, and the young man was never kind to them. He was rude and abrupt, and at the end just walked away, seemingly disappointed not to have found anything. It ruined the trip for me.

Afterward, I called and complained to the head of that station. He was polite but said it was standard procedure. I never got a straight answer about why we were picked or why the officer was so rude. It was frightening, abusive and uncalled for. I guess my call did no good, since Farrey’s trip was after ours. Lynne Knowles Newport, Wash.

With ‘enviros,’ it’s all pain, no gain

The Kettle River Conservation Group is doing what it does best - appealing Forest Service timber sale programs. The complaint on the Sheep Creek sale is that the Forest Service is losing money on timber sales. How can it not lose money when it’s being forced to jump through all the hoops the bug and bunny groups can think of?

Thanks to the enviro-activists’ roadblocks, the Forest Service is spending 11.6 hours per thousand board feet on timber management, compared to 4.5 hours on state land. In fiscal 1997, the Forest Service lost $88 million on timbering and $162 million on recreation, with neither program having made money since 1988. From 1988 to 1992, federal forests in Montana lost between nine and 73 cents for every dollar spent.

It’s time to ask American taxpayers if this is how they want their tax dollars frittered away. The enviros are using our tax dollars to lock up our resources. They rarely win but their stalling costs resources and timber products.

In many cases, nonmanagement of our forests results in leaving a horrendous amount of fuel on forest floors, contributing to raging forest fires that destroy the habitat they claim to be protecting, putting birds and animals at risk, polluting our water and air, and jeopardizing our private property.

These particular enviro groups are adamantly against any harvesting on federal lands, so any logging is wrong as far as they’re concerned, unless it’s for the sole purpose of building their cabins and supplying them with the paper they use to write their appeals. Gary Garrison Kettle Falls, Wash.

Psychologist’s book is about dying well

Many in our society ignore the social, economic and personal relations of their dying until it’s too late to plan for this event. They prefer to leave this task to family members who may or may not know what the person really wants. Such matters as the use of medical techniques to extend their lives, but not cure them; using their bodies/organs to extend lives of others and/or research use; burial vs. cremation and other issues must be discussed and resolved before death is near to obtain a dignified, quick and inexpensive passing.

To assist in the planning for dying, Dr. Rob Neils, a Spokane psychologist, has written, “Death with Dignity: FAQ’s,” (Kendell/Hunt Publishing Co., Dubuque, IA, 1997, 145 pp., paperback, $14.95). It provides several alternatives for use and help to allow loved ones a role in being participants in the dying process. Many deaths have caused family disputes, financial disaster, and/or not fulfilling the desires of the person dying.

Neils has organized a group known as Dying Well, which provides additional assistance to dying persons and their loved ones. He also refers readers to other organizations which may be of help.

This is a must read for those who accept the concept of planning for dying. Bruce C. Harding Pullman