Letters To The Editor

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Kaiser now produces the shaft

I am the widow of a retired Kaiser Steelworker. When my husband worked at Trentwood, He met Henry Kaiser and had nothing but the utmost respect for him and the other managers at Trentwood. I don’t think he would feel the same way about Charles Hurwitz or Ray Milchovich. Before my husband passed away in 1997, he felt he had provided for his family during his life and for me should I be left alone. He did this through 30 years of dedicated service to a man and a company that had never let him down.

Now, just two short years later, a company that still bears the name of Kaiser (and disgraces it) is trying to take away what he had earned by putting a cap on current retiree medical benefits.

Is this what corporate America has come to? Will people like Charles Hurwitz and Ray Milchovich take away not only from their current employees but also from the people who spent their lives to make Kaiser Aluminum a world leader at one time?

Remember that after Hurwitz, Milchovich and their scabs leave with what money they can get, the Steelworkers will still be here making aluminum and making this a good place to live. Virginia Hart Post Falls

Steelworkers, get a grip

This letter is in response to comments made by several Steelworkers Local 338 officials.

Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. has had several one- to 10-day strikes from the 1950s through 1970s. With this being your first major strike at Kaiser, you really don’t have much to whine, snivel or cry about.

You say the state doesn’t care about you? Twenty-one hundred of your members received 26 weeks of unemployment compensation. That being courtesy of the Kaiser management that either willingly or intentionally gave you the right to collect 26 weeks of the Christmas goose that you usually only receive in years of good company profits. The only way you can be a beneficiary of any more unemployment is if Kaiser Aluminum was to close its Spokane operation permanently. Ask any of the 2,200 Bunker Hill employees who got let go in December 1981 what that felt like at Christmas.

As it stands now, several hundred of your members will be recipients of the rubber chicken award, i.e. severance pay, whenever your union and Kaiser management can get your act together and settle. As for those of you with 20 or more years of seniority, it would probably benefit you to retire in the near future as you and your position are likely to be expendable.

Ray Bosanko Spokane

Steelworkers deserve no sympathy

We see all these letters and articles about the poor Steelworkers. I have not run across one person in this area who feels sorry for them. They had good-paying jobs and walked away. If they did not like their jobs, go find another one. Folks in this area who work hard for $10 an hour are happy to have a job and will never understand these union folks. Maybe it would be different if union officials’ pay stopped when strikes start. Mel Doyle St. Maries

WASHINGTON STATE

Want to reap a whirlwind?

Of the many flaws in Initiative 695, one, it seems, should be of particular concern to Eastern Washington voters.

I-695 would have us dispense with representative government and revert to direct democracy in matters of taxation. If this happens, we will be competing directly with an electorate in Western Washington that is much larger than our own and has interests that are, in many cases, much different from ours.

Remember the last time the people of Washington voted directly on a tax? We wound up putting a very expensive roof over a baseball diamond 300 miles away.

Think we have trouble getting money over on this side of the state now? Vote in I-695 and just watch the few dollars we do get over here dry up. Michael Cain Spokane

Powell not the one who’s wrong here

My friend Pete Powell made it clear to me a long time ago: I am retired, selling all Washington properties, buying a motor home and Jeep, and hitting the road! Pete said, “End of story, and end of my ties with the state of Washington.” That’s his right as an American.

Many retirees choose this path of freedom for various reasons. Some can no longer afford living in this 14th-highest-taxed state, others move elsewhere or enjoy traveling.

Now, this camera-toting spy for the Washington State Patrol says Powell committed fraud for parking his vehicles in Spokane a short time and for casting a vote in the billionaire Paul Allen-paid-for stadium election! This is an unfair assault on Powell’s rights and all citizens of this state.

When is it WSP’S right to question the location of my bank account, storage of personal items, deposit box, my right to rent a car for 10 days and where my doctor and lawyer live? It’s none of their damn business in any matter, period! This is America, not North Korea.

Easy solution for this problem: Vote yes on the $30 tab initiative, I-695, and fire incumbent elected officials, from our local City Council to state legislators who waste tax money and enact these rules, laws and taxes. It’s our turn to govern again, “for Pete’s sake.” Jonathan Swanstrom Sr. Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Fire next time will be North Idaho’s

The letter by Jonathan Crowell (Aug. 7) reminds me of my 40-year career as a professional forester. In 1979 at the peak of my career, I stood on the boundary between the Targhee National Forest and Yellowstone National Park. As I looked at the vast area of bark-beetle-killed trees, I remarked, “Some day, that will make one hell of a fire.”

It did, in 1988.

Unfortunately, at the end of my career I can make the same prediction for the forests of North Idaho. The problem is not the bark beetle. The problem is too many trees subject to attack by bark beetles. The bark beetle is just getting started. Unless some quirk of nature occurs, much of North Idaho will soon look like Yellowstone National Park did in 1979. Then, at a future time much of North Idaho will look like Yellowstone National Park did in 1989 after catastrophic wild fire.

Forest management, even clearcutting, can be part of the solution. The main effect of past forest management is that there is less forest fuel to burn and Idaho’s economy has benefited. However, I expect that Crowell and others will be successful in preventing a forest management solution for most of the affected area. Ned N. Pence Moscow, Idaho

Consider breaching alternatives

Once again, staff writer Dan Hansen has put a human face on the statistic that “only 11 farms” would be affected by breaching the Snake River dams.

The Broetje orchard is a major player in the economy of Eastern Washington. It would be a terrible thing to put a dedicated and generous farmer out of business. In order to keep him whole and build an irrigation channel from the Columbia, the back end costs of breaching the dams escalates logarithmically.

I was delighted to read that another hearing was done in Boise to provide a forum for those who have alternatives to breaching. One of those people was Ernie Brannon, the author of the Columbia River bypass channel proposal, which suggests bypassing all eight dams but was revised to only include the four Snake River dams. This is a feasible solution and there’s a desperate needs to revisit it.

I love salmon. Breaching is better than doing nothing but I think their are better solutions. Kristy Johnson Post Falls

RIGHTS AND RADICALISM

See what ignoring Aryans invites?

Now you know how much good it does to ignore the Aryans. Your “lemons to lemonade” pledges and picnic rallies held safely at a distance won’t stop Nazis.

Now you know what Richard Butler has been saying with his “free speech rights.” He and others of his bent have been using, and will continue to use, their free speech to call for the death of Jews, African Americans and gays. Their followers are listening and acting. You have not.

Your silence constitutes equal complicity in the shooting of those children in Los Angeles. As long as you believe that the Aryans are harmless crackpots, they will continue their racial holy war on the rest of us.

What will you do when they come for you? I know, we’ll hold a picnic in Ellensburg and wring our hands over your death. Chris H. Miller Spokane