Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Remember to vote for Williams

It’s time to sift through all that campaign paraphernalia you’ve been bombarded with, to dole out those last campaign dollars you set aside for candidates. Primaries are on the horizon, with the general election hot on their tails.

Through all this mayhem, some candidates can catch your eye. Take Jim Williams, for instance. He has been an institution to the Valley, its school and all Spokane.

If you live in the 4th District, don’t forget who energized your high school. Don’t forget who got the Spokane Arena built. Don’t forget who is a community leader. Don’t forget who is building you a performing arts center. Most importantly, don’t forget to cast your vote for Williams. Elaine A. Mullenix Spokane

Schindler best choice for Valley people

I disagree with your analysis of the candidates for the 4th District. I’ve been very active in the Spokane Valley business community for over 28 years. I’ve supported both Democrats and Republicans in the greater Spokane area when I felt they were concerned with issues most reflective of the opinions of their constituents and supported issues that were job and business oriented.

Rep. Lynn Schindler is a stalwart supporter of 4th District issues, has owned her own successful business and has worked hard for her party. She’s been a working supporter of Valley Fest, the Spokane Valley’s children’s festival. She’s an active participant in the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, attending both the legislative and local government meetings whenever possible. Schindler’s activity on the Spokane County Health District board is important for all citizens, especially 4th District citizens. She’s an asset to the 4th District and should be supported for her seat in the Legislature.

It’s untrue to suggest her opponent is a leader in the Valley Chamber. In over 250 meetings during my vice chairman, chairman and board membership years I’ve just retired from, I saw her opponent at less than six events. He’s not a leader in the chamber, he’s part of the downtown-Spokane-first group. Schindler is not a one-issue candidate, as painted by The Spokesman-Review. She’s an uncommon candidate in that she studies all the issues, gathers insight and stands up for the citizens of the 4th District. I urge voters to support Schindler. R. Terry Lynch Spokane

Sump serves rural constituents well

Rep. Bob Sump, R-Republic, is challenged in the primary election by a person from Spokane County. It has been mentioned the 7th District has all legislators from north of there.

Spokane and its surrounding area has six districts with 18 legislators who would be glad to speak up for Spokane-oriented people.

Sump represents rural areas in all six counties of the 7th District, and does it well. He works to retain property rights and Second Amendment rights, for schools and to reduce taxes and spending. He should be re-elected. Sump deserves our votes. George Stahly Colville, Wash.

Vote for women’s rights, against I-200

I graduated from Central Valley High School in June and will attend college on a full athletic scholarship. I was thinking about how lucky I am, thanks to the hard work of the women who came before me. The women who worked so hard to give us an equal chance through equal rights.

When I watched the NBA playoffs, I remembered playing in the Indiana Pacers’ Arena. I’ve gotten to play AAU basketball all over this country. I’ve been able to realize my dream. None of this would have been possible if I had been born 30 years sooner.

Now, it’s my turn to start doing my share.

I urge all of my generation to vote against Initiative 200. I-200 is a step backward for women. It takes away the level playing field that we’ve needed.

Let’s all vote no on I-200, for our futures and the future of all who believe in equality. Rikki Jackson Greenacres

WILDLIFE

Roach would codify overreaction

While I am not anti-hunting and I feel for the 5-year-old girl who was attacked by a cougar, recent articles in The Spokesman Review supporting hound hunting raise disturbing questions about how that conclusion was reached and about the motivations of those supporting reinstatement.

Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, has proposed a bill to override the ban on hound hunting, according to the newspaper. Roach illustrates the irresponsibility of some politicians who believe they know what’s best for Washington residents, the citizen initiative process be damned. However, I can understand the concern she has for constituents in Auburn, who face a daily threat of being attacked by a cougar. Who does Roach really represent?

Only 66 fewer cougars were killed in 1997 than 1995, the last year that hound hunting was allowed (Spokesman-Review, Aug. 18).

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife attributes an increase in the cougar population in the last 15 years to abundant food sources, not the 66 fewer cougars harvested. An agency brochure also claims only six cougar attacks on humans in Washington state have been reported since 1924.

