Letters To The Editor
BUSINESS AND LABOR
Unions - the worst that could happen
Steelworkers, stop complaining! How many of us have jobs where we are automatically guaranteed a pay increase every year, whether we have earned it or not? As a union member, the least efficient worker at the plant gets the same raise as the most efficient employee. Yeah, that makes sense.
Union members get to keep their jobs based on their time in position, not on how good an employee they are. If you are the best worker at the plant but have only been there six months, when layoffs happen, you’re gone. The worst employee keeps his job based solely on his time in position. That’s efficient.
Unions use extortion to “bargain” for wages and benefits. In our society, a job is only worth what somebody is willing to pay you to do it, not what you can collectively blackmail a corporation into paying you. An employer’s responsibility is to pay you a fair wage, provide a safe workplace and treat you fairly.
Unions have only to look in the mirror to find out why companies are outsourcing and sending jobs and plants overseas. Until they realize they are their own worst enemy, it will continue to happen. Come to think of it, maybe that’s the best thing that could happen to America. Once efficiency returns to American industry, we’ll be able to compete internationally again. Scott D. Meyers Cheney
Scabs end up being discarded
I was born a steel baby. Being the daughter, granddaughter, niece and friend of a Steelworker compels me to respond to Tamara Newman’s April 5 letter, “Replacement workers part of healing.”
It’s true that scabs do cover a healing wound. But the union is not the dirt infecting the body (Kaiser). In this case, the company is the dirt and the wound is already infected. And yes, the scabs are trying to cover for them.
But as we all know, the body goes through a healing process and the tissue begins to rebuild itself (negotiations) to once again be normal. Eventually, the scab falls off. That is, if not before the festering, unsightly sore is picked off. And what do we do with our scabs once they are gone? Do we place them in the trophy case for everyone to see?
No, they aren’t something we are proud of. These vile, disgusting reminders of the pain and suffering we endured are thrown away. The scabs are what is embarrassing. And the new, healed tissue and skin is back and better than ever. Nikole R. McKay Spokane
If not for scabs, it would be over
RE: “Strikers’ excesses serve them badly” (Letters, April 11).
I can tell the writer has never been in the Steelworkers’ situation. These people are really hurting. Some are losing their homes and cars, not to mention their life savings. You cannot condemn all Steelworkers for something that a few strikers say or do. Most of these people are good people. They want to get back to their jobs, which have been taken away.
If Spokane would stand behind them, they might be able to get this settled.
The scabs did not make them walk out of their jobs but if they hadn’t crossed the picket lines, my husband, son and all the other Steelworkers would be back to their jobs. Judy Bell Newport, Wash.
LAW AND JUSTICE
Juries shouldn’t reward whiners
Re: “Women win lawsuit against Tidyman’s” (April 14).
Human nature dictates that we all love to see people win the Lotto. Jurors are no exception.
Almost everybody, in any job, can make a case for promotion. The fact is, in any highly competitive industry, the best will surface from within or will be searched for on the outside. Every business has to have the best management it can obtain. Employees within an organization have a distinct advantage, in that they have an opportunity every day to prove their talents. There is nothing but positive attributes for any corporation that can boast of female and minority management, especially at top level. If they are out there, they will be found. You can’t keep good leadership down. They are every corporation’s best asset.
What a tragedy for an employee-owned company, one that I consider a model of success for America. I have hopes that some day every employee will have an option to own stock in their company. That way, their long years of hard work will pay off for them.
Tidyman’s employees have just had all of their investment taken away. Is this the reward for thousands of the best employees in the Inland Northwest, who have been working their tails off for all these years? Why work hard for promotions when you can whine in front of a jury and win the Lotto? Allan LeTourneau Spokane
FIREARMS
Arguments unbelievably faulty
When I read Harold E. Allwardt’s Your Turn column of April 14, I was dumbfounded. I conclude that he’s confused, misinformed or an extremist.
First, I address Allwardt’s erroneous conclusion about the freedom to self-defense. The erosion of freedoms he speaks of is caused by criminals, not by law-abiding citizens. The reason you have to go through a metal detector and empty your pockets before you enter a court building is because of criminals. Criminals have been known to carry guns into court (against the law) with the expressed purpose of killing judges, witnesses and anyone else who gets in their way.
Drive-by shootings? The perpetrators are gang members or worse: gangster wannabes. Drugs and violence are their stock in trade. They are also known as criminals. When have you ever heard of National Rifle Association members on their way to a shooting match committing a drive-by shooting?
