Letters To The Editor

FIELD BURNING

Football Saturdays bring blessed relief

I wish every day was a Cougar football Saturday. Not that I’m a Coug fan. I just that I like to breathe air I can’t see.

Last year, Whitman County wheat growers announced they would refrain from burning fields when Washington State played at home. Apparently, they didn’t want the Wazzu crowds from Spokane to see the magnitude of smoke they are producing and sending our way.

Since mid-July, Eastern Washington and Idaho farmers have burned all days of the week, including the Labor Day three-day weekend. The result has been that in spite of having no recent inversion over our city, no wildfires in the area and temperatures too hot for wood stoves, our pollution levels have skyrocketed. Winds that tried to blow smoke out of the city only succeeded in bringing in even more. People with allergies and respiratory problems are reeling.

Since Washington farmers outside Spokane County will burn more than 200,000 acres of land this year, and plan to continue burning through October, it appears that fresh air is going to be hard to find. But Saturday, the pigskins were flying in Pullman, the wind was blowing, and the next day, we woke up to a morning when you could not only see across town but view the mountains beyond. I hope everyone took a couple of deep breaths and enjoyed our one day of beautiful scenery. By Sunday farmers in Whitman County had again joined other Eastern Washington and Idaho farmers in burning fields.

I can’t wait ‘til the Cougs play in Pullman again. Diane E. Radkey Spokane

Boycott inconsiderate tribe’s casino

For two days now I’ve watched the Coeur d’Alenes toast up their bluegrass fields and send the smoke west, right across the border into Washington. In this state, we banned grass burning to protect public health. What arrogance it takes for the tribe to keep blowing its smoke on us.

It’s time to seriously consider boycotting the tribe’s casino until the Coeur d’Alenes stop fouling the air. Their smoke costs us plenty in sickness and medical bills, lost tourist dollars and ruined summer days. Why should we bother to drive across the border to put more of our money into their pockets when they treat us with such disdain? George Conn Spokane

HIGHER EDUCATION

We have a fine university right here

There has been talk about bringing a branch campus of a big school such as the University of Washington to Spokane. The concept seems strange to me, since Spokane County already has a big school - Eastern Washington University.

Recently, I had the chance to test out the EWU-UW comparison firsthand. Last fall, I taught at the University of Washington as a visiting professor of history. I enjoyed the excitement every day of walking through Red Square, down past a magnificent fountain to my classroom in Johnson Hall. In class, I faced 100 students - mainly bright, friendly and diligent. We had great discussions, they wrote good papers and they laughed at my jokes - always a welcome compliment to a professor. In another class, a seminar on Seattle history, the students wrote fine research papers.

I enjoyed the quarter at the University of Washington, and I have the greatest respect for the school and its students. But do you know what? I enjoy teaching at Eastern Washington University for all of the same reasons. My students here are bright, friendly and diligent. They have written many fine research papers, some of which have been published. And, bless them, they even laugh at my jokes.

Oh, one more thing. We’ve now got a fountain in the middle of our campus. It doesn’t shoot water high into the air like the one at UW, but it does have these great sculptures. J. William T. Youngs Cheney

Good luck to SFCC student leaders

As a former member of Spokane Falls Community College’s Student Executive Council and student senate, I am pleased to hear there is a new generation of future leaders willing to confront what is by asking what if? It is not often one hears of young people who choose to risk public ridicule by placing their beliefs, ideals and reputations before their peers and superiors in the name of public service.

While their views and actions will be watched, judged and, at times, criticized, I have no doubt that they, as individuals, will pass with flying colors. The challenges and responsibilities they are taking on will only reward them by raising and strengthening both their professional and personal character and integrity.

This heightened sense of personal honor, dignity, and commitment will guide them in all areas of decision making in both their terms of office and in their personal lives.

I wish them the best in their upcoming terms of office, and hope the accomplishments they achieve and friendships they develop are as enduring and fulfilling for them as mine were for me. Richard J. (Frenchie) Leslie SFCC Class of ‘74, Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Lewinsky’s the bad guy in this piece

I’m angry at what our president has put his wife and daughter through and angrier at this pointless prosecution that has turned a family matter into a public soap opera. Hillary could have handled this for a lot less than $40 million.

I keep hoping our first lady will slap an alienation of affection suit on Monica Lewinsky’s big-thonged behind and give us all something to cheer about.