Simply seeing a cougar does not support the need to reinstate an unsporting, inhumane hunting technique. Visible animals do not constitute problem animals.

There will always be increasing numbers of people encroaching on wildlife habitat and certain types of hunting should maintain a minor role in wildlife management. However, there are also alternative ways to address the problem, through increased habitat conservation and public education, both of which stress avoidance rather than destruction. Brian G. Farmer Spokane

Attend meeting, urge lynx protection

The public should know it has a chance to comment on the proposed protection of the lynx under the Endangered Species Act.

Lynx, close cousins of the bobcat, used to roam through 16 states. But clearcut logging, trapping, road building and motorized recreation have had a devastating impact on forest ecosystems that support the lynx and many other species. This rare, wild cat needs a complex tapestry of forest habitat to survive. But lynx won’t cross clearcuts. And the uniform, one-species “forest” that grows back after replanting lacks the diversity to support these animals.

Also, roads and snowmobile use open up areas, making easy access for poachers and predators. It’s no accident that remaining lynx strongholds occur in unlogged and unroaded areas.

The public meeting is in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday at the Coeur d’Alene Inn, 414 W. Appleway, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. Please attend and voice your support for protecting this remarkable cat. Ask that the lynx be listed as an endangered species. This status would offer more protection and fewer loopholes to continue habitat degradation.

Before it’s too late, let’s protect the very little natural forest we have left and give this magnificent creature the chance to survive that it deserves. Lupito Flores Idaho Conservation League, Coeur d’Alene

Cougar statements made no sense

Re: “Cougar sightings worry Valley residents” (Sept. 2), the closing statements of which conveyed ignorance. (Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman) Madonna Luers discounts the impact of removing hounds from the hunt.

The reduction in cougars taken from areas now restricting hound hunting is significant. To imply that one may remove a predator and not impact its numbers and, in turn, its resources, is ridiculous.

Luers argues the animals posing the most threat are “… yearlings, or maybe 2-year-olds.” While true so far, she ignores that as this new problem escalates, these young cats are maturing. Once they establish their hunting routine, age won’t dictate boundaries. She says hunters are taking trophy-sized cats and infers, therefore, that higher success rates, achieved with hound hunting, wouldn’t solve the problem. Does she recognize that when you take big cats, you have fewer little cats because reproduction rates are affected? Does she recognize that when hounds track a cougar’s scent, they don’t differentiate the young from the old?

Moreover, the obvious lesson was overlooked: neighborhoods are moving into the cougars’ habitat. They belong on our decks as much as we belong in their back yards. Euthanizing the “encroaching” cougars isn’t the answer; 47 were killed by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1997.

Perhaps continuing to destroy cougar range so they are slowly eliminated would make some happy. Are we sympathetic to the agony of the animals in these circumstances? Banning hound hunting has done nothing to maintain a balance of nature (wild and domestic), which is the responsibility of man, not the cougar. Ann Jurcevich Rathdrum, Idaho

Hound hunting unpopular but needed

Re: the Sept. 2 article by Marny Lombard, about mountain lions in Bella Vista.

Madonna Luers states that only small cats are the problem. This isn’t true.

The only small cat that was a problem was in Pend Oreille County. There are also big cats, “mature cats” raising havoc but they are smart enough not to be seen. She also states that hound hunting is the cause of the current problem. Not true again. If this were so, why haven’t we had the same problems for the last 50 years?

The Fish and Game department won’t use hounds because its people feel doing so is politically incorrect. Remember the incident in Manito Park, where the conservation officer killed the mountain lion? The public was outraged.

Fish and Game is currently more than $17 million in the hole this year. It doesn’t want to offend anyone by using hounds. They feel that if they tell John Q. Public what they want to hear, it will be easier to get money from the state general fund, instead of depending on funding from the hunters, who they’ve sold out. Bring back hound hunting if you want a solution. Set quotas for male and female per unit.

By the way, last year we took a 150-pound mountain lion, big by any standard, in a person’s back yard in a neighboring state using hounds. He wasn’t exactly in the deepest, darkest forest accessible only by transport from the space ship Enterprise. We walked approximately 200 yards from a main county road. Glenn L. Sampson Colfax, Wash.

