Letters To The Editor
Health care
Double check this wreck in progress
As a 17-year volunteer board member of Spokane Mental Health, I have found it heartbreaking and aggravating to watch the destruction of a mental health delivery system in Spokane that would have been the prize of any community. Although an imperfect system, SMH won national awards and commendations, for specific programs and the overall scope of its services.
It was not a broken system until Spokane County bureaucrats attempted to fix it. The consequences of this are stunning. Many who are severely mentally ill will not receive treatment and those who are able to receive treatment will not receive the same accessibility or quality of care that was once the case.
The board of directors at Spokane Mental Health has made sacrifices that go beyond public service in their devotion of this nonprofit corporation’s resources to facilitate continuity of care for the people we serve. The resources in savings that have occurred through decades of effective management will not be able to subsidize this mistaken system forever. The resources just aren’t there, in spite of our wish to bail the county out. The mental health delivery system in Spokane will only deteriorate further unless changes occur.
I urge the county commissioners to seek qualified outside review, even if it is awkward. Responsible administration, rather than courthouse harmony, is the duty of our commissioners. If Commissioners Kate McCaslin and John Roskelley can’t fulfill this, I hope the voters of Spokane will elect commissioners who can. Mark Mays, Ph.D., J.D. clinical psychologist and attorney at law, Spokane
Spokane matters
Big turnout by train enthusiasts
On behalf of the Celebrate the Century Express Train Committee, I’d like to thank the people of the Spokane area for their tremendous support of this event.
When we were visited by the event planning committee a year ago, we told them our area is rich in train history and has a large area population of train enthusiasts. The committee members stated that Spokane has “one of the cleanest and most beautifully restored train stations that we have visited to date.” Spokane was selected as a tour destination.
This train, which began its journey March 11 in Florida, will visit approximately 100 cities on its tour of the nation. Being selected as the only stop in Washington and Idaho says so much for our city and the entire Inland Northwest. The train has already visited many major cities such as Jacksonville, Memphis, St. Louis, Springfield, Green Bay and St. Paul.
We were warned we shouldn’t expect much of a turnout because it wouldn’t be open on a weekend, as in most cities, and it would be here during the biggest vacation week of the year when many people would be out of town. How did Spokane stack up? We had the largest singleday turnout to date, with more than 3,300 people touring the exhibit on July 7. This followed Tuesday’s total of more than 2,200 visitors. We only wish the train could have stayed longer so more people would have had the opportunity to visit this once-in-a-lifetime exhibit. Bob Hammerstad Spokane
Light rail systems `white elephants’
Terry Lynch, writes (July 28) that it would be “sad to miss this opportunity to install light rail.”
What would really be sad would be to emulate the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles and other communities that have installed these white elephants and continue to subsidize these mostly unused systems to the tune of millions of dollars per year.
Every estimate to build these light rail systems has resulted in huge cost overruns and greatly exaggerated ridership totals. Systems in these cities are grossly underused and local experts have stated that it would be cheaper to drive the transit users by cab than subsidize their underused systems.
The $100 million in federal highway funds would be better spent upgrading the systems we already have, not placing more burdens on the taxpayer. Antone Ornellas Post Falls
Government and politics
We’ve seen how compassionate
Bush is An attendee at Gov. George W. Bush’s Spokane breakfast remarked, “I like his compassion for people.” The slogan, “compassionate conservatism” as defined by Bush’s deeds, however, makes it an oxymoron.
Early February 1998, Bush cruelly refused to allow Karla Fay Tucker Brown to live out the rest of her life in a Texas state prison. Brown, a born-again, fundamentalist Christian, was strapped to our modern American version of the cross. Poison was pumped into her veins until her body lay lifeless. She hadn’t even been allowed to hug and kiss her husband Rev. Dana Brown goodbye. She got not even that little bit of compassion from Bush. The state of Texas exacted its revenge for her part in a grisly double murder 15 years earlier.
This soft-spoken, 38-year-old woman glowed in appearance and spirit. Her works in prison for 10 years before her state-sponsored murder showed only love. She was loved by all who came into contact with her in jail as prisoners, employees or visitors.
Pope John Paul II, Rev. Pat Robertson and thousands of others, some of whom usually advocate the death penalty, pleaded and prayed that Bush would show compassion for Brown. She wanted to be a witness to youth now on the wrong path while remaining in prison for life. The “old” Brown had died long ago and the new one wanted to help steer youths away from the ruinous path she had taken as a youth.
Perhaps God in his infinite wisdom let Brown show us what Bush’s compassionate conservatism means. David F. Carroll Spokane
Nethercutt doesn’t deserve re-election
Rep. George Nethercutt for re-election to Congress? His record on key issues for our citizens is not very impressive.
Agriculture, especially wheat and fruit export markets: Two years of grain production sits in elevators, with prices at all-time lows. Import fruits are dumped in the United States, while all farmers face income disasters.
Nethercutt voted no on the federal highway bill. Meanwhile, those supplemental dollars for bridges and NAFTA highways are about to be lost to other states. Spokane has a 40 percent working population trying to survive on less than $20,000 yearly incomes. Nethercutt has done zero to help guide higher industry payrolls here. In fact, he voted no to raising minimum wage levels, yet I think it likely he will vote for his own pay raise. When Linda Smith, a proven leader, was running for U.S. Senate and campaigned here last year, Nethercutt supported the loser nemesis, Chris Bayley, effectively blocking Smith from winning in Spokane County.
As a mainstream Republican, I vote no. Marc Ramsey Spokane
Other topics
Wilson’s good sense will be missed
Spokane has lost a truly great lady and prolific letter writer to an unexpected, massive stroke. Eileen L. Wilson, died on her 58th wedding anniversary.
Wlson, a valiant woman, mother of 12 and faithful companion care giver to her blind husband, Jack, died July 21 in Spokane. We readers will certainly miss her common sense letters to the editor. She was gifted with an active, clear-thinking mind and developed to an admirable degree of devotion to God, country and duty. Were she alive today, she would respond to the letters on July 24 about staff cartoonist Milt Priggee’s J.F.K. cartoon by reminding us that no one can get to heaven by simply dying. There is a lot more to it than that.
Eileen, a genuine Catholic all her life, would request that we pray for her now, asking God in his mercy to free her from any further exploration she might be making in the afterlife before her soul is pure enough to enter heaven. Ellen L. McCabe Spokane
Story gave RC flyer event a lift
Grayden Jones’ July 11 article on the Barons Model Club Radio Control Jet Rally at Deer Park Airport is the most accurate and informative coverage our hobby has received in a very long time in the Spokane media. Our spectator turnout was at least three times what we have normally expected in nine years of running this event. Many of the visitors mentioned the article as the reason they came out.
Hundreds of Inland Northwest residents spend a great deal of time, effort and money on the radio-control flying hobby and we believe it adds a tremendous amount of creative and recreational value to our lives. The jet models featured in the article represent the highest level of accomplishment in just one branch of a hobby that offers a great variety of ways to participate.
The cost range in the article ($1,500-$6,000) was accurate for the specialized models being flown in this event. However, the average beginning radio-control flyer can be fully equipped and ready to go to the field for flight instruction for less than $500.
Thank you for helping us share our positive and constructive activity with your readers. Stanley W. Roth Spokane