Why do I continue to see this woman portrayed as a victim? I see a scheming, lazy, immoral woman with the emotions of a 15-year-old in desperate need of attention and a job she didn’t want to work for. I see a woman who set out to seduce a very powerful man for the purpose of filling pages in her diary. Fodder for her fantasies?

She chose to put herself in harm’s way by chasing a man already taken and now seeks sympathy as the victim.

Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton are all victims. You and I are victims. Lewinsky owes a public apology to us all, especially to Hillary. Laurie M. Ryan Spokane

Lewinsky a cog in conspiracy machine

Now that Congress has the problem of what to do about the $40 million fiasco, what is it going to do about Monica Lewinsky’s involvement? She was half the problem. Was she just an innocent pawn or was she recruited to bring the president down when all other means failed?

It smells like dirty politics and I am not alone in thinking so, as time will tell when the truth comes out.

If she was used as a political means in any way to try to damage Clinton’s reputation, she should be held accountable, as should all others involved.

It’s time for Congress and all other lawmakers to set a good example. Most people seem to feel most of them can’t make it in private practice, so they go into politics where they only have to be smart enough to be dangerous. Tom D. Highland Spokane

Clinton deserves no easy way out

We’re all “Lewinsky’d out,” but consider the following: 1, the president’s Jimmy Swaggert-like performance is obvious; and 2, he was caught lying years before his national election.

Is this the best we have? How dare anyone suggest we “move on”? That’s exactly what criminals want - a speedy resolution that gets them off the hook. And that rhymes with crook.

I’m tired of Clinton sitting there with that smug smirk. Can we admit the emperor wears no clothes or will he be allowed to continue believing he’s outsmarted everyone? Was Lincoln right, that you can fool some of the people all of the time?

If Clinton’s isn’t lying he needs help for his failing memory. A president who forgets that much or “can’t recall” anything needs medical help.

Impeach him. Rev. Gayle Murray Spokane

Look who’s peddling porn

Now that Rep. George Nethercutt and his fellow Republicans have overwhelmingly voted to release all the testimony in the Monica Lewinsky case, “GOP” can now stand for Government Official Pornography. It’s only appropriate Republicans and Nethercutt move their offices down to West First, to legitimize the other voyeurism that goes on down there. Don McCloskey Spokane

Live by the polls, die by the polls

A government run by a president whose defense is to calumniate and use the aberrations of others to whitewash himself is not going to last for the historical 250-year limit for nine out of 10 governments. We have until 2012, but slime, we know, inhibits life. We’ve done pretty well compared to Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Third Reich. But as we abandon our great Constitution and fall back on herd control (polls) via media spin to govern us, we won’t make 2012. Don’t forget, Hitler never lost a poll. George B. Valentine Sr. Rathdrum, Idaho

Basis for trust slight, shrinking

I hate to be a cynic, yet I can’t help wondering who wrote President Clinton’s repentance speech. Were these words from the heart or those of a golden-tongued actor performing one more time the sad drama, “A day in the life of a politician”?

I wish I could trust, could believe what appears on the surface. I wish politics were more genuine, that candidates would speak for themselves their own thoughts, ideas, words, free of speech writers, political staffers, spin doctors and pollsters.

Your article, “Timely lessons in forgiveness” expressed clerical concern that society has forgotten religion’s lessons of forgiveness. Could it be that the real concern is not society’s inability to forgive but rather a lack of faith in the words spoken by politicians?

How can I trust? How can I know? Virginia W. Meyer Spokane

Clinton had better be impeached

The longer Bill Clinton is allowed to stay in office, the greater the damage to our country.

Democrats and Republicans stand on opposite sides of the fence. We need to encourage our representatives to do the right thing and vote for impeachment to get our country back on track.

Clinton has made a mockery of the presidency and severely lowered our credibility in the eyes of foreign nations. It’s a sad day when voters no longer have confidence in their president.

My 14-year-old son wonders why the head of a corporation would immediately be forced to vacate his or her high position for similar behavior and yet the president is likely to be forgiven or merely censured. If Clinton is allowed to remain in office, I will have one hell of a time explaining that one to him. Mary E. Crandell Spokane

NOW picks real loser of a champion

NOW what? After decades of the mistreatment of women, we are still trying to be coerced into continued mistreatment - currently, by a leader in the “feminist movement,” otherwise known as Patricia Ireland.