It would be nice if one could go where one wants, do what one wants, when one wants to. There are certain parts of a city you dare not go to. The reason for that caution is criminals, not law-abiding citizens who have firearms.
It’s interesting and misleading that Allwardt tries to compare the NRA to the Gestapo. The NRA champions the Second Amendment, the right of people to defend themselves. The Gestapo enforced the Nazi gun confiscation laws.
One can logically conclude that criminals cause the erosion of freedoms Allwardt laments. Would Allwardt advocate control of criminals? I doubt it. Paul G. Murray Newport, Wash.
Go where there are no detectors
Re: Harold E. Allwardt’s Your Turn column, “The gun freedoms of a few exact a price from the rest of us.”
There are quite a few countries in this world that don’t have metal detectors. One that comes to mind is in the news quite regularly - Kosovo. There are many others that I could name that have no metal detectors. Their people have no freedom, either.
If metal detectors bother you, you can always move.
To blame the NRA for metal detectors and and the loss of your freedom is a typical cowardly liberal answer for the very problem they created. If you think a gunless society will preserve your freedom, then you can kiss that freedom goodbye. If most people believed like you, we would probably have the same freedom the people in Kosovo have. Joe Wollman Odessa, Wash.
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Millenium baby? Think again
Re: “Y2K’s fertile Friday” by David W. Chen (April 10).
I am puzzled why having a baby on the first of January in the millennium is such a big deal. What is it that makes the year 2000 significant?
Centuries ago, a monk named Dionysius calculated the time of the birth of Christ, and from then on people began to count off the years according to his calculations. We know now that the medieval scholar was about six years off. Therefore, the actual year 2000 will not even be here for a couple of years at the least.
The millennium baby craze has become another excuse to rip people off. Even though the chances of giving birth on the first of January next year are tiny, businesses are making money by selling conception kits and lottery tickets and encouraging couples to participate in millennium contests. An intimate, private choice has become an amusing public affair which pays well.
Bringing a child into this world is special and, at the same time, a tremendous responsibility. The first millennium baby contest has turned this responsibility into a selfish and public joke. The focus shifts from the baby and its future to the role money, prizes and the publicity of the “rare” event will have on the winner’s life. Natalya Zidrashko Spokane
Tragedy not everyone else’s fault
Let’s see, Sigma Alpha Epsilon (national and local), Beta Theta Pi (national and local), Alpha Phi (national and local), the University of Idaho, the two Greek advisers to the University of Idaho and the Idaho state Board of Education. Am I missing anyone? All of these entities are responsible for Rejena Coghlan’s accident six years ago? If anyone else feels they should share in the blame, please raise your hand. I wonder if the person who built the Alpha Phi sorority house, and put that window on that sleeping porch (which is required by law) will be sued?
While I’m saddened by Coghlan’s accident, can we step back into reality for a moment? She made the choice to attend those parties and to consume alcohol as an underage 18-year-old. As a UI graduate and sorority member myself, I don’t recall ever being forced to consume alcohol against my will. Maybe there’s a reason for a drinking age of 21?
A wise man related this analogy to me: Ten years ago, if a person was to drive his car into a brick wall, he would have shrugged his shoulders and said, “Gee, I’m stupid. I can’t believe I did that!” If it happened today, he would sue anyone involved in building the wall..
I wish nothing but the best for Coghlan. I also hope, for her sake, that she can look in the mirror, place the blame where it really belongs and get on with her life. Robin Killien Fiorillo president, Spokane Delta Gamma Alumnae chapter
Religious right best of people
Nancy Lynne (Letters, April 11) is insufferably wrong.
The religious right is trying to do wonderful things in our society. They have tried to uphold what has made this country great, like morals and responsibility for oneself. The religious right is made up of Christian men and women who know, by the word of God, what is right and wrong, made up of people of all races and economic backgrounds. They’re the first to help when somebody needs them in your neighborhood. Christian men and women - it’s a beautiful thing.
Sure, there are some out there who have used the Christian banner for doing wrong but by far that’s not the case. I’d rather have a real Christian living next to me than anybody else.
Religious right people are not unscrupulous, greed-inspired and corrupt. And they haven’t filled Idaho with “racists and lunatics.” They haven’t subjected Idaho to a “10-year reign of terror.” And they never tried to “force children to bow down and pray to their interpretation of God.”