U.S. AND THE WORLD

Fight terrorism with clean hands

I have one question for those who support the American air missile raids against the suspected terrorist compounds in Sudan and Afghanistan.

If we as a nation are so committed in spirit and action to end terrorist activity, why do we as a nation fund with our tax dollars the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., a terrorist training center for Central American dictators, and then imprison those, like Spokane’s Paddy Inman, who demonstrate their opposition to such a blatant contradiction?

If we as a nation truly desire an end to terrorism, we must begin at home. Contact your representative in Congress as well as your senator and demand that your tax dollars cease subsidizing terrorism now. Jesse A. Hansen III Spokane

What good did retaliation do?

To those who have criticized me for saying that President Clinton’s bombing of Africa was an act of terrorism, I have two questions:

Wouldn’t it have been more sensible to find out who bombed our embassy and punish them? And, what did it accomplish, except to put the lives of Americans all over the world in danger? Now, we have a whole country angry at us. Dr. Leo Lindenbauer Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

It’s time for Clinton to resign

I have been a great booster for President Clinton, but it is time for him to resign. He tried everything under the sun to cover up the lie he told some seven months ago. Kenneth Starr had to use severe tactics to bring out the truth.

What a disgrace Clinton brought to his family. Frank L. Peterson Greenacres

Young observer exhibits good values

I was most impressed by Nathan D. Holmes (age 16) for his comments on Sept. 4 (“This is not a little white lie,” letters). He has learned the value of our Constitution and, most importantly, the power of truthfulness. His has been the most intelligent letter that that been published so far about learning of Clinton’s immorality.

Hopefully, more Americans are as knowledgeable and well-thinking as Nathan than what I see in the letters to the editor. I congratulate him, his parents and his teachers. Our country’s future will be in very capable hands with young people like Nathan coming to adulthood. Bette B. Topp Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Survey critic’s notions purely subjective

Re: Paul Wilson’s Sept. 2 letter concerning his view that polls showing approval of Clinton have been rigged.

Wilson seems to base this on the fact that the results do not agree with his opinion and he has never met anyone who has been polled.

First, his opinion has no bearing on the validity of the poll and his conclusion that the polls are deliberately falsified has no basis beyond his opinion of what the results should be.

Second, the average random representative poll involves about 2,000 people. There are about 100 to 150 million adults in the United States who might be contacted by a poll. Your chance of being selected is thus no more than one in 50,000 to 75,000. If there is a poll a week for a year and if no one is contacted more than once, only one person out of a 1,000 to 1,500 will be polled. That’s why Wilson has never met anyone who has been polled. Max Bromberg Hope, Idaho

Boating is affordable fun

Re: staff writer Dan Hansen’s Sept. 2 story, “Many boat owners going for broke.”

Hansen’s article advances the stereotypical media attitude that boating is only for the rich and he entirely missed the point of how much people love boating.

Yes, boating is more expensive than staying home, but it’s a very affordable form of recreation. Take a family of four or more to the movies lately? It’s not much of a bargain for a couple of hours of entertainment. How about snow skiing? A pizza and game tokens at Chuck E. Cheese’s? What does it cost to take a weeklong family vacation? Even larger boats are still affordable fun in comparison to a weekend hotel getaway or the price of lake property in the area.

When compared to other forms of family entertainment, boating is a great value. And, it’s one of the few forms of recreation that the whole family can enjoy together. A friend and I recently took our kids to the lake for a few days. We spent a beautiful, sunny day boating, swimming, tubing and laughing together - with no TV, videos or computer games. This time together was priceless.

I must admit that I’m biased, since not only did I grow up in a boating family, we have a family boating business. It makes me sad that someone who is interested in getting into boating may have read this article and assume that boating is too expensive for the average family. They would miss out on many memory-making moments.

The people you interviewed said, “We really get our money’s worth” and “You have to have something to get away.” All those boaters you see on the water must know something that Hansen failed to explore. Libby W. Forsyth Nine Mile Falls