I am disappointed that women are still prostituting themselves to attain a so-called voice for all women. It’s making women a laughingstock! It’s like saying, “Golly, it’s OK if President Clinton cheats on his wife and lies under oath, because if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have experienced the Year of the Woman.

I want people like Ireland to know that, unlike her and other “feminists,” I would not “bend over” or “squat down” for the president or anyone else to hold a position of so-called respect. Lori K. Michels Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Ford waste becoming more hazardous

The Spokesman-Review story of Sept. 12 quoted such terms as “distorted,” “lied” and “fraud” relating to mishandling at Hanford. The same can be attributed to the Washington Department of Health in this locale.

Washington voters passed an initiative in 1980 designed to keep our state from becoming the nation’s dumping ground for radioactive waste. This “will of the people” became our state’s policy.

Distortion was the tactic used in the licensing of a radioactive waste dump at Ford, Wash. Gov. Mike Lowry and Secretary of Health Bruce Miyahara claimed the license wasn’t a violation of policy. They said it was an “exception.”

The Department of Health continues to lie by misrepresenting the material they want to bring as the same as the mill tailings at the site. What the public isn’t being told is that they do not want to bring in just mill tailings. An analytical report from one of the sources that the company had tendered an interest in disclosed that mixed in with the tailings is an additional 25 hazardous materials. The analysis warns that the consequences from exposure to the chemicals or radioactive materials listed “may include burns; blood abnormalities; central nervous system, kidney or liver damage; edema; chemical asphyxiation; cancer; and death.”

The aspect of fraud remains to be seen. On his last day in office, Miyahara gave Dawn Mining Co. an escape route that will undoubtedly cost taxpayers many millions of dollars for road damage.

For full details visit our web site: http//dawnwatch.org. Owen Berio Dawn Watch, Springdale, Wash.

Take in the miracle of autumn beauty

In response to questioning from my kids about why some leaves change color in the fall, I started my lecture involving chlorophyll, pigments, sugars - but quickly reined myself in and simply answered, It’s a miracle, the real kind.

We can explain the sky’s blueness, the diamonds in the night sky, sunsets, the aquas and deep blues of the ocean and all the other beauty we are treated to. The hows are fairly simple; the whys not quite so. These are gifts from God, perhaps to help us cope with the ugliness that also exists for reasons just as inexplicable.

We have, so far, all of the elements necessary for a gorgeous fall display. Do yourself a favor and visit the Wenatchee National Forest or the closer but not as spectacular Colville National Forest when the deciduous leaves begin to change. It will renew your soul. C.J. Porter Spokane

Pipher lecture worthwhile event

Kudos to The Spokesman-Review for sponsoring the lecture by Dr. Mary Pipher at Ferris High School on Sept. 19. I attended with my granddaughter (almost 12) and we both enjoyed and appreciated her message.

The young women of Our Generation are to be congratulated for their work on the presentation.

A very positive contribution! Kathryn S. Miller Spokane

Clarke service commends him to voters

There are many reasons why Spokane County voters should cast their vote for Harold D. Clarke III for District Court judge, position 6: his service as a judge pro tem in the Spokane County District Court; his 18 years of legal experience in all of our county’s courts, including criminal law; and his unquestioned reputation among his peers in Spokane’s legal profession for his personal integrity, fairness and dedication to his clients and his community.

But Clarke has also already demonstrated his ability to make difficult decisions through his service on the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct. As an appointed member since 1990, he shares in responsibility for governing and enforcing judicial conduct and ethics for all Washington judges - a responsibility that should assure voters that a vote for Clarke is a vote for a District Court judge who will, without question, practice the best ideals of judicial integrity and fairness every day. Gerald R. Deaver Spokane

TO THE POINT Reader interest in expressing views about President Clinton’s situation, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, the possibility of impeachment and related matters has resulted in a large volume of letters for Roundtable. These views come during a pre-election period when many also want to have their say about candidates and issues to be decided in November. And, there are yet more of your letters on a generous range of other topics. The result is a crush of letters. To help present a wide variety of your views on the Clinton scandal in a timely way and without neglecting other matters, we will today (and perhaps again later) provide the gist of what several writers have to say, in some cases omitting ancillary statements. We hope that readers and letter writers alike will find in this approach better timeliness and more of the soul of wit than of whittling.