They do try to allow anybody who wants to pray in school to do so without persecution. And they aren’t gutting responsible family planning, they just don’t believe it’s right, in God’s eyes, to kill an unborn baby.
Our society has turned from honoring moral, upright, citizens to fearing them. Let tolerant Christians run this country and you’ll see everything you hold dear brought back to you in just an election or two. C. Shawn Clum Bonners Ferry, Idaho
Loving Christians aren’t the problem
Re: Marcia Gimness’ April 5 letter. I’m afraid she is mistaken about a lot of things she wrote.
First, unfortunately, the intolerant and judgmental Christians think they are Christian and point to scripture to justify their behavior. They are also of the belief that love and forgiveness are alien to the concept of morality, given the tone of the letters they write.
Second, the intolerant Christians write 10-1 over the loving Christians. The intolerant Christians also regard the loving Christians as being immorality-loving liberals.
Third, why shouldn’t it be possible to slam Christianity just because of the preceding?
Fourth, nothing has ever prevented Christians in America from making their opinions public.
Fifth, loving Christians apparently don’t write that many letters or theirs don’t get printed, in favor of ones from the more judgmental types - the more judgmental, the better.
Instead of Gimness attacking everyone else for “denying First Amendment freedoms” to Christians, she should look first to the state of Christianity today. Judgmental and intolerant Christians are going to be the very people that the church is judged by. Joan E. Harman Coeur d’Alene
Facts don’t support assertions
In his April 13 letter, Don Otis brings some interesting statistics to the table. Taken as he writes them, it appears homosexuality is a harmful course of action. However, let’s look his argument more closely.
He begins with the correct statements that not all the half million teen suicide attempts are related to sexual orientation and that 30 percent of gay and bisexual males have attempted suicide.
The obvious implication that teens will be at least as likely to commit suicide if we support their sexuality is, fortunately, wrong. The predominant reason homosexuals commit suicide is because they can’t deal with societal pressures to be straight and stay in the closet. By supporting gays, we will reduce that pressure and, thus, suicide rates.
Otis continues by stating that 30 percent of gay and bisexual men will have HIV by the time they’re 30 and have a lifespan 30 years less than that of straight men. Unfortunately, he ignores the fact that, per capita, the rate of HIV infection is increasing faster in heterosexuals than in homosexuals.
Yet more interesting and, dare I say disingenuous, is Otis’ failure to mention any studies done on lesbians. To complete the picture, lesbians are significantly less likely to contract HIV than heterosexual couples.
Armed with both sides of the story now, I encourage Otis to work toward finding real solutions rather than the discredited studies and programs put on by NARTH and Exodus International. Ben Kosse Sandpoint
U.S. AND THE WORLD
Why shouldn’t we help?
Policing the world or angels of mercy?
The people of Kosovo need help. Simple truth. Why should we, the people of the United States of America, the greatest nation on this planet we call Earth, not help?
The sight of an American soldier was the most beautiful sight my mom saw coming down the street, when in war-torn Poland she lived the nightmare of being homeless. They took their home and their bank account, and packed them off to camps. To this day, the horrors are locked in her head, and she can’t talk about them without getting hysterical.
Angels of Mercy - are us. Jeannie U. Greene Spokane
Explain, then fight to win
When a nation goes to war, several things need to happen. The nation has to acknowledge that it’s at war; determine its objective; identify who the enemy is; decide how much force it’s willing to use in executing its military options; firmly state what political conditions within the enemy nation it’s willing to accept to declare victory; and, especially in a democracy, absolutely convince its citizens that waging war is in their best interest, the sacrifices worth making and the objective within reach.
If a nation fails in any of these, it risks falling short of its military and political objectives.
In observing this war and Americans’ reaction to it, I don’t believe the Clinton administration has succeeded in defining and communicating the why and how of its war objectives. It seems we hope to avoid losing this war rather than having the confidence to win it. This war is very winnable.
With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, American strategic interests in Europe have shifted eastward to include Yugoslavia. We’re fighting to destroy an evil power that uses rape and murder to achieve political and territorial objectives.
Our enemy is Milosevic and his power structure, not the Serbian people. We should bring all possible power to bear to achieve our objective quickly, including the use of ground forces to occupy Kosovo. We should accept nothing less than the total emasculation of the Milosevic regime in Yugoslavia.
Casualties are inevitable in war. But do we really want a madman like Milosevic dictating to Europe his abhorrent ethnic and nationalist beliefs? I think not. Mike Martling Waverly, Wash.