Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Let poor parents boot-strap day care

Re: Linda Becker’s letter (Aug. 15)

Like many other hard-working taxpayers, I believe that all able-bodied individuals - man, woman and immigrant alike - should work in some capacity to support themselves and their families. It’s ironic that public officials say they are concerned about the children of welfare recipients. Too bad these bleeding hearts aren’t concerned for the children of us moms who went back to work following four to six weeks of maternity leave. Somehow, we have been able to find day care and our children are faring well. If they haven’t done well in a particular day care, we’ve found another.

It’s a mistake to depend on government for solutions to problems like day care. All government is concerned with is perpetuating itself. If you take people off of welfare, what will the people whose income depends solely on welfare recipients do? Of course they don’t want welfare to end!

How about day care co-ops where every welfare mom and/or dad commits to one day per month volunteering to watch the children of other welfare parents. Fees for these co-ops could be dependent on job earnings. If government wants to be involved, let it pay for the building, utilities and food for the children.

Let’s give the responsibility of raising a child back to parents who all too willingly give it up when going on the dole. How about being part of the solution and not the problem. Stop whining and make it happen. Kris Bennett Nine Mile Falls

Welfare a growing, self-serving racket

I totally agree with Linda Becker (Letters, Aug. 15). In the 1950s there was one state employment office and one state welfare office in Spokane. Both were located at Howard and Boone.

Now there still is only one employment office but at least a zillion welfare offices in Spokane and each and every welfare office is packed to the hilt.

I have learned from experience that it does no good to report welfare fraud because the system perpetuates itself. By maintaining their case load , welfare employees insure their own jobs. Ed B. Booher Airway Heights

We better pass I-695 fast

Re: the Pete Powell article (Aug. 8)

With the vote coming soon on Initiative 695, the urgency for it to pass is quite obvious.

1. To help prevent licensing business from going to another state.

2. To recover revenues from the 100,000 vehicles that should be licensed in this state.

3. To generate more revenue by having people license their vehicle here and pay our 8.1 percent use tax.

4. To prevent state troopers from illegally trespassing on property with binoculars and a camera without the due process of a search warrant, on their day off, with their children, by order of a shift supervisor. Raymond Pendell Four Lakes

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Skilled rider was set up for disaster

When is mountain bike racing safe? Apparently not at all, as Sandpoint’s Schweitzer Mountain manager, Tom Fortune, claims.

There are risks accepted in the pursuit of adventure- like downhill skiing and other so-called fast sports. It’s part of the game. But, a pre-race rider having to share a one-lane mountain access road (cat track), set up as an official race course, with a truck is way out of line and deserves review.

For the 40-year-old experienced rider with over a decade of setting downhill race courses without incident, the last thing David Moffitt would expect is a pickup truck “sharing” the course with him. Moffitt wasn’t on a road having two lanes. Moffitt hit a vehicle that shouldn’t have been on the course at all!

Why was the official spin on his death that he was riding on the wrong side of a one-lane back country cat track at a blind corner and set up as a race course? It was because Moffitt can’t answer his critics now.

How about Schweitzer Mountain’s owners and manager taking responsibility for allowing a vehicle on the race course? Gerald F. Schuldt Spokane

Lame excuse for not adding signal

I just finished reading the article that reported the City Council turned down putting a left-turn traffic light at Mission and Hamilton, giving the reason that pollution from idling vehicles would be worse.

What about the vehicles that wait and wait to turn? How about adjusting the lights to the flow of traffic? What about the chances people take to make the turn?

Get a clue, council members. Look at the big picture. Ease the movement of traffic, make it safer for everyone - get that light in there! Peggie A. Boothe Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

`Mum’ better not be the word

This concerns the current controversy about George W. Bush’s refusal to answer the question of whether or not he used drugs earlier in life.

When I was 17 years old, my dream was to serve in the United States Air Force. I spent all day going through the process of enlisting - the physical, the tests and interviews. Finally, after six hours, I was at my final interview and was asked whether or not I had used any drugs. Thinking that honesty is the best policy, I admitted that when I was a sophomore in high school, I had experimented with speed. (a group a girls I hung around with believed it was a great diet aid.)

After I had admitted this, I was told I was not welcome in the Air Force. I was devastated! This was my dream, shattered in a few minutes.

Now, why would we want to elect a person who possibly used drugs in the past and isn’t honest enough to admit it to be in charge of all the armed forces of the United States? Give me a break! Michelle Mola Spokane

Gun purchase headline a misfire

Re: “Furrow bought pistol at Spokane gun show” (Aug. 14).

I have quietly endured much inaccurate reporting regarding the issues surrounding guns and gun control but this headline was too much. The second sentence of paragraph nine clearly states: “Authorities say it is not clear whether he (Furrow) was the person who bought the Glock 9 mm pistol early last year at the Spokane show.” This fact makes your headline inaccurate.

Most people probably don’t bother to read nine paragraphs deep into an article on page nine. I can see the letters now calling for an end to gun shows, quoting the headline as if it were the gospel. Please be careful with the freedom of the press, especially while you still have it. Mark A. Laiminger Spokane

Liberals have ruined our society

Liberalism is the primary cause of the decay of our society and here is why:

Liberals have created, through the New Deal, the so-called Great Society, Social Security and nearly 80 separate welfare programs, a society that is dependent on feeding from the government teat. This has not happened accidentally. What better way to gain control of people’s lives and empower government bureaucrats than to create a dependent society?

Liberals have managed to raise taxes from 5 percent in 1955 to the point where more than half of our income goes to the government. This is a large factor in the demise of the family unit because both parents need to work to pay taxes and still have enough left for a decent standard of living.

Liberals perpetuate racism. By making people believe racism is rampant in our society, liberals can continue the stranglehold they have on minorities. After all, we know how bigoted conservatives are but liberals want to help minorities. In actuality, liberal programs do nothing but hold minorities down by offering subsistence with additional rewards for becoming more dependent on government while avoiding any incentive to pull away from the handouts. The last thing liberals want is a color blind society.

Liberals have promoted unprecedented moral decay. One needs to look no further than The White House to confirm this. We don’t need this kind of help. Mike R. Scalera Spokane

Strange, how haters get to go on

Recently, children were shot because they were in the way of a man filled with hate. It is time for all Americans to sit up and take notice. People who believe in Richard Butler’s teachings must be stopped. If the Aryan Nations reach their goal of eliminating the African Americans, Jewish people and homosexuals, who will be next? People with disabilities? Maybe people with brown eyes?

The point is that they will not stop - they have to hate somebody. American law enforcement has been able to wipe out every terrorist group except the KKK and likeminded groups. I wonder why. Robert D. Sanders Spokane